Get Organized for the New Year with These Resource Packs

Every year I decide is the year I’m going to get my knitting stuff more organized. And every year I make a little bit of progress. I’ve decluttered my yarn pretty well over the years, and this year I finally organized my yarn storage by color, which is something I’ve wanted to do since I changed offices in the house (probably five years ago?).

If you need a little help getting your knitting life on track for the new year, I’ve got a couple of good resources for you from The Blue Elephants on Etsy.

First up is the Make it Happen Resource Pack, which is for knitters who need cheat sheets. This guide is for both knitters and crocheters, or those of us who do some of both. It includes:

Crochet hook sizes conversion chart with a place to check off what’s in your inventory
Common crochet abbreviations and a conversion chart for US and UK terms
Knitting needle size conversion chart with space for your inventory of different kinds of needles
Knitting abbreviations and symbols
Yarn weight guide
Laundry care symbols
Hat sizing guide
Blanket sizing guide
Sizing for other projects (scarves, shawls, household items, but not garments as far as I can tell)
Additional resources and favorite tools

In all its 23 pages you can print or edit on your computer.

There’s also a pack for people who knit things to sell and knitwear designers. It includes:

Project trackers
Yarn stash inventory
Project ideas list
Brand identity plan
Product line planner
Custom order tracker
Handmade pricing guide
Monthly income and expenses report
Pattern templates
Resources for makers
Printable tags to use on products

They’re really meant to be used together (there’s also an undated planner you can buy to go with them) but if you aren’t a designer or someone who sells, the first one would be good to have just for the cheat sheets.

If you have organizational or other knitting-related goals for the new year I would love to hear them!

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day.

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details.

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes.

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult.

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather.

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size.

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

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