Home Again!

We traveled twelve hours today from Fortuna to Taft. We're all exhausted, but FORTUNATELY it's not that hot here. It's always depressing to leave beautiful Fortuna and drive endlessly while it gets uglier and uglier outside. I'll write about our fun little segway in Ukiah tomorrow. For tonight, I'll just have fun taking the...
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The Knit-Geek Questionnaire from Kate atÅ Strikke (unrelated to any swaps or secret pal exchanges)

1. What's your worst habit relating to your knitting?

buying yarn when I have tons of it at home. I bought WOOL sock yarn today at a little shop today when I know that I have enough yarn to make at least five or six pairs of socks.

2. In what specific ways does your knitting make you a better person?

It's a contemplative type thing, which is good I think although I do a lot of TV watching while I'm knitting too. I also like that I often give people the things that I knit.

3. How might you or your life be different if you were suddenly unable to knit?

I go through stretches of not knitting, but even then knitting will preoccupy me. I would feel lost without it. It's not that the things that I make are always that great. I don't have a lot of success with sweaters; it's just the process of knitting and the feel of the wool that I enjoy so much. This is morbid, but I've even thought that I would rather lose a leg than an arm because I couldn't knit with a missing arm.

4. If money were no object, what one yarn, and what one tool or gadget would you run out and buy first?

I'd get on eBay and buy all of the sizes of the Brittany walnut knitting needles that cost about 50 dollars each now. I can't believe that I didn't buy them all when I knew that they were going to stop making them and they were still only 8 dollars each.

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?

I'm not that afraid of trying anything, although I don't usually follow through with knitting intricate lace patterns. I'll start them with all kinds of enthusiasm, but then....I miscount or something, and then I start over...and then I'll think that maybe I could use that yarn for something else.

6. Who is/are your knitting hero(es), and why?

Elizabeth Zimmerman..of course, I bought the first issue of Knitters when it first came out in the 1980s at a little knit shop in Lincoln, Nebraska, and I'm pretty sure that Elizabeth Zimmerman had an article in there. I remember hurrying to the library to check out The Knitter's Almanac She was so interesting to me, and I loved her stories about growing up in England. I don't know that much about Debbie Bliss, but I love her books. Her patterns often have such neat definition to them.


7. Do you consider knitting, for you personally, a mostly social activity, or a mostly solitary activity?

Knitting is solitary for me mostly because I don't know any other knitters who live near me. I have tried to get my daughter interested in knitting but she tells me to give it up! I'm not sure that I would even enjoy being part of a knitting group unless the group members had other things in common with me as well. For instance, it would most definitely ruin my knitting experience if I were to end up with a bunch of people who talked about how great we are doing in Iraq or how there is no global warning!

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?

I am strongly drawn toward Scandinavian knitting because of my Danish ancestry, I suppose. I haven't ever knit a Scandinavian sweater though, mostly because I don't live in an area that lends itself to wearing wool.

9. If you were a yarn, which yarn would you be?

sportweight Brown Sheep wool in light pink

10. Some statistics:
(a) How many years have passed since you FIRST learned to knit?

almost thirty years

(b) How many total years have you been actively, regularly knitting (i.e., they don't have to have been in a row)?

I've knit pretty much since I learned when I was thirteen or fourteen.

(c) how many people have you taught to knit?

1

(d) Roughly what percentage of your FOs do you give away (to anyone besides yourself, i.e., including your immediate family)

50%

11. How often do you KIP (knit in public)? i.e., once a week, once a month, etc. Where do you do it?

Hardly ever. I do knit at the beach occasionally, but usually I knit at home in the evening or early in the morning after my run and before I get ready for work.

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?

I suppose with my Danish grandmother. My aunt taught me to knit and she had learned from her mother, my grandmother.


13. What aspect or task in knitting makes you most impatient?

I hate finishing, weaving in the end, sewing seams, that kind of stuff


14. What is it about knitting that never lets you get bored with it?

The possibilities with knitting are endless. There is always a new pattern I can try out or improvise something on my own. I love to try new types of yarn, as well.

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?

I usually sit in our old green recliner, which I keep threatening to replace, but it's sooo comfortable. It's often busy all around me since we have a great room. My husband or daughter is usually on the computer and my son is often running through the house with his various friends. I'm pretty well organized. I have a knitting bag with the basics in several nice purses. I like to be able to just take that bag with me without having to plan what to put in it. I also have a basket in the living room with some of my prettiest year displayed and with several knit lambs in it.


16. Which one person is the recipient of more of your knitting than any other?

mmm. I would say that my daughter has been, although now that she's a teenager, it's hard to find patterns that she deems worthy of wearing. I've made quite a few pairs of socks for my husband, but he's not into wool sweaters or any sweaters for that matter.

17. What's the oddest thing about your knitting, or yourself as a knitter?

I'm not sure.

18. What do you see yourself knitting - if anything - twenty years from now?

I definitely see myself knitting for grandchildren. I knit for my kids when they were little, but you're so busy when they're little. It's a long way down the line, but I still buy books with lots of baby patterns in them now because I figure there will come a time when I will be able to use them for my grandchildren.

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?

I would choose a big skein of some laceweight yarn so that I could knit a difficult lace pattern that would take me a long time to complete.

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)

I would choose No Idle Hands by Anne McDonald. There's so much information in it that I can read it over and over.

21. Is knitting the new yoga? Why or why not?

I don't really see knitting as the new yoga for me. I like knitting because of its history, not because it has become trendy. (although I am glad that it has become so popular) It does help me relax like yoga is supposed to though.