wallpaper One Step at a Time

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Have been reading David Allen's Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. I'm beginning to envision a future not too far off in which completing one of my novels will be as doable as completing an afghan such as the one I'm currently working on.

Since I continue to work apace (nearly) on the baby afghan, I continue to see the daily progress and the end product gets clearer and clearer as the stitches accumulate.

I was already thinking how nice it would be if I could make similar progress to that of the afghan on my stories, blog improvement, other needle/hook work, research and the myriad other projects I got going or want to get going on even before I picked up this book. Now, after reading less than fifty pages I'm beginning to see what I was doing right (so far) with the afghan project and how those behaviors can be translated to other projects.

Some of those 'doing it right' behaviors:

• I had a clear idea of what the finished product was and what each interim step consisted of.
• I had a deadline and knew how to spread the daily quotas of work somewhat evenly across the days available.
• I had the supplies I needed.
• I had a work-station conducive to the work.

Allen says that most of our stress is caused by trying to keep too much information in our memory and like a computer with overloaded RAM we will start malfunctioning.

His solution is to collect all of our To Dos--100%--in easily input and retrievable and regularly reviewed filing systems whether notebooks, PIMs, electronic or paper. And in those systems the outcome of each task/project should be made clear and each action/step toward that outcome defined as well as each dependency--tasks whose completion must precede the start of other tasks.

So far all I'm doing is picturing in my mind what such a list will begin to look like and it is quite daunting. But I realize after four weeks of steady progress on the afghan that what is missing in order to see similar progress on other projects, including the novels, is a clearly defined list of 'next actions' so that whether I find an unanticipated free time block or set designated ones, I will have a specific doable task to apply my attention to and be able to not fret over all of the yet-to-do tasks for I can be confident that each of them will have their appropriate turn.

Just as I don't need to fret about iteration 14 of the ten row pattern in the afghan while I'm working row 5 of iteration 11.

wallpaper Crochet Thread Hoard

wallpaper The Joanne.com order that arrive today

Seen on the flap are the variegated Lizbeth size 20 (Bubble Gum: red, pink, aqua) and the size 20 Snow White DMC Cebelia and the silver and gold metallic thread intended for embroidering on wide solid-color ribbon. Yet another bookmark concept.

In the box, standing up against the back wall, are the tubes of 3 Lilac and 3 Buttercup Aunt Lydia's Bamboo. I sent for so many at once because I wanted to be sure I had plenty for the afghan with at least one for the bookmarks. I've never found the Lilac in the stores and the yellow only once and not in the last three months. So I had sent for one Lilac in my last order and had the one yellow I'd found in the store awhile back when I started the afghan.

In the bottom of the box are the cotton or Bamboo all but one size 10.

• Top row left corner: True Blue and Crystal Blue of the Knit-Cro-Shen brand.
• Top row right corner: Knit-Cro-Shen Pastels. (I'm collecting variegated pastels, hoping to find the one used in that bookmark I found in my Dad's book in 2006. The fertilizer of my current bookmark-making craze)
• Middle row left to right: Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Twig (brown), Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Coral, Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Cruise Blue (size 3). Would have gotten in size 10 if they'd had it and now devoutly hope they will soon as it is a shade of Aqua which I'd love to combine with the Coral, Twig, Brown or White. Next in the middle: Aunt Lydia's Aspen Multi (brown, green, cream and blue?), Aunt Lydia's shades of Yellow
• Bottom row: Aunt Lydia's Blue Hawaii, Aunt Lydia's River Blue, Aunt Lydia's Dark Royal, Aunt Lydia's Violet.

I've mentioned several times since making that order a bit over a week ago that I was going to have problems finding room for it. I'd hoped to get it all reorganized before the order arrived. Until a couple days ago when I decided I might as well wait and make organizing part of the fun of exploring the new order as it would provide opportunity to put new colors next to older ones to anticipate cool combinations for multicolor patterns.

