Secret Pal 9 Questionnaire

OK. I meant to do all sorts of neatening up around the site, but that will have to wait (does anybody know how to make an extra page on one's blog? I'd like to keep all the links that are to crafty posts in one place, and I'm finding that list on the left-hand side unwieldy. If not, I'm thinking I'll just have to make a post that I can link to on the left and keep that post updated with all the other links [if that makes sense]).

Anywhoo, I've signed up again (like I warned you all, dear uncrafty readers), and the first step is filling out the questionnaire. I've answered the questions differently than last time for your entertainment. Here it is:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I don't like eyelashy fluttery stuff.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
In SP8 I received a folding fabric needle case. This is for my dpns. My long needles are rolling around in the bottom of a drawer of craft-related stuff.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
My godmother taught me when I was a kid. I did nothing until Impera was a toddler and a friend re-taught me so I could make her a sweater. Again, nothing for a while. Then, in the past two years or so (after a seven-year hiatus), I've eased back into it, such that currently I actually have two different projects on needles at the same time! (This is a big deal to me, seeing as I plan to get a third project on needles by next week, once the yarn arrives.)
I consider myself intermediate.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes. I'll come back to that soon, in another post.

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
I like citrus-y fresh scents. Nothing sweet or cloying (and I realize one person's lovely garden scent is another person's suffocating wheeze [consider the latter person me]).

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Yes. I'm not original, chocolate is dandy. Liquor may be quicker, but I'm not an alcoholic yet. Let's just stick with chocoholism, thank you. But I like other stuff (But not Juicy Fruit gum. Or too much hard candy.) Actually, I like salty snacks, too. I'm willing to try anything once (for example, dinuguan [blood and guts stew] and balut).

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I can crochet, I can sew (which reminds me, I need to snug up several pairs of pants for Trixie). I do not scrapbook (I love seeing what other people make; but it isn't something I can see myself doing). We have a drop spindle in the house, but I am not moving in that direction right now.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD). Folk music, world music, 1980s pop, not so much into the hip-hop or current pop. Alternative, industrial, medieval, too. I love listening to Radio Paradise because you never know what you'll hear next. I've got an iPod. We are a Mac family (I used to work for Apple, so I'm sorta prejudiced).

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Blues, greens, browns, plums; let's say forest and glen, how's that? The pink gene went all to Trixie, I even gave her whatever inherent pinkness I had before.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Married to The Consort, mother to Impera (12) and Trixie (10). The house is also home to a peanut-butter-loving dog, a Whiska-Likins-addicted cat, an electric-cord-chewing rabbit, a bat-swooping parakeet, and an olympic-quality leaping rat.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes. yes. yes. I would but I don't have one.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Portable things are nice (socks, for example). But recently I felt the urge to start something bigger.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A pair of socks I started for Impera in June; a pair of Jaywalkers I started for me in July. (I'm not *that* slow, I just got sidetracked by a textured washcloth, a cabled hat, and baby washcloths. And books will trump knitting much of the time.)

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes, and I like to make handmade gifts as well.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I don't like circulars as much as straight dpns.
I've got some of each kind of needles, and I find that it's best if on small sizes I use metal (I've snapped two pairs of wooden #1's).

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
No.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
4 months (those darn socks).

18. What is your favorite holiday?
You know, last time I said Christmas, but I don't know. Probably. At least, I decorate for Christmas. Unlike Valentines Day or Arbor Day. How about we say Christmas?

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Not anymore.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I have no subscriptions. I love the KnitPicks site (but not their needles).

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
In my upcoming project, I will have to do steeks (EEEEEK!!!) . Because I am so smart, I will be doing them on a one-color project, rather than on intarsia.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes! But they do take me a while to complete. My shoe size is 9.5; length from center heel to toe is 10 inches.

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
January 17.