Touching Grass

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Pardon the gamer term, but that’s sort of what I’m doing this morning.

Roughly 3 weeks ago, I lost my day job. Since then I’ve been trying to find a new one.

I’ve heard more “you’re over qualified” in the last 2 weeks than I’ve ever heard before.

As a result, I have decided to focus more on the crochet business.

I’ve taken a couple of marketing workshops, and started making changes to my Facebook and Instagram pages. More stable posting on those 2 sites coming in October.

I have also written out 8 YouTube videos which I will start filming tomorrow. I plan to start posting those to YouTube every Monday and Wednesday, also starting in October.

I’m going to do Twitch still, I’m just debating keeping my current schedule, or doing a new one.

There will be some new series coming to the blog in October as well, I just have a little more research to do.

For now though, time to enjoy the outdoors.

What are you doing today?

Vanilla Cream Spice – Davidson’s Organics Brand

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Ingredients: Organic barley (wheat), organic cinnamon, organic chicory, organic chamomile, organic carob, organic rooibos, and natural flavor.

Thoughts: You know that smell that is fresh, warm, gooey, cinnamon rolls? That is what this tea smells like. That creamy combination that is cinnamon coated in vanilla cream.

The taste however, doesn’t quite meet the promise that the smell gives. I find it tastes a lot like a basic black tea does, just with a little more sweetness to it. It it a good tea, just not one that I would drink a lot of.

Breakfast in Paris – Stash Brand

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Breakfast in Paris, from Stash Brand Tea, www.stashtea.com

Ingredients: Blended black teas, lavender, bergamot oil, vanilla extract.

My thoughts:

So I drink all my teas without adding anything to them…atleast the first couple of times I drink them. If you like tart teas, or teas with a bite to them, this is defiantly the tea for you. Personally, I think my next cup will absolutely have some sugar and possibly some milk added to it.

Its not a bad tea, just not one I would keep on hand as a daily drink. If you a fan of the bermot and black tea combo, it is very strong in this tea, I just barely deducted the lavender and vanilla.

As always, I am not being paid to write this.

September Update

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How is everyone on this hotter than necessary Friday?

I’m in the process of updating the shop product selections. I have already added a few Desk Gremlins and a Zombie Cthulhu. I will be adding stress eggs, potion bottles, and keychain octojelly to the shop today and tomorrow.

I have removed a couple of nessies, gremlins and the dragons from the Desk Buddy section as they are now at The Village Knittery at Old Hilton Village in Newport News, Virginia. If you are local, you should absolutely check them out. They are open Wednesday through Saturday. Please check their Facebook page for the hours.

I have started working on larger one-off pieces, including a winged Cthulhu and a Phoenix.

I’ve also revived my big project of crocheting all the monsters in the 5E Monster Manuel for Dungeons and Dragons. I have at the time of this writing, 59 of the 313 patterns I will need to make all the monsters in the book that aren’t in the appendices. You can follow me on Instagram (http://www.instagram.com/octojellycrochetstudio) if you’re interested in following along with this project.

I will have my next live sales event in 40 days in Richmond, Va. I will be at the Pumpkin Witch Market at Diversity Richmond on October 15 from 12pm to 5pm. Come out and say hi if you’re in the area

I have been working on improving my presence on the various social media platforms now that I am not currently working a day job. This crochet business is currently my only source of income. I am working on finding a part-time day job, but I would really like to get this business to the point where I have a steady income.

I’ve been adding my Twitch stream to YouTube to build my presence there, I do plan on recording some actually YouTube how-to/Informative videos soon.

I’ve been doing some more up-to-date research on growing my Instagram/Facebook/TikTok presence and I hope to implement some things soon.

The tea blog series will continue on Monday and I will have some actual crochet and fiber related content soon.

Is there anything you would like to see me cover in the blog or on YouTube? Suggestions are always welcome.

Earl Grey – Twinings of London

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Twinings has been around since 1706. It’s one of the oldest tea companies in the world.

Their Earl Grey Tea is black tea that contains bergamot peel and other natural flavoring. It is a high caffeinated tea., but does have a decaf version available. You can ordered from the website for Twinings of London in both bagged and loose leaf versions.

Among the health benefits to drinking black tea, are its ingredients that help with blood cholesterol and help reduce the risk of heart disease.

