First Day of Spring! Inspirations

Spring is finally here! Although it’s been feeling like spring since February? But that’s Texas weather for you. Today I was ~~planting flowers I’d purchased three weeks ago~~ tending to my garden and noticed a lovely Texas bluebonnet blooming.

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I have a brown thumb, so I wanted to capture this moment before it dies next week. ::insert inspirational thoughts about flowers and spring here::

This weekend was pretty great. My friends and I decided to check out SXSW on Saturday. I don’t go to SXSW every year, but when I do, it’s always fantastic. I think my fondest SXSW was in 2011, when Brother and I attended the Foo Fighters documentary premiere Back and Forth, and Dave Grohl was RIGHT ACROSS THE THEATER eating POPCORN and it was CRAZINESS. That was also the year we waited in line for five hours to get into the MTV Woodie Awards just so we could watch the Foo Fighters perform one song.*

This year my friends and I took a more chill approach to SXSW, but we still had a blast. They are all artistic people and I feel more inspired to create just being around them. We also caught some really good shows. I’d been feeling burned out on shows lately but Saturday refreshed my palate, I think. My friend and I caught this one band called Happy Meals, and it was such a fun set. But I’m hesitant to look them up now because I’m afraid they won’t sound as amazing when I’m sober.

Now that it’s spring and I’m wrapping up my pincushion project (the review will be ready this week!), I’m already eyeing more projects to add to my queue. After my test is done, of course.**

PICTURE TIME.

Wool and the Gang Dylan Tank

Wool and the Gang has all these awesome free patterns, and I’m eyeing this one for spring. REAL TALK – I would nix the fringe though.

Two of Wands, Movie Night Cocoon Cardi

I love this cardi by Two of Wands. It would be a perfect transitional piece for the approximately two cooler days I can expect this spring.

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Lion Brand Afternoon Breeze Shawl

Ditto on this shawl. It’s so cute! I can wear it to work so I won’t freeze to death in my cube.

Finally, I want to make this:

Fancy Tiger Crafts Sailor Top

I wish I had known about Fancy Tiger Crafts when I visited Denver two years ago, because I would have been ALL UP IN THAT. I really have been wanting to go back to Denver because Rocky Mountains, the crepes place, Garden of the Gods, it’s amazing, etc etc etc, so this is just another reason to visit, right? Anyway, I got a little sidetracked…this top is really cute and versatile, and it’s supposed to be beginner friendly. I really want to make it. ~~And also move to Denver.~~

I need to be responsible so I should probably sleep. Good night!

*I’m very done with waiting in line for hours and hating my life, but I’m really glad I did it then and have those memories.

** I splurged on a review course so my attitude has gone from “I’m going to fail” to “I might pass, maybe!”

Maker Crush – Hawthorne Handmade

This post is brought to you by another cup of coffee and a huge lack of motivation. So while my brain remembers what it’s like to function, let me show you the work of a wonderful artist I recently discovered.

Hawthorn Handmade is an adorable Etsy shop out of the UK that makes the most wonderful little craft kits. Seriously, take a look:

Barn Owl Needle Felting Kit

Bear Embroidery Kit

Grey Hare Amigurimi Crochet Kit

Little Owl Amigurimi Crochet Kit

The designs are so adorable. I may or may not have purchased the bear embroidery kit and owl crochet kit with an Etsy gift card I received for my birthday last year. These kits just looked too good to pass up!

This Post is Brought to You By Caffeine and Lots of Pictures

Today’s post is brought to you by the copious amounts of caffeine I will be consuming to get through today. My body just could not get to sleep before midnight, but at 5:30 this morning it was like, “I FEEL ALIVE. LET’S GET UP!”

I’ve been thinking a lot about motivation lately and goal-setting. I’ve set some ambitious goals for myself lately, whereas a couple of years ago I may not have had the motivation (nor courage) to set them. It’s one thing to dream big – it is another to have the persistence and discipline to achieve your dreams. And having persistence and discipline is the toughest part of the journey, I think. We all like the reward of doing something big and bold – but the persistence and discipline portion is often tedious, tiresome work.

