Leonard Snart of Arrowverse said it best for planning : “Make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plans to go off the rails, throw away the plan.” I had what I thought was a good,solid plan for the blog after my Bacon’s Castle vendor event. Then I sold out of just about everything. I have another vendor event this weekend in Fredericksburg,Va. I’ve spent every possible moment I could these last 3 weeks making more product. Did I hit my production goal? Not even close, but it’s a one day, 7 hour event, so I should be ok, product wise. I have another event 2 weeks from Sunday in Newport News ..read more

If someone ever tells you that running a business is easy, they either have a staff who does 99% of the work for them, or they have no idea what they are actually doing, especially if they don’t understand that not all business run into the same cookie cutter set up. The three most important things that I have learned about running a business : it’s hard, burnout is most definitely a thing, and staying organized in a way that works for you, takes time to figure out. I’ve had this blog for 4 years now, and it’s only been in the last 2 years that I’ve really done anything with it. Most of the ch ..read more

So far for 2023 I have 4 in-personal sales events confirmed. There maybe a couple more added to the calendar later in the year. Event 1: Bacon’s Castle Village Faire Location: Surry, Virginia Date: April 29, 2023 Time: 10am – 4pm Entrance Fee: $15 for Adults, $10 for Students and Virginia Preservation Members. Children 6 and under are free www.preservationvirginia.org/events/bacons-castle-village-faire/ if you would like more information Event 2: Spring MAYkers Market Location: Fredericksburg, Virginia Date: May 20,2023 Time: 9am – 4pm Entrance Fee: Free This will be held at the Fraternal Orde ..read more

So I got a notification a few minutes ago. This blog has officially hit 5,000 all-time views. It’s exciting, I had figured with my sporadic update schedule it would be the end of the year before that happened. I’ll have another update this weekend. I’ll be announcing my first big crochet project ever and be going over what live shows I have on my calendar for 2023. The post So the blog did a thing. appeared first on Octojelly Crochet Studio ..read more

So, if you follow me on social media, you’ll know that roughly 13 days ago I lost access to Facebook due to being hacked, and then whoever hacked me got my account deactivated. I’m still fighting with Facebook to get access back, since by loosing my personal account, I also lost access to the business account. It was only this past weekend that I realized that 95% of my marketing plan is tied up in Facebook. I’m currently in the process of reworking my entire marketing plan. This is not what I had plans to do this early in the year. Another result of this is that all my posting plans have to b ..read more

Multiple of 12 sts (add 3 for base chain) Row 1: Skip 3 ch (counts as 1dc), 1dc into next ch, *1dc in:to each of next 3ch, [over next 2ch work dc2tog] twice, 1dc into each of the next 3 ch, [2dc into next dc] twice; rep from * ending last rep with 2dc once only into last ch, turn Row 2: Ch3 (counts as 1dc), 1dc into 1st st, always inserting hook into back loop only of each st *1dc into each of next 3 sts, [over next 2 sts work dc2tog] twice, 1dc into each of next 3sts, [2dc into next st] twice; rep from * ending last rep with 2dc once only into top of tch (turn chain), turn Rep Row 2 as neede ..read more

Multiples of 2 sts +1 (add 2 for base chain) Special Abbreviation: M3C = Marguerite cluster with 3 spike loops Row 1: M3C (Make a spike loop [i.e. yo and draw through] into 2nd, 3rd, and 5th chs from hook, yo and through all 4 loops), *ch1, make 1 M3C picking up 1 loop in ch that closed previous M3C, 2nd loop in same place as last spike of previous M3C, skip 1 ch, then last loop in next ch, yo and through all 4 loops; rep from * to end, turn. Row 2: Ch3, make 1M3C picking up loops in 2nd and 3rd ch from hook and in ch that closed 2nd M3C on previous row, *ch1, work 1M3C picking up 1st loop in ..read more

So, I’ve confirmed my spot in a show in May taking place in Fredericksburg, Va. More details on that in a bit. I’m in the process for applying to a Farmers Market that runs from April until December. Trying out something different this year. Facebook will be done for a bit while I fight with them to get my personal page back and access to the business page back. My personal page got disabled do to being hacked and then tagged for being against the Facebook code of conduct. I’m trying to be upbeat about this, but my anxiety is through the roof right now. The post Business Update appeared first ..read more

Multiples of 5 sts + 2 (add 2 for base chains) Row 1 (RS): Skip 3 ch (count as 1dc). 1dc into next ch, *ch3, skip 3 ch, 1dc into each of next 2 ch; rep from * to end, turn. Row 2: Ch3 (count as 1dc), skip 1st st, *5dc into 2nd ch of next ch-3 arch; rep from *, ending 1dc into top of tch, turn. Row 3: Ch3 (count as 1dc), skip 1st st, 1dc into next dc, *ch3, skip 3 dc, 1dc into each of next 2 dc; rep from * to end, turn Repeat rows 2-3 to reach desired length. The post Boxed Shell Stitch appeared first on Octojelly Crochet Studio ..read more

Leonard Snart of Arrowverse said it best for planning : “Make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plans to go off the rails, throw away the plan.” I had what I thought was a good,solid plan for the blog after my Bacon’s Castle vendor event. Then I sold out of just about everything. I have another vendor event this weekend in Fredericksburg,Va. I’ve spent every possible moment I could these last 3 weeks making more product. Did I hit my production goal? Not even close, but it’s a one day, 7 hour event, so I should be ok, product wise. I have another event 2 weeks from Sunday in Newport News ..read more