As you may have noticed from the button in the sidebar, I've joined Secret Pal 6. My answers to the questionnaire are in the extended entry.
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
I'm a bit of a yarn snob, but cheap natural fibers (knitpicks order on its way!) and nice acrylic blends have their uses.
2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I have two drop spindles that I really like. (Check the "spinning" category...) A wheel is going to have to wait until I have a few hundred dollars to spare.
3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
I'm not actually allergic, but I'm moderately sensitive to smoke and strong perfumes, so I tend to avoid them.
4. How long have you been knitting?
Just a little over four years.
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes. (Amazon, with a sub-list for knitting stuff.)
6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
vanilla, ginger, and citrus
7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Yes.
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
Not much any more, although I used to make polymer clay beads. I may pick up sewing a bit if I ever get my sewing machine fixed.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I mostly listen to indie rock, folk rock, folk, jazz, baroque, shape-notes, Balkan folk music, Georgian folk music (the Georgia in Eastern Europe), Celtic music....
I like most things that have good melodies and harmonies. I don't like rap or metally things. Punk is fine in small doses. Country is fine as long as it's not crappy pop music with a twang added. (I prefer more old-timey music.) And, yes, both my computer and my iPod play MP3s.
10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
The color palette to which I gravitate is red/brown/green/grey, plus oranges and golds. I generally like fibers that are variegated within a color family (lots of reds or greens, say). I don't like pastels except for mossy greens.
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I live by myself with a cat. (Check the "small and fuzzy" category.)
12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
I'd like to be a respected neuroscientist with a good balance between work and non-work.
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I have said Manos in the past, and I still like it a lot, but I think I have to lean more toward the Blue Moon sock yarn that I'm using for my flower basket shawl. In case you're not familiar with it, it's kind of like koigu, in that it's a highly spun, springy fingering weight yarn. I'd like koigu if it had more colors I liked; unfortunately, most of the greens aren't really green. (And, if I recall correctly, koigu suffers from the classic handpainted yarn problem of having either pink or purple in far too many otherwise lovely colorways.)
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Cotton. Squeaky acrylic.
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
Lace. Cables. Delusions of finishing lots of stuff in the next two or three weeks.
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Lace shawls.
17. What are you knitting right now?
A flower basket shawl, a large totebag to felt, a sock...I've got two sweaters on needles, but I haven't worked on them lately.
18. What do you think about ponchos?
They're not for me.
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Circs all the way. (Plus dpns.)
20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Wood or bamboo or the grey inox. I keep thinking about Denises, but I have yet to get past my dislike of plastic for the convenience of interchangeability.
21. Are you a sock knitter?
I knit socks, but I'm not obsessive about it. I'm thinking of trying more sport-weight socks, since I think they'd be warmer for wearing with sandals in the winter. (I wear my plastic Birki's unless there's cold rain, icy sidewalks, or fresh snow.) And, also, probably faster.
22. How did you learn to knit?
My friend Emma taught me.
23. How old is your oldest UFO?
Something along the lines of several months, unless I'm forgetting something.
24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
I like frogs and cats and molluscs.
25. What is your favorite holiday?
Anything I get to spend with my friends, which usually works out to being my birthday.
26. Is there anything that you collect?
Yes, but I have way too much stuff as it is. Please don't send anything that's cute without being functional. Really, I think what I collect is clutter, and it's not precisely intentional.
27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Interweave.
28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
Well, you can look at my amazon wishlist (the knitting one), and I've been thinking about Eastern European mitten books.
29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another??
I haven't bought Eris yet, but I was figuring I should probably wait until I've knit Rogue... The Lotus Blossom shawl from Fiddlesticks.
Wow, Mel got big fast. (I know, this is a misplaced comment, but he's not as small as in his kitten photos...) He has a serious face. What a cutie!
Posted by: Anne | 07 September 2005 at 16:56