June 2020 Monthly Craft Report

Welcome to the first Monthly Craft Report here on Stitching in the Woods! This is a new thing I”m doing to replace my Project Clean Queue tracking (though that project is still ongoing). In this report I’ll be letting you know what I’ve gotten done this month and what I plan to do next month. I’ll be posting it on the 4th Thursday of every month.

This change is part of an overall shift I’m making on my website to be focused on craft organization and planning as well as temperature blankets. It’s another passion of mine and I like the idea of being able to help others better organize or plan their crafting. The temperature blankets aren’t going anywhere, they’ll just be sharing the spotlight.

 

 

But why?

Since I’d like to start helping people better plan their craft projects I thought I would lead by example. My business mentor of sorts, Pat Flynn, used to do monthly income reports on his business blog, Smart Passive Income. In it he would detail all the business decisions he made that month and the reasoning behind them.

So taking that and applying it to my area, I thought I would take the time each month to explain what projects I worked on, how my systems worked that month, and what I was planning on doing the next month so you can see what progress I’d made. Then you, the reader, can learn from my wins and losses, too.

 

What I got done

I did finish one project in May, which was a sweater from the Wine Country Pullover pattern for my husband. It sat for a while because I did the button flaps wrong at first and I was loathe to fix it. But now it’s done. Well, done until my husband makes buttons for it and I sew them on. I’ve checked it off my list, however.

Another couple projects I got done were a couple of knitted washcloths. I’m not sure when I finished them. One was for a blog post and the other never made it onto any list. It was a washcloth to further practice knitting. And with 8 people in the house more washcloths are always needed.

So we’ll say I didn’t finish any of my projects this month. I did get re-organized. The new, streamlined arrangement I have for my personal projects should help me get more done. I’ll be releasing a detailed way you can do the same for your projects.

 

Analysis

I’ve been letting other things get in the way of my crafting. Some, like reading, I could curtail to make sure I still get crafting time. Others, like working on homeschool things, aren’t able to be cut. I’ve begun to streamline the homeschooling, so that should open up some time.

I’ll also have to figure out a better way to store my projects and hooks/needles so I don’t have to go looking for them every time I craft. That’s been wasting a lot of time for me. Keeping it so the preschooler and toddler can’t get into it is difficult as well. I’ll probably be figuring out a system so I only have the immediate project I’m working on with me. Then there’s less for them to get into and less clutter around my chair.

 

July 2020 plan

My big goal for July is to get 5 projects done. I have lots of little projects that can help me to get to that number. That being said, my bare minimum goal is to get 3 projects done.

I also want to update my Project Clean Queue into a static list, including taking off any new projects I’ve added to the list. So I also want to go through and finish developing the system for adding new patterns to my eventually want to do list. It will for sure involve a cool-down period to allow me some time to see if I stay excited about it.

The 7 projects I’m currently working on:

• mittens for kid #4:  last pair, merging of the Bernat Family Mittens and Let It Snow Mittens patterns
• a sweater for kid #2:  Pine Ridge Pullover pattern
• a knitted shawl:  Simple Lace Triangle Shawl pattern
• our Moogly CAL blankets:  one block at a time, simultaneously working on blankets for all of us, 7 in all with 1 not started yet so 6 for now
• a knitted fish washcloth for kid #5:  Something Fishy pattern
• a baby blanket/sweater set: Butterfly Days Baby Set pattern, keeping on it even though #6 has already outgrown it, sweater is done
• music quilt: Yellow Brick Road pattern

Note: I used kid #X in my descriptions just so you understand where in the order they are. I know it could come across as unloving and I don’t mean it that way!

 

 

What are your crafting plans for July?