1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love cotton, silk, and bamboo. I really hate mohair, synthetics, and anything that is even slightly scratchy. I can wear wool on my feet but I've tried even the softest merino, cashmere, or alpaca feels fine to work with but when I wrap it around my neck it feels like sandpaper. My feet get really hot really easy, and I've found the wool socks I've made in sock weight/fingering yarn get too warm pretty quick so I'll save them for winter. My favorite thing to knit are sweaters, lightweight cotton, silk, and/or bamboo.
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I have one that I bought at Stitches West a few years ago that zips closed and has zipper pouches to keep circulars. It's bulging, so I need to find something that will store more, but I like the compact nature of this particular storage solution.
3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I learned to knit when I was pregnant with my 2nd daughter, who will be 21 at the end of July. My first project was a zig-zag patterned baby blanket. It took me forever to do, and I was using soft cotton baby yarn. I hated synthetics even back then! I did more sewing than knitting back then, but now I just knit.
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I had never even thought of creating a wish list...I do have a "save for later" cart at KnitPicks and another at QVC.com.
5. What's your favorite scent?
I love floral scents - lotus, freesia, and my all time favorite is plumeria. Believe it or not, Avon used to have a plumeria scent in their Naturals line that I bought a whole bunch of when it was discontinued and put on clearance, and I've not found another one. I did buy a nice bottle of Hyacinth in Vegas last October that's nice, but I miss the plumeria.
6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I have a horrible sweet tooth. I try to stick with sugar-free though to try to avoid the excess calories. I drink splenda-sweetened Kool-Aid, strawberry and lemon-lime are my favorites. I also like most of the flavored sugar-free waters that are now available.
I actually really like spicy foods, Mexican being my all-time favorite. Spicy salsas pack lots of flavor with little caloric consequences.
7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I started my own yarn line, so I spend most of my time dyeing yarn. I don't spin, and I don't think I'll learn...I just don't see time in my future to learn another hobby! I have done some scrapbooking and enjoy it but there hasn't been much time for that either. I have all of our wedding pictures waiting to be turned into a great scrapbook and someday that will happen! I bought the book and the pages but still need to find the right embellishments (and the time...can my partner send me some time please?).
8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Country, country, and more country. I listen to modern top 20 country artists like Trace Adkins, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts...and my all time favorite is a composer who has put out I believe 4 studio albums by the name of Phil Vassar. He comes up with a new song and I download it from iTunes that day. He's amazing. I am not a huge fan of Taylor Swift, but her single Love Story intrigued me enough to buy her new album, Fearless, and it's pretty good. I'm anxiously awaiting Carrie Underwood to put out a new album - she seems to have disappeared of late which makes me quite sad.
I have an iPod Touch and I buy CDs and load them into iTunes, and I occasionally download something instead.
9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I'm a pink girl - baby pink to fuchsia. I'm not a big fan of blue or green or red, but mix two of them together for a nice purple or teal and that works too. And the three together, pink, purple, and teal? Yeah baby. So I guess I love jewel tones.
10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Married with 6 cats and a dog. Sofie and Nelson are huge 15+ pounds of Maine Coon mix that we adopted 8 years ago. Bailey was born in our bathroom to a semi-feral cat that adopted us when we moved into our little condo in Vallejo in 2002. We got his mom and his 6 siblings fixed and adopted but Bailey wanted to stay. Simon came along in 2004, born in our vet's office and decided he wanted to live with us. Katie was a year later, adopted because the other 4 had all picked my husband as their person and I really wanted a lap cat. My husband wasn't allowed to even look at her, she was just mine. She has now been diagnosed with kidney failure and is not expected to live more than 3-6 months. And Chanel turned 1 year old on July 4. She's my princess. All white with pink ears, nose, and paw pads. I hand raised her and her siblings from the time they were about 4 days old, got her siblings all adopted out and she is my joy. Prada is a little Yorkie who was dumped at the shelter in April 2008 by the only family she'd ever known. Initially I fostered her since I'd never had a dog before, but she kind of grew on us and is now here for good.
11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Scarves yes, but only plant fibers (cotton, bamboo, silk) because even the softest merino or alpaca itches around my neck. Interestingly enough, I can wear my Burberry and Coach mufflers and they're cashmere and merino - maybe it's because they're woven rather than knitted.
Hats, mittens, ponchos no.
12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
When I was commuting I got into sock knitting because they're so portable, but now I'm back to sweaters. I really enjoy knitting the Multi-Directional Short row scarf and I made it for myself first, but the yarn had a wee bit of mohair in it and I couldn't wear it. I gave it to someone (without photographing it for my Ravelry page first). Now I'd like to do it in a nice, soft, lofty cotton just for fun.
13. What are you knitting right now?
I'm working on my Carnival top out of Noro Taiyo and after that I'm going to do my Sahara sweater out of Tilli Tomas Pure & Simple. I've got a couple pair of socks on needles too that I tote around with me when I'm in a waiting situation.
14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Of course!
15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Only circulars. I use the KnitPicks 40"-47" circs for socks (magic loop 2 at a time) and I use Addi turbos for everything else. I bought one of those square ones from Kollage to do the Taiyo sweater just because I was curious, but the cord is a bit too flimsy so I won't be buying more. Addi's rock!
16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes - and I use both every day!
17. How old is your oldest UFO?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I found the blanket I started crocheting for my daughter when I was pregnant and she will be 21 on July 25. That blanket will never be finished. No point. I have a few UFOs from the last couple of years that I will get back to. Problem is I've lost a lot of weight and I literally have to re-knit them completely.
18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe?
My favorite holiday is Halloween. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT. Winter we observe Christmas but a good friend is Jewish so I buy Chanukah gifts for her.
19. Is there anything that you collect?
Anything modern Mickey Mouse. Don't care for the vintage look when he had the really long pointy up nose, but after he was in his "classic" pose with his vibrant clothes just love it!
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 gave up quite a few subscriptions when I became unemployed in January and I would like to have those back. Knitters and Cast On (Knitting Universe and TKGA) specifically. I also gave up my knit.1 subscription and now they have good patterns in every issue and I regret that one too.I have lots of knitting books/patterns.
21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Not really
22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I do knit socks, I wear a size 8 shoe so my foot length is like 8 1/2 - 9" but nobody else can knit socks for me unless they're footies. I have to adjust patterns for the leg.
23. When is your birthday?
May 15 19something
24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
On Ravelry I am TheCraftsMeow. On Etsy I'm just CraftsMeow.
No comments:
Post a Comment