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Friday Favorite: Graph Paper

February 8th, 2013

Growing up in South America gave me a love of graph or quadrille paper. For some reason, it’s the paper of choice there, ruled paper is not easy to find. Since I possess a slightly obsessive side, this plays right into my love of straight lines and tidiness. I don’t use graph paper much anymore since most of my work is done on the computer, it is still my paper of choice when it comes to garden planning.
graph paper 1
Since my garden is much bigger now, I was thinking about taping a few sheets of graph paper together, then I stumbled upon 27 x34, 1″ Square Easel sized graph paper – SCORE! This gives me more than enough room to plan out the big main edible garden down to the square foot. I also purchased a pad of 11″ x 17″ quardille paper paper for planning purposes – my small sheets weren’t large enough to plan out an entire year.
graph paper 2
Graph paper bring me much joy and happiness, I love nothing more than to sit down with a fine point pen or pencil and a piece of graph paper. Even though I spent much of my day writing and planning on the computer, I find deep satisfaction in writing with a nice pen on good paper.

Do you have a favorite kind of paper or textile for writing/planning?

10 Comments to “Friday Favorite: Graph Paper”
  1. daisy on February 8, 2013 at 6:59 am

    I hope you’ll share the process…

    Reply to daisy's comment

  2. Marina C on February 8, 2013 at 7:56 am

    I love the Rodia orange quadrille notepads. They come in all sizes, I keep a index card sized one in my knitting bag, and I have graphed stitch patterns I see I might use down the road.
    The paper is really smooth and a joy to write on. The full size work well for individual garden beds,
    I also used that one when we moved last time, to map out where the furniture was going to fit in.
    Graph paper rules! :-)

    Reply to Marina C's comment

  3. Rebecca Burlingham on February 8, 2013 at 9:39 am

    When I started in kitchen design 20+ years ago, all drawings were done on graph paper. I do give in and use a cad program to produce perspective drawings. But, when I want perfection and easy to read floorplans and elevations, I turn to my trusty graph paper. Even when I left for a couple of years to raise a baby, I had graph paper in my home desk.

    Reply to Rebecca Burlingham's comment

  4. KimH on February 8, 2013 at 10:01 am

    I usually use plain ol’ spiral notebooks.. Im sure I must love them.. I have boatloads of them to keep all sorts of info in. ;)

    Reply to KimH's comment

  5. Nebraska Dave on February 8, 2013 at 10:19 am

    Susy, there’s just something more personal about using pen and paper, don’t you think?

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

    • Mr. Chiots on February 8, 2013 at 10:51 pm

      Yes, I totally agree, something more concrete.

      Reply to Mr. Chiots's comment

  6. risa on February 8, 2013 at 11:58 am

    We plan on a pair of white boards. Map above, lists below, including who gets to plant where. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-gCFKxOE92Bg/TVHoAsaw00I/AAAAAAAAC-M/oDon_uUtV-s/s512/DSCN2124.JPG

    Reply to risa's comment

  7. S on February 8, 2013 at 2:16 pm

    For those who are fond of grids you might love this site:
    http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/
    I’ve used it for quilting too–you can make all kinds and sizes and save them as a PDF. So cool! (I am unaffiliated with the site just another slightly obsessive planner ha!). I also use spreadsheet software as I have permanent raised beds and can made a blank master map of my garden space and re-use it every year :)

    Reply to S's comment

    • Allison on February 8, 2013 at 4:24 pm

      I just checked that site out and it is fantastic!!
      I need to find a reason to use the “polar” graph paper – totally geeking out over this!

      Reply to Allison's comment

  8. Allison on February 8, 2013 at 4:06 pm

    My all-time favorite is spiral bound quad grid paper. I usually have one at my desk at work (I’m in the construction industry) and it is so handy when it comes to neatly drafting up a quick sketch when taking notes.

    Reply to Allison's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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