Forgotten Hat

So I knit this hat way back in October but just never took the pictures of it. It is just a simple slouchy hat with a cute pom pom on the back. Seeing this pom pom you can see why my sister got me a pom pom maker!

Nothing too out there or amazing. I forgot to mention above that this was yarn I dyed myself. I learned that I did not get all of the dye out when I rinsed it out after dying it. My wooden needles turned red... and so did my fingers! I love wearing this hat around campus (mainly since it's been like -20 here) Well I hope you guys all have an amazing week!!!!

Day Five and Six

I always remember at the oddest times that I forget to post. So today will be two wonderful days of thankfulness. Today I am thankful for spinning and knitting.

I'm not sure how to explain this one though, to all of you that knit or spin you get what I mean. It is something that is always there no matter what. When I have a terrible day I can sit down and knit for a while and something will always come out of it. Same with spinning. Granted some days it doesn't turn out exactly how I want it to but I figure it turns out how it should. Everything I knit teaches me something new about the process. It's crazy to think that if my dad had never bought me my first set of needles and yarn for Christmas I may have never learned to knit. It has become such a huge passion of mine, a huge part of my life.

I wish everyone could find something like this, something that sparks their creativity. I hope you guys are having an amazing Monday!

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.

New Yarn

So in all the chaos of the last week I haven't actually knit all that much. But I have bought some new wonderful yarn.

First off I got two skeins of Grande Glow Baby Alpaca. Both of these are destined to be two separate cowls. This yarn is so soft I find myself just petting it at times. The second yarn I got was Noro Kogarashi. It is a silk wool mix and that picture doesn't do the gorgeous colors justice. It seriously is one of the most gorgeous skeins of yarn I have ever purchased. I have already started knitting with the cream Alpaca and I can't wait to knit with the rest of it. Hope you all are having a great weekend!

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

Ah The Smell of Vinegar (Photo Heavy)

So today it was so nice outside... I spent the whole day inside dying yarn. Picked up some I Love this Wool from Hobby Lobby and had my happy little way with egg dye and then some blue and green food coloring. Enjoy this crap ton of photos!

I really need to invest in a niddy-noddy, but for now I will just use my chair and creep on the neighbors.

Eater Egg-Dye which is much more of a pain in the butt then it is worth.

So now onto the less vibrant but still gorgeous food coloring yarn!

Off to dye some more!

-Zoey

Photo Taking Skills

So when I first started knitting I never really thought about taking pictures of all of it, or what those pictures needed to look like. Now that I am opening up my own Etsy store I have to take that into consideration. So I re-took some of my old and worst pictures of my knitted goods. Here we go.

The Honeycomb cowl:

 

Eli the Elephant:

 Finally The Chubby Chirp

So as you can see oodles better! I really am trying to pay attention and take better pictures of my knitted stuff now. I mean I put all this work into making it, why shouldn't I take work to show it off?

- Zoey

FO!

I have a new FO! This gorgeous cowl will soon be the first item for sale in my etsy shop Knit Secret! (Did you like that very obvious plug?) I am so excited because this leap into selling my knitted cowls has been something I have wanted to do for a while and it is beyond exciting to finally take that next step.

Eventually I am hoping to post colorful cowls in classic styles for all seasons, so no matter what the weather you can always spice up your outfit. Catchy yeah? I have a ton of support at home with both my parents rooting for me. (I think they are thinking college funds) Now onto the actual cowl!

It was knit with Read Heart's Zoomy yarn in shaded lime. It took the whole ball of yarn and was knit on 13 needles. The yarn though 70 % Acrylic was actually really nice to work with. I worked on this adorable cowl backstage at follies, so it has a little bit a showbiz knit in.

I have one more ball of this adorable green yarn, any ideas?

- Zoey

But It's So Tiny...

Lace knitting will be the death of me. I started a wrap planning it to be my mom's wedding present this coming June, little did I know how evil lace knitting is. I keep messing up the pattern even though I feel like I should be able to do this. So after a week all I have is anger and two rows of knitting. How sad and tiny.

And of course so she is not left out Lilo had to join in on the photo shoot. 

Have any of you ever tried lace knitting?

-Zoey

A Year of Knitting

It seems crazy to me that I have been knitting for a little over a year now. What started out as two balls of yarn and sheer determination has turned into a full blown addiction. (And possible career but that is for another post) I remember my first "scarf" turned into an almost blanket because I kept picking up stitches, and now here I am actually knitting blankets. So I wandered into my older photos and found some of the originals I thought I would share.