What I’m saying is, I wish I could be lazy and pass my test without studying for it, but alas, I was not blessed with a photographic memory for material I learned over a decade ago. For the next five weeks my posts are probably going to be picture-heavy as I enter into crunch mode for my test. I just need to think positive happy thoughts like, “YOU’RE SO SMART JENNY! BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF YOUR DREAMS!” and not, “You’re gonna fail,” which I currently have on a loop in my mind. (Said in the voice of Kristen Wiig from Walk Hard, of course.)

YAY PICTURE TIME!

First off, I received my Wool and the Gang package in the mail yesterday. Wow, that was fast.

I said in the last post that I was geeking out over using Scheepjes yarn…I do that too with Wool and the Gang. I really want to try their Crazy Sexy Wool but that’s probably going to be too warm to work with for the next ten months.

It is so squishy!!!!!

I’ve also been making progress with my Little Box of Crochet project…but not as much, since I’m studying in the evenings and don’t start my crafting until the Daily Show. I promise not to be posting incremental pictures of the same project for the next five weeks.

More pictures, you say? SURE!

I am really loving the way this is working up! And the colors are just gorgeous.

Finally, I received my ipsy bag in the mail yesterday…I really am loving the color palette from this month’s bag.

The earrings didn’t come with the bag…I just thought they would be a pretty addition to this soft spring palette! I wish I could make a dress out of this print:

And of course, this is such a cute little card.

Now that we’re full of positive and happy vibes, I’ve got to go wake Fiancé up. My car decided to overheat yesterday so he’s got to drive me to work. Have a great day, everyone!

Weekend Makes – Mollie Makes Scandi Floral Hoop Kit

Happy Monday! U.S. readers, are you adjusting to Daylight Savings Time? I tried to keep a normal schedule yesterday, so I was able to wake up this morning without hating my life.

This weekend was great! It was a very cozy, rainy weekend that allowed me to get caught up on household chores but most importantly, making! I worked on the Scandi Floral Hoop Kit from Mollie Makes issue 76.

This beautiful kit was designed by Zeena Shah, who makes beautiful Scandinavian-inspired designs. I have to say, I was very pleased with how this kit turned out. Lately when I’ve worked on embroidering a piece, I feel the need to color in every part of a design with a stitch. But it’s totally okay to leave some open spaces here and there, and with this piece, I think that approach worked out much better. It really adds a whimsical feel.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I’m also really happy with how the French knots turned out!

It took me a couple of years to learn French knots, and they still give me problems. But these turned out quite well!

I also started getting caught up on Little Box of Crochet projects. This one I’m working on is a beautiful peacock feather pincushion. I’ve only worked up a couple of the feathers so far (and haven’t weaved in the ends yet), but am loving the vibrant colors of this project.

This project uses Scheepjes Catona yarn. I have to say, I’m geeking out a bit over the yarn selection because Scheepjes isn’t sold in the states. I’ve read about this yarn so much in my imported craft magazines and I’m really excited to be able to work with it.

Look at these colors!

I hope you had a great weekend! Please share what you made with me!

GUYS I RAN OUT OF YARN

The other day I was thinking that I hadn’t posted my February makes. I looked through my pictures and…realized I had only completed these:

Now to be fair, I had been in the field for two weeks last month…but still! This is hardly anything. It was a good reminder to me that staying focused on projects is important. It’s completely normal to feel burned out by a project – and when that happens, I think it’s necessary to move on to a little side project to take a mental break. But my problem last month was trying to start too many new projects at once. It doesn’t give me the chance to sit down and focus on completing a project.

I have a frustrating update to my Calvin Top project. I focused on this project ALL WEEK and didn’t work on any other projects. I am so close to being finished with the second body piece! But, as I feared, I ran out of yarn. Hence the overly dramatic post title.

I actually did the tension swatch prior to starting the project, and remember thinking that my stitches were too dense. But I decided to plow ahead with the project anyway. Lesson learned! I ordered another skein from Wool and the Gang. And since it is pay day, I ordered this project too:

Brooding model not included.

I’ve been interested in making and wearing my own clothes lately, and this seems like a fun project to try my hand with. It says EASY and it looks like it’s all just stockinette stitch? Which I can do. Knit, purl, knit, purl. I got this. But the Calvin Top was supposed to be easy too, and I suppose it was, but it’s still going to look like a circus tent when I’m done with it. In my humble opinion.

