Fiber Arts Creators I Love

 Hi! I wanted to do a list of the creators I like to watch and get inspiration from in the fiber arts community. You should totally recommend people to watch if you think I would like it :D

Aspen in the Moment / Made in the Moment

Loveeeee their drama videos. I also really like their style and personality and think they make really captivating videos, and inspire me to continue to crochet and eventually, potentially learn to knit. Some of their projects are down below.

PassioKnit Kelsie

I really enjoy her YouTube vlogs and find them to be satisfying to watch, especially her store drops where she sells out like…instantly of her crochet and knit items. I find her very inspiring from a business perspective and also I like her style.

Mrs. Moon & Heaven

When she does post vlogs, I looooooooove them. She has a bright, fun colors aesthetic, and I like her style of videos. She is someone that I need to make some of her patterns, like the Luna Cardigan I've been meaning to make for yeeeeears. 

What are some of your fav fiber arts creators? Or just drop youtubers that have the same hobbies as you :)

june fixations

 TV - Sex and the City 

So, finally finished this show. Even though I don't necessarily "relate" to the characters in this show, something about it is very endearing. I am not a New Yorker, so something about watching these ladies life's in the big city and what goes on in their lives is fascinating. Even if it's not real.

Towards the end of the series, the last season specifically, I was like...bummed! I didn't love where their stories left off I guess. Like Carrie and Big...ugh. I don't like Big, I just didn't understand him I guess.  I know there are movies and shows after this but I think I'm going to leave this show off right here. 

My favorite characters were Samantha and Miranda. Also I would love a job like Carrie's...I wonder if those type of newspaper columns are still around? I guess everything is online now. I know we have a newspaper at least in our town but I don't see columns like that. I guess we have blogs and vlogs now for that sort of thing. 

Hobbies - Crocheting and Coffee Talk Tokyo 

I haven't finished Coffee Talk Tokyo yet but I loveeee it so far. I just absolutely adore this series. So many different creatures I have never even heard of! Just an overall cool game thus far. 

Crochet-wise, I am currently working on a throw blanket for my coworkers office and its coming along nicely. I definitely have to make a border because the edges don't seem to be straight, there are just kind of wobbly if that makes sense.

Documentaries - Kings of Tupelo

So I actally have been watching a bunch of different crime documentaries, including Maternal Instinct (which was absolutely tragic). 

But this series stood out to me just because of how...bizarre it was. I simply could not look away from the screen it was just absolutely WILD. Elvis impersonators coming across a conspiracy of a body part black market that escalates all the way up to the US Government. Just truly a bizarre film. 

The editing is HILARIOUS. You got to watch it.

 

frutiger zen - yoga wellness and trying to get healthy

 So, I've been trying to get in better shape. I've debated on making a blog post about this because I think the discussion around weight loss can sometimes spark arguments or be taken a certain way. But I am not promoting anything unhealthy, I promise!

This all started around a recent trend on my ForYou page called Frutiger Zen. It's like all these older 2000s videos centered around yoga fashion, health wellness, having your own yoga studio, blah blah blah. Specific music that is associated with that vibe. Things like that. *Kinda related, if you like music here is a music mix I made based off that aesthetic.

Then, from there, it got me thinking. I have been wanting to get in better shape for quite some time. More so for my health and overall happiness, and seeing what a lot of these women look like and their exercises they were practicing was definitely more of a vibe that I liked. It honestly looked kind of fun instead of like...a chore. One thing I struggle with is exercise, I hateeeee it. But yoga has been one thing I can say I have been able to do pretty consistently in comparison to the gym or things like that. 

But then like I will look online and a lot of people say yoga isn't meant for things like weight loss or fat reduction! But I think its better to move my body more this way rather than no way, especially because I usually sit still most of the day. Plus, in combination with eating healthier (trying too), I think this will lead me down the right path. I plan on adding cardio more in the future.

I think exercise is also one of my biggest downfalls because I have this very negative mentality of "oh my god, this shit sucks. I hate exercising so much. I'm sweating, I could be doing this that and something else." I don't necessarily want to be muscular or anything like that, but I do want to have more strength and just treat my body nicer.

