Day Two

So I honestly almost forgot to do this, today has just been one of those days. I hope you all are having a great week so far.

I am thankful for friendship, new and old.

Madison and I have been friends for over eight years now which seems crazy  because honestly what friends survive middle school. But some how it happened and honestly I can't imagine how I would have gotten through everything without her. We go to different colleges now but we are still great friends.

I also am extremely thankful for new friendships! Coming to college is scary but I ended up on a floor with some amazing girls and they have made the whole change so much easier. You don't think a lot about how amazing it is that we all can just click with each other until you have to. I am thankful for having friends and being able to make new ones.

FO!!! More the FOTN... Finally Off The Needles

So normally when I write a blog post I pretty much know what I want to say and what I plan to show you guys. And I actually have yarn and knitted things to show you that I am so excited about. And yet it's like my brain is on auto-drive and it's headed somewhere nice and random. So in advance excuse my slight confusion and I may forget to explain things.

First I finally finished knitting Madison's birthday scarf. Her birthday was forever ago and I just kept messing up and couldn't find a pattern I liked to go with the yarn. Finally I gave up because sometimes all a yarn needs is a little garter stitch and love.

It's knit from two balls of Knit Picks Sugar Bunny in Platinum. I held the yarn double. The scarf is shorter then I would normally like but Madison is really short and petite so hopefully it will be the right length for her. The yarn is so soft I love it so much. I am kind of sad that they don't sell it anymore but oh well. The only annoying thing is that it sheds like no other. If I knitted it while wearing jeans I would end up covered in fiber. I am going to go back to spinning for now because my brain is slowly turning into mush. I have yarn and a hat to show you sometime this week.

I hope you all are keeping happy, safe, and dry. Sending happy thoughts out east.

Longest Day Ever

I hate Thursdays.

Everyone complains about Mondays but my Mondays are nice and easy. My Tuesdays and Thursdays though suck so bad. I have an 8 am lecture and it seriously kicks my butt. To top of the crazy sucky day that is my Thursday I had to take my first psychology test and some of the stuff on it we barely covered in class so of course I barely studied it. Ugh college problems. So I got back to my dorm and instead of doing something productive like homework or writing my paper I de-stressed and made myself some t-shirt yarn.

And seriously guys it was so fast and so fun!

That was the t-shirt pre-cutting. It was free at your leadership kick-off so I took it even though it is so ugly and I would never wear it. Next I went to town with a simple pair of scissors.

So it took me maybe an hour to cut up the whole t-shirt, I probably could have done it faster but I kept stopping and talking to girls on my floor. I have no idea how many yards I ended up with all I do know is that at four wpi it is SUPER BULKY! Sorry whenever I have super bulky yarn it makes me think of super heroes!

And there is the final product. I literally am showing it off to every person that walks by my door. I am not sure what I am going to knit with it yet, I am leaning towards like a hot pad and then tie-dying it! Well for now I really need to get back to my homework and paper. I hope you all are having a great week!

Finally Off the Wheel!

So I mentioned a while ago I was spinning that light blue merino/tussah roving and yesterday I finally finished it up! It was so different to spin, sometimes it felt like it just slipped through my fingers. After a while though I finally got in the grove and I completely love the yarn I got from it! 2 ounces, 92 yards, and oh so soft!

Just checked and it comes in at a DK weight yarn with 11 wpi. This isn't my only finished yarn though. Right after getting this off the wheel I started spinning my other 2 ounces of merino/tussah that I won on a give away over at the wonderful blog A Year at the Wheel! It was a joy to spin since I was already used to the tussah/merino mix. This one only comes in at about 75 yards, I think I got a little spin happy and made it thicker.

I am planning to do a stripe slouch hat with both of them, or maybe a little cowl. Who knows but I love both of them so much. The pictures really don't do justice how the great shine and lusciousness of this yarn. I am still knitting away at that hat and am over half done! Still getting a little nervous about figuring out my own decreases but while at the MOA I picked up a book about the basics of writing your own pattern. I will for sure be talking more about that wonderful book in my next post.

