Secret Pal 10

or: The Novelization of the Questionnaire

I got the sweetest e-card from my Secret Pal 10 hostess. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about this exchange and it hasn't even really started. (As a side note, it hasn't really started yet and somehow I am already behind...)

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Likes: I like lots of yarns. (Don't we all?) My very favorite yarn of all time is wool blend sock yarns. The Misti Alpaca Pima Cotton Silk, too, ranks high on my list of yarns that are pure joy to knit. Oh and speaking of Alpaca…I have been looking longingly at the Blue Sky Alpaca & Silk ever since Ann over at Mason-Dixon Knitting pointed out there enchanting line of colors.
Dislikes: I don't like itchy. I've met a few "high end" acrylics and acrylic blends that I like but as a general rule, I am not a fan of acrylic.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? The majority of them are in two large glasses vases with decorative rocks on top of the entertainment center. Lots of them, though, are scattered about the house in various places. This stems from both my inability to keep things like that organized and from the idea that, if I actually put all of the needles all together in one visible location, someone (Mr.) might realize just exactly how many needles I have. Oh and the KnitPicks Options are all neat and tidy in their little case.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Three years? Five years? I can’t remember exactly. I learned on a rain day either on or near my birthday (it is a vague memory) and it was just sort of on a whim. A friend of mine taught me the basics and since then I have been learning mostly from books and from a great deal of trial and error and from help from strangers on the internet (i.e. how I learned to knit socks).
Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I guess I would consider myself an advanced intermediate. I feel pretty confident doing most techniques and I have developed my “reading my knitting” skills but I also know enough to know that there is still SO MUCH I don’t know about knitting.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No, but I really should, huh?

5. What's your favorite scent? I like lots of scents…vanilla, baking cookies, coconut, berry smells, lime, pineapple…I must be hungry. I really really don’t like the incense and musky smells.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? I don’t particularly have a sweet tooth. I prefer salt snacks usually but my favorite candies are Snickers bars, Smarties, apple Sour Straws white chocolate.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I do origami and I like other paper crafts – like making cards, etc. – but I do very little of those things since I learned to knit. I’ve recently fallen into the black pit of despair otherwise known as beading. I have not yet admitted that I may actually love the beads but I have recently come to terms with the fact that I am going to need to come up with a better storage system for the beads than the system I am currently using.
Do you spin? No, but I dream of learning some day.

8. What kind of music do you like? Mostly I listen to country music. My favorite songs are mostly 80’s country and some 70’s. I also like 60s/70s/80s pop. I do not listen to current pop or rock really at all. I have an inexplicable fondness for Anne Murray and Marty Robbins.
Can your computer/stereo play MP3s?Yes

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? My favorite colors are autumn colors: deep red, terra cotta, browns, dark greens, lavender and plums...I like rich, saturated color. I also like creams and white and dark blues and some very dark pinks. I don't like mousy colors. I like mustardy yellow but I can't wear yellows or oranges so I largely stay away from them.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I am married, no kids. We have two pets, both dogs – a boxer/rottweiler mix named Zena and a miniature dachshund named Sally.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Scarves: Yes, occasionally.
Hats: Not where anyone can see me.
Mittens: Theoretically, yes, but my life doesn’t include much call for mittens. Maybe once in a while if we go to someplace cold or snowy.
Ponchos: No. Perhaps I might one day if someone holds a gun to my head and threatens severe bodily injury to me or mine. But really, it would have to be a big gun and some serious threatening.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? They aren’t really my favorite but I have knitted a lot of felted creatures. I don’t particular want any animals for myself but there are people in my life who like felted animals and they are interesting to knit so that is good. I love knitting cables but I am not overly fond of the way cables look. I love to knit little, precious baby things but I don’t have a baby – nor any plans to have one – so I make do with making stuff for other people’s babies. I have recently fallen in love with knitting socks and this is something I might actually knit for myself so maybe socks are my favorite.

13. What are you knitting right now? Socks, actively, and a herd of hedgehogs for my mother, neglectfully. I also have a baby sweater I need to get started and, um, finished...

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes!!!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? As a general rule, I prefer circular needles but for socks, nothing beats the dpns.
Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Metal needles. I occasionally use bamboo but my heart really belongs to the metal needles.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes! I got a swift for Christmas. I heart my swift! (and the ball winder, too, but there is something kind of magical about the swift.)

17. How old is your oldest UFO? A sweater I have been working on for my mother for well on two years now. I really really must finish this but since she requested her hedgehog herd after Christmas.

18. What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving.

19. Is there anything that you collect? Does yarn count? Or dust bunnies? I guess the only thing I really collect is books (quote books and old books) and I like old/antique teacups but I am not a very motivated collector. The books are a hit or miss proposition and I only have like 6 or 8 teacups… If I am out and about and find one of these that I like, I will get it, if it doesn’t damage the yarn budget too much. I guess this isn’t a very good answer to this question.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? This is an exceptionally open ended question!

Books:

Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac

Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks

Melissa Leapman’s Cables Untangled: An Exploration of Cable Knitting

Yarns:

The Blue Sky Alpaca & Silk I mentioned above

Rowan Kid Silk Haze

Or the Kid Silk Spray

And of course, one of these days I vow I will splurge and gets some qiviut and make something all musk ox fabulous.

Patterns:
The only one that particularly comes to mind. . . I have been contemplating the Safari Friends from Knitting at Knoon

What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I don't have any knitting magazine subscriptions

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I-Cord bind off. I’ve seen it used on several patterns and I tried once but couldn’t figure it out and I’ve never gone back and tried again.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Yes. I wear a size 8 or 8.5 women’s shoe. I don’t know what my “foot measurements” are. Heck, I don’t even know how I would determine my foot measurements. (If someone wants to tell me, I will measure them!)

23. When is your birthday? February 1

Today's Quote: "It is still not enough for language to have clarity and content... it must also have a goal and an imperative. Otherwise from language we descend to chatter, from chatter to babble and from babble to confusion." Rene Daumal