Plan is defined as an intention or decision about what one is going to do. I will admit I suck when it’s time to plan. Some of my best work comes when my back is up against the wall. When I do plan, I find I go back and change it multiple times before it’s actually due. Are you are planner? Does that characteristic flow into your making? Let’s talk about it.
I want to look at this from two points. The first being do you plan around a pattern? What do you mean GG? Is that your question? I mean do you see a pattern you like and then you start the preparation? For me that is usually when I will set my mind to actually make something. It’s the pattern that grabs me and then I start looking for yarn…well for me looking means calling That Damn Della! hahahahahaha
For example, I saw this dress from Knitatude and instantly started looking for yarn. My first call was to Adella, then I saw it was cotton and I was gifted some cotton…so that is what I intend to cast on next. Then I spotted the hat from Knit Collage made with the new yarn from Knit Collage. That will be a quick fix, so yea that is up next, I think! LOL! Do you see why I ask?
How does it work for you? Are you driven by the yarn? Is the answer to the age old question..what comes first the yarn or the pattern? the yarn for you? If I am to truly give this some thought, any time I have gone to Adella for assistance, I already had the pattern. I have tons of yarn that I think is FABUOUS!! I am afraid it just sits if I don’t have a patten in mind.
Early in my knitting I learned that when I just grabbed yarn, I never had enough for anything outside of a hat or a cowl. So do you prepare for what you make in advance or do you just dig in your stash and go? Let’s talk about it.
I have a “white board” of planned projects and deadlines!!! Otherwise I would probably have 10 projects started. I usually buy the pattern and yarn at the same time – or I often find I don’t have enough yarn – I learned that after a few years, so I have some random skeins of pretty yarn. Plus sometimes I do find really pretty yarn that I just can’t resist – Ravelry has really helped me find patterns that will work!
Absolutely yes! Favorite part of knitting. I’ve got projects planned way in advance plus yarn at the ready. Not like I can’t get distracted by something new and shiny though. If only I could knit faster!
I have tried to plan. I went through my Rav queue and was like OK, I’m going to do this. Then new patterns pop up and I’m like oh, look, pretty! And I get distracted. I’ve been doing the “Knit 20 for 2020” and had that all planned out but then I got on a sock kick and I tried to figure out how I could do all the categories with socks. I buy pretty fingering weight yarn often (because PRETTY) and get 1 skein and then try to find single skein shawls. I rarely buy solids, and that would be helpful if a shawl called for 2 skeins. So, I’m a mess 🤣 But I did at one time have a plan, but apparently it’s fluid.
I’m interested in the “knit 20 for 2020.” Who should I look out for 2021? Would love to seek out more info.
Good luck with your challenge!
Sheree:
Helen Stewart from Curious Handmade created the #knit20for2020 I believe. I follow her on IG at @curioushandmade I honestly don’t remember seeing a list like that for 2019 but I could have missed it.
-Liz
Thanks Liz ~ Happy Knitting !
Depends for me. Sometimes I will see a gorgeous yarn out in the world that I just know will be beautiful as a sweater. If it’s in my budget, then I buy what I consider to be a normal sweater quantity and wait for the right pattern to present itself. This is dangerous because sometimes the sweater quantity I have is for a sleeveless crop top while the pattern that would be perfect is a full length duster with a hood. When I have a pattern in or in my purchases, then I will start looking online for the right yarn and keep on searching until I find the right one.
Do I plan? I Virgo, perfectionistically (just made up a word), and anally plan! Two examples:
Ex. 1 Maybe a month before going to Rhinebeck, I plot out which makers/stalls I want to go to (regulars as well as new ones who intrigue me). I go to their websites, check out their yarns, then search my patterns or download new ones for the yarn I think I’ll get. I bring them with me for
yardage.
Ex. 2 About 3 years ago I was on the Berroco website and fell in love with a sweater. I searched on their site for the pattern and found the booklet it was in but it was no longer available. I Googled it and found only the picture. It haunted me. Finally 2 years ago I looked for the name of the editor of patterns there to ask if I could buy it somehow. A day or two later. I received an email and an attachment of the entire booklet with a “Merry Christmas!”
I don’t plan, but I dream ahead; I see designs I love and dream of them. Casting on is strictly an act of passion and inspiration. Sometimes I get really inspirerad by a yarn, buy it, and in those cases I must cast on immediately. The closest thing to planning is that I keep a long list of works in progress so that I dont forget about them completely. 😊
I do a little bit of it all. If I’m going to a yarn festival or yarn store (especially on holiday) I try to go with a list of 2-4 projects I’d like to make and need yarn for – that helps me limit my impulse purchases. If I can, I buy two skeins of anything I fall in love with because it does expand the options – or buy the lovely hand paint with a skein of tonal or solid to go with it.
I signed up for a yarn subscription for the first time this year, and gave myself the challenge of finding a project that used at least 2-3 of the colors from different months together because they are all the same yarn base.
Which yarn subscription did you purchase? Do you like what you get? Is it worthwhile?
So glad you asked the question. I just finished a beanie, and now I’m not sure what to knit. Usually, it’s whatever crosses my mind, and at the moment my brain is frazzled. I’m thinking about a 1. MarketBag 2. Socks ( great orange 🧶)3. Baby sweater& booties ( for neighbors first grand baby) 4. Fingerless mitts( fast and easy).