I got called to dinner before fully exploring the contents of the box but immediately after dinner and dishes I started gather all the thread from all the places it was stored or had strayed and separating into various groups that made sense to me. Today's box of course; all that has been added before today but after my arrival home from Longview in mid August; the afghan stash; the replacements for colors getting low; and the storage drawers as they existed after I finished unpacking in August.




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Thread bought before this order but after my return home in mid August

Some of these were from a previous Joanne.com order but the majority were from various shopping expeditions to the Joanne store, Michael's or WalMart

After this picture was taken, I took out all but the size 10 cotton and the two bamboo and added all the size 10 cotton from today's Joanne.com order, one each of all the bamboo colors--including those from the Joanne box, the original blue and white balls I've had nearly a year and raiding the afghan stash for green, yellow, lilac, and pink, which I can spare since deciding to make the smaller version. So now I can start making bookmarks using these colors singly or together in 2, 3 , 4, 5 and 6 color patterns.

I pulled out the five Sugar n Cream skeins intended for the crewel embroidery on my Mom's cotton knit sweater and put in a separate bag. I'll soon be making up a project bag that includes the sweater itself.

The vinyl case seen in the picture once contained the set of fleece sheets Ed got for Christmas. But between then and now it held the Sugar n Cream and all of the extra bamboo for the afghan. Now it holds all the size 10 cotton and bamboo of which I've made zero to very few bookmarks and so I wish to keep them near me until I've made one each of the single color patterns and at least one for each color in a multicolor pattern whether combined with the colors in the case or in the drawers. So I've stashed that vinyl case under my desk atop the boxes contain office misc. which puts it inches from my left knee as I sit on the bed

I combined all my size 20 and 30 thread--from the drawer the box and the vinyl case--into a shoebox-sized box setting next to my printer inches from my left elbow as I sit on the bed. This is where I've been keeping many of them for several weeks. I often just grab the end of a thread and a size 9 or smaller crochet hook and leaving the ball in the box work a bookmark in 20 to 40 minutes. I've enjoyed this practice so I'm leaving the box there for now and making it the home of all size 20 and 30. I may add my size 50 and 100 white and the two tatting thread balls all from my Mom's stash.

wallpaper Left: the baby afghan project w/one ea of the six colors in the white bag atop the blue bag w/ the rest of the bamboo thread for the afgan--5 white & 1 or 2 of ea pastel

Right: a craft bag temporarily holding the 7 replacement balls for colors running low

BTW I got my four row quota on the afghan before I slept this morning. In spite of having to take out three quarters of the last row I worked and putting it back in. I haven't started working on since waking to find my Joanne.com box ans so probably won't make my 4 to 5 row quota before I need to sleep.

In fact I may just give myself the day off entirely and start crocheting with my new thread as soon as I'm posted. If I have time before I sleep that is as I didn't get started writing this until after 1AM as I didn't get the bed cleared off until 11pm and then I'd misplaced my camera with the pictures on it and spent 40 some minutes looking for it and another half hour processing for posting.


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The two drawers holding the thread I had collected by early August.

On the left is the drawer containing all my size 10 solids as of mid August. When all balls are full this drawer holds four double rows of six with three on the bottom and three on top but when one or more of the balls are at least half gone I can fit a forth one in its row. Which is why you see four in the middle two rows. I probably could have fit another one in the row seen at bottom left as the black and the white (under the black) are well over half gone.

The drawer on the right contains all non size 10 and/or non solid and/or old and/or non-cotton and/or novelty thread and/or remnants. There are many that fit two or more of those criteria, like the size 30 variegated from Ed's grandma's stash--one of the original 8 or 9 partial balls that seeded this obsession nearly two years ago. Some of the old came from my mom's stash--again in various sizes. And some of the old--also in various sizes--were found in a thrift store by my sister.

This drawer had room to spare still before the latest order and even was holding some of the replacement balls. But now, if I were to put in all the thread that fit any of those criteria I could not close the drawer.

There is a third drawer in the chest which currently holds yarn. But it is so overstuffed it is a major hassle to open and close so I'd already been thinking of moving the yarn somewhere else to make room for more crochet thread. I suppose I'll be doing that soon.