Yarn Organization

I haven't seen Trammi in at least a month, so it was great to catch up.  She lamented the number of 'works in progress' that she has going and that she loses track.  I hear this from a lot of customers at the shop. Since I'm the poster child for multiple projects going at a time, I can speak a bit about this.

This is not to say that I follow my own organizational constructs all the time, that in and of its self is a work in progress. The projects that have the yarn AND pattern go into ziplock bags and then into a bin.  I tuck a list into the bin of what's in there.  Then I add these projects to my queue on Ravelry.  That way when I'm ready to start a project I know where to look.  For yarn without a pattern, I have created an excel spreadsheet by yarn weight so I know what I have.  I'm not religious about keeping the list up to date, but it's something.

Trammi prefers not to use electronics whenever possible but knows if she writes it on paper, she'll lose the paper.  I find it really useful to put all the pertinent information for a project and save it on Ravelry.  

We  revisited several of Trammi's projects.

1. Perla coat in Milano (Aran: 40% wool, 28% nylon, 18% silk, 14% other, 105 yards). We adjusted the pattern to make it an extra small. She was trying to figure out where she left off. When we showed Cornelia the picture, she complimented Trammi on the dramatic look of the coat and likened wearing to look like a swooping bird of prey. Great visual.

The pattern is translated from Italian, so every now and then there are parts of the directions that literally 'lose something in translation'. In the picture above, they use (our) symbol for division the same way we would use a dash.  You have to read the sentences before and after to get the full context.  Just like they taught us in grade school.

2. She wanted to learn how to work the garter tab on the Garter Triangle Shawl she is knitting with Noro Kureyon (Aran: 100% wool, 110 yards). The garter tab is actually very easy once see how it is worked.

The garter tab is the center 3 garter ridges at the top of the picture. The pattern called for a #8 needle.  Trammi is running out of 8's.  Since she uses  (Knitters Pride) interchangeables, she took the #8 tips off the Perla coat and put on point protectors. This is one of the benefits of interchangeables and also a red flag.  Don't leave headless horsemen; make a note what needles you were using and pin to project and/or use your Ravelry project page to keep track.

3. Customfit sweater. She might redo the sleeves because she is not sure she did the increases correctly. 

Cornelia will go kicking and screaming before switching to using circulars. She is enjoying knitting her customfit sweater in Malabrigo Worsted (Worsted: 100% wool, 210 yards). So far she has learned how to work slanted decreases and increases and likes the way the shaping looks.

Post written, time to sit and knit a bit.