My answers below...

Here's what the formatting means:

Bold = have already tried this
Italicized = Plan to try this
Unemphasized = Have no desire to try this

• Afghan
• I-cord
• Garter stitch
• Knitting with metal wire - I have the cutest pattern for candle holders .. just need time to try it!
• Shawl - *looks at her stash* So much yarn for shawls, so little time.
• Stockinette stitch
• Socks: top-down - I will. Next year, if not before then, I will cast on my first sock.
• Socks: toe-up - I will do this too.
• Knitting with camel yarn - And quiviut too!
• Mittens: Cuff-up
• Mittens: Tip-down - Someday, yes, though I don't even usually wear mittens.
• Hat - Monkey hats count, dammit!
• Knitting with silk - This gets both because I've knitted with silk blends, but not pure silk. Yet!
• Moebius band knitting - I do plan to try this, though it's all kinds of intimidating.
• Participating in a KAL - This gets both because I have both participated ( dishcloths ) and plan to do more. They're kinda fun!
• Sweater - Still working on. But I started, so I can count it!
• Drop stitch patterns
• Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn - Need to find something to do with it, but I will .. and hopefully, mine won't melt!
• Slip stitch patterns - Looooove mosaic knitting!
• Knitting with banana fiber yarn - Jason got me some too .. can't wait!
• Domino knitting - Do huh? Though, I did find links. Looks like it's similar to mitered squares, but it's a little more complex. I smell a book I might want.
http://www.amazon.com/Domino-Knitting-Technique-Vivian-Hoxbro/dp/193149911X http://www.interweave.com/knit/books/domino_knitting.asp

• Twisted stitch patterns
• Knitting with bamboo yarn - Got the yarn, just need to knit the poncho before the little girl is too big!
• Two end knitting - Not to my … hey .. yes! I did this with my first Ball Band Dishcloth!
• Charity knitting
• Knitting with soy yarn - Yes please! And corn too!
• Cardigan
• Toy/doll clothing - Monkey Hats!
• Knitting with circular needles - Totally .. like all the time.
• Baby items - Only because I have a few actual friends that have them.
• Knitting with your own handspun - I won't say I plan this because I do not think I have the patience for spinning. But one never knows.
• Slippers - Someday. Probably felted, even.
• Graffiti knitting - I love the idea. I so want to, just to have done it.
• Continental knitting - I have totally tried. But my hands don't like it.
• Designing knitted garments - One day. I will design my own.
• Cable stitch patterns - Looooove cables.
• Lace patterns - Usually love lace. I need a better system for keeping track of where I am though.
• Publishing a knitting book - I have an idea in mind. Just need to see if I can implement it. Oh yeah, and learn to design my own patterns.
• Scarf - This gets both because I have done them, and plan to do many more. Nyah.
• Teaching a child to knit - Not unless I teach Savannah.
• American/English knitting - Wha?
• Knitting to make money - Yes please!
• Buttonholes
• Knitting with Alpaca - This gets both because I've knitted with blends, but not pure alpaca. Have some though!
• Knitting with Angora - I totally added this because it should be there! And I plan to, definitely!
• Fair Isle knitting - Someday. Probably in socks or mittens!
• Norwegian knitting - Isn't this Fair Isle?
• Dying with plant colors - This sounds -soooo- fun!
• Knitting items for a wedding - My sister and niece have to get married -someday-.
• Household items
• Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
• Olympic knitting
• Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
• Knitting with dpns
• Holiday-related knitting
• Teaching a male how to knit - Nyah. Even if Brandon has a girl card, I taught Jason!
• Bobbles - I'm sure they have a use.
• Knitting for a living - This would be a dream come true for me right now.
• Knitting with cotton - All the time. I always have at least one dishcloth on some needles somewhere.
• Knitting smocking - Eeew. Oh .. but wait .. pillows. This is a maybe.
• Dying yarn - Cannot wait to try this.
• Steeks - Scarey, but I'll try it. One day.
• Knitting art - I agree with B .. knitting is art!
• Fulling/felting - Love felting.
• Knitting with wool - Love wool.
• Textured knitting
• Kitchener BO - For socks, this is almost a necessary.
• Purses/bags - Of course!
• Knitting with beads - Several projects, in fact!
• Swatching - A necessary evil.
• Long Tail CO
• Entrelac - Scarey, but I so want to.
• Knitting and purling backwards - If this is twisting stitches? Yes. If not .. umm .. wha?
• Machine knitting - Like Brandon, it's cheating, but cheating I can get behind in some instances.
• Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegating yarn - Variegated yes. Self-striping eventually. Probably not self-patterning though.
• Stuffed toys - Bunnies!
• Knitting with cashmere - Mmm. Yes please. Even a blend will do me fine.
• Darning - Once I've made my own socks, definitely.
• Jewelry - I made a bracelet! Just need a clasp.
• Knitting with synthetic yarn - I learned on it!
• Writing a pattern - Goes along with the knitting a book. I want to .. but will I ever get that good?
• Gloves - Eventually, yes!
• Intarsia - Scarey, but I wanna do it!
• Knitting with linen - Talk about dishtowels!
• Knitting for preemies - Only in the case of charity knitting, but sure.
• Tubular CO - I'll try it, if nothing else.
• Freeform knitting - If this means that silly scrumbling thing, no thank you.
• Short rows - In socks, no doubt, if nowhere else.
• Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers - I even found the perfect fingerless mitt pattern. And these are different than fingerless gloves, B. Fingerless gloves have half-fingers.
• Pillows - Because one day, I'll have furniture that needs pillows.
• Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine - Knitty.com rules!
• Rug
• Knitting on a loom - Weaving, yes. Using a knitting loom? No.
• Thrummed knitting - Another thing I had to look up, but it has potential.
http://fiberfreak.blogspot.com/2006/01/thrum-de-dum.html
http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2004/09/15/mitten_what_mitten.html
• Knitting a gift - So many.
• Knitting for pets - Isis needs cat toys, after all!
• Shrug/bolero/poncho - I have at least a poncho in the works. And I need a shrug!
• Knitting with dog/cat hair - Interesting idea, but I don't have a dog/cat that I could get enough hair from in my lifetime.
• Hair accessories - I will try again with the knitted scrunchy.
• Knitting in public - All the time!

