Tidy Mind, Tidy Stitches

Sorry folks, (Eskimimi, will you forgive my creative impulse to NOT use the titles you obviously labored over for a year?) I really enjoy reading your prompts but my mind races on and on...  This week is an attempt to “organize/organise” the knitters and crocheters to write about assigned (suggested) topics.  This is day three and so far, I have managed to tweak or, as the movers and shakers of this project would say, change the titles and write such loosely related topics that they are connected only somewhere in my little pea-brain!  Alas, I digress, again, and again, so on to the topic.  Click here to see the original topics.

I like a tidy mind!  I wouldn’t mind being organized in my world but I live with a cat or two... 

Is that a good excuse? 

The truth is, I live many lives, (eew, another cat-like excuse) and just when I get a handle on one of them, something turns my fancy in another direction.  I’m one of those who goes from room to room changing direction and thoughts as I pass each object.  I could be putting dishes away and midway reach for the phone, and not finding it in its cradle go to another room where I sit down to do a crossword puzzle, return to the kitchen to get a drink and realize (like at this very moment) that I made a list earlier of urgent things to do ASA I got home today, which was 6 hours ago...  (Here is my time out from blogging so I REALLY can get those two items crossed off.)

Ah. done.  So back to the topic:

I really have only one word to say about tidy knitting, patterns and stashes:

RAVELRY

I HEART you!

BR (Before Ravelry) in 2008 I realized I had to do something drastic if I was to knit several projects at once, and put any of them down for more than an hour or two!  I got myself a booklet and wrote down everything I 'thought' I needed to remember. 

 It was mostly successful but I remember looking up things and finding I hadn't written down the yardage.  Sometimes I refer to it now.  But, then I found Ravelry! December 2008.   

And now I feel confident and anal about putting all my eggs in one basket and trusting the wonderful, ingenious people at Ravelry.com to keep me in line. 

I'm sure I use only a portion of their services, but I'd like to share with you how it makes my life and knitting possible:

Number One:  Projects are stored.  They have the data fields that I didn't know I needed!  When I return to a project and find there are no needles in it, I can call up that info in Ravelry and the day is saved!

Number Two:  My stash is stored. My marriage is saved! I refer to Ravelry to find the weight yarn I need for that project I want to start tonight, and not in a few days when I can get to the LYS.  (I have a lot of yarn stashed...)  And I can FIND it.  There's even a place to mark WHERE I've stashed it, as if someone would stash yarn in more than one place... I know you're out there!

Here are a few places...

In the closet

Under the shelf

Of course, even in the "entertainment center".

I would look for a pattern, need a sport weight yarn.  Look at my stash page and find:

 Celinas-Mor > notebook > stash > Garnstudio DROPS Alpaca 

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© Celinas-Mor

Yarn weight

Sport / 5 ply (12 wpi)

Amount stashed

1 skein = 197.0 yards (180.1 m)

Purchased at

vestlands drakt

Dye lot

804

Colorway

4434 purple

Color family

Stored in

E drawer

Tags

Then I would locate it in the "E drawer".  Here it is!

I think they are very clever at Ravelry to help me out like this!

Number Three:  The library!!  I have books, and magazines and all sorts of booklets... and single patterns.  I can search my library and (quite often) find the pattern I'd like to use.

Number Four +++:  Messages, friends, groups, news, more patterns, 

  Let me count the ways, oh, Ravelry!  

Sorry, folks, about the previous title... It was late at night...