2/12ths Update (Feb) and Knitting Planners/Journals??

SECOND FO of 2021!!!

FINALLY finished my “non” shellseeker sweater. Definitely like it MUCH better with narrower stripes. Glad to finally have it off my needles. I have now finished both 2020 carryover WIPS. Looking forward to my next sweater project. But first, I have to get back to my daughter’s top so that I can get it finished by the end of March when we pass through her home on our way back north to Ohio.

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  Finished NonShellseeker

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  Ripped Out – Wider Stripes

SAMPLE SOCK 🙂

I did get my sample sock yarn from A Girl And Her Wool Wednesday. This is my first time to be a sample knitter. I only have to knit one sock in a vanilla pattern and it’s only a 56 stitch circumference so it’s going quite quickly. I have till the end of March but I suspect I will get it done in the next few days. The yarn is Terra Cotta Sunset with a tonal grey yarn for the contrast toe/heel/cuff. I like the pop of teal and brick colors in the Terra Cotta main yarn.

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Sock Sample Knitting

KNITTING JOURNAL

I’ve enjoyed being part of this group for many reasons. One is learning how others set up a plan and then track it. I historically have simply done a “Year At A Glance” type excel spreadsheet shown in my intro photo. Each column is an entire month but it keeps the year to a reasonable size display of the year. A list of my planned projects is along the y-axis. Then I highlight the months (x-axis) that I expect to work on each project. This lets me roughly see if I have too many or too few projects planned for some months. A goal for this year is to track how well I actually start and finish projects versus my original time estimates.

But this is feeling very blunt to me. I really like a more traditional calendar where I can see on a daily basis what I’m working on versus a monthly basis. I tend to like digital records instead of real paper. Thus a friend sent me a “teacher’s calendar” that was developed on google sheets. It can be purchased at here. I’ve modified it of course to fit my needs instead of a teachers. I’ve even changed some of the graphics to better match my personality. Currently if a project is a WIP it shows up everyday, even if I don’t knit on it. This helps keep my WIPs front and center. I may change to only putting what project(s) I knit. Have to see. Since it’s google sheets I put how many stitches I knit each day on the calendar. I used conditional formatting so that if it’s less than 1000 stitches (my goal) it shows up with a red numbers and pink background. I also keep track of my monthly average of stitches per day. I can link the pages so that the previous months average are also displayed. I’ve also linked my list of goals from month to month so that if a goal is completed in January it shows as completed in February, March, etc. My “Year At A Glance” is still captured in the Start tab.

Modified Teacher’s Digital Calendar

I still wonder if I’d like a paper journal. A Girl And Her Wool has created an interesting set of stickers to help make a planner. So maybe that will be something I try in 2022 – paper versus digital. I like that digital allows me to add or subtract lines as I need them. I tend to feel boxed in by paper since it really does have size limitations. My current digital calendar can only handle 4 WIPS but I can easily add rows so that more WIPS can be displayed. A journal would be more of a project scrapbook I think than an actual calendar. I need a calendar to make me feel I’m in control of my knitting. Ha Ha – famous last words I think.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on planning techniques that work for you.

This is a year of projects (YOP) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog every week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts. YOP is in it’s 10th year although I’m in my first in the group.