Well I did it. I joined the SP! I'm looking forward to making a connection. So onto the questionnaire:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I'm easygoing, and have so many I'd like to try that I haven't yet. Some that I'd love to try are
Lorna's Laces, Fleece Artist Merino, Koigu, Blue Moon Fiber Arts or Noro Kureyon yarn, for socks, and any brand of mohair yarn or anything really yummy that you think others should try for small projects! I'm not a fan of acrylic - though I have been known to use some blends...ahem..
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I have a beautiful case that I bought myself years ago. It's great for straight needles, but not too great for my circulars. I need an alternative for them, which I haven't found yet.
3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting since 1990ish. My friend Betsy taught me and started me on a scarf. I gave up for a while and then picked it up after a bad breakup. I've been knitting ever since, with a few breaks here and there. I think I'm intermediate. Only my finishing techniques are more like beginner.
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do have an Amazon list, but it doesn't contain much at this point.
5. What's your favorite scent?
I love clean smelling things with bright happy tones. I wear Guerlain's 'Champs Elysee's' and sometimes 'Shalimar'. Clean Laundry, Grass and the Beach are my favorite 'in the air' scents.
6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I love dark chocolate and mint or dark chocolate and anything. I also love fruity candy - especially when I'm pregnant. I ate Starburst nearly every other day with my first baby.
7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I took a class for Spinning and never got myself any spinning stuff years ago. I would love to try again. I also like to make homemade soaps, and dabble - very lightly in crochet. I love to cook nice meals. I'd consider that a craft if you try interesting recipes often enough.
8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I do like music and I do have an MP3 player. I listen to Alternative music, and some folk music. I also love old rock, and blues. My favorites are Bonnie Raitt, Joni Mitchell, Dido, Ben Taylor, kd lang, Van Morrison, ...I could go on.
9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
If its not obvious by this site, I love Greens...everything except Kelly Green practically - and teal blues, or turquoise blues, and various shades of purple and cream colors.
10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm married to an architect and have two girls 7 and soon to be 4. I have two dogs and a cat.
11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I wear scarves, mittens and hats and not really ponchos... The last poncho I owned was sewed out of wool by my mother in pink and purple checks when I was in second grade and lived in NYC.
12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I really like sweaters except for finishing. I need to take a finishing class. My skills are lacking -most of which was self taught over the last 15 years. I've recently gotten back into making socks since I taught myself to Magic Loop them! I'm planning to make a hat for myself; I've mostly made children's hats to date. I've never made mittens, and want to.
13. What are you knitting right now?
A sweater for my niece from a "Yarn Girls" pattern, socks for my husband, sweaters for each of my girls, an Icelandic Knit for my Dad, and two sweaters for me, which I started about 8 years ago and keep putting down. I just finished a hat and booties for my sisters newborn.
14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Absolutely!
15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I have straight needles in all of the above, but I'm saving my pennies for the Denise Interchangeable set or the Knit Picks Options. someday...
16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
I do not own a swift or a winder, and would love the latter. I learned to self-roll center feed balls, but they often fall apart... icky.
17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Umm over 10 years I think. Eeep.
18. What is your favorite holiday?
I think it's Christmas might be my favorite, but the whole holiday season is so nice... i love any holiday that's filled with lots of family and guests. I love cooking Thanksgiving dinner for lots of guests.
19. Is there anything that you collect?
Besides yarn and animals.. I currently collect cooking magazines, and I need to weed them out and trash them. It's more of a bad habit than anything else. The other thing I collect is silver earrings. I think I would like to start collecting some of those cute stitch markers I see all over online. I'm going to attempt to make some interesting glass bead ones.
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 don't have any subscriptions right now, but I'm thinking about Interweave Knits.
Yarns, Needles, patterns...Let's see... Well the circular needle interchangeables, so I can magic loop sweater sleeves is high on my list! And probably a REALLY nice sock yarn. I have been kind of infatuated with Kristin Nicholas patterns lately, but I just got a book, and it's missing just one other pattern I've been trying to find. It was originally published in Vogue Knitting Winter 2003 - called "Our Family Pullover" It has some really funky looking cables that seem like they would be fun to make.
21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Intarsia, the better finishing skills, I mentioned earlier, and I want to improve my Fair Isle skills. 22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes, I wear a size 8 woman's shoe. I'm not sure of my exact measurements I usually eyeball it when I'm knitting for myself.
23. When is your birthday?
June 14