Soundtrack to my life.

Directions:
If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

1. Open your mp3 library
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press Play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the Next button.
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.
7. Don't skip songs.

My Movie:

1. Opening credits: "In His Eyes" - Jeckyl and Hyde soundtrack
2. Waking up: "I'll Fly Away" - Alison Kraus, O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack
3. First day of school: "Jump Into the Fire: - Tripping Daisy, The Craft soundtrack
4. Fight song: 'Heffalumps & Woozles" - Classic Disney Volume 3
5. Breaking up: "Bitch" - Merideth Brooks
6. Happiness: "Bring Me To Life" - Evanescence
7. Life's okay: "You Oughta Know" - Alanis Morisette
8. Mental breakdown: "Malchik Gay" - T.A.T.U
9. Driving: "Sleep to Dream" - Fiona Apple
10. Flashback: "All I Really Want" - Alanis Morisette
11. Getting back together: "Heartbreaker" - Pat Benetar
12. Wedding song: "You Learn" - Alanis Morisette
13. Birth of first child: "Something So Beautiful" - Kyler England
14. Final battle scene: "Beauty Has Her Way" - Mummy Calls, Lost Boys soundtrack
15. Death scene: "The World Has Gone Insane" - Jeckyl & Hyde Soundtrack
16. Funeral song: "How Soon is Now" - T.A.T.U.
17. End credits: "Going Under" - Evanescence

Fiber Femmes

Have you all heard of the Fiber Femmes? Surely you have. It's a little low-tech as far as the site layout, but I think that only makes it more charming. They were represented at SAFF I know, because one of them took pictures of my friend Larissa's shawl and it's on the site in the Nov/Dec 2006 issue of their newsletter

I've joined the webring, and it should be showing up in the sidebar now. They have a questionnaire in this issue, which I'm answering .. well .. just because.


