5s Your Creative Space!

This is what the inside of my head looks like! 

But just lately I've been getting organised. It's most certainly Not something that comes naturally to me. It's all Nick's fault, he told me all about 5s Methodology and got me all inspired. Mr Untidy himself, went out to his wood turning shed and turned it into a workshop to be proud of.

If you've heard of 5s Lean Manufacturing you might be wondering what on earth it's doing in a crochet Blog. If you haven't... well either way stay tuned and I'll do my best to inspire you to.

5s is part of the Japanese Manufacturing philosophy, it goes along with 'just in time ordering' and all that. It doesn't sound very creative but funnily enough I've just read a LookatwhatImade Blog post where Dedri talks about 'eating your frog' and 'touching it once'. This is a lot less scary and much more easily achieved than any of that. It doesn't matter whether you have a craft room, a corner of the living room or just a pile of stuff under the coffee table, this will help.

The 5s are:

1. Seiri -Sort
2. Seiton-Set in order
3. Seiso-Shine
4. Seiketsu-Standardise
5. Shitsuke-Sustain

So let's walk through them one by one.

Sort
Basically, as far as you and I are concerned, this means throwing out the stuff you've been hanging on to but will never use. You have to be honest with yourself. How long have you had it? Will you ever really take up patchwork, bead weaving, arm knitting or whatever it is? You never liked that antique work-basket that Great Aunt Ethel gave you but she left it to you in her will. Throw it out, take it to the charity shop, give it to your sister, just get rid of it! (Blame it on me if it helps!) What you're trying to achieve is more usable space and less clutter. This was the bit that I found hardest, I hated it but everything after this is fun - promise!

Set in Order 

Have you ever put something in a safe place and not been able to find it again? Or how about 'but I just had it in my hand'! This is where you organise everything that's left after the big clear out. You are going to make it easy to find and use your stuff. No more searching through bags and boxes, or peering under beds. The best way to explain this is probably with your kitchen. I bet that somewhere close to your kettle I would find some mugs and some tea, coffee and sugar; close to your sink a hand towel; and close to your cooker some wooden spoons maybe? The things that you use frequently want to be close to hand, things that you use together need to be close together. Basically 'it' needs to make sense as a working space.

The Overlocker is next to it's manual.

The printer is next to the ink.

Close to hand!

Shine 
Shine is just about cleaning. If you were running machinery it would mean cleaning it so you could see if it is in good working order. In Nick's case he painted his work shop white to bring in more light.

Standardise and Label!

Standardise
In my mind this starts with 'set in order'. What a great opportunity to persuade the other half that you absolutely must have that craft storage cabinet! For the rest of us however there are a huge range of drawer units, stacking boxes and storage solutions. The word to keep in mind is standardise. Hopefully you've already thrown out the old cigar boxes and biscuit tins that you were using before. From now on we are going to keep it clean and tidy. Everything in it's place and a place for everything.
Now you are going to label. You should be able to see at a glance what is where. Never again let me hear those dreaded words, 'now where did I put that?' You can use visual clues like colour coding, different fonts, or symbols on your labels. Different coloured lids or containers help. Imagine I am going into your space to find something, how easily will I find it?

Use colour to identify.

Sustain
This is the really hard bit! Now that my workspace is clean I can't wait to get in there and start work. Now I have to develop the good habits that leave my work space exactly the same as it looks right now. Nick says he is never going to leave his shed in a mess at the end of a project. He is always going to tidy up before putting it to bed at night. For me there will be no 'in-tray'. An in-tray is an excuse for me to leave things to deal with later. I have given myself a 'WIP (work in progress) / next project' basket, this is because I get easily distracted and absent minded. I am never going to say 'what was I going to make with this?' again! Of course you can also use Ravelry for this purpose. If you go into your 'Notebook' you can put items in your 'Queue'. If you've added the yarn to your 'Stash', it even lines up the yarn for you. Or alternatively you can write it up in your 'Projects' and mark it as a WIP.

My magazines are going to stay upright and in order!

OK so I've given you some images of what we've done. (Nick is wondering why I've not included 'before' images. Because it was shocking!) I hope we've inspired you. No matter what I do the inside of my head will remain a creative confusion where bizarre ideas bump up against each other. But now I stand half a chance of creating some of them!

StarFlower Overlay

As promised here is the sister pattern to the last post.

Sadly I lost my Mum last month so I'm naming this pattern for her. Here she is in better times looking like a real 50's chick.

My Mum was a real inspiration. She was amazingly creative and always curious about the world. Born in London before the second world war she had to live through the horror of the blitz. Like many of her generation she grew up without her father just when she was in her formative years and when he came back he must have seemed like a stranger. 

Here they are together on Alf's first leave.

One of the many things I inherited from my Mum was her love of nature.

Sadly gardening and crochet are unhappy bed fellows. That's why my hands don't often feature on my crochet blog. They end up dry and split after an hour or two at my other hobby!

 Here then is the PDF for Barbara's Borage! It's my favourite of the two patterns, but you will immediately see the similarities. I'm really hoping that someone out there will find a way of putting the two patterns together in something!

Incidentally the last two rounds (rounds7 and 8/8a) are interchangeable with those of Ruby's Rue. You can give your Borage rounded petals or the Rue pointy ones, if you want more options.

Among Barbara's inspirations were Dragonflies and Peacocks plus she had an unnatural penchant for Turquoise! All of these came down to me in my genes, so these are the colours that I'm using.

As with Ruby's Rue, here are the round by round images. Some of the front loop stitches are a little awkward to find. So I have included a few images in the pattern to help you.

Once again made with a DK yarn like Scheepjes Softfun, Softfun Denim and 4mm hook, they are a perfect size for a mug mat. (I like the way the petals wrap upwards to hug your mug!)
  
Made with a 4ply yarn like Scheepjes Cotton 8, Sunkissed and a 3mm hook, they are great for card toppers.

The one I made with Scheepjes Maxi, crochet thread and a 1.75mm hook makes a fabulous little broach. (If I do say so myself!) I think the pointy petals benefit from a light blocking. I soaked mine, squeezed out excess water, sprayed lightly with starch and blocked upside down. I pinned the petals out but didn't stretch them.

I was curious to know what it would look like made in a thicker yarn. So I tryed it in Wendy Supreme Chunky, 100% cotton and the recommended 6.5mm hook. This is the yarn I use for my tutorials because it photographs well but sadly I don't think this is still produced. The finished item comes out with a 20cm/ 8inch diameter. At this size it's big enough for a trivet.
 
The trouble with experimenting is that I never know when to stop! So here it is in a locally hand spun wool and silk mix and 6mm hook. Mum would have loved these colours! I made the central 16 sts around a rubber 'O' ring, and then made the next row through both loops. I think the dreamcatcher (?) might benefit from a few feathers and some beads.

Whatever you chose to do, have fun experimenting!