Let the SP Round begin...

For fun and general information, I post herein my questionnaire for the Knittyboard Secret Pal 8 swap.


All about you:

1. Do you have skillz? (beginner/adv. beginner/intermediate, etc): Advanced.

2. How long have you been knitting? 13 years

3. What are your favorite fiber colors? Tealy blues and greens. Or any jewel tones.

4. Are there any fiber colors that make you want to hurl? If so which? Pink.

5. Other than bran, what are your favorite fibers? Alpaca/Wool or Mohair/Wool blends

6. We all know you love your stash children equally but, what is your favorite yarn to knit with and why? Lamb’s Pride Worsted has been popular recently. It feels lovely in my hands as I knit and makes wonderful Finished Objects for felting or cabling projects.

7. Do you prefer stripes, solids, heathered, or some other kind of color combo (or lack thereof) that I didn’t think of? Heathered or lightly variegated solids. I am not a fan of stripes.

8. Other than fiber glass, do you have any unwelcome fibers (stuff you just don't need more of or like?) Cotton!

9a. What is your Dream Yarn, the yarn you would marry if only the government would approve of your love? Weeell, I don’t think I love any one yarn quite that much. I do enjoy laceweights in general and alpaca laceweights even more than that.

9b. Is there a yarn that you loathe and despise so much that the very earth may open up and swallow the place where it’s produced? If so by all means, warn us! Pretty open to anything.

10. Novelty yarns: super cool or blight on the earth? How about the stuff made with them?
Novelty yarns are useful as trim for otherwise simple projects. I tend to use them on hatbands and the tops of felted purses.

Random Question #1. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Neonatal Intensive Care doctor.

11. Do you prefer straight or circular needles (are there any sizes you really need)? How about DPNs? Circulars or flexible straights. I got the KnitPicks options set for Christmas. I would love to have any sizes below a US 2. I knit all my socks on Magic Loop so the 40” lenghts are best. I don’t use DPNs if I can possibly avoid it.

12. Bamboo, aluminum, nickel-plated, plastic, or birch? Have you perhaps found some new needle material to covet? I’m loving the nickel plated right now but I’d love to experiment with the various woods and bamboos.

13a. Do you spin and/or crochet? Yes to both. I’ve been spinning regularly for the last year or so and crocheting for 13 years.

13b. If you crochet, do actually enjoy it or is it a means to an end (like for finishing)? I usually use crochet for finishing but I do also crochet for the sake of it. I just started a crocheted afghan.

13c. If you spin do you use a wheel or spindle? I use a drop spindle right now but I’m saving for a wheel! A Kromski if I have my way about it.

14. What is the next thing you want to learn (techniques etc)? Entrelac. I’d also like to experiment with double knitting.

15a. What item(s) do you knit the most? Socks for quantity, lace shawls for most WIPs.

15b. Anything you’ll never knit again? Not yet!

16. What are your favorite items to knit? Lace anythings. I love the magic of blocking this mess of yarn and watching it turn into a gorgeous FO.

17. What are you knitting right now? A Diamond Pattern shawl from LionBrand, fingerless gloves in my own design, socks in my own design, the Nina Shawl from Mason-Dixon, a lace scarf of my own design, Fuzzy Feet, the Besotted Scarf.

18. Any projects you haven’t gotten to yet? Stop laughing, regain composure, we’ll wait. Okay seriously, what are you dying to knit that you haven’t gotten to yet? Intolerable Cruelty, the Cobweb Christening Shawl from Jamieson & Smith, Ballet Cami from MagKnits, several tops from various Interweave Knits magazines.

Wants and Nots:

19a. Do you have any food, fiber, smoke, pet allergies your SP should be aware of? Horses. Horses are very, very bad for me.

19b. Do you smoke, have pets, or process peanuts where you store your yarn? If so, please declare them here: No, no and no. My yarn is stored in plastic bags in nice, clean dresser drawers that, believe it or not, have never held anything other than yarn.

20. Do you have an Amazon.com wishlist you'd like to share with your SP (please add URL if applicable)? No wishlist but if we’re talking books I love the Valdemar books by Mercedes Lackey!

21. Anything you’ve been longing for or would really love to get (knitting or not)? Wooden cable needles, a swift, nutritional yeast (I eat it with popcorn but it’s ridiculously hard to find in the middle of nowhere Virginia).

22. What about stuff you don't need at all? Chocolate or other sweets.

23. What about knitting accessories? See above about cable needles. I also could use point protectors

24. Do you have hobbies other than knitting (tv, sports, collectibles, favorite things)? Reading

RQ#2. If a tree fell in the woods, and there was no one there to hear it, would Tom Cruise still have a career? He’s a bit overhyped and not much of an actor but he is yummy to look at!

