Pattern Keeper

[mbcabbie]

I have done ENDLESS hours (days, months?) scouring the internet for nifty ideas and patterns and printed up several reams of paper. What I ended up with was a box (or 4) full of printed paper that took hours (days, months?) to go through looking for what I wanted.

 

I finially splurged and spent $3 at WM for a 3" binder (or 2 or more). Oh, how much easier life is now that everything is finally organized in ONE place. I spent hours and hours and hours and days sorting things into categories, stapling, hole-punching... but it was SOOOO worth it. I can flip right to what I am looking for. It is so much quicker to just flip through a few pages and find what I am looking for than to search 100's of 1000's of web pages looking for something I'll never find again. If I didn't print it, I didn't like it, so MY crochet book is only of things that caught my attention. (The neat thing is that when you print it from a website, it also prints the URL at the bottom of the page, so I can always go back if I need to (and not search through a billion websites to find it)

 

Save yourself the emotional trauma that I have inflicted on myself... print it, and put it straight into a notebook. It takes only seconds and saves half a lifetime.

 

I'm not kidding - I REALLY REACHED THE END OF THE INTERNET in my searches...

http://home.att.net/~cecw/lastpage.htm

[mimi_mia]

I bought a box with hanging folders, I found that system works great for me, I can even put the free patterns that I get at the stores in them. I have the files labeled and I can see the categories at a glance.......I thought that was a good investment!! I'll add pictures later, I'll try to take a couple:photo

[Katie45694]

That is a good idea, I too use the binder system! It greatly simplifies things!

 

Katie

[snbarclay]

I haven't yet but I am gonna get a binder and you know those plastic covers that you just slip the page in and it keeps it nice and neat and if you spill something on it your still in the good cause its not ruined . I plan on doing that hopefully this week . I am using a manila envelope which now is ripping apart. thanks for all the good ideals. Maybe I will get a small filing cabinet and use the hanging folders for the ones not in use and keep the binder for the one that I would work on at the time . Both really good ideals. thanks for sharing

[crochet smartcat]

Another nice thing about using the plastic sleeves is that you can use a Vis-a-Vis marker (for overhead transparencies) to make notes or mark where you are in a pattern and it'll stay put. Then when you are finished you just use a damp paper towel to wash it clean. Any notes you want to keep, you can write directly onto the pattern printout for future reference.

 

I always scan my patterns into my computer (a photocopy would work too) so that I can make notes directly onto the pattern. I have 2 binders so far, patterns I want to do, and patterns I have done. This method keeps it simple for me and if I get a request to do something I have already done, I know exactly where to go to find it.

[crazzy cow]

I have done that as well and it does work and I like to take a picture of what I made and put into a photo book with the date and year that I made it. Also when I am done I aslo put the pattern in the file cabnet w/a pic.

[Homebody]

I use the 3-ring binder & sheet protector method also. It works wonderfully. I started with 1 binder and dividers. Now, well, I have so many binders . . . Each is labeled on the outside with its catagory. I have one binder with the patterns I make often (my favorites). I also have many I have saved on my computer, but haven't yet printed.

[rsisland]

I bought a box with hanging folders, I found that system works great for me, I can even put the free patterns that I get at the stores in them. I have the files labeled and I can see the categories at a glance.......I thought that was a good investment!! I'll add pictures later, I'll try to take a couple:photo

 

I like that idea alot! I have three - three ring binders with tons of patterns in seperate categories. Plus I have lots more just floating around waiting to get filled. If I kept a hanging file system, I could just drop them into the right spot and be done with it! (if I kept it by to computer, it might even work faster and neater for me) Thanks for a terrific idea!!!!

[goldi316]

:sweat:faintUh, yeah... that's on my (rather lengthy) to-do list - all 4 crates of pattern printouts I managed to accumulate in the past year. I've got a plan, just gotta get started on it...

 

:sigh:sigh

 

Good advice, wish I'd taken it MUCH sooner!

[Empress Busy Bee]

Yup been doing the binder and sleeves for years.

I have one for recipes, too.

[mudpie]

Like crochet smartcat, I have saved any pattern I've gotten from the internet onto my hard drive. Having the URL is nice, but there is no guarantee that a particular website will exist indefinitely. And I simply wouldn't have room to save all the patterns I want on paper. I can print them out anytime I want them and I also like to make notes and add pictures to the ones I've made. I've also been scanning many of my favorites from my magazines so that when I make them I can mark them up also. I've bought magazine holders for all of the softcover books and paper patterns, but I usually end up throwing away any I've printed and used. They just take up space. I know I can always print them again.

