2014 - Kicking It Off With A Free Pattern!

Yes, everyone, it's FINALLY HERE!!!! Happy 2014, Shtickers! (What do you think of that one, mom? ;) )
I previously did a post on my blog, Kat Knap, detailing a few of the New Year's resolution that I have for my business, so I thought I would start the year off with you all by announcing my resolutions for The Shtick I Do. By all means, feel free to keep me on track with these via your comments and feedback!

1. I am going to provide a free pattern once a month. Who knows what it will be? No one... Not even me, haha! I plan to start this resolution today at the end of this post. I'm going to help you knock out one of what I know has to be one of your resolutions.... Organization!
2. I am going to talk more about all of the different crafts that I do. There are a lot, so trying to develop a schedule for them will be a constant work in progress I'm sure! Embroidering, knitting, looming, crocheting, maybe even make some book recommendations, but most of those go through my Facebook Group. Feel free to join us there! It's specifically geared toward being an avid reader with a frugal wallet.
3. This year, I am going to schedule and plan my blog posts. This means that those week long breaks I took around Thanksgiving and Christmas last year shouldn't happen again.
4. Finally, I will continue to provide you with the best marketing tips and techniques I can muster along with results and updates from all of my marketing experiments.

Now, on to the part you've been waiting for - the pattern!
After doing a lot of Googling I discovered how difficult it is to find a crochet pattern for an organizer. An organizer for what? My brand new set of 18 circular knitting needles of ranging sizes, that's what! So I decided that this was an injustice that must be stopped immediately! Once again, I apologize for my mediocre skills at actually writing out a pattern (let's go ahead and make that resolution #5). There are some notes regarding possible changes I would make to the pattern if doing it again at the end.

You will need:
- I used up some extra yarn I had laying around. It happened to be Red Heart Cherry Red - (%100) Acrylic and a %100 Cotton baby yarn in yellow with little speckles of various colors. 1 skein of each color should get you through the project just fine.
- Yarn needle
- Size 5 crochet hook (I know, insane, but I wanted a very small, tight stitch.)

Mat:
Rd 1: Ch 41
Rd 2: Hdc in next st and every st across - You should end this round with 40 st
Rd 3-78: Hdc in all 40 st

Pockets (18):
Rd 1: Ch 11
Rd 2: Sc in the next st and every st across - You should end this round with 10 st
Rd 3-20: Sc in all 10 st

Using a yarn needle and the same color yarn as I used for the mat, I was able to start at the left side of my mat, count two rows right and sew on my first pocket, allowing it to take up 6 rows of space. I skipped one row between each pocket, and continued to sew them in.

There are a few changes I would make to this pattern. This organizer is for my personal use, so I was shooting more for functionality than aesthetics. However, had I been making it for someone else (first I would have gone with a better color combination and probably used all acrylics) I would have watched my stitching a little better when sewing on the pockets. The yarn, even though it's the same color, is a lot more visible than I thought it was going to be. My original intention with this pattern was for the organizer to fold in half so as to not take up a lot of space. It's still fairly compact, but I think adding a few more chains at the beginning (I'd recommend about 50, but the spacing for the pockets would have to be recalculated.) would have made it able to fold over without the needles poking out of the spine and may have been a bit more chic. Also, I think I would have put an edging around the outside of the mat before sewing on the pockets to make it look more refined. Adjustments may also need to be made just to suit your own use of the project. Variables like how much you're trying to store, if the needles are straight or circular, even if you're making this for your crochet hooks, should be considered before you actually start on this. I would love to see your recreations, hear your pattern suggestions, and see how you've organized yourself to start out the new year. Comment hear or contact me directly using the information listed at the end of all of my blogs!

May muses whisper to you always,
Kat