If you are a knitter who uses Ravelry, you are likely aware that you can store all your project records there.  You can attach your stashed yarn, track start dates, end dates, notes about and all sorts of other random information about the project that you want to remember for later.

One feature is the “status” feature and it’s used by different people in different ways.  Thanks to my friend Caryn, I adopted, early on, a practice of marking something 100% once the item was fully knit, but not changing the status to “Finished” until the ends were woven in, the item had had its customary bath and the final photos had been taken.  That  time frame can be as little as 24 hours or as long as a week or so.

There is another status that I have been using somewhat frequently: “Hibernating”.  Traditionally I have used this one for anything I haven’t touched in a few months.  (I have been pretty loosey-goosey with the time frame.)  The problem with this status is that it fools me into thinking I have fewer projects on needles than I really do.  Ravelry’s sorting mechanism buries those projects below all my FOs and as such I don’t see those entries unless I go looking for them.  So my, say, eight projects “In Progress” isn’t too bad, I think, until I realize I have another six in “Hibernating”.  Suddenly, I have fourteen things on needles, which I think may be a bit much.  (Your mileage may vary, of course…it’s all personal preference).  This is usually brought home to me when I am looking for s specific project bag or a certain needle that I cannot find and cannot for the life of me locate in my WIPs.

So, I am going to stop using that status.  Seeing that I currently have sixteen items OTN – more  right now than is reasonable for one person (again, YMMV) – this might keep me a bit focused on finishing at least a few of these before casting on something else.  If I already have five pairs of socks on needles, do I really need a sixth?  And perhaps I might like to finish one of my five shawls/scarves and four cowls, hmm??

Time to get busy knitting or get busy froggin’.