25. Carpe bibliotheca! Uh, any books you would like (knitting or not)? Anything about knitting folk shawls or heirloom lace.

26. Any magazines you would like (knitting or not)? I’d love to try Rebecca or Rowan magazines.

27. For those of you who live outside the US, is there anything you'd like that you can't get your hands on?

28. In the event your SP lives outside the US, is there a particular yarn ,etc. you can't find in the US?

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things:

29. Who/What is your favorite...
a. Chocolate: 80% cocoa or more is better!
b. Muppet: Animal
c. Cartoon Character: Monterey Jack from The Rescue Rangers
d. Flower: Iris
e. Ice Cream flavor: Vanilla Bean
f. Fragrance: Lilac
g. Shoes to wear: Barefeet!
h. Type of garden: Dye garden
i. Animal: Kittens
j. Beverage: Tea
k. Author: Mercedes Lackey
l. Musician: Ummmmm
m. Holiday: Twelfth Night
n. Time of Day: Morning
o. Bath or Shower: Bath
p. Country: Ireland
q. Number: 5
r. Card game: Don’t play
s. Candy: Starburst

RQ#3. Where's the beef? On the cow

Getting to know you, getting to know ALL about you:

30a. How did you learn to knit? My grandmother handed me some old knitting needles and yarn one day while we were cleaning (well, they were cleaning. I was getting underfoot) and told me to go sit on the couch quietly and figure it out. No one ever really showed me anything I just took the partly done piece and fiddled with it until my stitches looked like hers. I think I was 7 at the time.

30b. What made you into a Knitter? Sheer perversity. After teaching me to knit, my family decided I was “too little” to really knit proper things. The best way to make me do something is to tell me I’m too little/weak/young/a girl...

31a. What is your oldest UFO and how old is it? Diamond Shawl from LionBrand and it’s been in progress for 10 months now.

31b. Why haven’t you finished it? I keep screwing up the pattern repeats.

32. What is the most exciting this that happened to you this month, year? This month I got a very nice bonus from work. This year I got engaged.

33. What is your favorite thing to do to waste time? Read novels.

34. The things that make me the happiest are: Family, sunshine patches in the living room.

35: If you were a space captain, what would you call your ship? TIGS Lady Adventura III aka “This Bucket of Bolts”

36. If you were candy would you be sweet, sour, or cinnamon? Sour

37. If you were a fruit which would you be? Pomegranate

38. Are you a Java Junkie? How about a Tea-totaler? Tea. Tea is safe. Megan on coffee is, ummm, hyper. Hyper and talkative. Very, very, very talkative.

39. Your birthday, in case it falls during the swap and your SP wants to send you a card: August 26

RQ#4. If you could flip a switch that would wipe any band or musical artist out of existence, which one would it be? Britney Spears

40. Do you have a personal mantra? Put on your big kid panties and cope!

41. This space is for rent. How much? Do you have advertising morals?

42. How do you feel about holidays? Will you be celebrating any during the SP round? I like nice, quiet holiday celebrations. I’ll be celebrating Lent/Easter during the SP round.

43. How do you really feel about socks? Addicted!

44. What is your shoe size? More specifically, if your SP were to make you some socks, what is your ankle circumference and foot length? Shoe Size is US 9.5 or 10. Measurements below are in inches.
Ankle: 9.5
Instep: 9
Length: 10
Toes Across: 3

45. How do you feel about ponchos? Ewwwwwwww

46. What kind of music (and/or which artists) do you listen to when you are happy? The classic rock radio station.

47. Rate yourself on a girly/fruh fruh factor from 1 - 10: 4

48. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I’m recently engaged and preparing to move my fiance from New York to Virginia. We don’t have any pets (and won’t until after the move) but I looove fish and want to have a big fish tank in the new house.

49. What are a few of your life dreams? Hike across Ireland, see the Phantom of the Opera in a theatre and get a knitting pattern published.

RQ#5. Wax on? Or Wax Off? I avoid wax. It’s messy.

50. What languages do you speak (besides English, Pig Latin counts)? Spanish, a smidgin of Italian and French

51. Hey baby, what’s your sign? How about the Chinese Zodiac? DO you read your horoscope or do you think it’s all bunk? Anybody think it’s bunk and read it anyway? How many questions was that? Virgo but beyond that I don’t pay any attention to it at all.

52. If you could live anywhere, where would that be? Wales or Ireland.

53. If you could do anything for a living what would it be? Be a work at home housewife with a business planning and leading knitting tours.

54. If you could have any "super power" which would it be? Healing

55. You're given $10,000 for traveling. Where do you go and why? Switzerland to see the Alps and Lake Geneva and then to Ireland for that hike I mentioned up there.

56. How frequently would you like to hear from your SP, and what kind of contact would you prefer? Weekly for both, or else I’m liable to forget what’s going on.