CHECKING IN 002

Photo credit: David Thrift, owner of DudeCapz.com and DudeCapz Beanie Store, © 2021, Tuesday, July 5th. Location: Courtyard Square, a small park with a large fountain in front of Lee County Courthouse, in Opelika, Alabama.

Hello everyone!

This check-in is for Monday, July 5th, 2021 starting at 12:00 AM CST.

Note: This check in was actually posted on Tuesday, July 6th, 2021 @ around 6:30 PM CST, however I backdated this post publishing to Monday, July 5th, 2021 @ 1:00 AM CST, which was around the original time I intended to start this post on the blog.

It’s my 2nd personal check-in on my blog here at DudeCapz.com, and if this is your first visit to my website and hat shop, welcome, and thank you for stopping by. I am always grateful for every visit.

MY BLOG CHECK IN’S NOW SERVE AS MY NEW “SOCIAL MEDIA”

I’m not giving my content to Facebook anymore (at least not extensively). My facebook account has been suspended more times than I remember in 2020, and now in 2021 is permanently banned. I have created a new Facebook account, however I’m only using it for access to some local community groups.

I have grown tired of having my written voice, and content turned off against my will, and I have decided that posting to my own website is more beneficial for my platform, my beanie store, and my content because:

1. I retain all rights to my written and photographic content by posting it here on my website.
2. Posting here will allow me to build a valuable archive over the years to come of my work in the store, and other content.
3. My posts won’t get lost and forgotten here on my website like posts tend to do on social media networks.
4. I can start a post here, and add chronological updates to it throughout the day with unlimited space. Most social networks limit your text and number of photos you can add per post, and having all content I’ve posted on a single post on any given day will be super convenient when digging through the archives.
5. There is no algorithm. On networks such as Facebook, algorithms are in place which determine what content you may see. On a blog, there is no such thing. Viewers can access any public post on this website at any time, and they are all in chronological order.

I honestly wish I had made this a standard practice for my content years ago, and I’m looking forward to watching this website grow since I’ll be posting everything here.

I will still be posting on Twitter frequently, but that won’t be as extensive as it would be if I were posting on Facebook. The majority of my Twitter posts are generated automatically when I post something to this website. I am considering to disconnect the publicize feature in this blog however, so that it will no longer automatically post to Twitter because of the possibility that I may start posting some adult erotic art here on my blog soon, and I don’t want that automatically posting to my Twitter account.

WORKS IN PROGRESS (NEW BEANIES)

This past Thursday night on July 1st, I did something new in regards to starting new beanie projects for my store. I spent the evening crocheting the crown portions of four new basic slouchy beanies, and then packed them up in my project bag. It was a genius thing to do in my opinion for a few reasons…

1. It gave me several new projects to keep in my bag that all have a good headstart in production.
2. It allowed me to dive into my yarn stash at a faster rate.
3. It allowed me to work up just enough portion of some new beanies to see how the colors will work out.

All of these reasons are very important because most of the beanies I produce are one time, original, never to be produced by me again products. So making a basic “swatch” by creating just a portion of a new beanie let’s me see ahead of time if the item will be worth my time to complete.

I had hoped also that by getting a jump start on these new works in progress, I would get some beanies done faster over the July 4th weekend. But, apparently I wasn’t in the mood too much to work on those beanies, so I only got one of them completed. It’s ok though. Everything will get done in due time. I just have to look at it like this: I added a new step in my work flow, and I actually got ahead of myself in production. Sometimes I am not always going to feel motivated to get as much work done as I had hoped, or something in life will happen that will hinder my work flow, and that’s ok too. That is one of the things that makes handmade products so valuable. It is the time an artist puts into completing a good product, and good work only comes when the artist is able to, and feels the most motivated to do the work.

NEW BEANIE STYLES ARE IN PLANNING

I have been looking at some new crochet beanie style hats that I am considering to start making. I am also going to be making some loom knit beanies as well. I love loom knit beanies, and I’ve sold a lot of them in the past when I operated another hat shop before taking a deep dive interest in my photography.

A NEW YARN SUPPLIERS DIRECTORY IS IN PLANNING

I want to add a new resource to DudeCapz.com that I hope will bring some viewing value for crafters, and new crafters to come. It will be mostly yarn focused (I think), and it will list retailers, and independent small businesses where you can buy yarn supplies. I do not plan on doing business reviews for the listings however. I just want to build a comprehensive listing of suppliers so that all crafters can have a useful resource of suppliers for their needs.

MONDAY EVENING

9:17 PM CST – Tonight is my first of four nights off this week. Normally I would be at home (at least that has been my habit over the past few weeks), as I usually have only been leaving my home once during my time off since I went to part time at my day (night) job to go buy groceries, and fill up my truck with fuel. Tonight however I decided to have a short and peaceful night out to go get something to eat, and I went to a favorite chill spot of mine (Courthouse Square, a very small park in front of the Lee County Courthouse in Opelika, Alabama) to take a new headshot photo by the fountain there for my website check in posts, and other pages around the website. Then I took a short stroll around the park, and took some snapshots (which I may upload later). I also took some photos along a beautiful alley that is connected to the park which leads to a restaurant called Breezeway. I believe they specialize in chicken finger plates. I took a ton of photos tonight. I probably should upload them.

CONTENT AROUND THE INTERNET THAT MAY INTEREST YOU

Below you can find links to random videos I watched on YouTube (or that just popped up in my feed, and shared for viewer interest) on YouTube, interesting websites or articles I wanted to share.

YOUTUBE

MILEY CYRUS + MADONNA – LIKE A PRAYER REMIX – https://youtu.be/cJmm3A1Q4ns

HOW TO DYE COTTON YARN – https://youtu.be/qaXMfEkpI1U

6 DUMP AND GO CROCKPOT DINNERS – https://youtu.be/Oz1zVeZzGIs

PINK – CONCERT –  https://youtu.be/sX5Kq3Fbzvc

DIANA PRINCE TURNING INTO WONDER WOMAN – https://youtu.be/q5mkC46C-F4

HOW DOES A BOWLING PIN SETTER MACHINE WORK? – https://youtu.be/Iod6uwUGM2E

JUNK MAIL ENVELOPE WINDOWS – 10 THINGS TO MAKE – https://youtu.be/jBN9A8yByag

10 SHIPPING SECRETS USPS, FEDEX, AND UPS DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW – https://youtu.be/XuQjyPHRoPc

THANKS FOR CHECKING IN WITH ME TODAY

That is it for this post. Again I thank everyone who visits this website, reads my content, shares my content, and most especially those of you who buys my handmade products and supports my small business.

I have comments shut off on this website to stop spammers.

You can email me directly anytime at dudecapz@gmail.com with any feedback or questions you may have about this website, or my beanie shop at Storenvy.