Anyways, thank you for reading. I guess where I am at now, is be healthier, lose weight, move more. What are some ways you try and stay healthy? Do you have any suggestions for yoga youtubers or meals you like?

do i want to dress alt or do i just want to suffer

 You know, I reallyyyy like the idea of online shopping. I get to play with different clothes, see my dream aesthetic play out in front of me and be a cool, alt version of myself that I dream to be.

In reality I hate online shopping. Or shopping of any kind. It's stressful as hell for me personally. 

Since I was in elementary school basically, I loved the idea of dress like a scene kid. Or a goth kid. Or a emo kid. 

However living in a strict household that was basically out of the question. But as I grew older, I tried to experiment with my style in more subtle ways that would be allowed within my family.

Now as a adult, I get random bursts of motivation to be like "Alright! It's time! It's time to dress how I want to dress!" 

But then like the other day, I'm scrolling through websites like Fox Blood for example and I am just thinking to myself....oh my god. I don't like any of these items. 

Am I a....poser?

I think part of the issue is that I am not the best at styling. I am very much a “put on bottoms, put on a top, put on shoes, maybe add earrings, and call it a day” type of person. I don't put a lot of thought with the current clothes in my wardrobe because I don't loveeee it.

So when I see individual clothing pieces online, I struggle to actually envision an outfit. I cannot casually shop somewhere without basically building the entire outfit right there, because I cannot picture how the clothes would look in any other context. 

Also, where I live, the vibe I am realistically going for nowadays is shawls, skirts, boots, cardigans, and things like that. Which is not exactly practical when it is hot as hell here, especially now that it is summer, and honestly even in the other seasons, it never cools down enough to be sweater weather it feels like.

For the last couple years, I have been slowly leaning towards what they call "whismigoth." I actually have a very similar outfit pictured to the left from Pinterest. I think that's the style I am going for nowadays and can survive the heat if I just switch to some...sandals and no cardigan. But again, I run into the issue of finding the correct articles of clothing to go all together when I am out shopping.

I am a chronic outfit repeater because of this, and honestly I see no shame in that. I just like what I like.

My point in posting this, I guess, is that I wanted to ask: where do you guys find this style of clothing? How can I up my fashion game? 

Here is a typical outfit for me right now if I was just out and about.

I have a purple variation of this skirt as well that I use interchangeably with this outfit.

It's a little more cropped than this but a simple black tee.

Not as fancy as this but I put a shawl on top that is also black.

Some kind of variation of these earrings, but you get the point.

P.S. here is this funny shirt I saw while I was scrolling Depop.

surprise! trying to start a club

Alright so I am doing something completely outside my comfort zone...and attempting....to start....

a club.

After I posted my last blog about wanting a sense of community, a cozy place for people to hang out, it got me thinking about how to create that community. And I thought, eh, why not? What's the worst that can happen? 

So I started posting on Reddit on any interested people for the club. Specifically, the club would be centered around any one who is into the fiber arts, which I know is a big spectrum but I want to be skilled in more than one area at some point, and I feel like being exposed to others crafts would be inspiring! I also thought about potentially doing charity projects, as that would be suppppper cool!

look at them, so happy with their yarn!

So far I got around 5 people who showed interest and joined the sever. yippee yippee ! Now I'm trying to figure out where does one go from here? We just jump straight into doing a meeting? I posted my introduction and we will see where it goes in the server. 

This is something COMPLTELY outside my comfort zone. I am a homebody and a introvert all the way. But i always wanted other friends to craft with, and i honestly just need to up my support in friends some more, as I noticed that when I befriend people, I tend to drift away for whatever reason. It's never intentional, I just suck at maintaining friendships it seems. Something happens where we just sorta...drift out of touch. I'm working on it though!

So for anyone who is looking for a sign to start a club, here is your sign! If anybody has any advice on how they would run a club...please comment! I honest to god don't know what I am doing. I'm winging it.

coffee talk and small businesses

I recently started playing Coffee talk: Tokyo. I'm a huge fan of this series and I have played the first two games. i love the dynamics between the characters, the storylines, the dialogue. It always inspires me to open a place like Coffee Talk. 

Unfortunately where I live, there isn't a whole lot of options for a "third space," or funky, alt, small cafes. Around me, its primarily built for retired folks and there isn't a whole lot to do here. I've even thought to myself, what if I were to start one? Would it be successful? Would it completely fail and ruin my life? How do you market that within this community? 

