Prepping for June [S.O.P Series]

Are you ready for summer?  Are you ready for sweaty days, and humid evenings?  Are you ready to be off school, or take a quick vacation from work, or maybe to waste away hours at the beach?  Well Good.  Me, too. Bring on the sunscreen and bug bites, summer is only 21 days away!

Many knitters and crocheters take breaks during the warm months – it doesn’t seem logical to work with heavy yarns when you’re hot and sticky from the day’s activities.  It’s also kind of hard to sell warm and cozy hats and scarves when it’s swimsuit season.  So instead of working on next year’s Christmas presents, I’m focusing on all the patterns I’ve done over the cold months and converting them to readable, shareable pieces of art that others can use for their future projects.  My current notes have crossed out sections, some children’s doodles on a few pages, and are in quite a chaotic state, so I am ready to get things a bit more organized!  I wrote about the Summer of Patterns Series briefly just a few weeks ago, but this goes into more detail to get you prepped and planning for the S.O.P. Series that starts on June 21!

Here Is the Plan…

1. Pick Your Post Day:  Week one starts June 21, so you will have that entire week (June 21 – June 27) to post your first project, so pick your favorite day and STICK TO IT.
2. Pick Your Place to Share:  This is so the world can see what awesome things you can make!  Find some place that you can share them, whether it’s on Revelry.com for the knit/crochet people, your own blog, or maybe list them for sale on Etsy, be sure to put them SOMEwhere so they aren’t trapped somewhere in a lonely old notebook.
3. Tag Your Stuff:  With projects like this, you need accountability and encouragement!  So if you use social media at all (Facebook and Instagram especially), be sure to tag your stuff with #TYsummerofpatterns so that we can cheer you on as you get stuff done this summer!
4. Aim for the Prize:  Looking for extra awesome bonus points, or maybe need some inspiration for new ideas, be sure to try getting some (or all) of the bonus points!  There are ten themes that have been selected which you can assign to your different projects.  If you use all ten, you’ll earn the Tugboat Yarning Awesomesauce Award (more details on that to come later)!  Since their are fourteen weeks total, that leaves four extra weeks that you can decide what other patterns/projects to make.  The ten themes are:
   • Cheer: What brings you cheer?  Or how do you cheer on others?
   • Delicious:  Maybe this is a food-inspired pattern, or something made with “delicious” yarn?
   • Favorite:  Got a favorite go-to pattern that you love?  Write it out!
   • Nerd:  What gets you all geeked out?
   • Pin-Tastic:  This is for that one pattern on Pinterest that you pinned and keep wanting to make but never do.  Now is the time!
   • Classic:  This could be a classic look, something that makes you feel classy, or maybe it’s your classic ridiculous project and the term is meant to irony.
   • Athletic:  Got a favorite sports team?  Or maybe a sportsy accessory that you made for your golf clubs?
   • Baby:  For baby, or mom-having-a-baby, or maybe
   • Believe:  What things inspire you?  Or do you stand tall in believing?  Show your beliefs through what you make with your hands.
   • New-to-Me:  This could be a big challenge, but pick something you’ve never done before – a new stitch, a new project, a new challenge!
5. Plan Your Summer:  Once you are done reading this post, grab a piece of paper and jot down what you’re thinking of doing for those fourteen weeks.  You don’t have to stick to it, but it’ll be a start for what you can JUST GET DONE this summer!

If you’re needing something to help you plan, simply download through Google Drive my planning page either as a word document or PDF!

Now, as I’ve mentioned, this is a chance to work on patterns, but if you have other things you’re working on, do those instead!  Maybe you want to try a new recipe each week, or organize a different part of your house, or read a new book… the possibilities are endless!  Whether your goal is completing patterns, books, meals, miles, projects, pages, join us and cross off ALLLLL THE THINGS from your list!

Gung-ho and ready for summer!
~M