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!

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.

Day One of Thankfulness

So I got this idea from a bog I follow The Knitting Goddess With Her Cat. She normally does 14 days of thankfulness but I never log on to see it. So I am going to do 9 days of thankfulness leading up to Thanksgiving.

One of the things I am most grateful for is my two amazing siblings. My brother is 11 years older then me and I have always known that I can count on him for anything. It was hard when he graduated and went to college but even harder when he moved out to L.A.  Even though we talk it is a struggle only getting to see him once or twice a year. This will be a good year because he has come home three times. But even though he is so far away I know that if I really needed him he would be there for me. It's what older brothers are there for.

Then of course there is my sister Tatum, being two years apart always made things so much different. When we were younger we would fight a lot and it admitedly ended in terars more often then not. But through everything we have gotten so close, she is one of my best friends. I honestly do not know what I would do without her, when it comes to life sometimes it feels like she is the only one that gets it.

I am so blessed to have the two amazing siblings I have and I would not change them for the world. What are you guys most thankful for?

Day 21!

I seriously can not believe it is all ready day 21! I feel like tour as just flown by but looking back I really have spun a ton of yarn. I have also improved so much and learned so much about myself as a spinner and about my wheel and spindles. So last night I only showed a quick picture of my finished yarn so I though I would start off by sharing more info about it. It is my own hand-dyed punta roving, I named the color way The Sky's the Limit. The finished yarn weighs in at around 3.5 ounces and is a whopping 150 yards!

 So I have never been more proud then I am of this yarn. It is the most yardage I have ever gotten and also the most even I have ever spun. Not only that but it is by far the best plying job I have ever done. Part of me never wants to knit with it because I am simply so proud of it!  It really inspires me to keep spinning when I see how far I have come with my spinning.

I just can hardly even believe I spun this yarn. My sister told me it looked store bought and I really just keep staring at it amazed. Guys I spin that! I am just so excited! And I started spinning my light blue bought fiber and it is more of a challenge though. It has Tussah in it and very little merino so it keeps slipping through my fingers, but I am determined! I hope you all are having a great Friday!

Punk Rock and Fiber Love

Okay first off as promised some better pictures of my purple castle yarn, the ones last night did not do justice on the gorgeous colors.

See those pictures do it so much more justice. It is so soft and cushy and wonderful, I just love it. But I think I may knit my mom something from it, because she puts up with my spinning addiction. I also last night found some more of that rainbow yarn that I had spun into a single but I had been saved from the horror of my n-plying. Not enough to really do anything with, until I found some mystery black fiber that I had spun a while ago also. Then bam! Born was my Punk Rock yarn, it's 63 yards of worsted or so weight mystery fiber.

At first I was not a huge fan of the whole barber pole affect, but I kind of actually like it. The strangest thing though is that neither of these fibers were very soft yet after washing and wacking them they are so soft together. Not sure if this should really count towards spinning for tour since I technically only plied them. Not sure what is next for spinning. Too many choices!

Day Nine

(How is it day nine already?)

Hello my name is Zoey and today I feel like a spinning ninja. Excuse the late post and bad photography. I keep getting the worst most random shift at work but I don't work on Tuesday so I promise to post before ten at night. You may be asking yourself why I feel like a spinning ninja, or you may just think I am bat shit crazy. Either way I will tell you why. Today I finished my fifth yarn for the tour! Yup you read that right my fifth yarn. There was the rainbow unicorn, my failed art yarn, hawaiian sunrise, and the purple party yarn. And now to show you the newest addition. I have so named it Purple Castles, it is 2 ounces of light purple merino roving. It ended up being about 70 yards at a worsted weight.

There are some thick thin spots but over all I am totally in love with it. I was surprised at getting 70 yards of two ply out of only 2 ounces. I used to only get 70 yards out of four ounces. Crazy how in five months how much better I have gotten. I hope you all had an amazing day and a wonderful tomorrow!

