The Toasted Marshmallow Poncho Crochet Pattern

Like many people, I absolutely love everything about Fall. However, the one thing that I don’t love is that, every year, sometime around the transition from Summer to Fall, I tend to get a little unmotivated and uninspired. In a lot of ways I think it makes sense, the “excitement” of summer starts to dwindle and the sun goes down earlier, my surroundings change, so my mood usually changes with it.

Since this is the first year that I have been creating my own designs, the hardest part about the season transition was that my designs had to transition with it, which threw me into a complete whirlwind. I had gotten so used to designing lacy tops and skirts, that when I realized that I had to shift mindsets and start working on sweaters and other warm garments, I just didn’t know what to do. My mind went completely blank on how to make my design style work with thicker yarns and heavier garments, long story short, it has not been a fun time.

If there is anything that I have learned about myself over the past few years it is that I pretty much need a creative outlet at all times to stay truly happy. With this being said, I kinda of disappeared for a little bit in order to give myself a little bit of a break, but I have been trying to push through it, so I’m finally back with a new cozy pattern to share! The Toasted Marshmallow Poncho!

The Jasmine Bralette Crochet Pattern

Although I grew up in LA, I have never really been a summer person for some reason. I think it’s because I do not do well in the heat, in fact I don’t do well in almost any temperature, i’m always either too cold or too hot. However, recently I have been trying to warm up to the idea of summer (see what I did there?). Honestly it is probably because of the fashion aspect of it, I’m trying to learn how to dress according to season, which is kind of difficult sometimes especially when it comes to summer.

There is so much to take into consideration when it comes to summer, you can be melting and you still aren’t allowed to walk around topless like guys can. You need to find the fine line between not dying and not being too revealing, because you know heaven forbid people see a human body and get all judgmental and offended.

Personally I find it hard to feel fashionable in a tank top and shorts, some people can make it look amazing, but I am not one of those people haha, thus the Jasmine Bralette came to life! I wanted to make something breezy, a little longer than just a normal bralette, and I wanted it to be cute! So let’s dive into the pattern!

Ocean Breeze Desk Mat Crochet Pattern

I have come to the realization that I never let myself do any “simple” projects. In my mind, creating things that aren’t elaborate feels like a waste of time, which of course isn’t true. I stress myself out a lot over projects not being “good enough” or “unique enough”, when the truth is what I really shouldn’t wast my time on, is worrying about things not being perfect all of the time. It is an idea that I am trying to get used to, so I really want to  let myself feel more comfortable writing more simple patterns that don’t take weeks to design and are just easy, fun, and cute. So the first pattern that I came up with on this new journey is The Ocean Breeze Desk Mat!

DROPS Cotton Light Yarn Review

If there is one thing that I never shut up about it is how much I love Cotton yarn. I think I have really pin pointed that love down to that fact that I always aim for a certain kind of drape in my designs that you just can’t achieve with bulkier fibers like acrylic or wool when you are crocheting. If you want a knitting level drape in crochet I feel like you have to use cotton (or just really thin yarn in general). The down side to using cotton is that it is so hard to find good cottons yarns, so I have been slowly trying some different kinds and doing these reviews in the hopes that it takes the guess work away for other people who are thinking of trying out new brands of yarn. So today I am focusing on reviewing DROPS Cotton Light.

The Megara Maxi Skirt and Crop Top Collaboration with Furls Crochet

When I am entrusted with someones personal secret, I am very good at keeping it to myself. However, when it comes to exciting announcement type secrets, it is pure torture not being able to tell anyone haha, so I am super excited that I finally get to spill the beans that I have been working on a CAL with Furls Crochet! Don’t know what a CAL is? That’s okay because I had no idea what it was when they reached out to me to do one haha. CAL is just a fancy abbreviated way of saying Crochet Along, in which a free pattern, rather than being posted in its entirety, has a section posted each week (for any number of weeks) and people can follow along with the pattern as it progresses. Cute right?

The Harper Cardigan Crochet Pattern

You know that game where someone says a word and you say the first thing that comes to mind and that cycle just kind of continues? I feel like that is how I name my designs haha. It is no secret that a lot of my designs have some kind of Disney related influence and this one is no exception. While all of my designs so far have been inspired by different Disney characters, I attempted to have this design be inspired by a Disney Landmark rather than a person. I have always felt this desire to translate landscapes and environments into a piece of clothing, which has proven to be a very challenging concept to explain and execute, but I figured what better place to start than a place that is very significant to my life, Disneyland.

My 5 Biggest Maker Challenges and How I’m Learning to Deal With Them

The maker life is a fun and meaningful one, but it is not always very easy. With being creative comes a lot of challenges that I think we often feel alone in, but in reality we aren’t alone at all. I have been doing “Makers May” this month, where you are supposed to do one post a day on Instagram all month-long. This on its own has been quite a challenge since I already don’t post on Instagram as often as most makers do, but ironically today’s post (which of course I have not actually done yet) is about Challenges. So I thought that I would do a post here about some challenges that I find myself facing rather often, so here goes!

Acrylic Yarn

I think most fiber artists find that one of the first yarns a large majority of us begin experimenting with is Acrylic yarn, due to its durability, accessibility, and affordability (all of which I will go further into in just a moment). Therefore it felt quite fitting to start this series off by talking about Acrylic yarn!

Cotton Yarn

I am really excited to dive into the world of Cotton Yarn in this post! I have been obsessed with Cotton Yarn for quite some time now and there is so much more to learn about it than you would ever guess!

The Fleur Dress Crochet Pattern and Feature

It has been so hard to keep this a secret for just about 4 months now, but I can finally share that I have been working on this pattern for The Fleur Dress that is being featured HERE on The Hook Nook blog!