Over the past couple of weeks, after chatting with a few other designers, I have found out that I am not very organized when designing patterns. No surprise there, I'm not very organized in life either LOL
My designer friends & I were discussing what we would need in a Designer's Project Journal/Tracker. What needs to be listed? What does a designer need to know about each project? How much writing space do we need? Should there be a spot to sketch a design? How many designs do we do in a year? So many things could be added that a notebook would be 5 inches thick. So what do we really need?
When I'm designing a new pattern, I look for different stitch patterns in the 10 books I have (yes I have a lot of crochet pattern books), look on Pinterest in my board with stitch diagrams, and just play with different stitch patterns I think might work well together. It can take hours of looking, crocheting, unravelling, crocheting, unravelling, crocheting.... you understand :) When I first started designing I wrote everything on paper, then put it on the computer in my pattern template. Now I usually do everything on the computer. It's easier to "erase" 10 lines on the computer then to erase them on paper, or rip out the paper because it's in pen and I can't erase it. (I'm saving trees!)
Lately though I've been thinking I need to have a notebook or something to write down what stitch patterns I use for which pattern. Usually it takes a few month for my testers to get a pattern after I've finished it, and by then I've forgotten what the pattern was because I've designed 4-5 more patterns in between!
Marsha & I have a Crochet Designer Community Group on FB. One of our designers linked her Crochet Designer's Project Tracker one day and I thought I would purchase one. I need all the help I can get keeping track of things!
There are 4 pages for each design you create.
1 - Important info: project name, yarn used, date started, dated ended etc.
2 - Hook size, gauge, yarn labels, sketches etc.
3 & 4 - Notes. (If you are like me.... you need a lot of space for notes lol)
This is a wonderful first planner, or even if you have had planners before, this is a great next planner. It has everything you need to keep track of your designs. Even if you aren't a designer and want to know what you have done with each project you have crocheted, you would be able to use this.
What would I add? Probably a graph page (for sketching or row colors), a row counter page, type of stitches used, skill level, & tester area. Of course these are all things I could add to the notes sections as well. Oh - and make it digital so I could print it out when I needed it. There are enough pages to add 22 designs to this planner, however I would need 2 - 3 a year as I design 40+ patterns a year, so digital would be great :) Then I just need to purchase a binder for all the pages & be able to separate the designs into sections (hats, scarves/cowls, blankets etc).
After getting the planner I did some research into other planners. There are no planners that would have everything I would like in them, printed or digital. To do that I would have to buy 6 planners and make them into one lol. A bit hard to do.
This planner is the closest to what I would like so I would definitely suggest this one as an option if you are looking for something to help you organize your crochet designing journey!
Oh, wow! I didn't realize I needed one of these. Going to order one right away!
Audrey Thank you so much for this review!!! I will definitely add all these info to my next Planner- Enjoy!!! Sandra
Oh that sounds just like something that I was looking for!! Thank You