When I discovered the Knit and Crochet Notebook by Mama's Notebooks, I knew I had found a potential solution. I'm so proud to present Mama Heather as a sponsor of Noget Uldent.
Mama Heather is the author of a wide selection of notebooks, from baby to budgets, homeschooling and knitting - Heather offers a notebook to help you keep track of everything.
Now onto the review!
Full disclaimer: the nice Heather sent me my copy for free and I decided to pass it on to my mum, as it was just what she needed! This review is based on both my mum's and my impression of the notebook.The Knit and Crochet Notebook is not aimed at designers per se, but at every knitter and crocheter and it contains the following segments:
- Project table of contents
- Project pages (enough for 30 projects!)
- Needle and hook tracker
- Gauge tracker
- Project wish list
- How to measure
- Measurement chart
- Standard yarn weight reference
- Notes
Project pages
The amount of project pages is quit generous - 30 projects will last most knitters a year or two, right?!At the top there are spaces to fill in all the important information and I really liked the 'check when finished' feature at the right hand side of the squared section. It suits my control gene perfectly.
The fact that each project has a full spread, allows for a good amount of space for notes and diagrams, especially if you're not designing from scratch, but making a good deal of moderations, like my mum tend to do.
Needle and hook tracker
We both agree that this feature is great and an important part of a knitting notebook, but frankly neither of us will use it. There's a big disclaimer attached to this statement, we both have highly organised knitting needle bags and don't feel the need to keep further track of our needles, but if they were say in a box or drawer all mixed and jumbled, then this tracker would be a lifesaver!Gauge tracker
There's only one word that can truly describe this part of the notebook: ingenious!
We both knit in the same yarns time and again and while we remember our gauges roughly, writing it down is just one of those duh!-moments.
There's room for 50 items so just get cranking on those gauge swatches and with the dates noted as well, you'll be able to see if you need to do a check-up, since your gauge does change over time.
Project wishlist
My mum is lucky to be married to Mr. Please-Knit-Me-A-...., needles to say that the wish list will come in handy. If I had kept the notebook I would use this part to record design ideas and inspirations.
Most of us have Ravelry queues, but there is just something special about a paper list, isn't there?!
How to measure and the measurements chart
Sometimes, exactly where and how to take a measurement can get confusing, especially if you are trying to explain it to your helpful, but clueless significant other, the chart makes it easy to explain and the measurement charts means you don't have to take a persons measurements every single time you knit them something. This is particularly handy if your recipients live far away.
Conclusion
We quite like the notebook, it has a lot of great features and seems very reasonably priced at $20.99 taking into consideration that it will probably last you at least a year if not a couple of years. We couldn't really think of anything we felt were missing and that is always a plus. So if your notes are as disorganised as ours, then getting the Knit and Crochet Notebook will most likely be a good investment.
Sounds very handy indeed, might have to get myself one of these.
ReplyDeleteIt really is, my mum is quite smitten with it.
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