Fiber Geek Questionnaire

1. Do you raise fiber, animals or plant, or are a fiber user only? If you raise animals/plants...what do you raise?
No, I don't, though I'd like to. I very nearly came home with an angora bunny from SAFF in fact, and the likelihood that I will this year is even greater.

2. What's your favorite fiber & why? Which fiber do you like the least & why?
I love the softness of alpaca, and if I could work with (also read as: afford) to work only with it I'd be a happy knitter. I guess if I had to choose a fiber I like least it'd be quivit, because it's just impossibly expensive, prohibitively so in fact.

3. What's your worst habit relating to your fiber?
Not using it enough? I have a bag full of yarn I bought at SAFF, none of which I've used except for that purchased for the sweater I'm trying to make. It's all just so incredibly pretty, I have a hard time actually using it!

4. In what ways does your fiber habit make you a better person?
I'm a lot calmer now. I tend to bouts of agressiveness, but knitting and weaving have given me something to soothe my nerves when I'm stressed from work and school, or just life.

5. How would your life be different if you had to give up fiber?
I'd have to go back to smoking. I don't think I could stand it now, not having something to knit, or weave, or even just to look pretty in a basket in my house.

6. What tools, yarns, books or gadgets can't you live without?
Bamboo needles. I love my bamboo needles. Though I'm also becoming very partial to the Destiny circulars I got for the holidays. I think I'd hate to have to go back to using aluminum. And the ball-winder .. and of course the walnut swift that goes with it. I don't know how I'd live without it, now that I'm a fiber snob and won't use synthetics if I can help it.

7. What was your first fiber project?
An obnoxiously long and wide scarf knitted in a beautiful blu colorway of Lion Brand Homespun. That's how I know that I can knit anything ... I made my first projects out of homespun, a feat I wouldn't wish on anyone now.

8. Do you have any fiber mentors? Who are they and why?
Of course! My friend who tought me to knit, Larissa. She is the one who inspired me to knit, and it's really been good for my creativity.

9. Are you a member of any guilds? If so, which one(s)?
No, sadly. There's not any in this area (that I know of!)

10. What's the most exciting fiber project you've undertaken?
My sweater, right now. It's exciting to be making something that I know I'm going to actually wear. Though, weaving the first scarf was really exciting too. And now that it's completed, I wear it -all- the time.

11. How many people have you mentored? In which fiber arts?
Just one - Brandon .. well, two, if you count my husband. Both of them are knitting 'students'. And it's really neat to have taught someone how to knit, and given themsomething to be excited about.

12. Do you consider fiber crafts to be functional or artistic?
It depends on what you make. Some things are more artistic than others. A simple garter stitch scarf is functional. But something a little ornate, like an Irish Hiking Scarf, or a woven one like I made for myself, is beautiful as well as functional.

13. What, mainly, do you make? Do you keep, or give away, most of your projects?
I think what I make most of is dishcloths to be perfectly honest. Though I'm starting to make a lot more involved projects. My sweater and the woven scarf (which I've yet to post about, I know!) are the first things I've made just for myself .. unless you count the monstronsity that is my forst ever knit scarf.

14. Are fiber crafts an avocation or vocation for you?
(Sad that I had to look both those words up .. but it was only to make sure I remembered which was which!) Fiber crafts are an avocation for me now. They'd have to be, because it takes me so long to finish any one project I'd never make any money. But I'd like for it to eventually become a vocation. I'd love to have a fiber shop, and teach knitting and weaving and such, and be able to knit for profit as well as pleasure.

15. How many people are you committed to being a mentor for in 2007?
Committed? Just the same as usual. I'd like to teach a couple of other friends to knit, but they live a ways away, and it's just not feasible.

Working has, this week at least, taken over my blogging time. I haven't been able to keep up with the ones I read, nevermind the one I try to write in at least every couple of days. But the holiday season, for me and my employment, is over. My store is back in order, and looking pretty good I must say, and I can finally quit working 30-hour weeks in addition to being a house-wife. A homemaker. You know, those women that are purported to stay home and do nothing all day but magically the house stays neat and the dishes are done and laundry is kept up with and food is cooked? Yeah, that's me. 'Cept it doesn't all get done magically.