You have inspired me to knit a tank top for myself, this is a first. I’ve had the yarn for this project for years, but hesitant to start. As you can see, no real plan. Have a great day!
There are so many beautiful yarns out there; you can’t buy [or afford] them all. After acquiring an SBLE [stash beyond life expectancy], I have learned to stay fluid, flexible, pattern-centered, and open to inspiration where projects are concerned. I often use up impulsively purchased yarn of yesteryear on small projects like hats, which it is such a pleasure to give away. One time, inspired by Lion Brand’s Hats Not Hate campaign, I made five dozen blue hats for everyone I could think of at my youngest grandson’ s small public school in Los Angeles [teachers and TAs, admins, office and cafeteria staff, custodians, playground and after-school program workers, and PTA officers]. It wasn’t enough because the parent volunteers had been forgotten [shame on me]! So I made another couple dozen. To some who demurred, saying they never wore hats, I said, how about giving them as gifts? Their faces lit right up. It was a mutual appreciation thang anyway.
I have been planning recently. I have a huge stash now! I used to just smell, feel, and squish yarn and purchase having no idea what to make with it, lol. Now, I feel that I’m over-planning in order to utilize the stash!
Most of the time it’s pattern driven, but my next sweater is yarn driven and I’m SO, SO excited about it.
Hi GG,
I always plan. And… i never follow the plan. But… i plan again, change again etc.
And i try to buy yarn thinking of a pattern. But, as i always change my plan, that does not work :))
Well, i don’t mind : i understand i like planning for the fact of planning not for following the plan lol and it’s ok for me not to follow it as far as hobby is concerned.
The real problem is that designers should stop to make so beautiful design all the time. If so, maybe i will be able to follow a plan.
I achieved SABLE years ago (hence my name on most forums being either sable or sewsable). However the patterns that call my name recently have all asked for yarn I don’t have in stash. I’ve been doing some smaller items to use up stash, spinning yarn to make more stash which will need time to marinade in there before it says what it wants to be and I now have new yarn for the must knit pattern that yelled at me across cyberspace.
Like you, I get inspired by things I see – and I also really enjoy a request and collaborating. Now, he tricky thing is I am weaving, not knitting. So I sometimes make the fabric for one thing and use it for something else! Like I used the wool and was aiming the make throws with a hucklace, but after I was done, it looked like sweeter fabric, so I made three sweaters. And now, I still want that wool throw, so I will make it again. Let’s see if I follow through. My last project was just inspired by a feeling – enjoying two bold colors – bright orange and bright fuchsia – and I sat on this idea for years and then the orange leadership spark moved me to act. Now, I am adventuring into dying my linen warp and making bread bags for all those people baking bread. The dying idea came because, well, why not? haha. It’s also taking time so I decided to start winding off my next warp project. I buy a bunch of material to get a good price and then use it all up before buying more. I am at the end of my lot and all the colors are dark and making me cranky. But then, I saw just a clip of Sleepless in Seattle, and Tom Hanks is sitting on this couch, and there is this dark striped woven blanket on the couch. And it looked so rich and now I am using it to fashion my next warp. So that sparks the plan and then it evolves – like I decided to use dark espresso brown and navy blue stripe for the warp as a subtle vertical stripe and the weft will have a lighter warmer brown, a light and dark grey, more navy blue, and red stripe in it – oh I also made the selvage of the warp red with a spot of silvery grey. So kinda plan as I go. And it’s cotton and I have no idea what I will make out of this fabric when I am done. Not a clue! haha.
I plan all my gifts. Right now my Ravelry Queue is all lined up with gifts for my 2 year old great niece and her new 2 month old sister along with a yearly hat for their father. Other than that, I usually cast on things that I like when I see them. I’m working on a mystery shawl now and am planning to cast on the upcoming Casapinka one in August. I haven’t kept up with a mystery kal in years but for some reason, being stuck at home has me wanting to do them and stash diving to find the yarn.
Aww making gifts for the little ones is a great thing to plan
As part of my ‘what will I do in the new year’ I pick out patterns/projects, print out the pattern, grab the yarn, needles and other notions and put them in a project bag ready to go. I try to choose 12 projects. I have some mindless knitting to grab and go and some more challenging patterns when I want to do mindful knitting. It removes the anxiety of ‘what will I do next’ when I am finishing a project. DOes this make sense?
I love this idea~makes a lot of sense!
That is an awesome idea!
It makes complete sense 🗣 thank you for sharing
I got the idea from Ange at Yarn n Yarns. SHe calls it the 12 days of Christmas cast ons.
I actually do both. Sometimes I find a pattern I love, then find the yarn. Other times it’s just the opposite. If I am buying yarn because I’ve fallen in love with the colors, I’ll try to buy a couple of skeins, or one skein and a mini to increase my options. Either way, I love yarn😊.
🗣 Thank you for sharing
I used to be a planner, picked yarns for projects, found projects for my stash. Then this year happened, and I would call it panic knitting. I’m afraid I will run out of time to make everything I want to, so I’m making blankets for future babies I hope someday to meet; afghans for people in nursing homes so they know that we haven’t forgotten them, toys for Christmas, comfort pillows and mats for pets. As long as I’m knitting, I can pretend everything is fine. I love seeing everything you make, so bright and warm.
I usually see a pattern I like, then look for yarn. I don’t plan ahead, unless it’s hats or shawls to donate.
You have been my inspiration, these last 2 years. 🧶🧡