Great Tips for Putting a Project to Bed

July 10, 2014 by Sarah White

We’ve all had times when we knew we were putting a project in time out. Usually that is accompanied by frustration and getting the project out of our sight as quickly as possible.

But we really should be kind to our future selves and take a moment to write down some things about the currently offending pattern in the hope that some day we’ll want to deal with it. This is also good advice when you’re putting a project away for a while even if it hasn’t been behaving badly (say it’s the dead of summer and you can’t stand working on that stranded knit sweater any longer).

Ashley Little from Crafty’s knitting blog has some great tips for taking notes on a project before you put it away. She says you should note what the pattern is and where it came from (yes!), as well as where you are in the pattern, what yarn you were using, needle size and the size of the garment you were making.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten all of these things about a project I put into hibernation at one time or another — sometimes more than one.

This is such great advice! Check the site for a link to a cute download (those project cards pictured above) that might help you get your UFOs a little better organized, too.

[Photo via Craftsy.]

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Comments

Donna H says
July 10, 2014 at 2:40 pm
This is a great idea!! I gave a knitting project a little “time out” a few months ago. I have the yarn and pattern all tucked away together, but have three sets of needles in the project bag. I plan to get back to this project soon, but I can’t for the life of me remember why I put three different sets of needles in with this sweater (?!?)
Oh well, I guess I’ll be swatching again 🙂

Have you read?

Knit a Glasses Holder for Your Bedside Table

Not too long ago I was seeing a crochet pattern for a glasses holder shaped like a bear all over the Internet. It was super cute, and also useful as a place to put your glasses on your bedside table instead of just throwing them somewhere random.

This project stewed in my brain for a little while and I decided I needed to make a knit version, but I didn’t want to make a bear. If you know anything about me you might know that I’m a cat person, so of course my version had to be a cat.

The base is just a basic little basic worked from the center out to the desired size, then up the sides as long as you want them. Knit some ears and add embellishments to make it whatever kind of animal you want.

The way I figured out to work the base from the center out was to use a crochet cast on, which gives you an easier way to pick up stitches from the back of the cast on than if you worked a more traditional cast on for a knitting project. It’s kind of fun to do things in a different way from time to time.

This little project is adorable if I do say so myself, and even as a plain little basket not made into an animal it’s a cute way to keep your glasses or other little things in one place. I’m tempted to make one for my desk to hold pens or even little little scissors and sewing needles that are always on my desk but somehow always seem to get lost on my desk.

If you need a little holder for your glasses on your table, check out the pattern at Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Our Daily Craft]