I also ordered this from Sublime Stitching because pay day, I have no children so my disposable income is all mine, life is short, etc etc.

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The saying on the pillow is “Vita Brevis Est” which translates to “Life is brief.” It’s so morbid. I love it.

What else is going on? I’m keeping busy at work, which makes me happy. Consulting is so stressful when there aren’t any projects to work on. I have a lot of projects right now so I feel like I have a purpose yay. OR SOMETHING. I had a very quick trip to Houston this week to sample one well, which was fun. I wish all my sites just required sampling one well. My test is in six weeks and I’m freaking out.

I also enrolled in a garment making class. I mentioned I’m interested in making my own clothes, but it’s been hard to find the motivation to teach myself. Fiancé has band practice on Saturdays so I thought it would be good to find a class during that time. Every once in awhile I need to get myself out of my default reclusive loner introvert mode and actually socialize with people. And learn to make something. I am taking a class in April where we are learning how to make Grainline Studio Willow tanks!

Source: Grainline Studio

I’ve been following Grainline Studio for while on Instagram, so I’m excited to try my hand at sewing one of their patterns! Again, it’s supposed to be a beginner’s level class, but we’ll see.

Okay. I need to go be a productive member of society and show up to work and stuff. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! If you are stitching up something crafty this weekend, I’d love to hear about it!

Starting the Week off Right

Good morning everyone! I wanted to write out a quick weekend post since I wasn’t able to update yesterday. I hope you all had great, restful weekends and a good start to your week. I feel much more like myself this week. I really attribute it to my weekend. It was definitely restful, like cuddling up with this little chunk:

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But I was also productive, and I think that’s what put me in a really good mindset for this week. I was able to get some good studying done for my test, went for a run, planted veggies in the garden (fingers crossed they don’t die), did ALL the laundry, and made some good progress in reorganizing the guest room. I found this gem while going through my old notebooks. This is from a phase in 2008 when I was depressed and would go to coffee shops to write poetry:

So much anger, Jenny! I’d totally shop at Central Market now, if it were closer to my neighborhood.

I found time to craft, too. I’ve been focusing exclusively on the Calvin Top.

I’ve finished the first body piece and am working my way through the second. I am very eager to finish it so I can try it on. I still think it will fit like a burlap sack when I’m done, but hopefully I am wrong.

Time for me to get ready for work! Have a great day!

Stumbling into the Weekend

Happy Friday! I am writing to you a little later than normal. This week was definitely an “off” one for me…feeling really tired, anxious, and antisocial the entire week. This week was full of meetings and training classes, so I could not be the hermit that I wanted to be. AND to add insult to injury, I got home just now, and Apollo was being really possessive of his treat ball and was growling and barking angrily at me 😦 He’s usually so sweet and loving with me, so I hate when he gets possessive like this! I wasn’t even trying to take his dumb treat ball away from him, I’d been trying to hand him EXTRA TREATS that had fallen out of his treat ball. Silly dog! ALL I DO IS FEED AND LOVE YOU. It bums me out when he acts like that.

ANYWAY.

Here is a one step forward, two steps backward kind of situation. I canceled one of my subscription boxes today. I really enjoy Knit-Wise but I want to start saving up for the wedding. I felt really responsible when I did that.

Then I went to Barnes and Noble and bought ALL THE CRAFT MAGAZINES.

Well, not all. Just two. But lookit.

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Source: Simply Crochet’s Ravelry page

This is the kit that came with Issue 54 of Simply Crochet. Isn’t it adorable?

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I’ve been waiting for this issue of Mollie Makes.I love the embroidery kit!

As for my Wool and the Gang Calvin top, I’m about done with the first body piece. I had to frog it this morning (yes, I did a little crochet before work this morning…shhhh) since the mesh section was uneven and looked crappy. It looks better now and I think I can be done with it this weekend.

Hopefully by relaxing with these projects this weekend, I’ll be able to unwind and be back on track for Monday. Here’s hoping! Have a great weekend!

The Cozy Bird

Crafting Happiness, One Day at a Time