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Queued Up

One of my resolutions at the beginning of the year was to get my Ravelry queue under control.  This morning I took a couple of steps in the right direction.

I deleted a few items from the queue-- things I'd either already made or had changed my mind about-- but I left most of them in place.  There are still 316 items in queue.  (g)  I've decided that a huge queue is not a problem.

Most of the patterns are there only as "possibilities".  I'd like to knit at least a couple pair of fingerless mitts, for example, so whenever I find a pattern that appeals to me, I add it to the queue.  There's no way I'll knit all of the nineteen mitt patterns currently in queue, but until I make the final decision of which pattern(s) to use, I don't want to forget about or lose track of any of them.  So there they stay!

I hadn't realized until recently that your queue on Ravelry can be organized into tabs, just like your projects.  I've now categorized mine into several groups-- "afghans & motifs", "bags", "doilies", and so on.  I think this will make it much easier to compare and select patterns from within my queue.

You organize patterns by assigning each one a tag (or multiple tags).  This makes it simple to put one pattern into more than one tab/set.  For instance, say there's an pattern for a pillow that contains an interesting crochet motif.  If you like, you can tag the pattern with "motif" and "pillow" and have it go into two separate sets at the same time.  So when you go to look at motifs, you'll be reminded of the pattern, yet you can still have it in with all the other pillows you were thinking of stitching.  It's a pretty nifty system.

There are some aspects of the queue feature that I probably don't currently use to the fullest potential.  For instance, you can set yourself deadlines and make note of the intended recipient. And of course you can also make other notes and arrange patterns in any order you like (usually with the pattern you plan to make first at the top of the list). 

Looking through my queue has reminded me of several patterns I'd forgotten.  I need to get busy on my current WIPs so I won't feel too guilty about starting one or two new ones! ;o)