The Strickplaner 2020 is now on sale! I’m thrilled that we are stocking this wonderful paper planner for the third year running. This clever planner, developed by Martina Behm in collaboration with WeekView, a small German planner company, is designed to help you stay focussed on what you actually want to be getting done in any given week, month, quarter, or even year with lots of added sections that are specifically for knitters and other fibre crafters (think places to record project notes, chart patterns, and note yarn purchases)! I wrote about how much I love my planner last year, and that hasn’t changed much! Here are just five of the many reasons that I am a hardcore Strickplaner fan!

1) It has made it possible for me to finish big knitting projects. Two years ago, I decided I really wanted to make finishing at least one large fun knitting project for myself a year a priority. Sounds doable, right? But with work knitting commitments, not to mention work admin and juggling family life, I was finding this a real challenge. I started using the Strickplaner to track my progress – first for my Ola Yoke cardigan and then for my Granito sweater – and they’re both done! Using the activity tracker and keeping these big projects up front in the quarterly planner has really revolutionised my knitting in this respect.

2) My Strickplaner is brilliant for tracking regular activities that I want to do more of. I’ve used the quarterly tracking pages to increase my frequency at getting my step goal, I’ve used it to help me to blog more often, and I’ve used it to make time for non-work knitting time. I’m definitely the sort of person who likes to see the little stars building up across a month! Knitting these fun Fab Funky Fibres Self-Striping socks is definitely a non-work knitting project, helped along by my Strickplaner. Fab Funky Fibers update their stock on Etsy and it sells quite fast, so there may not be yarn available when you follow that link, but keep an eye on their beautiful instagram feed to find out more.

3) Keeping my to do lists manageable. When you have a busy family as well as a small business to run, to do lists are a way of life. My old system was just to have one massive to do list, and to start a new one once I’d cleared most of the old one. That didn’t work badly, but it was sometimes overwhelming. With my Strickplaner, I can divide my to do lists into the different areas of my life. I then run through them at the start of each week, and add anything that’s required to each list. I also transfer the most important items to the week spread that’s relevant. This is great because I then just look at my weekly spread, and I don’t get overwhelmed at all the things that I need to do in the future. They are all safely stored at the back of the planner in their own categories.

4) My Strickplaner helps me to avoid the internet rabbit hole. We’ve all done it! You pick up your phone to make a note of something, or look something up, and before you know it, you have checked your email, scrolled through Facebook and Instagram and done ten other things that you didn’t intend to. I’m trying to be much more focussed in my use of my phone, so it’s brilliant to be able to note things and look them up in my Strickplaner. This is just one of the many ways that having a print book rather than yet another app makes more time for me to knit. I use my Strickplaner in conjunction with the calendar on my phone. I spend a few minutes at the start of each week writing the most important appointments for the week into the planner. This is great because it reminds me of what’s happening. And I also mark anything big for the next fortnight (like a holiday or big deadline) into the boxes at the top of the weekly spread. I still use my phone calendar, because Jim and I share the calendar so we can both add things to it. My phone calendar is a list of times and dates for appointments, whereas my Strickplaner is where I prioritise and plan my time.

5) I love the lined, squared and dot grid pages. I don’t do much design work, but sometimes I have an idea that just needs to be recorded. There’s nothing better than a pencil and some squared paper for sketching a quick chart, or noting down ideas for a garment shape. I’ve also used pages for explaining a graph homework question, and for the kids to draw while we wait for food in a restaurant! And even the odd game of boxes. The flexibility of the lined, squared and dot grid pages is great. But even better, is that there’s an index page for the notes section, so you can quickly find that idea you doodled for a shawl!

The 2020 Strickplaner is now available in our online shop, priced at £21.00. We also have Strickplaner Stickers (£4.70) and Pen Loops (£2.70), or you can buy everything together as the Complete Strickplaner 2020 Kit for £25.00 (a saving of £3.40). The planner also includes a pattern to knit a clever book cover, so why not add a Zauberball to your order, so that you can cast on straightaway?

To chat more about making more time for your knitting, we have a thread in our Ravelry group over here: Planning your time – more time to knit!

Do you have a secret strategy to make more time to knit? Do share it in the comments.

Update, August 2020: Strickplaner 2021 is now available, along with stickers, washi tape and our Complete Strickplaner 2021 kit! Browse the collection here.