Happy Fourth!

So first of all happy Independence Day! My friends and I always joke that it is actually just the day the declaration came back from the printers, but any excuse for fireworks is something I can accept. I hope you all are having a great day, here though it is almost a 100 degrees and no chance of it cooling down anytime soon. Also I swear if it were any more humid you would be walking out the door into soup, it is so gross outside. All of towns around here have actually canceled their fireworks and there is talk around my house of us skipping out this year. I hate super hot weather. It probably didn't help that I woke up and had to go to work this morning.

I just look so excited yeah. Work is work and I refuse to bring the boringness that is my job onto my blog. So in tour news I finished my first ever intentional art yarn! It is a thick-thin single and it was possibly harder to spin then normal yarn is. It's spun from my hand dyed punta roving named Iowa Spring. It is only about 45 yards but part of me is strangely proud for spinning thick-thin yarn on purpose.

From this to that!

I know it is probably weird because most people don't want weird yarn but I just am fascinated by the whole art yarn thing. I just love it so much. I have also made some progress on the bright colored pencil roving, which really needs a better name. Any ideas?

It actually has a ton of different colors in it I just hit a pink streak right before taking a picture. I ended up spinning it thinner and I think I may try to ply it depending on how much I have when I am done. No point in ending up with like two yards of something. I hope tour is going great for all of you guys and the heat isn't hitting you as much as it is here. Keep spinning!

Fiber Artist?

So my dad asked me tonight if I was an artist. I kind of looked at him funny and asked him if he had ever seen anything I have drawn (he said yes, we both agreed I stink). But then he said he meant when it comes to knitting, dying and spinning. It really got me thinking about what makes an artist and what I consider to be art. I mean when I see those lace shawls or a gorgeous hand knit sweater there is no doubt in my mind that that is art. Yet when I look at my own work I always feel like it is crap. So what makes an artist? Is it what you think of your work, or what other people think. And when do you go from just be a person doing a hobby to being an artist? Am I one?


Okay on a not so deep note I promised spinning pictures and I do have some! Some of you might remember this super soft fiber I dyed myself;

The weird fiber that was supposed to be blue and yellow and some how turned out purple? Yeah that one. So I decided since it was my first dyed fiber it would be the first to be spin. I divided the four ounce braid (learning to braid fiber, interesting learning curve there). And am actually going to ply it... eventually. I am about half way done with the first half and am loving seeing the colors meld together.

There are a lot more purple and blue tones then I had expected and I completely love them. This went from being my least favorite braid I dyed to maybe one of my favorites. Though I do think I may have felted it slightly when I dyed it, but nothing a little pre-drafting won't fix.

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

The Panda

I have been mysteriously MIA when it comes to knitting (and blogging) partly because I have been working crazy hours and also because I have been knitting something very special. My dad turned 50 last week and just like he said he wanted he got a Harley panda bear.

This adorable panda is a pattern from Sarah Keen I knitted it from my copy of her Wild Animal book, but it is available online. The pattern is written for you to knit everything flat and seem it together, but we all know my sewing talents. (or lack there of) So instead I knit the body, head, and tail in the round, and suffered through seeming the rest.(It actually wasn't that bad) The hardest part was embroidering the white eyes, because once again, I can't sew. So they turned out a little wonky looking.

He loved it though and who knew a 50 year old man could get so excited about a teddy bear. When I give away things I knit as presents to friends and family it really reminds me why I do this. Personally I hate scarves and hates and pretty much all knitted things, but I knit with love to give to the people I love. It is what makes knitting worth it.

- Zoey

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.

What I Knit This December

A Blanket (The hellish one that I will never knit again/ I love so much)

A Hat For Mom

A hat I knit and re-knit for Tatum

A bird for Rox

A cowl for Tatum (Yeah she got two presents)

A cowl for me

And finally a teddy bear for my dad.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a rocking new year. I hope you all have a great year!