11.08.12 Decisions made easy...

The process:

Recently I was involved in a very complex future planning session for my company.  They hired a nationally known strategist and facilitator to guide the 10 top leaders of our company through a planning system that has proven time and again to be successful. Since each of us represented different divisions of the company, we all had different priorities. This process helped us filter down hundreds of ideas,  hopes and dreams of ten very different disciplines to a dozen priority items.  By using this scoring system, we had no choice but agree that they were the right "finalists".  So impressed with its complex simplicity, I decided to use the last part of the process, scoring, for my WIP wrangling project.

The idea is to create 4 scoring characteristics that affect the final desired outcome. The scoring (1-10) has to result with the best ideas/projects/items having the highest score.  For example, my characteristic Effort needed the highest score to reflect the least amount of effort to finish the project.  If you use this method, pay attention to the score model you use. For my WIP evaluation, I decided on:

example scoring

Project characteristics:  all scored 0-10

  Product - Do I/will I like the finished product when done?   0 - not at all to 10 - can't wait to wear it
  Process - Am I having a good time knitting/crocheting this?  Am I looking forward to starting back up again?  0 - hate this project to 10 - this is so much fun
  Effort - How much effort will it take to finish this - time and attention  0- will take a long time and lots of attention to 10 - only have a few things to do/could finish quickly.
  Motivation - How motivated am I to finish?  0 - not at all to 10 - can't wait to pick this back up
  Avg  Score - used Excel to average the score of the four characteristics above


Using Excel's custom sorting capability, I sorted by this column from high to score.The highest score was a 7.8 (eight projects scored in the 7s) and lowest - 2.0 (five projects in the 2's).  Using just the scoring method, I can plainly see which projects are the best candidates for completion and frogging.  It's the middle group that will be the hardest to determine their fate.

Decisions, decisions - Let's start with the bottom of the pile

Candidates for frogging? 
Not surprisingly, 4 for the projects were easy candidates for frogging.  Why didn't I just do it along time ago?  I have not touched most of these projects is more than a year.
Birdcage mittens:  This one stings.  I knit these last winter and then lost interested in the second mitten. Truth is - it was fun to try but have little interest in returning to the second mitten.  But frog a perfectly good mitten?  This needs a good home.  Someone in knitting group would enjoy knitting just one mitten too.

Cable Tunic - no loss here.  I started as a tunic for my daughter - the yarn was an easy care, big box brand that ended up too shiny, limp and splitty.  I lost interest and now her tastes have changed.  Give the yarn away. (no pic)

Norah Wedgette: This was a KAL with the "Norah".  I was honored to have an inside look at the design process and test knit as we went.   However - "design as you go" has problems and I quickly saw that mine would not fit. Strike 1. The group soon passed me and I moved on. Strike 2 The yarn was a desperate impulse purchase.  I found the KAL at the last minute and needed the exact yarn they called for to make sure I did Norah right.  Purple is never a easy color for the me wear. Strike 3.  This is a high quality superwash and could make a nice little girl's sweater so will add to stash for a while and see what happens.

Cross my fingers.  Name says it all.  My first color project, I used this project to teach myself two handed colorwork knitting.  My own design conglomeration., I used a pullover sweater (knit in the round) that called for DK and a colorway chart from a bulky sweater (knit flat) in a larger size.  All was well until the pattern change and require side floats of 30 - 50 stitches.  I adapted to knitting flat and hated the process of colorwork and purling.  Next!.....  Yarn is in two lovely complimentary colors and quality silky wool that would be great  together.  Will keep in stash and explore possibilities on Ravelry.  Maybe a striped sweater (Paulie?)


Garter Jacket:  Fell in love with a project on Rav that was never published.  I decide to recreate a top down version for myself.  Weather changed, color grew weary (black) and it seemed like a black block.  Then I saw the FLOGS jacket and knew this was a better and more shapely option for me.  Threw in a bag and forgot about it all summer.  Should dig up, frog and que FLOGS up for fall.