SP11 Questionnaire

Hi SP11 friend! Sorry this wasn't up sooner. I'm looking forward to getting to know you. I'm really excited that you are also a dog lover and rescuer! I hope you aren't disappointed that I am a boring knitter. The good news is, that makes me easy to please!

1. What is your favorite yarn to knit with?

I can't get enough merino, especially worsted weight! I also love alpaca, soy or silk blends, and cotton/wool blends. I like use a lot of nice quality superwash wool for donation knitting, too.

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

Straights & dpn's

Crochets hooks

Circ's

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

I discovered knitting in Feb. 2006 and have knit almost every single day since then. I taught myself by using the books Knitting School and The Knitting Answer Book. I still consider myself a beginner because there are so many things I still can't do (such as follow basic directions) but I try to tackle something new every time I start a project. I am, however, an advanced garter stitch scarf knitter.


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

No, I don't.

5. What's your favorite scent?

For soaps, lotions, etc., I like lavender or vanilla. For my home, I like orange-vanilla candles. I get a weird allergic reaction to most floral, "clean", or heavy spicy scents.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? What's your favorite candy?

I love sweets! I like those old-fashioned peppermint sticks or pillows that melt as soon as you put them in your mouth, and chocolate candy bars like York patties, Milky Way (especially the dark chocolate kind), Twix, KitKat's, you name it. And one of my fall favorites: mixed flavors of candy corn and those little waxy pumpkin creams. Farley's makes the best ones of all - they taste like cake frosting but they're hard to find.

7. What other crafts do you like to do? Do you spin?

Since I fell in love with knitting, I have forsaken all others, but I have started an innocent flirtation with needle felting - it does involve wool, after all.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your car/stereo play mp3's?

I love music. There is hardly any music I don't like. I love mixed CD's that have a theme, especially if they have music I'm not familiar with. In the late summer/early fall, I listen to a lot of indie, folk, blues, and rock (old and new). The kind of music that makes me feel nostalgic and energized. The kind you put on to take a road trip on a cool, sunny autumn day. And yes, my car stereo plays mp3's and I have an Ipod.

9. What are your favorite colors? Are there any colors you can't stand?

I love a lot of colors, especially rich, earthy colors at this time of year. I never like beiges or pastels and I don't like really bright colors.

10. What is your family situation? Any pets?

Married to Mr. Criquette, no kids. 2 resident dogs - Chloe is a border collie mix we rescued from a shelter, the day before she was scheduled to be euthanized. She is the "nanny" and likes to herd the cats and foster pups around and keep them minding their manners. Abbie BadBeagle showed up at a family reunion with no tags, no microchip, thin as a rail and covered in ticks. Mr. C was going to bring her to the low-kill animal shelter we work with, but I fell in love and rescued her before that happened. He didn't take much convincing. We have 2 cats - Bitsy BonTon, who we adopted from a little rural shelter 4 hours away. She was not well-socialized so she shows her love for us by growling, hissing, and paw-whacking. We love her anyway. We adopted Miss Criquette so Bitsy could learn how to act like a nice cat and have a playmate. She is adorable in every way and loved by every person and beast in our home. Although she is tiny (only 8 lbs) and not aggressive, she is the alpha animal in the pack and the other 3 all defer to her. We also foster puppies sometimes.

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

I love scarves! I love mittens! I love hats when it is 20 or below but I like ear warmers/ski bands better so I don't get hat hair. I am not a poncho-wearing kind of person - reminds me of the 70's, Clint Eastwood westerns and Martha Stewart.

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

Scarves! Simple hats and washcloths are fun too. I have the yarn for a couple of table runners since I am running out of people to knit scarves for. I am forcing myself to branch out, though. I want to learn cables so I'll probably tackle Irish Hiking Scarf this winter. I'd like to knit a lace shawl, but I think I'll hone my pattern-following skills on some more washcloths first. I've been having fun with baby jackets, but don't know many people having babies to do this on a regular basis.

13. What are you knitting right now?

Sally Melville's Baby Albert jacket, and I just cast on for Debbie Bliss' Simple Baby Hat. I have many UFO's, including a scarf for Mr. C's birthday last year (he may get it for this year's bday if lucky), 2 Mason-Dixon baby kimonos, Li's herringbone pattern scarf and Yarn Harlot's One-Row scarf are just a few.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

I love it!!!

15. Do you prefer circs or straights? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I like bamboo short straights for scarves and small flat projects, circs for wider projects and knitting in the round, and Addi's for yarns that are too sticky for the bamboo. I know how to use dpn's but find them too awkward.

16. Do you own a winder and swift?

Yes. One of my favorite things about starting a project is to wind the new skeins into pretty little cakes.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

At least one year old - it's Mr. C's scarf and it WILL be done in time for his late September birthday!

18. What's your favorite holiday?

I love autumn and all things/foods involving pumpkins with intense passion, so I would have to say Thanksgiving.

19. Is there anything you collect?

I have built up quite a collection of pumpkins (the Thanksgiving kind, not jack-o-lanterns, which remind me of clowns - ack!). I also collect rabbits (the realistic kind, not Easter bunnies).

20. Are there any books, yarns, needles or patterns you are dying to get your hands on? Are there any magazines you subscribe to?

The three books I am interested in are Interweave's Complete Book of Finishing Techniques, Debbie Bliss' Baby Knits For Beginners, and Yarn Play by Lisa Shobhana Mason. I don't subscribe to any magazines because my skills are not up to the level of the patterns that I like, but I buy the occassional Interweave to look at the pictures.

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

Right now, I am eagerly awaiting the fall newsletter from my 2nd favorite lys so I can try and sign up to learn to knit socks. She has promised a class on knitting socks with 2 circs. Once I learn how to do that, I'll be able to use the 2 Socks on 2 Circs DVD that my wonderful SP10 partner sent to me!

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

Not yet, although I am a beginning sock yarn collector! I am not sure what kind of measurements this refers to, but I wear a 9 - 9 1/2 shoe with an average width.

23. When is your birthday?

November 8

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

I got my invitation last week but still haven't had time to look at it, much less post anything. My ID is "Criquette".

And as if this isn't enough info, our well-organized hostess, Heatherly, has asked us to post these additional questions for her contest, which involves sock yarn. Once I start knitting socks, I'll need all I can get!

What is the one knitting accessory you could not do without?

You mean besides this one?


I'd have to say it would be The Knitting Answer Book by Margaret Radcliffe. I love this book!

If you're heading on vacation, do you take your knitting with you? If so, how much and what type of project?

Isn't having more time to knit the whole point of taking a vacation? I take as much as I can squeeze into the car, or suitcase. In the past, it's been scarves, because that's pretty much all I used to be able to knit. Now that I am branching out into the heady world of baby jackets and washcloths, the possibilities have expanded enormously!

Where have you travelled to that you'd consider your favorite spot?

It's a tie between Bowen Island BC, Longboat Key FL, and Loch Ness.

What is your favorite knitting book at the moment? Do you own it?

It's a tossup between Baby Knits For Beginners and YarnPlay. I don't own them, but they are on my wishlist.

Do you listen to any podcasts?

No. Unless it's music, I have a hard time paying attention to conversations where I can't see the people involved.

OK, secret pal, hope this isn't information overload. I can't wait to get started! I'm excited about my spoilee, who looks like someone I have a lot in common with and who does some really nice knitting, too.