Anyway, I -have- been knitting. My first Red Scarf is nearly complete. I keep waffling about if I'm going to just use up the skein I'm using now, or stop the scarf as it is and send it. It's plenty long, but I think I don't want the extra yarn hanging around. I dunno. I also finished the back of my sweater, and started the front. And I'm knitting on my mystery shawl as well .. I've nearly finished a second pattern repeat, which I say is impressive since one repeat is 32-freaking-rows. I do intend on knitting some hats soon, but first things first, the scarves have to be mailed in two weeks. Then I can start the hats.

I do have to say thank you to Kristi for her post about how to use a nostepinne. I bought Jason one for Christmas, mainly because he likes the word, but neither he nor I know how to use one. Now we can try it out on one of his own handspun hanks of pretty yarn!

Here's an amusement for me while I wait for Burning Crusade to hurry up and release already. (I got to see the collectors edition as merch staff checked in todays shipment. One of them -will- be mine .. just as soon as Tuesday gets here. *sigh*)

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Eminence the Very Viscountess Tania the Waspish of Frome Valley Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Some non-knitting non-content.

Meme

1. Flip to page 18, paragraph 4 in the book closest to you right now, what does it say?
Page 18 doesn't have a paragraph 4 .. it's my art appreciation book.

2. If you stretch out your left arm - as far as possible, what are you touching?
The printer.

3. What’s the last program you watched on tv?
Umm .. probably either CSI, NCIS or Criminal Minds.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.
9:30pm. (which is quite a bit later than it really is. Wow.)

5. Except the computer, what can you hear right now?
Jason running water in the bathroom.

6. When was the last time you were outside and what did you do?
A few hours ago .. walking in from the car after having been to my in-laws' house for dinner.

7. What are you wearing?
A t-shirt and sleep pants. My usual 'at home' garb.

8. Did you dream last night? If you did, what about?
I'm sure I dreamt, but I don't remember it now.

9. When was the last time you laughed?
When we came home, and saw Isis being cute on the floor as we walked in.

10. What’s on the walls, in the room you’re in right now?
A colored pencil drawing of a ship and a castle from Jason's trip to Europe before I met him, and the Llewelyn Witch's calendar.

11. Have you seen anything strange lately?
Define strange. No .. really.

12. What do you think about this meme?
It's a meme .. it's already mindless. Why should I think about it?

13. What’s the last film you saw?
In the theater? Uhh ..

14. If you became a multimillionaire, what would you do with the money?
Knit more, travel more, buy a better house, and take car of my family and friends.

15. Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know.
Uhh .. I have very long toes. Like, small-finger toes. I can use them like fingers to some extent, to pick things up and such.

16. If you could change ONE THING in this world, without regarding politics or bad guilt - what would it be?
Animals would talk.

17. Do you like dancing?
Of course ... even if I look like a dork.

18. George Bush?
*fingers in ears* Lalalalala. (At least I can happily say I didn't vote for him.)

19. What do you want your children’s names to be, girl/boy?
Children? Me? Hehe .. you're joking, right?

20. Would you ever consider living abroad?
As long as they let me have sheep, horses, alpaca, goats and bunnies.

21. What do you want God to tell you, when you come to heaven?
Who said I was going to heaven?

22. Who should do this meme?
Anyone who wants to.

Tagged

The catchen-mistress spake. I obey.

If I had to choose one thing for the rest of my life, I’d choose:

Veggies: Cauliflower
Meat: Prime Rib
Starchy staple: Bread.
Bread: All? Okay, no. Parker-House Rolls.
Animal: Katzen. Which is kinda like catchen, only .. different.
Catchen: Isis.
Soda: Diet Dr. Pepper. No, wait. Birch Beer.
TV program: CSI.
Movie: Ack. Umm. Not V for Vendetta. Maybe the Lord of the Rings trology.
Book: Right now, Understanding Art sounds like fun to have forever. Much mockable art-ism.
Color: Blue.
Wood: Cherry. No. Birch. No. Maple. Maple.
Shoes: Forever? Uhh .. New Balance walking shoes.
Ice cream: Slow Churn Vanilla.
Soap: Cetaphil, aye.
Medication: Mucinex, since apparently, I will have this cough forever.
Metal: Silver
Eyewear: Contacts.
Washing up: Showers, unless I havea -deep- tub. Then bath-showers.
Cold or hot weather: Neither. Cool.

