Sock Me Upside the Head

I am not a good Knitalonger.  I get very excited about signing up, and post the button (though I still don't know how to make it so when you click the button it takes you to the KAL site...) and even join the Yahoo Group/KAL Blog/etc - and then never post to any of them.  I may even knit the project - I just forget to post.  I am still getting updates from the Clapotis-along (that I never did start) because I am too embarrassed to un-join. 

So of course, after the insight that came with the guilt of being late sending my socks to my Sockapalooza pal, I promised myself not to join another KAL.  Then I promptly joined the Amazing Lace.  Which I love.  A Lot.  And I am actually posting.  So I started to reconsider my stance on KALs.  Maybe I am not so bad at KALs, after all.  Hmm.  Maybe I could even join another. 

So I did.                        

There is a questionnaire for this one - and since I am newly a "not so bad" Knitalonger (an upstat from a "very bad" Knitalonger, but who still hasn't acheived "good Knitalonger" status), I am only a few days late with this:

1. What are your favorite colors?  Blues/Purples
2. Are you a new sock knitter?  How long have you been kniting socks?  I've been knitting socks for about a year now. I wouldn't consider myself new.
3. Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn?  Multicolored.  I love watching how multicolored yarn knits up - it's like a secret surprise in the box of cereal when I was a kid. 
4. What fibers do you prefer in sock yarn?  Er... soft ones?  (I'm not allergic to anything fiber-y.)
5. Where do you usually knit socks?  Where don't I knit socks???  Socks are the knitting that goes everywhere with me, and I'll pull them out when I'm in line at the bank, waiting for my latte, while I'm getting gas... I've been known to knit socks just about everywhere.
6. How do you usually carry/store small projects?  In a ziploc baggie stuffed in my purse.  (Lola doesn't like this much at all, btw.  Haven't tried it with Fifi yet, but I'd expect lots of Italian curses thrown at me.)
7. What are your favorite sock knitting patterns?  I loved the Elfine socks for how delicate they were - and of course the Jaywalker pattern for how easy and great for multicolored yarn it was. 
8. What are your favorite sock knitting techniques?  Knitting on 2 circs - hands down.  Or dpns down.  As in, put them down and never pick them up unless absolutely necessary.  DPNs and I don't get along so well, really.
9. What new techniques would you like to try?  I'm not sure about this one... there's nothing I don't want to try, though.
10. Do you prefer circulars or dpns for sock knitting?  Did you know that dpns actually stand for "damn pains in the neck?" 
11. What are some of your favorite yarns?  If I don't say Lola and Fifi I will be in a LOT of trouble.  So definitely - Lola (Hunt Valley Cashmere) and Fifi (Filati Fantasia Cezanne).  (*And shhh...  don't tell them, but I also adore Rowan's Kidsilk Haze.  It may be my favorite of favorites.)
12. What yarn do you totally covet?  "Slayer" or "Angel" sock yarn from SweetGeorgia.  Or the "Spike" colorway I am begging dying for her to come up with.  (In my next life, I want to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  She got all the cool guys.) (Okay.  Two out of three were dead.  But come on... for undead men,  they were pretty darn hot.)
13. Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object?  Either a Hanne Falkenberg jacket, or an Alice Starmore Fair Isle. 
14. Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)?  Wow... different ones for different projects.  For really fine yarn and lace work - (KSH/Birch) my favorites were Boye circs because they're so pointy. Addi Turbo circs are what I normally knit with, though.
15. If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?  I have no idea how to answer this one...
16. Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack?  I am a chocolate freak and thankfully it is not good timing for mailing it.  I'm really trying to stop eating sugar.  (Don't ask me how that's going.  Sugar withdrawal is really not pretty.)
17. What's your favorite animal?  Meow.
18. Do you have pets?  What are their species/names/ages?  Elmo and Elvis.  Both are long haired black cats.  Elvis has a white priest's collar - but don't let that fool you - he is evil.
19. If you were a color, what color would you be?  I think it would have to be the color of a (Soy) Latte, since I drink so damn many of them they have started to replace my blood supply.
20. Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else's)...  An ancient navy t-shirt of Marc's that is worn so thin it's almost weightless.  It's one of those favorites you refuse to get rid of because nothing is anywhere near as comfortable - even if it is so old you would have to stop to change before exiting the building due to a raging fire. 
21. What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature?  Pictures of my nieces and nephews before they got old enough to try to always look "nice" and were still messy and silly and wild.
22. Tell me the best quote you've ever heard or read.  Most anything from Brian Andreas of StoryPeople - and if you do not know StoryPeople - go now.  Do not keep reading.  He is so much better than this list will ever be.   This is one of my favorites - I gave it to Marc one Valentine's day.  It's called "No Words":  "I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow.  I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that."
23. Do you have a wishlist?  Yes.  I wish to be eternally young, rich, and swimming in yarn.  (hee hee.)
24. Anything else you'd like to share with the group today?  Lola and Fifi are going on a little adventure this weekend... stay tuned for more of the fireworks!

Comments

[Lynda]

Hee hee - LOVE your wish list!

[Laura]

i'm not doing the knit sock kit swap, but i loved reading your answers.

damn pains in the neck! ha -- genius! i saw some of brian andreas' work at a store in northampton, ma and thought it was really neat. thanks for the reminder -- i signed up for the story of the day.

i think i know what kind of yarn you are -- cashmere! :)

[Felicia from sweetgeorgia]

I have to agree with you on the hot, undead guys.

Have you tried magic loop on one circ as opposed to knitting on two circs? I started with two circs and then realized how much it would cost me to keep buying doubles of circular needles!