Gemma 
Welcome to Day 22 of Blogmas At Home 2024! 🎄🎅🏻✨
Last year, I set up a Knitting Journal for my mum, so that she could keep all of her notes & yarn-y plans in one place. It’s kind of a cross between a bullet journal and a project planner, with, of course, a focus on knitting (Mum’s favourite pastime!).
I’ve set up another journal for my mum for 2025, so today’s post is all about the spreads, designs & thought process behind this planner. Unlike with my bullet journal, in her knitting journals, I set up the entire year at once, so that she can plan as far ahead as she needs. I hope you find this spread helpful, and that, even if you aren’t a knitter, it gives you some ideas & inspiration for your own journal!
Table of Contents
- Journal
- Equipment
- Initial Pages: General Planning
- Monthly Spreads
- Final Pages: Christmas & New Year Spreads
- Final Thoughts
Journal
For last year’s knitting journal, I ended up using just over half of the pages in the notebook mum had chosen, so we decided to fit the 2025 spreads into the same notebook, using the remaining pages. I did have to condense some of the spreads a little, just to make sure I could get everything in, but it still has everything Mum will need to keep on top of her projects and plans.
The journal itself is the ‘Sun Solstice’ journal from Notebook Therapy, which was, unfortunately, a limited edition notebook that is now sold out. However, Notebook Therapy has loads of other journals to choose from, so definitely check it out if you’re looking for a new notebook! The ‘Sun Solstice’ notebook is an A5 journal (my go-to for bullet journalling) with a teal fabric cover, elastic closure and a paper pocket at the back. My only slight gripe is that it doesn’t have a pen holder, which I find incredibly useful in my own journals, but maybe Notebook Therapy will add that to their journals in the future!
Equipment
To create this setup, I used the following equipment:
- Uni Pin Fine Line pen: sepia, 0.5.
- Sakura Pigma Micron fineliners: black, 05 (0.45mm) and 08 (0.5mm).
- Kuretake clean colour dot pens: mild colours.
- Coloured markers (I used a combination of Crayola SuperTips and Tombow ABT Dual Brush Pens).
- Ruler.
- Pencil.
- Eraser.
Initial Pages: General Planning
At the start of the journal, I set up some more general spreads, for any overall notes/plans. Because I enjoyed my own 2025 journal setup theme so much, I opted to create a similar style setup here, using the same Kuretake dot pens, along with the brown fineliner for a softer look. I wanted this section to be super colourful, but also minimal, with plenty of space for writing in.
Cover Page
I kept the Cover Page for this setup pretty simple: just the title and some decorations made with the Kuretake dot pens (which look vaguely like worms, but we’ll pretend that’s not the case…). I wrote the heading in the centre of the page, using my brown fineliner.
Future Projects
Next up is the Future Projects spread, where Mum can map out when she plans to make any potential projects. To make this spread, I wrote the heading across the top using my brown fineliner, then divided each page into 6 sections using my Kuretake dot pens, so that I had 12 sections in total (one for each month of the year).
Yarns to Try
Next we have a double-page spread for Mum to jot down any yarns that she’d like to try out! I separated this spread out into 4 sections: one for fingering weight yarn, one for DK, one for worsted and one for any other weights. I chose these categories based on the yarn weights Mum most frequently uses, but this can obviously be adjusted to suit your own yarn preferences.
Stash-Busting
Like any hardcore knitter, Mum has a pretty extensive stash of yarns leftover from projects, so Stash-Busting is always on her agenda. This spread just gives her a space to note down any potential stash-busting projects, ideas/inspiration that she stumbles across or even thoughts on more specific plans. I’ve kept this spread nice and empty, just decorating it with a simple, dot pen border, so she can use it however she would like.
Present Ideas + Plans
The final spread in these initial, general pages is this Present Ideas + Plans page. I’ve set this out in exactly the same way as the Stash-Busting spread, so that Mum can use it in any way she likes. The purpose of this spread is to give her a space to note down any plans/ideas for gifts throughout the year.
Monthly Spreads
Now we come to the main bulk of this knitting journal: the Monthly Spreads. Each month is set out in exactly the same way over 2 double-page spreads, but each uses a different colour marker, to differentiate between the months and make the journal super easy to navigate through.
Projects Overview + Cover Page
The first double-page spread of each month features a calendar on the right-hand page and an overview of that month’s projects on the left-hand page.
While this is a knitting journal, Mum also likes to have a calendar layout to keep track of appointments and events, much like in my standard bullet journal. It’s also helpful for her to see the structure of each month (for planning knitting timelines, of course!). For all of the calendars, I’ve drawn out a grid (in which each box is 3×4 grid squares), using my brown fineliner. I used the colour of the month to add a band of colour above each row, on top of which I wrote the dates. I used a black fineliner (the 05 size of my Sakura Pigma Microns) to write in the dates, because I found that the brown fineliner did not show up very well on top of some of the coloured markers. At the top of the page, I added some larger dots of colour and wrote out the name of each respective month (using the larger, 08 black fineliner), one letter per dot.
I split the left-hand page into 3 sections: Ongoing Projects in the top left, Projects to Start in the top right and Miscellaneous Notes in the bottom. I drew the three boxes using my brown fineliner, then added small dots of colour to write the subheadings on (again, using the 05 black fineliner).
To finish off this spread, I added a wavy line of colour down each side of the paper.
Project Notes
The second double-page spread of each month is populated with 6 individual project sections. In these, my mum will be able to jot down any notes/plans that are specific to certain projects. To set up these pages, I divided each page into 3 horizontally, then outlined the boxes with my brown fineliner. I added more dots of colour in the top left of each box, on top of which I wrote ‘PROJECT’, so Mum can write in the name of each project beside it. Just like the previous double-page spread, I added a wavy line of colour down each side to finish everything off.
Final Pages: Christmas & New Year Spreads
After the Monthly Spreads, I set up a couple of spreads for Mum to use towards the end of 2025, specifically for Christmas and looking ahead to 2026. Because they aren’t necessarily associated with a single month, I used the same, multicoloured dot pen theme as the initial pages here, which bookends the journal nicely.
Christmas Presents + Cards
First up are the Christmas Present/Card Trackers. I used really simple, table style layouts for both of these spreads, with the first column for the name of the recipient and the second column for the present/address, respectively. Like with the other spreads that I created in this style, I wrote the headings in block capitals, using my brown fineliner, in the space at the top.
2026 Plans
This 2026 plans page is the final spread in this setup and another blank slate, with just a simple dot pen border around the edge. These pages are for Mum to note down any potential projects/plans for 2026, so she can get ahead with her knitting and keep track of all of her ideas.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I’m really happy with how this turned out (and so is Mum!). Setting up a whole year’s worth of spreads is always a little daunting, but the process was actually super quick and easy this time around— it only took me a few evenings to create this setup!
I still really love using the Kuretake dot pens to decorate, make borders and divide up pages. It’s an easy, slow & therapeutic process (though, at the same time, it always seems to fly by), which makes setting up spreads extra enjoyable.
I’m also really happy with the colours I picked for the monthly spreads this year! Last year, I went for a very bright, rainbow colour scheme, but I wanted to use more muted, rainbow colours this time around to tie in better with the pastel dot pens. I think this makes for a more restful, but still vibrant and colourful, setup.
I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about this knitting journal setup for 2025— I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Gemma
xxx
