Crafting Calm

The Joy of Basket-Organized Projects

Oct 07, 2023

Hi friend,

One of the things I have noticed about makers is that we’re expansive. We rarely contain ourselves to a single craft or hobby, and even if we are singly focused on a particular craft, it is common to have multiple projects on the go. When we fall down the rabbit hole of crafting and making, we often fall hard.

This can be a source of frustration/amusement for our friends and family, as our projects take on a life of their own. If you aren’t paying close attention, they seem to multiply overnight, taking over the sofa, coffee table, and multiple rooms in your home. Or maybe that is just me…

For multi-craftual makers, this amplifies. As we speak, my current knitting, embroidery, spinning, and sewing projects have teamed up with my stacks of journals, tarot cards, and many pen pouches. They whisper to each other, casting side-eye looks as they welcome yet another project to the WIP circle. Such judging vibes.

Small grey basket containing embroidery projects and tools, including two hoops with partially stitched patterns, threads, a needle keeper, and a pouch with more tools inside. — My embroidery projects basket

Organizing the chaos

In the past I tried to keep things organized by collecting multiple projects into a single bag. This was my attempt to contain all of my materials to a single place.

About a year ago I decided to try the following approach:

Project bags to store projects that are in progress but not my main projects for right now. Meaning I work on them sporadically as the mood strikes, but they aren’t my go-to daily (or even weekly) project of the moment.
Baskets contain the WIPs that I’m actively working on. I have a different basket for each project type, including the fiber I’m currently spinning, embroidery projects, and one to wrangle my most-used journals, notebooks, and planner, with a small selection of stickers, washi tape, and stationary that I consider the “essentials”.

Basket outdoors on the grass, containing multiple notebooks, boxes of tarot cards, and pen pouches. — My Planner & Journals basket makes it easy to grab 5 minutes outdoors to write.

Oh, how I love my baskets of curated projects and tools!

Some of the reasons baskets rule, include:

Everything I might need for my project is contained in one spot.
If I have 5 minutes to sit down and work on something, I can spend the full 5 minutes making rather than 3 minutes hunting around for a cable needle, or pair of scissors, or a tape measure.
I can easily see everything inside. No rummaging around to find stitch markers or other small items in the hidden depths and crevices of project bags.
They are so portable! Weather is nice and I want to sit outside? Taking a 5 minute break in my office? Quiet time crafting in the bedroom? The basket is grab-and-go perfection.

If you have little ones (toddlers or small furry friends) at home, baskets are easy to place on a high shelf or away in a cupboard to keep curious little munchkins out of your projects.

Small basket containing fiber for spinning with pastel pinks, blues, and lilac. The basket also contains a small wooden tool used to help ensure consistent yarn (in terms of yarn weight and twist) when spinning. — My spinning basket contains the fiber I’m currently spinning and spinning-related tools.

The open nature of the basket, and visibleness of the contents, means that just looking at a basket of curated items for my project makes my heart skip-a-beat with joy. Yes, I’m fully aware that sounds ridiculous and makes little sense. If you are a maker, give it a try and tell me if it doesn’t do the same. I can’t explain it.

The logical side of me wonders at a reason. Perhaps it is some ancestral connection to gathering, which is triggered by ancestral making activities like knitting, spinning, and embroidery?

I’m really not sure of the why, but I’m perfectly accepting of the joy that baskets of projects bring, without needing definition or explanation.