TAST Journal

Before I undertook the TAST challenge, I had read a lot about the love some people have for moleskine journals.  Somehow, it sounded like the very fact they used these notebooks instead of a marble copy book made all the difference to them.  So, as part of the 2007  TAST challenge, I decided to keep a written record of my progress in one.  I selected a package of 5 tiny notebooks, mainly because of the cost:  they were the cheapest (most reasonably priced?) of all of the moleskine possibilities that were available at Barnes & Noble.  It took me two of the five notebooks to complete a year's worth of TAST notes about the stitches.  Here are the two bulging books:

The first page was devoted to recording the materials I had purchased for the project, which I had hoped when completed would turn into a case for my knitting needles.  I stapled a sample of the two possible fabrics that would line the case to the inside cover of book 1.  Here's a photo:

I then set about recording my thoughts on each stitch as I completed a panel of the canvas.  Before I wrote (but generally after I had completed my own set of stitch variations), I surfed the Web for the work other TASTers had done on the same stitch.  I downloaded pictures of their work to include with the notes in order to have a visual record of the different interpretations of how the assigned stitch could look.  Here's one page that's pretty typical of the journal:

Because most of the downloaded photos were too large to fit on the tiny journal pages, they needed to be folded.  Early on, I didn't record which fiber artist had completed a sample, but after about week 6, I began to keep better records of who did the stitching and the Web address where the work was published.  

The photo above shows how the photos fold out to complement the notes.

If I had a do-over, I'd have selected an acid-free notebook that was larger and copied the photos onto acid-free paper, although as one of my sisters points out, the book will last anyway for about 20 years and after that, who will want it anyway?  The manufacturer of the journal didn't matter to me in the end, although perhaps subconsciously I finished the project because I knew how much I had financially invested at the start.  I still have three notebooks sitting in my desk drawer, and I will most likely use them in a future project.  I like the paper medium much better than a Web log.  There's something about the physical act of writing and drawing that sets ideas in the mind, and for me, a blog does not do the same thing.  I am not sure it is just a matter of resisting technology.  Maybe I just need to buy a better digital camera and post the written journal pages?  Ah, more ways to spend more money!