Secret Pal 12, I'm Ready!

Here are my responses to the questionnaire:
1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love the classic yarns; wool, cotton, alpaca. I like lace weight up to aran, but I don't have much use for heavy yarns. I also like bamboo, tofutsies and "new" fibers. I dislike acrylic, chenille and anything scratchy.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I mostly use circulars and got a "second" of The Circular Solution a while back, which is where most of my needles are when not in use. I have been vaguely lusting after a more portable system for circulars. As for straights, I have a few prized pairs of Lantern Moon and other exotic wood needles which I do not have a really good place for storing. BTW, I prefer pointy to blunt on all my needles.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting since I was seven and would consider myself somewhere between intermediate and advanced. Not many patterns would scare me off, but I do not enjoy intarsia as much as I think I should.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? I do have an Amazon.com wish lists and my username is AbbyC

5. What's your favorite scent?
Stargazer lilies and lilacs. I also love lavender. My least favorite scent is cigarette smoke.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Not much of a sweet tooth. I do love really dark chocolate, but one bar can last me a month or more.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I make lampwork glass beads and I sew. My bead website is www.gamineglass.com. I have done a little spinning on a spindle but don't know how to spin on a wheel -- yet. It's definitely in the plan.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
My musical tastes are eclectic. Some frequently played examples from my ipod: Vampire Weekend, Of Montreal, The Clash, Elvis Costello, The Decemberists, North Mississippi All Stars, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Chris Thile, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie. I could go on and on.... I also recently started playing the mandolin.


9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Purple would be my favorite, but I like most colors.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Two teenagers! No other pets, but I keep threatening.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Scarves: rarely, hats: occasionally, ponchos: NEVER.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I love to knit socks and lace, but I am trying hard to get myself to make more sweaters. I love to wear cardigans. Pullovers usually make me too hot. I like making hats, gloves and mittens also. I also like to knit tank tops and summery lightweight feminine things.

13. What are you knitting right now?
I am in the middle of my third pair of Detonators for Sock Wars iii, Norah Gaughan's Tilted Duster, that beautiful cable and lace top from the latest Vogue knitting, a pair of Monkeys (sock pattern from knitty.com) and I am sort of trying to make the Lotus Blossom tank.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Of course!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I love Addi turbos and want to try their lace turbos soon. In straights, I like the exotic (read expensive) woods like rosewood. As I mentioned above, I like my points pointy!

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

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
About three years. It's a Hanne Falkenberg Da Capo that just got way out of control. And I don't like the colors anymore.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Just one? I'd have to pick Purim. Close runners-up are Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving and Halloween. The Summer Solstice is particularly fun in Seattle ;)

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Besides dust bunnies? Yes, BOOKS, beads, glass (for beadmaking), jewelry findings and tools, music. Looking at my closet, I think I also collect shoes and bags.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Oh, man. See my amazon.com wish list. I always lust after the Rowan magazine, but since I've never knit anything from it, I have trouble justifying the expense. I subscribe to: Interweave Knits, Knitter's, Vogue Knitting and Cast On (TKGA mag).

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I would like to learn spinning on a wheel, get better at drop spindle spinning and learn the secrets of intarsia.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Oh, yeah! My foot is small; I wear 5 1/2 or 6 in shoes, depending on how they're made. I have a very high instep.

23. When is your birthday?
February 24. Pisces.

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

More about me: I have ADD, I love to read, I am short. I love the ocean and snow.

Greetings from the Garden State

That's New Jersey to you! I've been back here for five days having a fabulous time with friends and family old and new. While here, I finished my second pair of Detonators, but so did my second victim, so it appears the next phase of this game for me is in the hands of the postal workers. My weapons have to get all the way to Winnipeg, so this may be the end of the line for me, but who knows?
Since I am currently in Sock Wars limbo, I started a pair of Monkeys for myself out of Tofutsies. It's a very pretty yarn, not quite as easy to knit with as wool, but a good weight for summer. Photos of them soon, but here are the Detonators.

Tomorrow I fly back to soggy Seattle.

Random thoughts and stuff

I will make this brief because the sun is shining and that doesn't happen too often here. I finished my Detonators and they have done their work, so I can post a photo.

I also finished the Retrorib socks I'd been working on. I finished them while I waited for my next weapon to arrive. Here they are:





I love this yarn, and can't for the life of me remember what it was. If you have any ideas, please let me know!




I have a bumper crop of traumatic and stressful events in my life just now and they are of the nature that I can't write about them quite yet. But I'm experiencing panic attacks and that is very, very scary. Heart racing, chest tightening. The only things that help are exercise and knitting. Even playing my mandolin doesn't seem to calm me down, which is weird. I guess I need to practice more!

Ribbit

I love the Lotus Blossom Tank. I REALLY love the Lotus Blossom Tank. I knitted the Lotus Blossom Tank. I was about 45 pounds heavier than I am now, and even at that weight the thing kept growing like an invasive weed. I never finished it, but I still LOVE the Lotus Blossom Tank. So tonight I am going to frog the whole danged thing. Here's what it looks like now. I really do like the yarn. And the pattern. Oh yeah, I said that already. Well, it's about 95 degrees today and we have no air conditioning so I'm going downstairs where it's cool and watch TV and frog.

And sock wars! Ha! My weapon is en route. I expect to be killed any day now, however. I'll post a photo of the finished socks when my victim has capitulated.

Yup, War is Hell

Just in case you doubt it, I am knitting for a large footed person 3000 miles away. Lesson I should have learned from history: do NOT attempt an untried weapon in the heat of battle. I have never tried knitting two socks at a time (in any method) but deployed this questionable strategy yesterday.

I cast on and ripped. I attempted to rib and ripped. The frogs had a field day. Assassin: you may rest easy, here's all I actually did yesterday (and now I'm wasting time writing about it):

Thirsty for Blood....

Well, maybe not exactly, but Sock Wars III is about to break out and I AM READY!!!!!!

My how the time does fly

This is going to be a wimpy post because I have no photos or anything, but I gotta, I just gotta get back to this blog! As a very proud new member of ravelry (Abbyknitz is my handle), I do feel the need to publish or perish :)

That said, what's on the needles right now (photos to come, promise): Tilted Duster in Cascade 220 heathers in a teal color; some gorgeous wool I can't remember the name of for Retro Rib socks, to be completed soon, really!!!!

I have finished the last socks I photo'ed and when I find them I will post a photo. They are very pretty but the yarn fights the lace a bit and they both suffer for it.

Anxiously (in every sense of the word) waiting for my "dossier" and the first salvo in Sock Wars III. This is one of the craziest things I've ever heard of and seems like one of the most fun.

Languishing on needles: hanna falkenburg Da Capo sweater. This thing just grows and grows, even when I'm not knitting it. I think it is breeding, actually. I'll do a photo, blah, blah, blah.

Started those cute hedgehogs from Fibertrends (I think) and got about ten rows done before I lost interest.

That's it for now, except to say that I really am BACK!!!! Who knows, maybe I'll even start working on Level II of the Master Knitter's program from TKGA. Well, maybe......