Oh and we had way too much fun at the MOA! Though going there on a Saturday is never the best idea. I know I have a fail monster face. It's still crazy to think her and I have been friends for eight years and yet this year we are going to be so far apart! I am seriously just trying not to dwell on that! I hope you all are having a great Monday. (or the best Monday a Monday can be!)

Polish, Hats, Friends! Oh my!

So I know after my whole posting for 23 days straight I have fallen off the earth yet again. (23 days! How crazy!) I have actually been doing quiet a bit. The Ravellenic Games have started and I am trying to participate but really I am a forgetful knitter. I always start something and get distracted and then start something new. Right now I am working on what I am calling the Wine Hat. It is going to be my own pattern which is kind of super exciting. If all turns out well I want to knit a few of them for a craft show in September. (More on that in a later post!)

I completely love the colors in this yarn! It is just Lion Brand Amazing from Micheals! Super cheap but so cute! I think that hate will look great once it's done, the only part I am a little nervous about is the decreases. I hope I will be able to kind of figure them out by myself, but there is always the LYS if I can't!

You may have noticed in my other picture some pretty snazzy nail polish. It is Pretty n' Polished's Jawbreaker. I saw it on pintrest ages ago and just knew that I would have to get some of if. She kept selling out right away so when she offered pre-orders I snatched it up like no other. I ordered a full jawbreaker, black swan, and a mini cheer camp. As I paint my nails with them I will totally post how they turn out. I love jaw breaker it is just as gorgeous as it looked in all those pictures.

And to top of this wonderful week my amazing friend Madison has come up for the weekend! We will be going to the Mall of America tomorrow and being typical girls and spending way too much time looking at cloths. She writes one of the yummiest cooking blogs ever! You can find her over at Baking with Abandon, she makes everything under the sun, and there may be some guest blogging for each other in the near future! So I hope you all are having the most amazing week and have a great weekend!

Tour Day Two

So yesterday I worked a nine hour shift so I did not get a lot of spinning done, I got a tiny bit of my gorgeous purple Merino wool that I got for Easter from my dad.

Isn't it so soft and pretty! I am also finishing up the last single of my Hawaiian Sunrise roving and am planning on getting them plied tonight. Now to show you my amazing new fiber from BeeLighted Fiber and Gifts;

2oz Merino

My amazing new drop spindle, it's a CD!

Superwash Merino

Merino Wool (Neapolitan Ice cream?)

Rainbow Pencil Roving

Merino, Bamboo, and Silk

It is all so soft and squishy I am completely in love. I think I may try spinning the pencil roving once I am done with the purple and yellow.Also I know that I used to change my layout constantly and you probably were glad it hadn't happened in a while. I came across this layout though and fell in love, with all my new spinning and knitting I thought it was time for something new. For now I am back to spinning and hopefully start plying soon!

Monster Mash

Through all of this chaos though I did get some knitting done. I have always loved Rebecca Danger's monster patterns, every time I order anything on Knit Picks I almost buy her book. I finally caved and bought her Daphne and Delilah momma and baby monster pattern. It was simply a joy to knit.

The largest purple and yellow one is for me, his/her name is Marvin and I am completely in love with her, she is just so soft and squishy. The little one went with Madison as half of her graduation present. See she also got a big monster but her in her school colors, with it went my baby monster. So even when we are apart at college there is apart of us that is still together.

I still need to knit myself a baby monster in Madison's school colors and then we will be all set. I knit these with Knit Picks Brava Bulky, it was actually a dream to knit with. It is one of the softest acrylic yarns I have knit with. Though I would edge it on the lighter side of bulky, I had to knit these with a size 8 needles and that was still a tiny bit loose. Over all though I love my monster and her's.

