Scrap Time is not like Scrap Yarn

It amazes me how quickly small balls of yarn will pile up in my scrap yarn stash. Each one of those leftover treasures is a memory of a project completed and the promise of playful creativity in the future. If you are anything like me, you could not part with the smallest smidgen “just in case”.

I wish time was like my scrap yarn. Imagine saving every spare minute from each day! By the end of the week, a great heap of time would pour out of my closet and that’s when I’d patch those moments into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into days. Then I’d have enough time for a really big project!

Unfortunately, time is a series of moments. No matter how hard you try, you cannot hoard them but you can use them to their fullest. Many ask me just how do I get all those projects done. The answer is simple: with practice and planning, you can do just about anything.

Here are a few suggestions to point you in the right direction:

1. Identify those elusive moments of time. When do you spend time waiting? In the doctor’s office waiting for an appointment, in the car waiting to pick up kids from school or sports activities. Do you watch television? If the answer is “yes” you’ve just found a glut of time. Do you spend a lot of time as a passenger in a car, bus, train, plane? Get the picture? Keep a list of potential time opportunities. How much time can be used for double duty? Note the amount of time away from the home and in the home.
2. Plan to use that time. Surprisingly, once you recognize available time, the mind starts planning automatically.
3. Keep a potential project list. Think two to six months in advance. Do you have special occasions coming up? Birthdays, holidays, weddings, the birth of a child? Take these into consideration when scheduling projects.
4. Carefully choose your projects. Be prepared to act. Once you’ve decided what to make, get ready. This means get the yarn, needles, and pattern together. Have it sitting in wait for the completion of your current project. Don’t shop for supplies at the last minute; that in itself is a time hog.
5. Keep your next project in the wings. Make you swatches a week or so before you think your current project will be completed. This gives you time to wash, dry, block and measure your swatch before you are ready to start the actual project.
6. Classify each project as small, medium or large. I prefer to have a major project and a smaller project going at the same time. As the larger project grows, delegate it to time at home while the smaller project travels with me.
7. Organize your basic tool kit. Include a 6 by 3 inch leather zippered pouch, a measuring tape with inches on one side and centimeters on the other, crochet hooks in a range of sizes, a few short pieces of scrap yarn (in a pinch, these double as markers), small pair of scissors, medium size yarn needles, a wooden toothpick holder (to house the yarn needles), a few large safety pins. If knitting, add markers, stitch holders and counter as needed. Choose circular, jumper or the shortest straight needles necessary to comfortably complete the project.
8. Carry only the amount of yarn you need for your time available. Note how much yarn you use in an hour or half hour. Soon you’ll estimate quite accurately.
9. Finish one project before going on to others. Accomplishment is quite exciting and you’ll have lots of fun as others wonder just how do you do it!