SP Questionaire 2

1. What is the one knitting accessory you could not live without?
My crochet hook - unfortunately, I am the queen of drop stitches. I hate to frog anything so sometime I would stay up hours at a time to perform knitting surgery.

2. If you're heading on vacation, do you take knitting with you? If so, how much and what type of project? Absolutely! At least several project since I have knitting ADD. Normally a sweater in the luggage, socks or mittens in the purse and a brand new yarn and pattern in case I’m bored with other 2.

3. Where have you travelled to that you'd consider your favorite spot? I love London, however, I went there before the knitting bug bit me. So I totally missed out doing the London Yarn Crawl.

4. What is your favorite knitting book at the moment? Do you own it? Cast Off – Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. The book really doesn’t have any patterns, just her witty observation on the knitting world. I love to pick it up and laugh along with her. I bought it at her book launch so I had it authographed.

5. Do you listen to podcasts? Which is your favorite(s)? No but I’m going to look into it and start downloading it into my Ipod.

6. If you could only knit with 1 color for the rest of your life, what color would that be? I am a total schizo when it comes to color but at the moment, I would have to say “Sage Green”.

7. If you were far into a project and then noticed a mistake near the beginning what would you do? It depends, if I have too many stitched, I’m the “k2tog” kind of girl but if it’s drastic like a mis-crossed cable, I would perform knitting surgery.

8. Where is the most unusual spot you've ever knit? In the bathroom, and that’s only because I need to get away from my kids for 5 min for some peace and quiet!!!!

Oh Debbie, How I love you so!

My LYS had a tent sales yesterday. Do I need to say more? YARN TENT SALE!!!!! How it works is they provide 3 size bags, Small, Medium & Large, each prices at $45, $90 & $150 and you can stuff as much yarn as you can into the bag. I went to the sale with a very low budget of $50 but I can't pass up these great yarns so I went over budget by only about $40 and grabbed the medium bag. Here's the haul:

I went straight for the Debbie Bliss. I got a bag of Alpaca Silk, a bag of cotton silk, 9 balls of Cashmerino Aran, 6 balls of Cathay, 10 balls of Enzio and a bunch of handspuned/hand dyed for my Secret Pals.

In other new, I had received my Ravelry invitation on Monday (User: joyja) and have been taking pictures of my stash since. I'm practically ecstatic about it... it's a really great website.

Also, I have been assigned my secret pals and we have a tons of things in common. I'm going to have a fun time spoiling her. I also met my spoiler! I can't wait to get to know her better.

Here's the latest project that I have been working on:

This is the back of the sweater for Arison. It's out of Debbie Bliss Cotton knits.

Secret Pals Questionaire

Wow! My very first secret pal! Here's the questionaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love almost anything Rowan and Debbie Bliss. Wools or wool/blends tends to be my fiber of choice. I mainly knit superwash for my kids. I absolultely do NOT like acrylic. Mainly wools with blended acrylic is ok. Even though I started on acrylics, I soon knew the benefit of being a fibre snob! Items just turns out so much better!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? I use the knit pick binders for my knit pick needles, and I bought a beautiful handmade circular case off etsy for my addis. I keep my straight needles in a vase.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I learned to knit when I was 8 and it was only the knit stitch. I didn't know how to bind off, purl or pick up dropped stitches, so I would have rows of rows of garter stitch scarf still stuck on the needle with mistakes everywhere. I finally picked it up again when I was pregnant with my 2nd baby and on Mat. Leave. Even though I've only been knitting for almost a year, I had advanced really fast and now considered myself an intermediate knitter.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? hhmm...no, but I should really get one. A great list for hubby to know about!

5. What's your favorite scent? I love powdery smell, ( a newborn's head) Can you tell I have a baby in the house? LOL My favorite parfume is Cashmere by Donna Karan (go figure, I didn't realize that my scent would be my passion a few years later!)

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Not really... but there are days when nothing else will do except a chocolate bar. I love all chocolate with Almonds in it.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?I tried orgami but all I got was just a jar full of cranes, I tried sewing but I'm still figuring out how to wind a bobbin, and I tried cross stitch but figure it's a waste of my time since I can't wear it. I think I'm going to stick to knitting.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) Yes, my computer can play mp3. I like most music (top forties) I know, I know, very un-orginal.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? I love green and pink. I don't have any strong dislike for colors in yarns but I normally will not buy black. Not because I don't like the color, it's just depresses me when I knit since I can't see any real stitch definitions.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? I've been happily married for 4 years. We have a 3 years old daughter and 1 year old boy. No, we do not have pets, 2 things that poops and eat is enough, thank you. I wear hats, mittens, scarves and ponchos.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I like to knit sweaters and sweaters for my kids.

13. What are you knitting right now? Lady Eleanor, my son's sweater and a sweater for myself

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? yes

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I am a die hard circular fan. I love my addis and knit pick but I'm dying to try the wooden ones.

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

17. How old is your oldest UFO? about 8 months

18. What is your favorite holiday? X-mas

19. Is there anything that you collect? I love books and I have extendsive cooking books, chick lits and gardeing books. (one would think that my garden would look nicer and my food would taste better with all those books that I own)

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 would love to try rosewood and/or ebony circular needles and I am looking for the that cute Tulip sweater knit that the harlot been knitting up. I don't have a subscription to anything, which is ironic since I buy everything magazine every season

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I would love to know how to knit continental

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? I've started on a sock, still on the needle though and I have a few socks yarns. My feet is a size 8

23. When is your birthday? October 5, 1975

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID? Not yet, as of tonight, I have only 700 people in front of me.