Name: Tina
Age: 28 (born on 7/11/86)
Location: Ridgewood, Queens.
Home: One boyfriend, two cats, and three tons of yarn. Oh, and plants... lots and lots of plants. Currently, there is a war between the tomato plants and the gigantic geraniums as to who will have the honor of someday strangling us in our sleep.
Favorite Food: I love just about everything, but steak and sushi are definitely my favorites, followed by a good grilled chicken Greek salad. (Big Nick's on the upper west side had the best grilled chicken Greek ever!)
Favorite Drink: I require vast amounts of caffeine to keep myself focused and running smoothly, but coffee (although I love it) tends to mess with my stomach- so gallons and gallons of tea it is. I have a VERY well stocked tea cabinet, ranging from plain green to cherry to mint chocolate, and everything in between.
Favorite Color: I wear a LOT of black, just because it goes with everything. Otherwise, I'm a total color junkie. I love creating beautiful and unusual color combinations that evoke feelings or memories. I'm fascinated by strong contrasts.
Favorite Music: 80's metal/pop/rock, new age. Favorite artists include Dio, Billy Joel, Guns N' Roses, Patti Smith, Van Morrison, AC/DC, etc.
Interests: Outside of creating yarn and knitting with it, I enjoy painting, drawing, nail art, playing violin, smothering my cats with embarrassing amounts of love, gardening, eating, paganism, the occult, anything vintage Halloween, unusual folk lore, and shopping online. I'm a bit of a hermit and dread the rare social obligation I get dragged into.
If I won the lottery, I would: Build an animal sanctuary/ adoption house that would rescue all the unwanted cats and dogs who urgently need homes in the NYC area. So many animals, especially pit bull types, are killed every day simply because they exist and no one wants them. Imagine if we did that to human children? Always spay and neuter your pets!
My Story:
I was born in Orange County, NY, and moved to Long Island NY when I was 6. I attended college for fine art, and dropped out for various personal and financial reasons, but the feeling of failure from having to drop out combined with the factors that led me to drop out led me into a deep depression. I worked various odd jobs here and there, and drank a lot to numb the pain of how disappointed I was in myself.
Eventually, I picked up crocheting again, something I had learned to do around the age of 12. I discovered Ravelry, and became insatiable. Soon I began to get serious about knitting, something I had learned around age 7, and finally progressed past garter stitch. (Thanks, YouTube!) From there, I tumbled down a rabbit hole of yarn dyeing, thrift store sweater unraveling, and spinning yarn. I needed to learn ALL THE THINGS! It soon became an obsession of mine, to transform old sweaters into beautiful "new" yarn.
I decided that I had finally found an occupation that I could happily do for the rest of my life, and tried no less than 4 Kickstarter campaigns to get my business going. On the 4th attempt, I received a message from a woman in Australia who wanted very much to see my endeavor succeed, and was willing to invest in it to make it happen. Fast forward to today, and things are slowly falling into place, thanks to my business partner. I have a brand new spinning wheel (a Schacht Ladybug) that I've been practicing on, and a shipment of professional dyes headed my way. I just bought a batch of 8 sweaters to work on, and we're aiming to have the Etsy shop open in a month. I've also placed an order for a bunch of Lurex, because few things are more fun than sparkly (and glow in the dark) yarn! I'm really excited to create these yarns and share them with people. For the first time, I feel like I've truly found my path in life, and I can't wait to see where it leads.
This blog is going to serve as a window into the journey- how the yarn is made, each batch, from start to finish.
Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Don't be shy, I want to hear from you!
I look forward to sharing my work with you all in the days to come...
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