[mbcabbie]

Mudpie, that's not a good idea. Take it from one who found this out the HARD way... I used to save things on my hard drive... until my computer crashed. An internet virus wiped out EVERYTHING I had labored over for so long. You would be OK saving it to disk or CD, though. Don't trust your computer to keep things safe.

[goldi316]

Mudpie, that's not a good idea. Take it from one who found this out the HARD way... I used to save things on my hard drive... until my computer crashed. An internet virus wiped out EVERYTHING I had labored over for so long. You would be OK saving it to disk or CD, though. Don't trust your computer to keep things safe.

 

I soooo totally agree! At the very least, take the time to back those files up on a cd!

 

I often also email patterns to myself (the webpage ones, not pdf files, usually), or at least the links (including pdfs). My isp allows me 2 gb of online storage space for my emails and I set it to hold all emails for at least one week before deleting after download, then after the message downloads to my computer (to a special folder where I keep patterns), I go to my emails online and move those to a special folder there also, for backup. I don't have a printer at home at present, so this also allows me to print them out from remote locations, such as the library (or work, when I was working).

 

I may be a bit disorganized at present, but I practically have backups of my backups, due to sad experience!

 

You should do this with ANY files that are important to you, not just your pattern files. Pictures, music, whatever you don't want to lose (and often is irreplaceable). It doesn't take long, and will give you mucho peace of mind!

[mudpie]

I didn't mention the backup. Guess I kind of assumed that was a given. Not just patterns. Everything! I have several Peerless disks and back up every week or so, as I'm always adding new information. And I didn't say I threw away my book or leaflet patterns, just the printouts that I mark up. Heavens, I'd die if I lost that stuff!

[Empress Busy Bee]

My binder started out with tear outs from magazines like Woman's Day. I don't have room for all the magazines so I ripped out the patterns and pictures and put them in my binder.

I have lots of patterns booked marked, a lot more saved to my hard drive. I've printed out a lot, too. I don't print and toss. I can't afford ink to do that. Plus I want a pattern when I want it and sometimes my husband is on line. It just seems like a wast to print and toss, both of ink and paper.

As for back ups, it's good to mention it because it's not a given. Everyone is at different levels of knowledge when it comes to computers and message boards and the internet.

[mudpie]

When I am done using a pattern I printed out myself, it is usually not worth saving, as I have made many notes on it - how much yarn/thread the piece actually took as opposed to how much was quoted (which means I make a notes in the margin each time I start a new ball), any adjustments to the pattern I've made, etc. Sometimes, if the pattern is in several sizes, I cross out the portions that don't apply to what I'm making. All of these are things I wouldn't think of doing to the original. And on my laser printer (you're right, not the ink jet) it's actually cheaper to make a print than using our copy machine. And I have my own computer, so there is no competing for time on it. Actually, there are three people in the house and five computers. Call me spoiled. It's what works for me.

[craftybutterfly]

I just started my third binder. I keep a ready supply of those nice heavy duty document protectors on hand, the ones that are already 3-hole punched. I print it, and immediatly slid that puppy into a protector and put it into the binder. One day, I want to re-sort them into two groups, the freebies and the ones that i paid for. its the only way to fly if your a pattern junkie like me. I have a fabric covered chest that I keep my crochet mags in. wouldnt dream of tearing them apart.

[LanetteG]

I did that and put the patterns in sheet protectors. I have a binder for adult, children, and the rest of everything. It works wonderfully!!!!

[mbcabbie]

I'm glad you back-up, mudpie... I was devastated when my Compaqasaurus crashed so hard. (I should have known, given the name I had applied so lovingly to it, huh? ) I will never trust a computer again.

 

And speaking of e-mailing yourself... LOL - I thought it was just me. We are a bunch of geeks aren't we? If I am on a roll of finding things, I e-mail the link to myself and then go back to them when I have time and patience. I also keep really good stuff in my aol favorite places, because it is stored on THEIR computers, not mine, so no matter what happens to my computer, I can access it again when I can get to any old computer with aol.

 

I still print everything I like. Eventually, I will get to all 3000 pages of projects. I might be too old and arthitic to make the stuff, but... I'll have the patterns.

 

I have a recipe binder too. Its perfect - only things I know I like. Custom made. I have a printer/scanner/copier so I have been known to copy pages out of the real recipe books to put in mine, just so I don't have to look for them when I want them.

 

I bet I've spent $100 or more on ink just to hoard the know-how for these things I covet.... but its only money, right?