I have an exciting pattern announcement!
This week I finish a pair of socks, get a collection of patterns ready to publish, upgrade my organization, learn more about maintaining a positive attitude, and fail miserably at cooking. Enjoy!
Finished Objects
I finished my first pair of 40-Yard Dash socks this week. This pattern is set to release August 30th in celebration of the first weekend of college football. The 40-Yard Dash socks are textured in the front and ribbed on the back of the leg. I absolutely love mine! I made this pair “fraternal twins”- meaning that the contrast colors are opposite for each sock.
I’ll share more details about the pattern as its release date approaches. I’m super excited for my first sock pattern to release!
WIP’s- Focus Projects
Next week the kids come back to school- ah!!! Try not to panic. To celebrate, I’m releasing a FREE pattern each day- right here on the blog. The Back-to-School Collection will feature five small projects for your children or students to use at school. Each project uses 15 grams or less of Sugar and Cream Cotton. These little items are perfect for using up all those dishcloth scraps!
I’ve been working this past week on designing, reproducing, taking pictures and writing the patterns for the Back-to-School Collection. I’m keeping each project a surprise until it’s release day, so make sure to follow me here and on Instagram to see them first! You can also purchase a printable PDF of each pattern for $1 on Ravelry. At the end of the week, I’ll put the whole collection {five patterns} in a bundle for just $3!
Between designs I’ve been working on my second pair of 40-Yard Dash socks. These were actually my original prototype. They are a bold, bright orange for my alma mater- the University of Tennessee. When I realized that not many people would love the crazy orange like me, I decided to switch my model to a more neutral navy and gray. Now that the model is done, I can work on the socks that represent my team pride! This sock pattern is set to release on Thursday, August 30th– the first weekend of college football.
Something New
I’ve always been an organized person, but this week I found myself trying a new strategy. I decided to make a weekly calendar that maps out my goals for each week. The calendar has all the tasks I hope to accomplish with room to fill in the details, since the week’s priorities can change.
My hope in making a calendar this way was to find balance. I’ve never made a calendar a format like this, one that let’s me look at my whole day to see if I’ve put too many tasks in a time frame. Making my calendar simple enough to fit on one page let me see the week as a whole and shuffle tasks around so that each day wouldn’t be overwhelming.
The key to this kind of organization is to think about what things you wish you were doing each week- like working out, cooking fresh meals, staying on top of chores, etc. Write them all down and find your main categories. Mine were household, health, beauty, media, spiritual, knit/crochet, and social.
Then assign all the tasks you want to do to a day of the week. Take a deep breath and look at your calendar as a whole. Are you trying to do too many household items on a day you have book club, after-school tutoring, and gym time? Can you scoot some items around to make each day realistic and achievable?
Once you find balance you create the mental space for flexibility. I know that I won’t do every single thing every bit perfect every week. Sometimes I might have a school event pop up after work on Thursday; but knowing what my goals are for Thursday evenings, I can plan to do those task the day before or after.
Having a plan puts me at ease. I talk more about this organization format in my Instagram stories- you can find it on my highlights here.
What God’s Teaching Me
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” – Psalm 51:10
This week I continued my study of attitude with a new plan called Improve Your Attitude from the Bible App. Day Two of the plan tells us that God looks at the state of our hearts. He doesn’t look at how clean our house is or how many likes we received on Instagram. God is in tune with our inner well-being.
I’ve been focusing so much on self-improvement and outer-organization before the school year starts because I know these processes keep me sane. What I haven’t taken the time to do is purify my heart and allow God to sooth my spirit.
When you’re a goal-oriented person like me, it’s hard not to make time with God another check mark on the daily to-do list. I love the feeling the green check on the Bible App gives me with each completed day of a plan! However, I’m not sure how to work on purifying and cleansing my heart.
Therefore, I just have to pray. Lord, show me where my heart is not pure. Reveal to me which areas of my life don’t align with your plans. Create in me the willingness to change. Grant me the desire to study your word.
What We’re Cooking
This week has been a major cooking FAIL. It took me until Tuesday to get a meal plan and grocery list to my husband {our resident shopper}. Then with his busy work schedule he couldn’t get to the store until late Wednesday night. Which resulted in Sonic on Tuesday and panic on Wednesday night.
Then Kent saved the day! He just told me not to worry about cooking the rest of the week. Wow. That’s love y’all. He went to the store, came home put the groceries away, and then cooked a delicious dinner {below}, and cleaned most everything up!
I believe I’ve said before that when Kent cooks he doesn’t just put food on the table, he goes above and beyond. Wednesday we didn’t just have grilled cheese and tomato soup, oh no. We had grilled cheese with cheddar with a layer of goat cheese and bit of jalapeno pepper jelly- YUM. Kent even plates his food so it looks delicious too. Again… why do I even bother to cook?!
There is one thing I managed to make right this week. While Kent is passionate about cooking, I’m in love with sweets. When the husband requested brownies and we didn’t have any mix in the pantry, I knew I could shine! This brownie recipe from Life Love Sugar really was easy. She made a point to develop a recipe that didn’t need any melting, saucepans, or unnecessary steps.
Next time I make these I would consider using less sugar and oil or maybe more cocoa powder. There’s something just a bit too sweet and not chocolate-y enough for my sweet tooth. The other interesting thing about this recipes is the super particular measurements. 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp of baking powder… have you ever? That just tells me that the baker worked super hard to get the recipe just right. While I’d give them a 6 on flavor, the texture is a perfect 10!
What I’m Reading
I’m 80% of the way through with A Spool of Blue Thread, which means I should finish the book this weekend. I’m glad it’s not taking me another two weeks to complete it like I thought it would!
I’ve already got my next book downloaded onto my Kindle- Broadcasting Happiness by Michelle Gielan. All the teachers in my school district gathered on Wednesday for our back-to-school convocation. We had the pleasure of hearing Michelle speak about positivity. Since my devotional study the past two weeks have been about attitude, it couldn’t be more perfect that God had placed another message giver right in front of me. I loved Michelle’s message that our positive tone can set the stage for others. I can’t wait to share what I learn from this book!