Welcome to the second part of the series! This post will be all about the super talented Justyna from Lady Jay Crochet, who makes me want to grab (I mean buy…) a crochet hook and get crocheting, like, right now! Her Youtube channel also gives me life, especially the 3 part pompom tutorial that seriously helped me up my pompom game – if you haven’t seen the videos yet I strongly advice you do so, asap! I love her use of colors and I’m absolutely obsessed with all the fair isle beanies she knits up. Keep on scrolling down to get to know Justyna better and find your way straight to her Instagram by clicking the pictures!

The basics

Name: Justyna Srock
Home town: Pillager, Minnesota
Instagram: LadyJayCrochet
Website/shop: Click here to Etsy Shop!
Describe your business in a few words: Modern cozy makes but also keeping idle hands busy but also hobby to keep mama sane!

10 questions

1. What’s your favorite ’90s jam?
– Honestly, not a huge music person! I actually had to google 90s hits LOL. But I enjoy Enya and Michael Jackon, and they released music in the 90s I think?

2. What were you like in high school?
– An emotional teenage girl! HAHA but I did enjoy learning, I was involved in sports, and was social to an extent. Goodness this question gave me some major flash-backs!

3. How many times does it take for you to listen to a song that you love before you actually hate it instead?
– Weeks! I usually listen to a song or songs I enjoy over and ovverrrr until I decide I can’t stand it and move on.

4. What’s your favorite cereal brand?
– I don’t think I have a favorite brand. I am more of a straight-up granola type!

5. What life advice would you give to your 10-year-old self?
– Wash your face and don’t worry about boys or shaving your legs. 

6. If knitting/crocheting didn’t exist, what would be your go-to hobby?
– That is a sad concept! I would definitely run more, which is what I did more of before crocheting and knitting (and kids).

7. Do you have a lot of unfinished knitting/crocheting projects or do you always finish what you’re doing before starting a new one?
– I am definitely not a monogamous project person! I constantly have a few in progress at all times. 

8. If you could only use one yarn for the rest of your life what would that yarn be and why?
– No fair!! I have too many favorites! But I CAN narrow it down into two ;). Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick and Vanna’s Choice. 

9. What are your tips for taking good pictures of your knits?
– First of all, don’t worry about what everyone else is doing for their background/flatlays/modeled photos. Don’t try to copy, find what YOU like visually and go for it! Find the place in your home that provides the most soft-natural lighting and snap a few photos. For editing, I just use the features that are available on Instagram! And I have also found that I prefer using my phone over my camera for convenience. Again, do what works for you!

10. What has been the biggest and proudest moment of your maker journey so far?
– There are so many ways to answer this question! I don’t really have one answer. I just feel blessed whenever I receive an order, someone leaves a positive review, or someone reaches out to me to compliment my work!

5 favorites

Favorite thing about your home town?
– Sporting events because those were my fondest memories of the actual town part. 

Favorite food?
– Hardest question EVERRRR. I enjoy lots of different types of food, but I would have to say pizza because you can do so much with pizza. Classic pizza, veggie pizza, breakfast pizza, BBQ pizza, desert pizza, etc. 🙂

Favorite person or people?
– My husband, he is my best friend!

All time favorite knitting or crochet project?
– So far, my new design the ‘Wearable Blanket Cardi’ has been my favorite! I wear it every day and it worked up so quickly that I didn’t get bored while making it.

 Favorite holiday memory?
– Each year for family Christmas gifts, my mom would take my two younger brothers and I to the dollar store so us kids could get each other gifts. We would have so much fun shopping for each other and then wrapping our gifts when we got home. We would always open these presents on Christmas Eve. Definitely a tradition I want to start with my own kids when they are older!

xx, Kati

Bonjour folks, and welcome to the first post of the series! The first maker we’re going to meet is Ashley from Toasty Tribe Handmades, who is such a power house and so full of talent! I truly admire her creativity and she’s the sweetest person you can imagine. From the beautiful products to the earthy tones of her Instagram, her brand is serious maker goals. You can find straight to her Instagram by clicking the pictures and why am I still chatting, let’s get to know her better!

The basics

Name: Ashley Heinen
Home town: I was born in Camp Pendelton California, grew up in Markesan Wisconsin, moved back to Cali for a while and now live in Fond Du Lac Wisconsin.
Instagram: Toasty Tribe Handmades
Website/Etsy: Click here to Etsy Shop!
Describe your business in a few words: I own a knitwear accessory and design company called Toasty Tribe. Knitting is an empowering activity that helps people to create things with their own two hands. My goal is to further empower women to hone their skills with designs that they will truly love and cherish for a lifetime.

10 questions

1. What’s your favorite 90’s jam?
– I believe I can fly by R. Kelly…Space Jam anyone? Or anything Britney Spears really!!

2. What were you like in high school?
– Oh gosh…Lets just say High School was not the best time of my life. Drama, puberty, stupid boys, homework. No thank you!! Haha. I loved my choir and photography classes but that is about it. I also went through an awful tanning phase and ended up some weird shade of brown/ orange. Lets just say I’m glad that’s over!

