I wish I may, I wish I might...

I like maintaining a wishlist on my blog, not only for my own personal use, but because it also makes it easier when I participate in an exchange.  It's nice to be able to see what your partner is interested in, so I like to make that information accessible to them.  When you can see what a fellow stitcher is interested in, choosing something they'll like is a bit easier.

I've used The Things I Want forever, but I don't think their interface has been updated since they rolled it out in 2006, and their development blog has been on hiatus since 2008.  It seems they've stopped working on it, and I don't want to lose my lists, so it's time to transition to something new.

I've experimented with several different "universal" wish lists, and so far, Whimventory seems to be winning.  There's a browser bar add-on that makes it super easy to add items from almost any site (I've had some difficulties with one or two sites, but have been able to find what I am looking for elsewhere so I can add it to the list).  The list is visual, like Pinterest, but includes more gift list functionality than Pinterest.

I also find it useful to keep an online inventory of my stash so I am able to check before I buy a chart to see whether or not I already have it.  I usually visit my LNS with specific charts in mind, or to pick up something I've asked the owner to order for me, but I will occasionally spot something that catches my eye.  If it's not a brand new release, I like to make sure I haven't purchased it before.

Cataloging my stash serves another purpose.  My very careful and meticulous father-in-law devoted some time to creating an inventory of their home and its contents for insurance purposes and encouraged us to do the same.  He took photos of everything, room by room, and gave digital copies to both of his sons.  I've been working on our home inventory as well, and realized it wasn't a bad idea to have a record of our stitching stash.  While it may not be as extensive as some other stitching stashes out there, we've still spent a sizeable amount of money on charts, fibers and fabrics, and having that all documented would be a tremendous help for an insurance claim (heaven forbid we ever need to do that).  So in addition to my online inventories, I also keep an excel spreadsheet with a backup copy in our firebox, mostly because I am tremendously paranoid that one of these websites will go away in the middle of the night, leaving me no record of what I have.  It was a LOT of work putting it together to begin with, but has become very easy to maintain just by adding charts when I buy new ones (which surprisingly isn't all that often)

Where do you keep track of your wishlists?  Do you keep track of what you own online or otherwise?

The Online Needlework Show

If you haven't checked it out yet, head over to the Online Needlework Show. Hurry though, because the show closes Monday, April 21 (sometime around 12 am EDT)

Not all the familiar designers are showing their work. There's quite a few over there that I wasn't familiar with, but I'm very glad I'm checking things out and getting to see "new to me" designers.


A few items that went on my wish list:

Notorious Knight by Arelate Studio
For my nephew, who IS a small but notorious knight.
He hasn't tried to ride a chicken yet though....

Home By The Sea by Designs from Pamela



A Virtuous Huswif by Cherished Stitches