XO
Zoey

You May Have Noticed

I have been gone for I think over a month and I apologize for that. Life got out of control for a while there I had graduation, we moved, and my mom got married. Life is finally starting to calm down though which is nice. First I would like a moment to dance around that I am finally done with the school of doom which was my high school. In two weeks I go for college orientation and all that other lovely stuff.

 

It was great getting to see my whole family at graduation, including my brother who flew home just from L.A. for it. I normally only get to see him once a year since he moved but I got to spend a ton of time with him this summer. There is something so satisfying about walking out of the doors the last time. The hardest part was knowing that my friend Madison and I would soon be 13 hours apart. I am going to MNSU and she is going MSU. I think I cried more about that than I did about anything else. There is a ton more that happened including weddings and such but I will save that for another post.

Hope you all are having an amazing summer.

XO
Zoey

The End Is Near

Tuesday night I had my last choir concert ever. I kept telling myself it wouldn't matter and I wouldn't cry but in the end I cried like five times (and I hate crying in public, I am not a pretty crier) Part of me was sad about the whole concert part but mostly I am sad about leaving these wonderful people. I have been in choir my whole life, with the director as a neighbor it is kind of required. But I never imagined having my choir become a second family. We all put so much into our music; time, energy, and emotion, that when it comes down to it I felt like I was ending something so much bigger then just a year in choir. These people, they are my family and I have no idea what I am going to do next year without them.

XO
Zoey

My First Dishcloth!

I think I skipped this step when I was learning to knit, I went straight from scarves to hats to elephants and have never really looked back. I found a bunch of Sugar and Creme yarn in my little (cough big cough) bin of random yarn and decided I might as well. I really wanted something mindless and just started knitting a garter stitch dish cloth. Sorry for the weird and horrible photos, I just took these and the sun in no longer out, and I am way too tired for my own good.

XO
Zoey

Where Does The Time Go?

I know I once again have fallen of the earth, and to be honest I wish I could. (I want to take like eight million naps right now) I have gotten very little done on the knitting and spinning front due to some fun adventures. Last weekend my choir went to Chicago to compete and we wont everything we could and slept very little.

Charter Busing It

sears tower!

Then this weekend I had prom! It is kind of crazy to think I only have twenty some days of high school left. I feel like there is still so much to do. My prom group was so fun, we were the single ladies! I actually won stuff at post prom which is always exciting.

Sorry so spam you guys with so many non-knitting pictures, it is just hard to believe it is almost over. Now I am sitting in my room in sweats too tired to move staring at my yarn willing it to knit itself. Hope you guys are all having wonderful weekends!

XO
Zoey

Fiber Fever

 Got the fiber fever, got to dye it now. Got the fiber fever, you know it's going around.

So I know I have been a terrible blogger lately and in all honesty I just keep thinking of great blog ideas and then just sit here staring at the screen. I have blogger block (is there such a thing?) I also have a knitting block which is frustrating because I have all this wonderful knit picks yarn and I have no idea what I want to do with it. In the mean time though I got a glorious package from the Sheep Shed Studio filled to the brim with gorgeous roving! Not going to lie after I took a picture of it I may or may not have hugged it and squeed.

Two pounds of Punta roving and 2 ounces of mystery black roving sent as a thanks!

I divided it up into four ounce-ish balls of fluffy joy. Then I proceeded to go a little dye crazy with some Wilton's dye gel.

Catching Fire

Jaded

Sky Blue

Unnamed

So the deal with the green one is this, I dyed it with yellow and blue dye, and some how purple appeared! I just don't understand!

Spring Fever

Iowa Spring

It was a blast to dye all of this fiber and I still have two more braids to go. There was a total learning curve between day one and day two. The first day I made a hot mess and ended up with two braids that kind of look the same and then the random Spring fever one. And the second day I kind of had an idea what to do. Dying with Wiltons is so much different than dying with kool-aid I felt like. I hope all of you are enjoying spring and haven't (or maybe that you have) caught the fiber fever!

XO
Zoey