The lovely and talented Editrix posted this knitter’s questionnaire on her blog. I saw it and felt the urge to answer the questions. It’s silly self-spouting, but until I answer this here questionnaire, I may have trouble doing much else. Please forgive me… this gets pretty long.

And how did it get hot again all of a sudden? Garbage.

The questionnaire:

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?
Honestly, I think of Red Heart as craft yarn, and I can’t see myself using it for a knitting project. I used Lion Brand when I was just starting to knit, and it wasn’t so bad. That said, I doubt I’d use it now for a project that was important to me. Good yarn makes a project that much nicer to make and nicer to keep when it’s done.

Do you spin? Crochet?
No. I’ve crocheted in my life, but I don’t recall how. I’m sure I could learn easily enough for a knitting project (and will need to sooner rather than later, no doubt).

Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
I tend to have bad reactions to insect bites, and I can’t eat cucumber, unfortunately. Pickles are OK, though. I think that’s all.

How long have you been knitting?
I first started knitting after college, so it’s been about 9 years. Considering it’s been that long, I’m not the most accomplished knitter.

Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes. I tend to update it around birthday/Christmas and then don’t look at it for ages. I’ve prioritized the items since I added certain things a while ago.

What?s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
For soap, vervienne probably wins. I also like lavender, eucalyptus, and lemongrass. For candles, I like spice (like food spice, NOT musk), light vanilla, cinnamon–that kind of thing.

Do you have a sweet tooth?
Sort of. I like fruity things, but I’m not a huge chocolate lover. I love Teenie Beanie (not Jelly Belly, though I’ll eat those in a pinch) jelly beans–the fruit mix. They’re kind of hard to find, I think. Sometimes I see them around Easter. I love those gummy raspberry things, too.

What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
Hmm… I sketch, I take pictures. I like to grow flowers, though this year the garden was a bit of a bust. I’ve messed around with paints (acryllic and watercolor) a bit, but not for a while. I also used to be pretty into oil pastels, but again–it’s been a while. I’ve made paper/printed invitations and cards, sometimes in collaboration with Ezra.

What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s?
Easily discovered on this blog. Yes, mp3s.

What?s your favorite color? Or ? do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can?t stand?
Love milky blue and burgundy. Also black. As for colors that don’t do much for me… plain yellow.

What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Ez and I married on September 15, 2001 (yes, our anniversary is in just a few days). We live in a condo in Somerville with our 2 cats.

What are your life dreams? (Really stretching it here, I know.)
Not sure how to answer this. I could either go on and on, or say nothing at all, really. I’d say I want to be happy and healthy, I’d like to be able to create things and go new places.

What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
Ooo! Well… I love Jo Sharp. I have been knitting a throw with her Classic DK wool and it’s just wonderful to work with and luscious. Love it. I used wool from Green Mountain Spinnery for a sweater, and that was excellent. I also like Debbie Bliss. Classic Elite’s Waterspun was nice.

What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I don’t like the trendy stuff… crazy textures and mega-stretchy stuff and ultra-bulky. Nothing too stiff.

What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
A while ago I was really into collecting vintage (mostly 1960s) knitting patterns, but now I’d say I’m mainly just really into cables. Projects without cables just aren’t nearly as appealing.

What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Sweaters for sure, though I haven’t finished many. I also like to knit little hats (so quick!), and I’ve made a few blankets. Those are fun if you have a really good pattern, because you can enjoy the stitches and not worry too much about shaping or finishing. I should knit myself a new scarf, and probably a hat, too. But I have a bunch of other stuff already in the works…

What are you knitting right now?
Well, the thing I’m doing RIGHT now I can’t mention because it’s a surprise for someone who could be reading. I have a bunch of projects in process. These include:
*Jo Sharp Sunday throw (about 3/4 done, in Jo Sharp DK in a light taupe)
*Heather sweater from Rowan’s A Season’s Tale (All pieces are done, and have been waiting a while for me to sew them up. I’m using Wings, which is soft and a pretty color, but doesn’t knit up exceptionally evenly.)
*Ski Slipover sweater from an old (early 60s?) Columbia Minerva pattern book (about 1/2-way done, using a green Debbie Bliss yarn, haven’t touched it in a long time)
*Rhapsody in Tweed sweater from Interweave Knits Fall 2004 (Just started–for Ezra! I’m using Tahki Donegal Tweed homespun in a mossy, woodsy green.)
*Hush sweater from Rowan’s Calmer Collection book (I have yarn and pattern for this, but I’ve only fiddled with gauge swatches so far. I looked at the suggested yarn for this and didn’t like it at all, but I love the pattern, so I’m using Jo Sharp again, this time in bordeaux.)
Maybe I am forgetting something.
Where’s the “what have you finished” question?