The Knit-Geek Questionnaire

(unrelated to any swaps or secret pal exchanges)

1. What's your worst habit relating to your knitting?
Not paying much attention to the needle size when I work on something from a pattern. I have, thus far, used my own judgement in substituting yarn and needles, and it's a badhabit I know.

2. In what specific ways does your knitting make you a better person?
It is teaching me patience, and gives me an outlet for the creativity I know I have. I've never been good with drawing or painting and such, as I'm too impatient to wait for the finished product. When I'm knitting, I can see the process happening and it makes it much easier for me to keep working to get to the end of a project.

3. How might you or your life be different if you were suddenly unable to knit?
I think I'd probably be very bored at first. Hopefully, I could read or do something else to fill in the time I had been spending knitting. If not, I think I'd go bonkers. And very likely start smoking again.

4. If money were no object, what one yarn, and what one tool or gadget would you run out and buy first?
Yarn: Noro Kureyon in a dozen shades. I love how it feels, but can't afford it yet. -Yet-.
Tool or Gadget: A ball winder & swift. I love the act of winding a halk into a neat little cake of yarn. It makes me joyous.

5. What knitting technique or project type are you most afraid of (if any)? What, specifically, do you fear will happen when you try it?
Steeking. I'm terrified of that whole cutting through my knitting thing.

6. Who is/are your knitting hero(es), and why?
Brandon, because he's already done cables and I haven't. Yarn Harlot, because I just think she's cool as shit. Anyone that is able to design knitware, because dammit, I want to learn to do that!

7. Do you consider knitting, for you personally, a mostly social activity, or a mostly solitary activity?
Mostly solitary, but I knit all the time, so for me it's something I do socially that not everyone else I am social with does. Does that make sense? I didn't think so.

8. Is there a particular regional tradition in knitting that you feel strongly drawn toward (e.g., Fair Isle, Scandinavian, Celtic, Orenburg lace)? Any theories as to why it calls to you?
Fair Isle definitely appeals to me. I think the orderly pattern of colors is why .. I like order.

9. If you were a yarn, which yarn would you be?
Some kind of Angora/wool blend that's both scratchy and soft.

10. Some statistics:
(a) How many years have passed since you FIRST learned to knit?
Just over one year.
(b) How many total years have you been actively, regularly knitting (i.e., they don't have to have been in a row)?
Not even a year yet, not actively.
(c) how many people have you taught to knit?
I've so far taught two people, Brandon (My Knitster) and Jason (My Husband, who 'doesn't knit')
(d) Roughly what percentage of your FOs do you give away (to anyone besides yourself, i.e., including your immediate family)
Probably at least 60%. I keep the dishcloths more now, but I still love to give them away.

11. How often do you KIP (knit in public)? i.e., once a week, once a month, etc. Where do you do it?
A lot. I take my knitting to restaurants, to the mall when we walk it, to the movies .. everywhere.

12. If a genie granted you one hour to stitch-n-bitch with any one knitter, living or dead, who would you choose and why?
Vickie Howell, because I think she'd be a riot and a half.

13. What aspect or task in knitting makes you most impatient?
Weaving in ends. I just want it -done- already.

14. What is it about knitting that never lets you get bored with it?
I can always start something new. If I start to get bored with a project, it can easily be redone, or I can put it down and start something new until I can bear to finish the first project.

15. Describe how and where you most often do your knitting - where do you sit, what is going on around you, what tools do you use and how are they (dis)organized?
Either in my office while I'm online or working, or in my chair in the living room while we watch TV. Secondary to that is in the car, whether I'm waiting for hunny, or someone else is driving and I'm along for the ride.