3. How many times does it take for you to listen to a song that you love before you actually hate it instead?
– NEVER!! Im one of those weird people that will listen to the same song every time I get in the car. Also, my 2 year old has us listen to Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics at least twice a day and I’m still not sick of it!

4. What’s your favorite cereal brand?
– Ooo, this is a tough one. But right now I would have to say Lucky Charms and Honeycomb.

5. What life advice would you give to your 10-year-old self?
– I’m not sure how vulnerable I want to get but I would say, “You are beautiful and so so loved. Just because someone doesn’t like you does NOT mean you are not good enough. You are more than enough! Someday the right man will come along and love you the way you deserve to be loved, wait for him.”

6. If knitting/crocheting didn’t exist what would be your go-to hobby?
– Probably photography! Which is great because Instagram sort of lets me be my own little photographer for my feed. Also, does listening to music count as a hobby??

7. Do you have a lot of unfinished knitting/crocheting projects or do you always finish what you’re doing before starting a new one?
– Its kind of a toss-up. Sometimes ill find myself drowning in unfinished projects and then other times I am very strict about finishing one thing before I start the next. It mostly depends on how inspired I am. If I love a design Ill finish it right away and focus all my energy on one thing. But If I keep thinking of fun new designs, sometimes I get distracted by the next best thing.

8. If you could only use one yarn for the rest of your life what would that yarn be and why?
– WHYYY? This question is torture. It would have to be something worsted for sure. I feel like worsted is the most versatile weight of yarn. Not too thick, and not too thin. You can use it to make just about anything. And I’d probably settle on Alpaca, because of the squish. That’s about as specific as I can get haha!

9. What are your tips for taking good pictures of your knits?
– LIGHTING!! Its all about the lighting. Honestly, it’s so difficult and makes the quality look poor if you don’t have good natural lighting. And if you’re struggling to take cozy looking pictures, just simplify it. Let your work speak for yourself. If you look at my feed, you’ll see its very minimalist with a lot of bright white backgrounds. This is mostly because I’m terrible at staging photos. Some people are great at it, but I am not one of those people. Play to your strengths. If you’re good at something, then capitalize on that!

10. What has been the biggest and proudest moment of your maker journey so far?
– When I switched from knitting “made to order” items, to designing and writing patterns and people actually purchased my patterns. It may not sound very major, but for me it was huge. Designing is a serious passion, and every pattern order was like a pat on the back from someone telling me that they believed in me. So, THANK YOU to anyone who has ever purchased a pattern from me, it means the world.

5 favorites

Favorite thing about your home town?

– My favorite thing about the town I grew up in was the bowling alley. It was a super small town and the bus would drop me and other students off at the bowling alley after school so that we could bowl for a few hours. It was so much fun! And my highest game is a 250!

 – My favorite thing about California is the smell of the ocean near the beach, and the coffee shops. They have the cutest coffee shops.

 – My favorite thing about Fond Du Lac, the town I live in now is the bike trails. They have some really fun trails that go all around town and its so much fun to go on family bike rides in the summer. Oh and our local yarn store is pretty awesome!

Favorite food?
– Mini KitKats. I’m not sure if this qualifies as food but they are my absolute favorite. It takes so much self-control for me not to finish the entire bag all at once. If I have to pick a real food it would be potatoes. Any kind. French fries, mashed potatoes, cheesy potatoes, breakfast potatoes, just all potatoes. I clearly do not have a very healthy diet, haha!

Favorite person or people?
– My Husband. This is gonna sound so cheesy but its hard for me to even come up with the words to describe how much he means to me. He is my best friend, my biggest supporter, and he always knows how to make me laugh. I just love him so much and he is my favorite human.

All time favorite knitting or crochet project?
– Ahh, some of these questions are so difficult!! I love knitting mittens, they are so much fun and they work up fairly fast! But I’m also learning to love knitting sweaters. They clearly take much longer than a pair of mittens, but it’s so satisfying to be able to wear the final product. Sweaters are for sure a labor of love.

Favorite holiday memory?
– One year my hubby and I road tripped all the way from California back to Wisconsin to spend Christmas with our families. It was a long drive but we had so much fun, and we got to see some beautiful sights driving across the US. Plus who doesn’t love some good road trip music??

xx, Kati

I’m SO EXCITED to introduce to you all the Behind the scenes series, which is  a small series of posts I will be writing about my favorite makers who are all extremely wonderful, driven and talented women! I’ve asked them a few fun questions about their lives, their passions and their businesses and you’ll be seeing the answers here on my blog. Want to know what’s your favorite maker’s favorite 90’s jam? Or cereal brand? Or perhaps their all time favorite knitting project? Then you’re in the right place! Featured makers include:

Lauren from Laurenmychelle

Ashley from Toasty Tribe Handmades

Lisa from Purlmore

The Petite Knitter

Heini-Maria from Swoolify

Justyna from Lady Jay Crochet

Laurel from Alabaster Purl

I wanted to write this series because I love to get to know the stories people have to tell about their lives and about the things that make them who they are. I kept the questions light and fun, and I’ve had such a good time reading everyone’s answers (seriously tho, you just can’t miss out on them)!

Stay tuned for the first part of the series that will be out on Wednesday April 4th! From there on, new posts will be published here on my blog weekly (always on Wednesdays)!

xx, Kati