What do you think about ponchos?
A lot of them are awful, but I had one that I loved when I was a kid. I saw one in a knitting catalog that was pretty appealing, but I doubt I’d ever make it. Then again…

Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Usually circular.

Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Addi Turbo are my preferred needles, but a good bamboo pair is also nice.

Are you a sock knitter?
I knit a stocking, but never a sock. I need to learn to do the 3-needle thing.

How did you learn to knit?
My mother taught me the knit stitch. I don’t really remember the first time she showed me. My first piece was bright red–I think it was leftover yarn from a sweater Mom had knit for my sister when she was a toddler–and it changed size and shape terribly, but I now realize that it wasn’t so bad for a first go. My friend Bridget taught me to purl. I learned some of the rest on my own from just figuring out patterns, asking random knitters, and from books and magazines. I did take one beginners class after I’d been knitting for a couple of years.

How old is your oldest UFO?
So something that is still in existence? My oldest one was a cardigan that I attempted to knit before I knew anything about gauge and yarn selection. It was knitting up so tightly that it felt like boiled wool! I say it WAS my oldest one, because I finally unravelled the whole thing and tried to start a blanket with the yarn. I think it’s too scratchy, though, and probably not suitable for much of anything. Oh well. Now I know why the yarn was cheap! Lesson learned. I’m not exactly sure when I abandoned it, but I started it in 1997, so I probably left it late that year. As for the projects still going, I think the Columbia Minerva sweater is the oldest. That’s almost two years old, I think–but that’s not that old by my standards! I often have multiple projects going at once and take a while to finish sweaters and bigger items.

What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
I will do a little interpretation here and say Mooch and Earl from the comic strip Mutts. I also love cats. I like lots of animals, so it’s hard to make a choice or list them all.

What is your favorite holiday?
I have to go with Christmas. Christmas is really wonderful in my family. I love old-fashioned Christmas music, Christmas trees, baking, seeing friends and family, buying/making/finding gifts and wrapping them, giving holiday parties, snow, etc. etc. I collect antique Christmas postcards and some antique ornaments. I don’t like cheesy/commercial Christmas. I guess it’s a personal thing, and my personal Christmas is pretty well-formed.

Is there anything that you collect?
Ha! Funny… see above… Antique Christmas postcards, striped socks, Interpol items. I guess I could say that I collect other things, but I’ll leave it at that.

What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Vogue Knitting. Recently Interweave Knits has looked pretty good, and some issues of Rebecca are fantastic. I’ve also picked up Knitters from time to time, but because some issues of Knitters have specific themes, I like some more than others.

Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
Heh, sure, I’d love a copy of Alice Starmore’s Stillwater. Anybody got a spare $175? I think the prices her out-of-print books go for are absolutely insane. Why doesn’t her publisher reissue them, for God’s sake? There are loads of non-knitting titles I’d like. Referring to Amazon to jog my memory:
*Mick LaSalle’s Complicated Women
*Holly Hobbie’s Toot and Puddle: Top of the World
*Wolf Erlbruch’s Mrs. Meyer the Bird
… and maybe another Garbo biography.

Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven?t bought for one reason or another?
Mm… I’m sure there are. I feel like there were more pattern books and things I liked a year or two ago. Recently everything seems trendy or boringly easy (not that I’m a knitting guru!), but maybe I’m looking in the wrong places. Also, it is probably partly a result of all the new knitters out there, and I can’t complain about that. I have a ton of knitting books and patterns though… enough to keep me busy for a while.

What are your foot measurements, and what kind of socks do you like?
I wear a size 8.5 shoe, which I think is a 39 in euro sizes. I like striped socks in nice colors, but nothing too clown-like.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 12th, 2005 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Blather, friends, knitting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.