Answers to Sockret Pal Questionnaire

My Sockret Pal Questionnaire Answers

I have been knitting since I was 9, so that’s over 40 years! As far as socks, I think I am an intermediate knitter. I can do basic sock patterns in my sleep, but follow a pattern for fancy socks. I have created my own patterns, but they are always pretty basic.
I have a size 9 wide foot. The measurements are: 9 1/2 inches long and 9 1/2 inches around.

Favorites:

Colors – I love earthtones – brown, oatmeal, rust, gold, greens, and blues/purples, teals. If you see it in nature, I will like it. I am not crazy about pastels or neon colors. I like WOOL and wool and also, wool. I don’t mind my socks needing to be hand washed. I like yarn that has interesting color combinations, and I ADORE hand dyed/ handpainted yarn, right from the farm! I dye my own yarn a lot. Right now, I am a big fan of knitpicks yarns, for their dyeable yarns (in both worsted weight and fingering). I prefer worsted weight yarn for socks – they are much faster to knit and I like the weight of them. The thinner fingering weight yarn takes forever to knit and they are too thin for me. If I’m gonna wear hand knit wool socks, I want them to have some weight to them!


I am also knitting a cable knit hooded sweater for my adult daughter, an Irish hiking Scarf for my son-in-law (with cables). I have already knit several pair of mittens for myself and others from wool. Noro Kureyon – yummy!


Dislikes:

Not crazy about acrylic, although I don’t mind it in a wool blend, like Wool Ease. I would not wear anything glittery or eyelash –y. Not fond of trendy yarns – ribbon, eyelash, glittery.


Tools:

I have dpns that are plastic from Lion Brand Yarns – they are OK. I have lots of bamboo dpns and circular needles. When I do socks, I use dpns. Haven’t tried them on circular needles or magic loop. I would be willing to try these out someday. I use homely little plastic rings for stitch markers. They work OK. Wouldn’t mind a fancy bead stitch marker or two – but that’s a luxury that I haven’t indulged in thus far.


Extras:

I don’t have a wish list anywhere.

I like sour and salty – have to watch the sugar – I am diabetic – but I have sugar free chocolate sometimes – can’t pass up chocolate! I love tea – more than coffee. It’s a family tradition – from both side of the family – lots of English and Irish in my blood.

No significant allergies. Have a dog. Garden a lot.

I enjoy those meltable tarts in the tart warmer above a tealight candle. Yankee Candle has lots of lovely scents. Fresh linen, rose, lilac, pine, woodsy, oceany and citrusy scents. I don’t like the scents that are supposed to smell like cookies or pie or gingerbread. I bake those things when I want that aroma. The candle scents smell like chemicals to me. I have tried my hand at soap-making and love a really natural homemade soap. Other people make them better than I do, so I always keep an eye out for that type of thing.

I did some drop spindle spinning a year ago or so. I liked it, but it robbed me of knitting time. So, I decided to let other people spin. I will dye the yarn and knit it up.

As I said, I love to dye wool yarn and do it a lot. Besides fiber arts, my other passion is digital photography. See my photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sumptinelse/

I have lots of favorite authors – I could never really settle on one. My favorite knitting author is Elizabeth Zimmerman. Alice Starmore’s books are lovely to look at, but I don’t know that I would ever actually do her patterns.

Favorite vacation spots – anywhere near the sea. I really like New England. Someday I want to travel to Ireland, Scotland and England. My taste in music is pretty broad. I like world music (China, India, Latin), alternative, classical, jazz. Not a big fan of country music.


That’s about it.