 

This is the first scarf I will actually acknowledge knitting. The other one is hidden away in a deep dark corner. It is soft and pastel with a giant hole were I tried to tie together to balls of yarn. I think I have worn this all of once, and what a proud day that was.

 

The top photo is my first cowl ever knit in the round, while the lower one was the real first cowl that I knit as a rectangle and sewed together.


Looking back at what I started out doing is just crazy to me. I never would have thought that I would end up knitting stuffed animals or giant blankets. I think it really shows how much can change in a year.

How long have you all been knitting, and what was your first ever project?

-Zoey

Wordless Wednesday

Want.

The Grape Hat

 
I am in love with this pattern! It was such a fast simple knit that I can't help but want to knot more of them. At first it seemed tedious with the yarn overs and knit togethers. I got in the swing of it though and this hat just flew by. It turned out to be a tiny bit large on me which you can't tell when it's on. Though I worry about it slipping off and me loosing it. Other than that though I am completely in love with this hat and pattern.

Sail Away Cowl

I found the missing camera! It was buried under a pile of yarn, figures. So this cowl is of my own design which is rather exciting for me. It is knit in a basic garter stitch but I still feel strangely proud of it.

What you need:

• Two balls of Loops&Thread Charisma in two colors. (Or any other bulky weight yarn)
• Size 13, 29" circular needles
• A large stitch marker
• A darning needle.

Directions:

CO 120 stitches, careful not to twist join in the round.
R1: Knit
R2: Purl
Repeat for five rounds, at this point switch to the next color. Repeat until there are two strips of each color.
Bind off and thread in all ends.

See a simple cowl that will keep you warm and add a hit of color in the dull winter.

Last Day Of Freedom

Today is my last day of winter break which is kind of sad. There still isn't any snow on the ground here, though I figure since we didn't have a white Christmas why have any snow now? I had to wake up early and go to three hours of choir practice. While I enjoy choir most of the time, I hated having to do this today. Three hours of being told we all are terrible, yeah that was a fun way to start the day.

I am back home finally and knitting. I am almost done with Missy Monkey! I love the patterns from itty-bitty toys, they are well written and so easy to follow. Though it never says to make any legs I assume it is a typo and we are supposed to make four of the arm patterns. Here is a picture of Missy Monkey as of last night;

I just love her!

At the same time I am working on my possible first addition to my Etsy store. (Which will soon be getting yet another make-over) Which is a blue and white cowl which for now is named the Sailor Cowl. I am hoping to get it done before Thursday! Who knows though, since school is starting up again already I can already feel my free time shrinking away.

A Hat Kind of Day

The chunky knit beanie was so cute the first time I had to knit another one. I thought I had enough yarn to knit the small. This size around this one turned out so much better but I ran out of yarn towards the end and it was a little short for me. My mother was  happy to steal the hat and I was happy to let her keep it. She truly is a wonderful model.

I think the key to this hat may just be knitting it flat like the pattern calls for. I hate the idea of having to seam a hat together. Maybe next time. Now back to Christmas knitting.

Blanket Woes

A row and a half of squares later I had to rip it out and start over. It was not wide enough.

So it begins again.

Crazy Times

So first of all, how many times can I change my background yeah? I just am way to indesisive and should not be allowed to make more than one choice.

Homecoming was amazing, it was crazy seeing all my friends dressed up. It is weird to think that was it for homecomings, this being a senior thing is starting to hit home all the sudden. Sadly our football team did not win our homecoming game but that is more of a tradition than anything else. I loved going to the dance though, you know at all dances how there are the gross grinding dances and than the nerds in the back dancing? I was in the large nerdy group in the back conga lining to ice ice baby. Now that it is over though my foot still hurts and I have a beautiful dress and no idea what to do with it.

On another crazy note I finally finished Madison's elephant and she loved it. I partly think she just was glad to finally get her present. This elephant turned out majorly different, I knit it eons tighter and there are no random holes in his face, Madison named this darling elephant Charlie. He has a good home I just know it. I feel like a knitting machine because last night I also whipped out a pair of fingerless gloves with some super old bulky yarn from my stash (I have a stash finally!). I actually made the pattern myself so I may perfect it more and than post it later. (My first pattern!)




Tomorrow we are going yarn shop hopping for part of my birthday weekend. Than on Sunday I finally am 18! I can not wait, hopefully it is nice and we get to go to the zoo as is tradition. I probably won't be back on for a few days so I hope all of you have an amazing weekend. And next time you hear from me I will be older!