Honoré here: One of my enjoyable learning buckets is knitting.* A year ago, I started the Great American Afghan (GAA) project with a group at a local quilt shop that was branching out into knitting. Each month we meet and start a new block; there are 25 blocks in the afghan. Some are relatively easy and others definitely have a learning curve. Suffice it to say, one year later, I have at least eight blocks in various stages of begin. I have completed one block.
When class was over, I tucked the block into my knitting bag and there it would reside, never to see the light of day again... Of course, each month, I started a new block with a different color of yarn, a new set of needles - I have a lot of size 8s. The balls of yarn and needles were becoming a tangled mess inside my knitting bag...and my mind.
Disorganization stifles creativity and learning. I needed to organize my GAA project beyond stuffing each month's ball of yarn and needles in a bag. As my friend Kathy wrote: "organizers move us forward. They help make our paths obvious. They make our brains happy and rested." Wanting to rest my brain and move forward with this project, I proceeded to set up an organized system:
First, I put each started block in a separate plastic bag. That eliminates tangled yarns; duh!
Fortunately, as I began each block, I had marked the instructions with the yarn color/s and set them up as tabs at the top of the page. Now, I can easily match bag to block.
I'm ready to resume my GAA knitting project. I can pull out a bag, open the book to the correct block, review my notes, and proceed.
My class meets Feb 27. Now that I'm organized, I will have made progress on several of the blocks; hopefully...
Cheers~
*Though I must admit, I am a novice and am not as passionate about it as I'm sure I will become. To that end, over the weekend, I joined Ravelry - an awesome site. I love the fact the site helps you organize and manage your knitting projects, patterns, stash, books/magazines, etc. I wish there were a similar one for quilting; perhaps there is. Does anyone know?)