To SP or not to SP

My new favorite hobby has admittedly become reading other knitting blogs. I'm adding new ones to my list daily. Meanwhile the leaning tower of books next to my bed sit there sadly...and rarely opened. I'm still reading a book, "Saving Fish from Drowning"; Amy Tan which I cracked open months ago. That's not normal book-reading speed for me. I generally finish what I start within a week. But that's neither here nor there and not what I wanted to write about today. My 2nd and 3rd current obsessions are finding a copy of Kristin Nicholas' pattern for her "Our Family" pullover. I saw it on her website. It was originally published in Vogue Knitting Winter, 2003. I cannot find a back issue. Not even on eBay. UG. I'm still working on it.
Now onto the big question: Should I join the Secret Pal 10?? I'm hung up on it because of the spending involved, but honestly it really isn't that much, and I'll get packages and presents!! WHEEEE! I'm like a kid on Christmas day just getting letters! I got a treat on Valentines Day when I was heading upstairs to find some red socks, to wear and lo and behold there was the FED EX guy on my doorstep! I thought it would be my book : Knitting Beautiful Classics and it was, but there was also a package from my mother and what was inside you ask? RED SOCKS! Nice. Surprise packages are even better than regular packages, which are pretty exciting to me. Gee it doesn't take much to please me does it? So I think I will join... If I'm buying little things for others it won't seem nearly so decadent as it would to buy them for myself especially when I have two girls and a husband in need of things as well. But my husband can say nothing to me receiving little gifties in the mail!! Here I go!
Pictures to follow soon of the nearly finished socks for the aforementioned husband. I'm going to finish them today. I think I'm keeping them for myself, since i knit them a little too small for him. He does have small feet, but I guess I underestimated the size a bit. Oh well - more for me!

Another Day and More Money Spent

Well... I have been a naughty naughty girl. I ordered some patterns from the back issue of Interweave Knits Fall 2004 issue...which in itself doesn't seem too bad, since they were relatively inexpensive - but I'm not supposed to be spending any money for more than one reason. Mostly because I have unfinished projects I promised myself I would start working on before I bought anything new. Oh yeah, and then there are things like...bills to be paid.

Oops... I also ordered the Kristin Nicolas book, Knitting Beautiful Classics - also known as "Knitting the New Classics" because it has the pattern that really got me hooked to begin with. "The Native American Aran". There it is on the left - The woman next to the horse in hot pink, with a large fair isle band- only I'm planning to do it in Gold or an Olive/Lime color. As soon as I saw it I wanted to do it. Let's keep in mind this was 1991 and I'd only knit a scarf and one Icelandic Sweater. It was way over my head. It might still be way over my head, but it is a future goal for me. Several years ago, I walked into a knit shop with money in hand, and was prepared to start buying all the yarn for it, and the $#!&* lady talked me out of it!! WHY? I have no idea. She kept trying to convince me to do something else. Sure it's complicated, but why talk me OUT of a sale? Silly lady. I was prepared to spend major bucks... oh well for her. Oh well for me too, because I listened to her and chickened out!! So here I am some 16 years later with several more projects under my belt, and the yarn it calls for - Classic Elite Tapestry yarn, they don't even make anymore. However, I have faith I can find a similar yarn and use that instead. Maybe I'll ask Kristen Nicolas herself! Or not. I sent her an email to ask her about this pattern. (The reason I ordered the book was I lost the front page of the pattern. It was due to years of moving stuff around from home to home...it was inevitable I guess). Anyway she answered right away and although she couldn't help me, I ended up finding it on Amazon.

Knitting update: I frogged the watermelon socks because they were going to be too big, and I may have even decided to put that sock pattern aside for some other yarn. And I wasn't supposed to start them anyway!! I am putting aside that stuff for a hat and scarf AFTER I finish some other stuff. In the meantime I have started Bob's second sock, and I've been learning a ton. I taught myself invisible cast on and I'm going to try a tubular cast on and try some toe up socks. OK so socks are not illegal according to my rules as long as I use up stash yarn. So not only have I learned how to Magic Loop my socks but I'm learning even more on top of it! YAY.

Progress! I finished the little bear baby hat and booties which have been hanging over my head and I even embellished a bit and made a little pink star for her as well. It's a little wonky looking but oh well... at least I finished it. Luckily for me it was mostly sewing and embroidery, so my arm wasn't affected ... much. Sorry about the pictures - the light was bad.

The latest on my little sweater for her sister is that I RAN OUT OF YARN! Ok so I hemmed and hawed for some reason about buying the expensive GIANT roll of yarn again, because I would have so much leftover - but I finally gave in and went to go buy it and lo and behold it was gone. EEEK. But lovely gal that she is -Jean, the owner of the shop said she would try to order it and get it here fairly soon, so I've set it down, and will wait.
In the meantime, I wanted to get comfortable with magic looping socks before I tried to do my second sock with it so I started the Yukon Leaves sock, with some weird yarn I found in my stash (I'm afraid it's acrylic.) but I like the colorway, and the sock actually is coming along nicely. Well...sort of. It s the wrong yarn for a lace pattern - the holes are not visable. It would work much better with a sock yarn. Also, I'm not using a really nice set of circulars and they are coiling up on me and driving me a little crazy everytime they get tangled in my working yarn. BUT I still like it better than DP's!

The last problem is I followed instructions for a larger sock and cast on 64 - however... I'm using 3's instead of 1's...so it's large enough for my calves but too large ultimately as a sock for me, so I'm frogging them, and getting back to my original plan of NOTHING new until I finish all my other projects.

Off to make a big breakfast for my family now... or maybe I'll just frog that sock first. Ooh here's a question: If you have a center hole self-feeding ball of yarn and you frog your project - what do you do with yarn? Stuff it back in the center?