Over on Instagram every now and then you will see posts that contain my planner. In reality, I actually have three planners and of course, use Trello and Google Calendar as well. I have lost count of the number of times people ask me how I manage and the answer is planners and help. When Carol Feller posted that she was stocking the Strickplaner by Martina Behm for 2018, there was a little girl in me who just couldn’t say no. Carol very kindly sent me a journal to try out which leads me to this post.
Over the last ten years, I have met lots of crafters who also use journals and swear by them. For example, there is Diane from The Dublin Knit Collective who is an avid Bullet journal fan and has managed to convert quite the number of Dublin knitters into giving it a try. I use a Filofax and a planner from Paperchase because I can design and print out my inserts to do exactly what I need them to do. I have been using one section as a knitting planner so I was more than a little excited to give the Strickplanner a try.
When I opened it my first thought was how much it reminded me of my First Communion prayer book as a child which may sound a little crazy but hey my mind is a beautiful thing and it is probably an Irish primary school throwback. The planner is white with two different ribbon page markers and beautifully embossed cover. When you open the planner I was met with the phrase ‘More Time To Knit’ and although sceptical that it could find me more time to knit, I’m a pretty easy going kind of gal so I kept reading.
Planning
I’ll get straight to the point, this one planner does the job of two of my own planners and is less than half the size. The idea is simple: first, you plan, then you create and at the end of the week, you find time to relax and reflect on how the week went and what you learned for the upcoming one. If you have never used a planner before this is a perfect introduction and you can use it just for craft and stash organisation. With any planner though, you get out what you put into using the planner. For me, it’s about remembering about the stash I bought ten years ago or keeping on top of gifts, then work and then the kids. I love the quality of the paper and just how much is crammed into this tiny book.
Contents
The planner has a step by step guide on how to use it effectively along with yearly life goals, yearly reflection, quarterly overview and tracker. It has tables of measurements & conversions, needle sizes in mm and US, a ruler a section on yarn purchases to help organise your stash, wish lists, squared pages for knitting patterns and dot pages for mind maps. This planner is going to live on my desk beside my laptop where it’s going to help me work through my wip mountain and gain control of my stash, stop impulse yarn purchases (ok well it will try) and also remind me to find those five minutes to think about tomorrow’s tasks.
I’m excited for 2018 to give this a try. I really want to be more organised now that my kids are a bit older and I have more time for me. If you have never used a journal before this is a perfect introduction into getting into the mindset of finding time for you to reflect and work on time management but what I love about this planner is the size and how much is covered by one journal. If you would like to hear from the lady herself, Martina has a flick through tutorial video here where she takes an in-depth look at the planner:
If you want to pick one up here in Ireland, Carol has some on her website Stolenstitches.com. I hope I have inspired you to try using a journal and as always, Happy Knitting!
xxx
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