How do places like that stay alive? 

Back when I lived in a bigger city and was going to school, I felt like these shops existed everywhere, and I loved them. But I wondered how they stayed open, they never seemed full. I am pretty ignorant to the business side of those things. But again....a place where you have regulars and chat as you work, have a warm, whimsical environment.... I just love that idea. It inspires me, motivates me. But unfortunately I am not a risk taker, and I worry if I even did have the balls to do something like that, it would blow up in my face. 

This is kind of the feeling I had for when I tried to start up an online crochet shop. I really wanted to make money off my hobby, and at the time (again in school) I was really into it. But I quickly realized through friends and acquaintances that nobody was willing to pay the "true cost" of a crochet piece. And to be honest, neither would I! I get it! It's expensive! I also feel like what I crochet doesn't bring anything new to the market, so I lost that competitive edge I suppose. 

Same thing goes for when I tried being a twitch streamer yearsssss ago. I just felt like I didn't bring anything new to the table. Plus the games i played aren't really the best for streaming, and I never really wanted to ever speak in my streams to essentially nobody. i am not very charismatic in that regard! 

But then like I am sitting here, typing this and thinking to myself...what is my intention? Am I trying to be rich off these schemes? Trying to help others? Have fun? Be famous? 

I guess I just want a cozy community when it comes to the third space and streaming stuff. And for my store, I just wanted to have a fun job.

I dunno. Maybe i am just not build to be a small business owner.

puppy blues

 So I just want to start off by saying....I am completely grateful to have a dog! a puppy nonetheless! I love her to pieces

but oh my gosh, puppies are haaaaaaaaaard to take care of.

Coco...in all her glory.

I got this lovely puppy back in January and it has been the most amazing, frustrating, humbling experience of my life. My boyfriend and I completely underestimated how easy it would be to take care of a dog. We were watching training videos on Youtube, thinking "Oh! We got this!"

No. No we did not. 

Well we did, but it was just definitely a learning curve. 

Personally, I've never had a Staffy before. The only dogs I ever had were two Yorkies who were mainly raised by my parents and my job was just to pick them up, cuddle with them, and give them silly nicknames. 

When we were looking for a dog, I didn't remember with my yorkies any specific issues with potty training, or training in general. I just remember showing them tricks and that was really it. 

Well, Coco would come and show me how much I hate the potty training process, and the strength a baby Staffy has versus my fragile Yorkies who were practically stuffed animals in comparison to her. 

Coco has been much better in regards to potty training, and hasn't had an accident in a while. However, she frequently needs to be taken out which again, I underestimated that. I am though very grateful that she signals by staring at us intensely and stomping when she needs to get taken out.

Coco demanding to be let back inside.

Another thing I had to learn is oh my god....can this dog DESTROY toys! My Yorkies had like no issues with this, so I didn't expect this at all. She has gone through sooooo many toys its ridiculous. We even have gotten these like..super hard ones that make this loud THUD noise when they hit the ground, and she has even managed to mess those up. Right now her favorite is those Kong toys, and a like rock solid bone toy. Not destroyed....yet.

Coco with a broken cat toy 
and her toy

And her strength...oh my gosh. this dog has MUSCLES. Like, I will be kneeling down, and she will jump up to me and boom! I'm on the ground! Or if she jumps on the bed to say hello in the morning, she will knock the wind out of me! 

Going back to training, one thing I am still getting use to is crate training. Before we moved, my pets slept in the same bed as me (don't judge). But now, with Coco in our lives, we thought it would be best to train her that her crate is like her bedroom, and that's where she sleeps. It hasn't been unpleasant, and I think honestly she likes her crate when she's tired.

I think the last pet I ever had to train was my cat, who is still with us. Coco has a terrible tendency to jump on him or try and play with him (I think), which pisses him off and causes him to hide or run to us or hiss. I really am not sure how to fix this issue. She doesn't always jump on him, but for the most part Artie has learned to just keep his distance. Coco too.

Anyways, I just wanted to talk about my dog. I really do love her but man... she was not what I was expecting at all. Here's a photo of my kitty to end the post <3