Happy 10 year anniversary to this blog!

So the automatic post schedule doesn't exactly work...this should have gone out on the 18th, forgive the inaccurate post date.

10 years ago today blogs were a big deal. You could consider yourself a published writer if you had a blog. You could claim it was your own personal website, if you didn't have an actual website. I started mine with the thought that it would motivate me to draw more, to animate, to paint.

While I didn't do so much animation (sorry college degree, you've collected so much dust), I did produce a bunch of drawings, several paintings, and low and behold I kind of went crazy with the knitting and crochet.

10 years has seen the following:
- 1 relationship that's still going (Hi Gonzo!)
- quite a few job changes
- 2 layoffs
- 6 moves (one of those being across the country...hello CA)
- Approximately 147 pieces of art (Drawings, paintings, vinyl customs) (that I posted)
- Approximately 36 knitted/crocheted pieces (that I posted)
- Approximately 2 sewing projects (that I posted)
- Approximately 3 craft items (that I posted)
- Countless other crafts and art that I didn't post or keep track of
- Many other things...

I've learned a lot about myself in the last 10 years. I've done a lot in the last 10 years. There are some days that it feels like yesterday that I started this blog, and some days that it feels like forever ago.  There have been days that I feel like throwing in the towel and just letting my blog hang out in cyber space for eternity, leaving people who read what I write here, to wonder, "what happened to her?"
Whenever I think of getting an instagram account, I think, "Well, would I still post on my blog?" which I bet I wouldn't. I could hashtag it out, instead of leaving a whole bunch of non-sense here. But I'm a creature of habit. I like my blog. I like that I have low viewership/readership (although, Groot...that post...it's still crazy and I've seen it linked to news stories for crafty people-Say What?! Little 'ol me over here? So many page views- so many messages on my Ravelry account- THANK YOU!!! To everyone who looked at that post or made a comment or asked a question or reached out- THANK YOU!!! That was really unexpected and wonderful!)

The next 10 years? I'm looking into writing (some of you may know that), maybe I'll self-publish something soon (fiction, don't take what I write here as my writing style); I'm even designing some knitting patterns (maybe I'll post another free pattern soon) I'm looking into dying my own yarn and fiber for knitting; I've gotten back into spinning fiber into yarn, so maybe I can sell some hanks of hand spun fibers; I'm still drawing, and don't see my style (of semi-photo realistic portraits) changing any time soon- but who knows what the next 10 years will bring. I do follow Loish online and absolutely love her style, so maybe more digital art...we shall see, we shall see.

Thank you all for a wonderful 10 years. Thanks for reading!

Spinning

A few years ago, while I was in Dallas, I took a few spinning classes. No, not the kind at the gym on a stationary bike. I'm talking yarn-spinning, classes.
I loved it.
Spindle spinning, wheel spinning, the whole thing.
I had several large wheels, that were in various different stages of wear and tear (second hand wheels)- which brought my dad into the picture, since he's a work worker- he learned about the wheels so he could make the repairs. I've since sold/traded those wheels for others. My dad has since repaired wheels that are in museums. He's even made several spindles for spinning, which are fantastic!
Well, when Gonzo and I made the move to California, I thought it was going to be a brief stay, so I left my spinning wheel with my parents, only taking my spindles. Thinking that the move could possibly damage the wheel, and I just couldn't have that.
Here we are, nearly a year and a half later, still in CA, and I've been having spinning withdrawals. I miss my wheel.

So I made a rather large purchase, and bought my all time favorite wheel (well ascetically it's been my favorite, but I had never actually interacted with one) - Ashford Joy 2, it arrived this past week.
I would like to thank the lovely people at The Woolery for packing and shipping this puppy with expert precision.
They may have created a monster because I just made another purchase with them for more fiber and additional bobbins.

Last night, I got all the adjustments made to the wheel, so it was drawing in the fiber- I'm still re-teaching myself how to draft quickly, so there are a few more twists in my yarn that I typically like, but I did spend the majority of last night at the wheel.

Since I had two whole bobbins full, I decided to ply them together.

The skien on the left has 138 yards, the one on the right has 146 yards (roughly).
These were a lot of fun and worked up fast. I'm so glad I got a new spinning wheel.