Trenchwork

It’s been a while since I participated in a swap, and I’ve been so buried in my own work and corrupting innocent enabling new spinners over the past year that I decided it was time to come out of the figurative cave and be social again.  So, for the soul who ended up assigned as my secret pal, here’s the answers to the questionnaire.  Feel free to ask more!  For the rest of you, feel free to slide right past this post. 

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I have a passion for soft fibers.  I like wool—get real; look where I’m living—but I love the soft wools, blends with silks and tencel, alpaca, angora, and so on.  Part of that is because I’m hypersensitive to wool, and part of it is just a hangover from that childhood soft blankie with the satin edging.  Seriously, it’s embarrassing to walk through a clothing or fabric store with me because I want to touch everything.  Yarn and fiber shops?  Forget it.  Touching is a given; it’s the law.  What I don’t like . . . That’s easy, too.  Aside from scratchy fibers, I have real trouble using cotton and synthetics; its lack of give is simply too hard on my hands.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

These:

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I grew up with crochet, but marriage to DH put me in the environment of lovely Nordic color knitting.  I didn’t have a chance to do much with it in the first several years, but once I started I was hooked.  Since crochet had become increasingly hard for my hands, knitting picked up the growing hobby hole.  That was  . . . five? . . . years ago.  I think of myself as an intermediate knitter, but the reality is that I’m just good at following directions.    As long as a pattern is clear and I have a stitch dictionary for stitches which may be new to me, I can do anything.  (How’s that for confidence?)

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

There IS an Amazon wish list, but I’ll be honest and admit that it’s terribly outdated and I’ve no idea what’s on it any longer.  Give me a chance and I’ll work on updating it.

5. What’s your favorite scent?

I’m not a big perfume gal.  There are two that I wear, and they’re both spices.  I’m not big on fruit and food scents.  I like vanilla, and I love some of the soap scents from Goodies Unlimited.  Her lavender mixes and her Rosemary Lemon Silk are to die for, and I put them in with my fibers and yarns.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Oh, laws.  Unfortunately, I do.  I don’t like licorice or coffee in any form, and I’m not partial to dark chocolate. I’m a sucker for Jelly Belly type jelly beans, and regular M&Ms.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

If you’ve not figured it out, spinning is an obsession.  Once upon a time I crochet, cross-stitch, painted, and made my own artwork via wood- and leather-burning.  The cross-stitch fell by the wayside when my hands became my living.  Crochet is now a rarity.  And lately I have to admit that I’ve done more spinning than knitting.  I’ve found I have a growing stash of handspun yarn—and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. 

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I’m eclectic.  I like blues and jazz, soft rock and pop, country western (not twang), some classical, and a host of other things.  I like things that are reflective or have up-beat, positive energy, and am in a search for good spinning music.  Got suggestions?

9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand?

Actually, it depends on what I’m doing with it.  If it’s for me, I’m not keen on yellows and grass greens.  I bought a purple pullover tee not long ago, and it was the first purple thing I can remember ever buying.   I like colors that are rich and have depth and life to them.  If I’m working on something for someone else, then it doesn’t matter what I think about it, does it? 

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

No beasties at the moment.  Just DH.  Does he count?

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

The last time I wore a poncho was when I was about 10 years old.  I refuse to say how long ago that was.  It hasn’t exactly been a conscious decision, but all things considered, it’s probably just as well.  Shawls, scarves, hats, mittens, and gloves, however, are nearly a requirement for living here.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Whatever I happen to be working on . . . unless it’s having trouble.    DH’s Cobblestone is on the needles at the moment, along with a Faroese shawl.  I’d just joined the sleeves to the body when I found that the body was actually about 3 inches too short.  I’ve since put the sleeves back on holders, and am working my way through those missing inches.  He MIGHT get it in time for Christmas.  Since he was supposed to get it last Christmas, I’d better get a move on, dont’cha think?  On the other hand, I don’t care for knitting socks.  Don’t ask me why; I really don’t know.

13. What are you knitting right now?

The Cobblestone and the shawl.   And I just remembered that I have a thrummed mitten needing a mate somewhere on the shelf . . .

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Of course. 

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I have a few straights, but I never use them.  All my knitting is done on circulars.  The type depends on what I’m knitting.  The Cobblestone is on an Addi; the shawl is on a Jenkins rosewood circular.  I don’t seem to do plastic.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

Yep.  Both.  A simple little Royal winder, but also a large Strauch winder, and an umbrella swift.  And I’m craving some sort of crank or treadle-operated skeiner for my spinning so I can move away from the niddy noddy.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

Um, that would be both the shawl and the Cobblestone.   About a year or 18 months.  Hey, at least I’m consistent!

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe?

No favorite. I love Thanksgiving, but only when I’m home.  Being overseas makes it difficult, and somehow it loses too much here; I find myself simply feeling depressed and homesick if I observe the holiday. In truth, I’ve given up trying to celebrate it here.  I love Christmas as well, but here too that loses something in translation since church was such a large part of the celebration at home–and is not possible here.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

Other than fiber and fleece?  Not really.  And that’s probably A Very Good Thing.

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 subscribe to Interweave Knits and Spin-Off.  Other than that, I’m open to suggestions.  I’d love to find a shaped knitted vest pattern with a collar and zip front, and a few cables.  Suggestions?

21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?

Everything.  I knit using the Continental method and don’t quite understand about the different cast-ons/bind-offs, intarsia, duplicate stitches, or knitting backwards.   But I’ve also not entirely fret about it since I know I can follow instructions.  I’ve just not necessarily needed to do those things.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I’m not much of a sock knitter.  I can and have done them, but I don’t often wear them, perhaps because of the wool thing.  It’s recently dawned on me, though, that if I blended my own sock yarn using a soft superwash and silk or tencel blend, I could probably solve the problem . . .

23. When is your birthday?

January 4.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what’s your ID?

Yes:  Trenchwork.  I’m also on Flickr as RJRS (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trenchwork/).

25.  Club membership:  Just Spunky Eclectic’s fiber club.

26.  Allergies:  smoke bothers me, and I can’t eat most nuts and raw fruits which have edible peels.

For SP:  I’m adding this post as a link on the sidebar if you need to find it again.