Monday, February 26, 2007

Secret Pal 10 Questionnaire

I'm participateing in the SP10 and have been asked to get my questionnaire up online before the end of February - so here it is! I hope my secret pal is out there somewhere....


1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love most all soft fibers, including merino wool, alpaca, cashmere & blends, etc. I’m not so fond of sticky acrylics…. but I’m not totally anti-acrylic either (it has its place, right?). I do love hand dyed yarns and hand spun yarns too.


2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I have some lovely handmade needle holders – 1 for circulars and 1 for straight & DPN. I'd love to get one of those rubber needle vases at some point that they have at Patternworks to display some of my fancier needles.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
My Mom tried to teach me many years ago as a child, when I did some very basic stitches and made a blanket for my dolly. It wasn’t "cool" then though, so I didn’t stick with it… and now could kick myself in the arse for that! I got back interested probably about 4 years ago, but I’ve really started seriously knitting in the past 2 years or so. I guess I would consider myself an intermediate knitter.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes, I have an Amazon wish list. You can find it under the address NABRRI at AOL dot COM (forgive the broken up but its the only way to prevent those fishing for spam!)

5. What's your favorite scent?
I love fresh, clean scents… vanilla, the ocean, lavender (one of my new favorites!), etc. Yankee candle has a new scent that I just got a sample card in the mail for - Sun & Sand - love it! Speaking of candles, I also like “homey” scents like banana bread, apple pie, tea, etc.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
YES!!!! I love swedish fish, Haribo gummy bears, chocolate (milk or white), Reese’s peanut butter cups, chocolate covered gummy bears (trust me – yum-o!), chocolate covered pretzels (sense a theme here?), most gummy things, etc.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I am a beginning spinner with a drop spindle. All tips & tricks of spindle spinning are appreciated and I'm already addicted to beautiful rovings. I have done almost all types of crafts throughout my life (my childhood was a very crafty one - macrame, ceramics, beading, counted cross stitch, latch hook, plastic canvas, etc), but am mainly a knitter and learning to spin now. I am about to dabble in some bead work however to make stitch markers and notions.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Yes, I can play MP3s. I like most all music except for traditional country and rap. Some of my favorites are John Mellencamp, Kelly Clarkson, Bon Jovi, Christina Aguliera, Kid Rock, AC/DC, Collective Soul, Billy Joel and Chris Daughtry. I also like some classic rock and still love my 80's rock too (Extreme, Skid Row, Slaughter, Ugly Kid Joe, Warrant, etc.)!

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I tend to lean towards rich purples, blues and reds. Nothing I really can’t stand except maybe neons and hideous shades of any color.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I live with my boyfriend of 11 ½ years and our 3 “children” – the four legged kind. We have 3 dogs, Zeus, Lola and Teutul. You will see and hear about them often on my blog. My dogs are very spoiled, after all they are my children! I volunteer with a dog rescue and do as much as I can to help find homes and care for the homeless pups and dogs out there.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Are you kidding? I'm a New England girl... I wear a scarf and mittens (or gloves) daily in the winter and would wear hats more often if I had more that I loved and didn’t flatten (or static zap!) my hair. I do have a couple of ponchos and like them in the right situation.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Of course we all love the quick & easy projects, right? I enjoy making anything that I know will be appreciated and worn by the recipient. I like to do socks and mitts on DPN…. I enjoy anything that brings a new skill or challenge to my knitting repertoire.

13. What are you knitting right now?
I am not a monogamous knitter, so I do have several projects OTN. I just finished a pair of mittens for myself (from a handspun wool/angora blend – great to work with!) and am almost finished with a doggy sweater for a cute little chihuahua named Simon (see a few posts ago - long story short, Simon came back to our home for a couple days and he now has a new home with our good friends in Windham - more about that later!). I’m working on a capelet in Wisdom wool and have a couple of scarves in the works (a cashmere blend and a Lamb’s Pride wool). I’ll be casting on some Lorna’s Laces for some socks shortly.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes indeed! They can be so much more special that what money can buy.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Circular anytime I can – I hate sewing seams! If I’m working with circulars, I love Addi Turbos. For DPN, I love bamboo. For straights, I have a mix of bamboo, acrylic and metal… depends on the yarn, but I tend to lean towards the woods.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes, I own both. I also got a niddy noddy thing-a-mig-jig when I bought my drop spindle.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Oooh… I would guess 3 years old, maybe 4 years? The first scarf I started when I got back in to knitting… it’s a basket weave pattern in a dustry rose acrylic yarn on some old fashioned metal needles … nuff said about why its still OTN! Perhaps its time to cut the thing loose...

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas and Halloween. I like St Patrick’s Day too though, since I am a wee bit Irish!

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Besides yarn, UFO and needles??? I collect Willow Angels and Snow Babies. I’ve recently found myself picking up various knitting related collectibles as well (a tiny ceramic sheep, a S’mores ornament that’s knitting, etc.). I also have a pretty big collection of dog related items (everything from welcome mats to "What Part of Woof Don't You Understand?" signs to throw pillows to art prints to kitchen towels to figurines) and I do collect diecast and other collectibles for the NASCAR drivers I follow (mainly Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Scott Wimmer). I also collect knitting books now too, and esp love signed 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’d love to add some luxury needles to my collection! I have several books on my Amazon wish list. I subscribe to Simply Knitting (the UK magazine – it was a splurge but I LOVE it!), Creative Knitting, Knit Simple, Knit.1, and I think I still get Vogue Knitting too but unsure if I’ll renew.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I’m always up for learning new techniques – and tricks! Double knitting is one I’d like to tackle in the future.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes! I’ve never taken actual measurements of my foot, but I wear a size 8 ½ - 9 shoe (US women’s sizes), which tends to make me a Medium for most things.

23. When is your birthday?
October 7th

3 comments:

Gina House said...

Hope your pal will be good to you, Nic!!

NH Knitting Mama said...

Great to learn more about you! When are you heading to B&N on Wed night?

Anonymous said...

Hello! I am your Secret Pal. I'm very happy to have been selected as your pal, and I can't wait to start spoiling you!

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