Project page

...or a database if you're feeling extra fancy!

This is a site update that very likely only matters to me, but that's ok. I was listening to an episode of one of my very favorite podcasts last week (Elise Gets Crafty), and she did a whole chat about FOCUS. One of her tips about how to focus if you feel like you have just too many ideas swirling around in your head to focus on any of them is to simply write them down. There's more to the exercise, but basically by giving them a place to live outside your brain, you can clear out some space to think without feeling like you're going to lose all those thoughts by not focusing on them and running through them over and over again.

I'm definitely a proponent of the "write it down" school of thought - I do it at work in a physical notebook (somehow digital task lists don't work for me there), making lists for all the to-do's of the different projects I'm on. My google calendar is my lifeblood - if I haven't written it there (and set alerts for myself!) I'm unlikely to remember that it's happening. I use Goodreads to remember what books I've read....and if I liked them (yep, it's come to that!). I use a physical notebook to organize my personal business ideas, posting schedule, pattern notes, etc.

I love Ravelry for its project page, but it's specific to yarn craft, and, as I mentioned in a comment on my last post, I'm multi-craftual! I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, and sometimes, man, it's just hard to remember where you've been. It's also sometimes hard to remember you're already working on 4 projects when you excitedly start a new one....Plus I've got an inkling that the busy season for my shop is going to creep up on me pretty soon, so I wanted to get organized.

I've divided it up into 3 sections - things I'm working on, things I've finished (and when!), and a very sneaky 3rd category that seems to plague many crafters, things that are thisclose to being done, but still need finishing. For me, I need to sew on the buttons and do an inside ribbon detail on the Nova sweater dress. The poor thing is fully knitted, seamed, and I've even woven in the ends. Then I had to buy the ribbon and it landed in a pile in the closet. So close!

To keep myself on task, I've listed my "in progress" projects in the order in which I'd like to finish them. Sometimes - in the case of gifts or Etsy orders - there are even due dates! Because I plan for this to just be an always updating list, I didn't include photos, but I did link to the projects when I've done posts on them. (I have another page coming next week that WILL have pictures, and I'm pretty excited about it.) I just went back a couple of months for my "finished" objects, but I'm excited to be more on top of it in the future. Nothing is more motivating, for me anyway, than seeing everything I've done all gathered up into a master list!