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For me, it’s always a struggle to meet the Christmas gifts deadlines and still enjoy the holiday season. I start with the best of intentions and then — poof! — like my willpower in the face of chocolate, it’s gone and I’m behind on my Christmas knitting. And then my son asks if THIS year will be the year I knit a hat for him (actually, I knit him a hat four years ago and he lost it, but I digress).
I knew there had to be a better way, so last year I designed a Christmas Knitting Planner to help organize all those holiday knitting projects, including gifts, decorations and personal cold-weather garments. I’m offering it to you to help stay on track and enjoy the whole process, instead of dreading it. If you’d like to purchase my $5 digital download Christmas Knitting Planner which is full of templates and worksheets, click here.
In today’s blog post, I’ll talk about how you can put a plan in place to ensure you complete your Christmas knitting projects on time and reduce stress during the busy holiday season. Don’t worry this is the beginning and high level. Stick with me for the rest of the series and we will really get into the weeds with tips and techniques.
Remember to enjoy the process—knitting is not just about the finished product, it is also about the love and care you put into each stitch.
The best way to start your holiday knitting is to make a list of everyone you want to knit for and then brainstorm ideas for each person. You can write a simple list in your notebook or use sticky notes. Our planner has some great worksheets for this!
Make sure you consider the needs and wants of each gift recipient. Are they allergic to wool? If so, maybe they’d prefer cotton or alpaca. Do they live in a warm climate (I’m looking at you, fellow knitters in the Southern US!)? Or maybe they live in an icy cold climate, so a fingering-weight shawl may not be the best option for a winter gift.
What are your gift recipient’s favorite colors and what is their personal style? Do they wear hats or prefer scarves to cowls? Do they have a favorite sports team or fandom that you can incorporate? Have they complimented your recent FO and do you think it would suit them?
When you’re planning your holiday knitting, you’ll want to prioritize your projects by complexity and the length of time it will take to complete them, and tackle the most time-consuming pieces first. You will need to do a bit of guesswork in order to estimate how long each project will take, but it’s safe to say that hats will take less time than scarves (being smaller).
Always add a buffer for mistakes — we’re only human. Keep in mind the adage of “whatever can go wrong, will.” Let’s face it, life happens - especially around the holidays. So let’s factor in a little time cushion just in case.
Here’s a fun fact: In an 8 hour work day an employee isn’t actively working on a task for the full 8 hours. Actually, about 2 hours in each work day are “lost productivity” - things like going to the coffee pot, bathroom, hallway chatter, reading emails, etc. Those 5 minute unintentional breaks add up to actually 2 hours in the average workday. Hence, the need for some buffer time.
So, I’m sure you’re wondering how to go about all these time estimates. Glad you asked! One thing you can do is take your due date (the day you are handing out the gifts) and work backwards from there to get to your start date (which is the least preferred project management method, but honestly sometimes the most realistic!).
If all your projects added together take 12 weeks to knit, and you’ve added buffer time, then you know when you need to start.
I always like to add a week at the end of a project just in case I run over the schedule (in the project management world, this is what we call “slack”). For example, how long a task (finishing that scarf for Aunt June) be delayed before it impacts the other deliverables (the pair of socks for Uncle Fred) or delays the project completion (giving out IOUs instead of gifts on Christmas).
Make sure to set realistic timelines and choose projects that match your knitting skills. If you're a beginner, start with simpler patterns. Also, select projects that fit your schedule. Smaller projects might be more manageable if you’re short on time. If you are tight on time, and don’t want to get stressed, then maybe this isn’t the time to try a new technique out. Then again, if you have time, maybe this is the year to try knitting cables.
We will dig into different methodologies for estimating your time to give you the confidence that your estimates are accurate in an upcoming blog post. One of my favorite (and geeking out here) is the PERT (Project Evaluation Review Technique) - trust me it’s a lot easier than it sound because math hurts my brains (lol!)
Make a list of all the materials you will need for each project — yarn, needles, patterns, stitch markers, measuring tape, scissors — early on to avoid last-minute shopping stress.
Put together the supplies you have on hand and note what you need to purchase. Remember: the closer it gets to the holiday, the harder supplies will be to find and the longer shipping will take. Yes, we have a tracker in the planner for this too (okay, so we have a tracker or worksheet in the planner for everything we are covering in the series).
Use a progress tracker to monitor your knitting progress. We have a handy template for you to try out in our planner. Update your tracker regularly to stay on schedule. I’d recommend updating it at least once a week, if not more. You definitely want to update at the start and end of each deliverable (aka knitting project).
Are you ready to start this Christmas knitting season and have a great plan forward? Our downloadable and printable planner, which accompanies this series, is available to download now.
How can I get started with project planning my Christmas knitting?
What should I include in my project planning section?
How can I stay organized while planning my projects?
Where can I find the best supplies for my projects?
Can I personalize my planner?
Will there be more posts to help with other sections of the planner?
Until next Tuesday,
Jenna
