The Gideon Method
We could all do with some help prioritising our projects, right?
Long-term viewers of my YouTube channel will know that I suffer from a similar condition to many crafters - castonitis! I love starting new projects, there's something exciting about researching a pattern, finding the perfect yarn, selecting the needles and getting started.
But I’m sure that many of you can also empathise when the initial excitement wanes and you have the realisation that the fancy new project is actually going to take months (or even years in the case of some of my WIPs!) to finish, and interest quickly disappears…
“oh look, a new pattern!” [Martyn, all the time]
At one point last year I was at nearly 20 works-in-progress (WIPs) and it was becoming a bit much too much to manage. I put myself on a new project ban and made a concerted effort to either finish some projects, or accept that they were never going to be completed and ripped them back in order to use the yarn another day.
At the time of writing I think I have 13 WIPs - it’s lower than this time last year but I’ve been in single figures in 2023 so we’re starting to creep back up… In reality, this means I’m only working on three or four things each month with the rest being in hibernation, stored away until such time that I feel guilt or excitement to let the project see daylight.
I’ve got many projects though that I need to finish… viewers of my channel will be as frustrated as Mark at hearing me say “I’ve still not finished Mark’s jumper”. But on a recent video someone left a comment telling me about the Gideon Method of prioritisation and I had to go and find out more about it - after all, anything that can help me focus has to be a good thing, right?
So what’s the Gideon Method I hear you ask?
Well a quick internet search brought up a blog post by Wool and Honey, and it turns out the method was shared with them by one of their customers - Lynn Gideon. Lynn in turn had had this approach shared with her at a needlepoint group in the 90’s.
You can read all about it in the blog post I’ve linked from the folks at Wool and Honey, but the simple premise is that you dedicate 12 hours at a time to a project, and you can only move onto another project once you’ve done your 12 hours.
I love the sound of it already!
Here’s how it works in detail
Select up to five projects from your WIPs (the original blog suggests projects that have been on the needles for more than two months).
Rotate through these five projects only - you can only stop working on that project, or start working on another/start something new when you’ve either finished that project OR completed 12 hours of knitting or crochet, whichever comes first!
You must stick to five projects on the list, and you must be monogamous with the project you choose until your 12 hours are complete.
After the 12 hour sprint if the project still isn’t finished, that WIP goes to the bottom of the pile and you pick the next project from your list to start the next 12 hour sprint. But you can only go back to that WIP when you’ve finished four other sprints!
My version of the ‘Gideon Sprint’
I’m going to jump in and give it a go, but I’m going to see how I can follow the methodology with some adaptations. One of my projects for example will be my Mum’s LoveNote jumper as her birthday is coming up in August. I’m going to work on that as project #1, but if I get close to finishing it after the 12 hour sprint, I’ll likely keep going as I’ve set myself a deadline with that project. I wouldn’t want to get close to finishing and then have to stop working on it right at the end… the real Gideon Method would mean I wouldn’t get back to it until 48 hours of crafting later…
So I’ve chosen the 1st two projects for this idea 1) my Mum’s LoveNote jumper, and 2) Mark’s jumper (of course!) and its now over to you.
I’ve listed five other projects that I could add to my list for August, your votes will help me pick the additional three projects to add to my sprint list this month. There were 11 projects I could have chosen but the poll would only let me add five to be voted on… Most of these projects are near completion so with a bit of luck we’ll have some finished objects this month too! You can vote for one project and the top three results will be added to my making list.
I’m going to be starting another project this month which is already in plan, Kitey from The Yarn Whisperer is running a crochet make-a-long so I’d like to make a start on that shawl as I have the kit for the project (and brought that before I decided to try this out!) But as this project isn’t a long standing WIP I’ve not included it here and will just try to find a few hours to make a start on it.
See, I’m already breaking the rules haha!
Who knows whether this will work… but I’m excited to try, and even more-so as it was an idea from a #Knit365’er.
How do you prioritise your projects? Have you tried this method before? Share your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll be sure to keep you posted throughout the month.
Footnote:
This blog is written with thanks and credit to the original blog from Wool and Honey.
Maybe another adaptation should be that Mark hides all other WIPS (and wool, hooks, needles and anything spinning related) and only gives them back to you after you have completed the 12 hours on his jumper!
I use a variation on this method. I have a project at each of several places and while I'm there it's what I work on. Car, sitting room, bedroom ... you get the idea. I may be doing other things in those places instead, but if I'm crafting it's on that project. Maybe it will help someone else like me who has difficulty remembering to track hours?