I will admit that the Twinings Earl Grey is a staple in my house. I’ve been drinking it on and off since I was a teenager. Tea drinking is a daily thing with the women on my mother’s side of the family.

I drink the bagged version that can be found at most grocery stores. It’s a good black tea that has a bit of a kick to it. It’s also one of the few teas that I have had that is still drinkable when its at room temperature.

Lady Grey a la Crème Black Tea = The Spice and Tea Exchange

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I am not being paid to write this

The Lady Grey a la Crème Black Tea from The Spice and Tea Exchange is a good, light tasting Earl Grey tea. It contains the standard Earl Grey tea ingredients along with lavender, lemon and orange zest and vanilla.

It is sold as a loose leaf tea and has a high caffeine content. I bought the 2 oz bag, but you can buy it in other sizes from www.spiceandtea.com or from one of their many brick and mortar locations. They do have a large number of teas that do tend to come and go as the seasons change.

I very much think of this as more of a dessert tea or even a tea for the early mornings where the outdoor weather is going to be hot out. It is not a robust as a regular Earl Grey, but it does have the same bite to it, just not a strong of a bite.

Weekend Update

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So….

This past week has been….something.

Due to outside circumstances, this business is currently my main source of income. I’ve spent the last week revamping some things, and reviving others.

I’ll be adding Thursday to the Twitch stream schedule starting next week. Right now I’ll be streaming Thursday from 9am to 1 pm and Sundays from 6am to 8am. I may add more days to that as I see fit. I have been uploading the streams onto YouTube it you want to watch them. I apologize not for the lack of talking, not many people watch my stream at 6am. Starting this week I will be having a book off of LibriVox on in the background to help remove the silence.

I have removed the dice bags from the current product line. I may add them back, I haven’t decided yet. I have made the decision to carry 10 each of the Desk Nessie, Desk Gremlin, Desk Dragon, Desk Mothmen, and Cthulhu at all times, I’m currently working on those now. Once I get those made an uploaded, I’ll be moving on to more complicated pieces that require wire structures for support. These pieces will more than likely be one of a kind pieces.

I’ve also revived a project that I tried to start last fall, but due to a very hectic schedule, had to put on a back burner.

I’m going to crochet 1 amigurumi for each monster in the 5e Monster Manual. Not including the appendices, that are 312 Monsters in the book. I’m have made both a written and a digital master list of the Monsters. I’m going to see what patterns I have already so that I can figure out what I am making first.

Little Update

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So my plan to start a new blog series and update the shop last weekend got sidelined.

As a result there will be a shop update this weekend, along with some product category rearranging. I’ll have a shop wide sale the weekend before Labor Day.

The new blog series will start on Labor Day, I lost half my tea notes so I have to do about 9 teas over again.

At the moment all the dice bags are on sale through the end of August for $5.00 US. I do offer international shipping.

I’m currently in the process of clearing out old inventory to make room for new product.

Organized Chaos

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The weeks leading up to a Con are always interesting. Especially if you also work a full-time job and have a young child. My life is currently somewhere between semi-controlled chaos and organized chaos.

18 days until Cosplay World Richmond (CWR).

Do I have enough product? I hope so, but we’ll see what happens.

After CWR, there will be a regular posting schedule again, and I’ll be on Twitch every Sunday morning from 6amEST until 9amEST.

The business is now officially Octojelly Crochet Studio, LLC. I’m still in the process of getting all the socials updated.

There will be a shop update of whatever doesn’t sell at CWR the weekend afterward.

Announcing a new topic : Tea

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I’ve been a tea drinker on and off for most of my life.

I have a rather large collection of both bagged and loose-leaf teas. Most of which I have never had before.

The reason for the large collection is because I bought tea sets on Amazon, signed up for a couple of tea subscriptions, which I have since put on pause due to lack of space to store said tea) and trips to local tea shops.

I’ve decided that, as a way to get into the habit of drinking more tea (and less soda), that I am going to start writing about the various teas in my collection and my thoughts , and maybe a little history about the particular tea that the post is about.

Not sure how often I’ll be posting the teas yet, but I will start after the Cosplay World Richmond event August 5 -6, 2023.

What do you think of this idea?