General blather

Excelling at Organization

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This weekend I finally got started on a project I have been meaning to do for some time – a spreadsheet of all the projects I would like to make.

I have been working on what characteristics I wanted on the spreadsheet and how I wanted it organized, and finally got going on it! I added dropdowns with options for project type and yarn weight, which is always fun. There is a lot to record still, but taking it a little bit at a time it should go pretty quickly. This will also give me the opportunity to go through my books and magazine one more time.

I may also add a sheet to keep my stash organized here as well – we shall see! I know other people have mentioned using spreadsheets to track progress and stash and so on. Do you use Excel ( or equivalent) to organize your craftiness? If so, how do you use it?

24 thoughts on “Excelling at Organization”

  1. I use an excel spreadsheet that tracks stash in and out that another blogger shared, I made a few tweaks. In 2019 I knit/wove 6 miles of yarn and finished the year with 29.4 miles in my stash. Now she has enough miles of yarn in her stash to go from Arizona to Dublin and back! This year my stash in will only be gifted yarn or handspun and I’m hoping to use more than 6 miles. Happy to email the template to you if you’d like a look?

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  3. Wow, that looks like a lot of work and thought process. Very impressive, indeed. I keep a journal of my projects as I start them. There are columns for name of project, yarn used, size of hook or needle, date started and date ended. I change my mind too often about projects I “think” I want to make. This lady is more of an “in the moment” knitter.

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  6. I LOVE THIS!!! JUST WHEN I THINK YOU CAN’T GET ANY COOLER YOU DO THIS!!!!! Have you considered adding a tab to track what you have knit? Maybe one in progress? You could do a chart at the end of the year to really feel good about what you have done. Please forgive my dorkiness – when you are a stay at home MBA you get geeked out when someone mentions excel.

    I use Google sheets to track the yarn I buy and what I knit. It was very helpful when I was on my yarn diet. I think I’ll add a sheet to add the projects I want to make. I just went through Ravelry last night and cleaned my queue, as it had so many things I am never going to make. Organizing my thoughts in a spreadsheet always makes me happy.

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    1. I think you are the cool one! Your spreadsheet sounds really helpful and awesome! I have considered adding a tab to track completed projects – just thinking about what I want to record 🙂
      Your yarn purchase sheet sounds like a wonderful idea! I should definitely do that as well, because I do have general ideas about how I’d like to cut down, but don’t have any concrete way to measure that.
      I know what you mean about the queue – so many things got stuck in there that just aren’t going to happen. Wishful thinking!
      I didn’t know you were an MBA – that is cool! I love spreadsheets – so useful for so many things and so flexible! I find starting a spreadsheet makes me really sit down and figure out what the goals and aims of the project really are. You really have to be clear when you are starting one, or it will be a mess 🙂

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      1. I think it would be intersting to look at what I want to knit in a pie chart by weight and also by color. It feels like I’m always knitting with the same weights and colors and I would like visual confirmation.

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  7. Love this! I’ve definitely embraced Excel for tracking specific projects (mostly sweaters) but never thought to organize planned projects that way (other than sometimes I’ll create the tracking spreadsheet for the next thing I want to knit!). Not sure if I will, while I like the idea, I generally pick what I want to knit next sort of in the moment. I also don’t really have too many patters outside of Ravelry, so I will usually just use that

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    1. I’d be interested to see how you are tracking your projects! Ravelry definitely makes sense for organizing if most of your patterns are there. Most of mine are in books or magazines here.

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