Secret Pal 7 Questionaire

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand?

I suppose I am a bit of a yarn snob. I have very few uses for acrylic or synthetic blend yarns. There are exceptions, but they are relatively few and far between. Some of the high end blends that are mostly natural fibers are quite nice.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?

I spin (a lot). I crochet (poorly and infrequently)

3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

Well, I have this hinged plastic case that I keep a jumble of circulars on top of a fabric sleeve-ish thing that could organize them better, I'm just not interested in being bothered with filing them correctly.
I keep single points in a long cordura zip bag that I got at Acorn Street.
I keep sock length double points in either their original containers (Crystal Palace) or ziploc baggies (Brittany) in a plastic pencil box.
I keep longer double points and crochet hooks in button tubes (from the yarn shop) standing upright in a Nestle Quick container.
I keep my drop spindles in an embarassingly disorganized manner. They can be found almost anywhere, often cushioned by the fiber they had been used to spin most recently. I can generally find one of them at any given point in time; I can almost never find all of them at the same time.

4. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I've been knitting this time around for a couple years now. Before that, my mom taught me as a kid, but insisted that I only work on one project at a time, so I got bored and moved on to something else instead of simply starting another project and continuing to knit.
Very little intimidates me about knitting. I can figure out what almost any instruction set means, it just might take me a while to get it right.

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

I have an Amazon wishlist. (I am an amazon affiliate, start your purchase at an amazon link on my blog and I'll get a kickback. (I'll put up a link in the sidebar at somepoint in the near future... roomates requested it and I agree it'd be a useful thing to have.))
If you ask me where to find it, I'll tell you.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

I really prefer unscented for most things.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Yes. Good chocolate can't be beat. Baked goods are also particularly favored in my house.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?

I sew a bit, I stitch a bit (just starting at sashiko), I have made a cradle (though I have no access to woodworking tools at the moment), I have made quite a bit of jewelry and love it.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

Very open minded on the music front. No MP3 player, but the computer can handle them just fine. (and I've been lusting after a 1 GB Creative ZenNanoPlus for a bit now..)

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

Favorite color: green. Prefered palettes: green-blue-purple, sunsets, forests
Dislikes: orange by itself (I've had a bit of a fascination with it lately as an accent in something that is primarily blue), yellow.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

Live with 2 roomates and one dog.

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

Scarves, hats, mittens, socks, sweaters, skirts... wait, am i getting carried away?
Not so much on the ponchos but I have seen a few cute little shoulder warmer thingies that I suppose are technically ponchos.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

Depends on the purpose. I love koigu (See my header bar? Those skeins were my Christmas present to myself). Cascade 220 is a nice all purpose yarn, as is Lambs Pride. I enjoy traditional yarns more than novelty.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

Um,... I know of no natural fibers that I do not like.
I do not like acrylic, especially the cheap crunchy feeling stuff.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

Lace... Socks... Starting new projects

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Gifts.

17. What are you knitting right now?

List too long to compose for this purpose. I'm not even sure what I have on the needles at the moment.

18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Yes, absolutely.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

Circular or DPNs, I don't do so well with long straights, they wear on my wrists. That said, if I'm making something narrow, I'm perfectly happy using a dpns as straight needles.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Wood, Plastic, Bamboo, Aluminum. I'll use them all, but they are listed in the order of preference.

21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

Yes, both. In fact, the house has two ball winders. (but only one swift). The second ball winder is very useful at times when taking apart something that was worked with two strands held together.

22. How did you learn to knit?

My mom taught me when I was little and I re-taught myself 5 years ago while in college.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

I plead the fifth.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

Gir from Invader Zim.

25. What is your favorite holiday?

Memorial day, it's by my birthday.

26. Is there anything that you collect?

Does yarn count? How about fiber? Books?

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

Interweave Knits, and Spin-Off. I reliably read Knitty and MagKnits as well.

28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on?

Um... I'll get back to you, the list would be rather long.

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

I've just started working with stranded knitting. But other than that it's mostly just improving things I already have the basics on.

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

Yes, I knit socks.
My shoe is about a 9.5 to 10 depending on the brand. The commercial socks I'm wearing today are 10 inches long, standing on graph paper, my foot is 10.5 inches from heel to toe. (I hope that's enough information. When I knit myself socks, I just keep going until they fit right... I get lots of fraternal socks out of this arrangement)

31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)

05/27