Secret Pal 8 Questionnaire

Secret Pal 8 has started! And my SP is very cool -- she's already sent me a funny card about women wielding drills (for home improvement purposes). As part of SP8 we are supposed to fill in a questionnaire for our secret pals to get to know us. Mine is very late, but here it is. (Also, I've made a new list of posts that have mentioned knitting, etc. on the left over there.)

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

Hmm. I haven’t worked with fancy yarns enough to have a favorite. I’m in the process of making a pair of socks with Trekking, and that’s been fun. I don’t think I like yarns that have too much hanging off of them (like fun fur type stuff).

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

Nothing fancy. They roll around in the bottom of one of my craft drawers, so when I need a pair I dig around until I find two of the same size. (Pretty pitiful, I know.)

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate, or advanced?

My godmother taught me to knit when I was about 12. Then I did nothing for years. When Impera was a toddler, I wanted to knit her a sweater (a Debbie Bliss pullover with ducks, boats, rocking horses, and other little images), so my friend Leanne re-taught me, including how to cast on and bind off, and how to switch from one color to another in the middle of a line.

I am comfortable with knits, purls, yarn-overs, tbls, and dropped stitches (Those done on purpose, like in the clapotis! Accidental dropped stitches make me shout and growl.). I’ve used circular needles and I make socks with dpns. I feel prepared to try cables, but I haven’t yet done it. I don’t know about those bobble thingies.

I would classify myself as intermediate. But maybe that’s too cocky.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

Well, yes, and if you want it, I can give it to you. But I use my Amazon wish list kind of like a “to think about” list, for me and the others of the realm. So not everything there is for me. I really ought to clean it up.

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

Lemon verbena, lemongrass, … citrus-y things that don’t smell sweet. It has to be subtle (My mother is shocked that I don’t wear perfume and that strong perfume on anyone around me makes me gag. “You used to like perfume!” she says. Well, yes; I used to pee in my diaper, too, but I don’t do that anymore, either. During my pregnancy with Impera, I became highly sensitive to smell, and that hasn’t left me. I am the family canary.)

Oh, I don’t take bubble baths. They have undesirable consequences.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Chocolate. ‘Nuff said.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

Impera has a drop spindle, but we haven’t been able to get it to work. So, sadly, no.

I have made little folded books, I’ve done latch-hooking, quilting, sewing, other needlecrafts (cross-stitch, etc.). Now I’m into things that are portable (socks, crochet squares like for the hoodies I made for the girls). Quilting and sewing take too much time to clear off my work space, cut, sew, trim, hem, … oof!

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I like all kinds (isn’t that what they all say!). World music, folk (maybe bleeding into country, but not really), new age, medieval, jazz, soul, electronica, urban, classic rock (badwidaba, baby), rave, …

But NOT Brittany Spears type of pop. 1980s pop, for sure.

9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

I like blues, greens… not teals, though. I wear reds & oranges, too. I’ve got brown hair, brown eyes, so most colors work on me (My sisters might claim that’s only because I have no sense of style [and they may be right, who knows?].)

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

One spouse, two girls (soon-to-be 10 and soon-to-be 12). As my masthead says: a dog, a cat, a rat, and a bird.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

Yes!

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Like I said, I’m into portability. Socks is what I’m doing now. Scarves, hats, …

13. What are you knitting right now?

A pair of lace knit socks. On size 1 needles (teeny!)

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

That’s the best kind.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Straight for sweater pieces, double-pointeds for hats & socks. I use circulars for necklines, but I just don’t like the feel of circulars for tubes (like socks and hats).

I’m using bamboo for the socks, and I already broke one. (they’re 8-in. long, so maybe if they were a bit shorter?). I’m worried that plastic would bend, I don’t know, I’ve never used them.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

No.

17. How did you learn to knit?

My godmother as a pre-teen. My friend in my late 20s. I taught myself to crochet this past summer.

18. How old is your oldest UFO?

I’m single-minded, so I don’t usually have a UFO (for my regular readers: this means "unfinished.. um, object?"). I guess there was the pair of socks for Trixie that I finished in the winter (that had been a UFO for about 18 months).

19. What is your favorite holiday?

I guess Christmas?

20. Is there anything that you collect?

Not at this time. I used to collect miniatures, and when my mother downsized a few years ago, she sent me all the little things (but she kept the cool antique printer’s drawer I had used to display them, darn!).

21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I’ll have to get back to you on that. I have no subscriptions. I borrow library books when I need a pattern, or I buy the Family Circle knitting magazine if I see something interesting (I don’t allow myself that very often, though). I’ve been getting patterns online from knitty.com lately, too.

22. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

I think I’m up for cable knitting. (As soon as I finish those socks!)

23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

My previous responses make it clear my answer is, yes!
From center heel to big toe, 10 inches.

24. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)

January 17. Me and Ben Franklin go way back.