16. Which one person is the recipient of more of your knitting than any other?
Thus far, my friend D, who is about to have a baby, and thus gets a lot of baby things.

17. What's the oddest thing about your knitting, or yourself as a knitter?
I'm not really sure .. maybe that I am rather compulsive about starting projects, but not-so-much about finishing them.

18. What do you see yourself knitting - if anything - twenty years from now?
Everything. Sweaters, blankets, scarves, socks, more socks, more sweaters, skirts. I want to be able to knit my wardrobe, or a large portion of it.

19. If you were stranded on a deserted island and could have only ONE SKEIN of yarn, which yarn would it be and what would you do with it?
Something cotton. I'd knit things and then unknit them .. probably using sticks I honed into needles, since it wasn't said if needles actually came with the yarn.

20. If you were allowed to own only one knitting-related book, which would it be? (you'd be free to browse others, but you couldn't keep them)
Uhh .. one of my many stitch dictionaries I'm sure, or maybe the Reader's Digest Needlework book.

21. Is knitting the new yoga? Why or why not?
I think in some ways it is. Knitting is very calming for most people, for me at least, and I find I am less stressed when I have to wait somewhere if I have my knitting with me. However, it doesn't provide the physical benefits yoga does, as far as working the muscles and such.

22. What important thing are you trying to put off doing whenever you knit?
Housework. Not that I'm trying to put it off, but I end up not getting to it usually.

A Meme I can get behind.

I AM: excited for school and work to begin.

I SAID: I would never be a housewife, yet I am.

I WANT: to have enough money to pay off our bills, plus some spending money.

I WISH: the car business would pick up so Jason will stress less.

I HATE: feeling out of control.

I MISS: spending summers with my mimere and my aunts.

I FEAR: being alone.

I HEAR: cars passing by on the road near my house.

I WONDER: what I'm going to eat for lunch today.

I REGRET: not finishing my degree when I was younger.

I AM NOT: as healthy as I'd like to be.

I DANCE: around the kitchen.

I SING: all the time, especially in the car.

I AM NOT ALWAYS: as patient as I'd like to be.

I MADE: a knitted and felted totebag, with my own two hands!

I WRITE: poetry.

I CONFUSE: myself and others.

I NEED: to get ready to take classes again.

I SHOULD: have no trouble finishing my degree

I START: work on Monday.

I FINISH: nothing on time, though that will have to change.

I BELIEVE: in faeries, and spirits, and magick, and fate, and love, and that things always work out as they are supposed to.

I KNOW: I will survive whatever life throws at me.

I CAN: knit, and bake and cook.

I CAN'T: imagine living my life without my sweet honey.

I SEE: myself owning a store someday.

I BLOG: obsessively.

I READ: blogs, but little else nowadays.

IT PISSES ME OFF: that people are so willfully ignorant.

I FIND: joy in the little things, like a herd of cows on the side of the road, or the silly things my Isis does all the time, or learning a new knitting stitch.

I LIKE: knitting and cooking and baking, and being a housewife, and watching television, and playing computer games, and watching thunderstorms and fireflies.

I LOVE: my husband, my friends, my sweet Isis and my family.

Nothing to do with Knitting

4 jobs I’ve had in my life:
* Cashier at a grocery store
* Assistant Secretary at my college
* Cashier at a drug store
* Technical Support representative for an internet call center

4 movies I can watch over and over:
* Legend
* Labyrinth
* Harry Potter Movies
* The Princess Bride

4 TV shows I love to watch:
* CSI (All three)
* American Idol
* Hell's Kitchen
* Knitty Gritty

4 places I have lived:
* Springfield, MA
* Hampton, NH
* Derry, NH
* Rock Hill, SC

4 places I have been on holiday:
* Toronto, Ontario Canada
* Mount PLeasant, MI
* New York City, NY
* Atlantic Beach, NC

4 of my favorite dishes:
* Veal marsala
* Lasagne
* Thai pineapple fried rice
* my own recipe for beef soup.

4 websites I visit daily:
* Livejournal.com
* Blogger
* Xanga
* Mystic Wicks