Design Portfolios

This is the current incarnation of organizing my design process. Each design has its own Pocket Portfolio.

The front of the portfolio has a checklist (19 steps at the moment) with a column for
1) Design Process Steps
2) Start Date
3) Completion Date
and a new addition 4) a Comment column
Extra lines at the bottom provide an extra comment area.

The checklist is generated in a spreadsheet, but a table in a wordprocessor would work too). 

On the inside, the business card slots that some of these portfolios have are an excellent place to keep some yarn labels or they can be clipped to the pocket.

The portfolios are kept in recycled cereal boxes (see Recycling page) which provide room for the Design Portfolio, yarn, WIP (work in progress), needles, notions, etc. -- everything needed for each project in process.
  

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Swatch Binder

You can now download a variation of this Swatch Page Template for FREE. (attachment at bottom of this page)

This full page (8.5" x 11") form will allow you to keep track of all of your swatches: yarn, yarn content, gauge, cost, and much more. There is a place to attach the swatch, a comments area and a place to code the page (by yarn weight, colour, fibre content -- however you organize your swatches).

Placing each Swatch Page into a page protector and then into a binder will organize all of your swatches for easy future reference.

Further organization:

1. Print Swatch Pages on different coloured paper to differentiate between swatches for different weights of yarn (Lace, DK, Worsted etc.), fibre content (wool, bamboo, hemp, blends, etc.) -- or however you organize your swatches.
   
   
2. Use Swatch Pages to track projects for which you have all materials (see Travel Wish Book below) -- a reminder to swatch before you start your project. Keeping these pages at the front of your Swatch Binder will provide a quick reference of projects that are ready to go!
   

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Stitch Sample Book

Whether you are creating a new stitch or trying out something from the web or a stitch dictionary, a Stitch Sample Book will give you 3-D samples in your choice of yarn.

Recipe cards (3" x 5") and a photo album is all you need (I used one that would take two 4"x6" photos on each page and was soft cover).	The size of the photo pockets easily allows the insertion of the recipe cards with the stitch samples stapled to them. The recipe card form gives you a place to record the stitch name, source, date, needles/hook used and a comment area to record your ideas for this stitch pattern.	A free downloadable pdf form is now available (see bottom of page).

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Travel Wish Book

 


Another FREE downloadable pdf for you (see attachments at bottom of page) -- this one is sized for 4" x 6" index cards so one of those inexpensive photo albums works well and fits into you bag for easy travel.

I use these cards to keep track of the projects I want to knit.

They give a summary of the materials needed for each project and if you keep them with you at all times, you can fill in/ check off the information as it is obtained.

Once you have all the materials for a project, pull the card from the Travel Wish Book and clip it to a Swatch Page. When you're ready to knit, the card can provide lots of info for you Swatch Page.

Your Swatch Pages also now become a place to see all of the projects for which you have all of the materials.

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The Harmony Guides: Cable and Arans Stitch Search

An MS Excel file that contains all of the stitch names and the stitch/row counts from the book The Harmony Guides Cables & Arans 250 Stitches to Knit edited by Erika Knight (2007). It does not contain the patterns for each stitch. Follow link for more details and a downloadable Excel spreadsheet.