Review by Laura Cameron
Last year I had the pleasure of previewing the Strickplaner (€18.90, review here) which was a planner designed with knitters in mind. I confess that I didn’t use it much last year, but I really did like the way creator Martina Behm included different trackers and layouts so you could brainstorm for projects, do quarterly planning and sprints, and store all your project notes as well as calendar items in one place. Sadly, I realized that I do better with long lists of items, and less well with a traditional calendar format. I also found some of the calendar spaces limiting – sometimes I have more than 5 things to do in a day!
So I was excited to see that there was a new entry into the knitting and planning world, The Knitting Planner ($38.00). The Knitting Planner is a 240-page softcover planner that includes monthly and weekly calendar spreads in addition to project planning, brainstorming, notes, sizing and sketching pages (including graph paper!). The Knitting Planner measures 6″ x 9″ (15.5cm x 23cm) so it is a non-standard size, but for overall size comparison is close to an A5. The book is approximately 1/2″ (1.5cm) thick.
While the bulk of the journal is in black and white, a few knitting related photos and yellow pops are included when you least expect them, as well as a few quotes related to knitting or project planning. Pictured below is the inside cover.
The book begins the monthly and weekly layouts. Each month has a cover page and knitting related image.
Following that is the monthly spread, a quick glance at the month. I do like that there’s lots of white space in this calendar – plenty of room to note appointments or deadlines and the like.
Following the monthly spread are the undated weekly spreads (5 for each month). I’m torn as to whether I like pages undated or not. On one hand it gives you the ultimate flexibility – even if you pick up the book partway through the year. That said, since the monthly spreads are dated, this is clearly a 2019 edition.
But aside from that I do love the weekly spreads. I love that you get the full spread for the week, and that each day has its own generous, unstructured box allowing for maximal writing space. I also love that Saturday and Sunday each have their own boxes (I don’t know about you but I’ve got lots of stuff to do over the weekend). I also think the box on the upper left, where you note the week’s starting date, would work really well to note events for the week that may not be confined to a certain day, or reminders of weekly tasks.
At the end of each month is a 2-page Project Planning spread including an area for listing projects, notes, start and end dates, and checklists of items. There’s even a small box of graph in case you need to make any drawings (many knitting projects include schematics indicating garment measurements or geometric designs which can be charted).
The final section of the book is devoted to brainstorming, sketching, and capturing what projects you’d like to knit throughout the year. Graph pages measuring 6″ x 9″ are included here for working out larger patterns while on the go. I also think this section would be useful for shopping lists. When knitters to go knitting events (vendor shows, conventions – replace Pen Show with Knitting Show and you’ll understand), it’s useful to note what projects you want to knit in the future, and how much yarn you’ll need to buy to be able to knit them successfully!
The year is only just starting, and I’ve only had the planner for the last 2 weeks, so I don’t have a lot to show or tell you in terms of how it would fit into my lifestyle or how I might use it during the year. But I can show you one important thing: the paper! As far as I know the designer isn’t part of the pen and stationary community, but her paper is fountain pen friendly!!! (it requires several exclamation points). I tested my Knitting Planner with a variety of fountain pens, gel pens and fine liners and with one exception (a Retro 51 Medium nib with Robert Oster Fire & Ice) there was absolutely no bleed through. There is some ghosting, but I don’t know think it’s enough to bother me in my personal use.
Overall, I think this is a pretty good contribution to the knitting & planning world. My biggest reservation so far is that the book is a non-traditional size and soft cover, so I worry about how beat up it would get with daily use and that there isn’t a ready made cover for purchase. I did find this cover at Franklin Covey that might work, but again, options would be limited. The other option I found was more of a classic vinyl cover from MochiThings.
All of that said, if you’re a knitter in search of wide open white spaces and room to plan your projects, this might be a planner for you!
This product was purchased with my own money. All opinions are my own.
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