princessdeia

May 23rd 2007
Filed under General

Laura tagged me about a week ago – and I am only just getting around to completing this meme.

Here are the rules:
“Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.”

My seven things:

1. I had LASEK eye surgery over Christmas, so now I proudly have 20/20 vision!
2. I can not sew, I look longingly at kits on the Subversive Cross Stitch or Sublime Stitching websites, and wish I could.
3. I grew my hair for my wedding, it is the longest it has been for nearly 18 years (and it still is pretty short).
4. I can’t drive, I have never had a lesson.
5. I don’t think I drink enough water and as hard as I try I can never drink 2 litres in a day.
6. I prefer baths to showers – very un environmentally friendly – but I love my baths.
7. I have loads of reward cards, I love collecting points and working out what I can buy with them – however, I only ever buy stuff with my Boots Advantage Card.

I think everyone has already done this meme, but if you haven’t consider yourself tagged!

May 11th 2007
Filed under General

As we all know I love lists, and I also adore anything that will stop be from working on a Friday afternoon, so when I saw this knitting meme on Indieknits, I had to jump on the bandwagon.

Edit the list, bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Knitting in public

July 24th 2006
Filed under General

Our hostess from SP8 has emailed this extra questionnaire.

1. What is your favorite season of the year?
I do love the summer even this amazing weather we are having now

2. Where is your favorite vacation spot?
I guess Miami – I had an amazing time there.

3. If you could visit any place in the world, where would it be?
Peru.

4. If you could pick any job, and be paid well, what would it be?
I loved being a barmaid apart from the pay – so that is the obvious choice. But my dream job is to open a funky little cinema, showing old films.

5. If you were going on vacation for 1 week, and had to take ONLY one project with you, what would it be?
Socks – as they don’t take up too much room in the suitcase. 

6. If you won a shopping spree to your favorite Yarn shop, what would you get??
A lot of funky sock yarn, oh and some more books for inspiration.

May 16th 2006
Filed under General

1. Which yarn is most like your personality (you can be specific or general with your answer- brand, type, color, fiber, whatever)?
This is a tough question – I am not keen on acrylic, but they have the place. I love unusual yarn like Louisa Harding Glisten, but tend to only knit scarves with them – rather than a full garment that would be expensive (I guess I like a bargain when looking for yarn). I love cotton and use a lot of it all times of the year.
2. What is your favorite color yarn to knit/crochet with?
I love blues, but have been using a lot of pinks and wines this year.
3. Have you ever used variegated, or magic, yarns?
Yes, Hipknit’s Silk, KSH Spray and Opal sock yarn.
4. Do you tend to favor certain fibers when choosing yarns?
Cotton, but I am drawn towards merino at the moment.
5. Do you prefer to work with center-pull or traditionally wound balls of yarn?
I tend to use traditional, but I am not fussed.
6. Have you ever worked with organic yarns or are you interested in trying them?
No, and yes!
7. How many and what projects have you made in the last year?
Scarves, jumpers, mini-sweaters and even a pair of socks (all here).
8. Will you be knitting any gifts this year?
Yes, I am currently knitting a secret present for my sister’s birthday and I should be knitting some stuff for Xmas (again).
9. What is your favorite one skein project?
Confession time, I have yet to knit anything from the book – but am looking forward to starting the clutch and some cupcakes.
General one skein projects, it would have to be KSH scarves (having made 10 last year).
10. How much yarn do you have in your stash and how do you store it?
Not a lot really, at the moment, I have a box with odd bits and three small bags -all containing blue wool, all ear-marked for projects over the next few months.
11. Do you have a yarn in your stash that you love so much you can never use it or part with it?
No. I often buy a nice yarn because I like the colour or feel, but end up wanted to knit with it and then knitting a quick scarf of hat.
12. Do you knit less or differently in the summer?
I tend to knit lots of little cotton jumpers.
13. Do you belong to any knitting groups (online or offline)?
Just a few online groups, see my sidebar.

May 9th 2006
Filed under General, Project Spectrum, Wedding

I have decided to start devoting all my time to just one project, I have about six items on the needles at the moment and I think I am spreading myself a little thinly. My major project for May is a surprise for my sister’s birthday, it is in green (for Project Spectrum)but that is all I am saying.

Apart from that I am going to finish all the little bits on some projects, sew buttons on my mum’s cardigan, block my circular shrug, sew up the toes on the socks! All which will only take one evening, but I just don’t have the free time at the moment.

This week, I have been busy designing our wedding stationary and making Save the Date cards - it is a little strange mass producing cards, normally my paper-crafts are one offs, now I have become a perfectionists over the silliest things.

I have seen a few people post this, so thought I would jump on the bangwagon!

http://www.hotfreelayouts.com/music.php

May 3rd 2006
Filed under General

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Any really, cotton, KSH.
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
An old needlecase, my circular needles and DPN’s are in a bag.
3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I started when I was a kid (about 9), did a little during High School and College to relax – but started up a few years ago. I guess I am an advanced beginner.
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes – here
5. What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Anything berry-like, I love Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea.
6. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Yes, I only like British Chocolate – but I love Jelly Belly and Twizzlers..
7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I make cards and scrapbook. No, I don’t spin.
8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Mainly alternative, old school Britpop (Blur, Stone Roses, Verve).
Current tunes on my iPod, are Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Interpol and Nine Black Alps.
Yes – I can play MP3s.
9. What’s your favorite color? Or–do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can’t stand?
I loves Blues, but am using a lot of reds and pinks at the moment.
10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I got engaged this year to my long term b/f, we are getting married next year. No children or pets.
11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Hats, scarves and gloves.
12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Mini sweaters, like OSW, Circular shrug or the Anthropologie-inspired capelet.
13. What are you knitting right now?
Striped sweater and some socks.
14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes!
15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Straight, but I am moving towards circular needles – as I hate seaming.
16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
No – that is what I use my b/f for.
17. How did you learn to knit?
My mum taught me when I was a kid, then I have picked up tips from books and recently online.
18. How old is your oldest UFO?
Almost a year – it just needs buttons.
19. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween.
20. Is there anything that you collect?
Birds of Prey Comics.
21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
New Knits: 20 Knitting Projects with a Contemporary Twist.
Scarf Style: Innovative to Traditional, 31 Inspirational Styles to Knit and Crochet.
22. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?
I guess intarsia.
23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes. Size 7UK
24. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
31st October (Halloween).

April 2nd 2006
Filed under General

Two meme’s stolen from just about everyone. 

Book Meme instructions: Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you might read, cross out the ones you won’t, underline the ones on your book shelf, and place parentheses around the ones you’ve never even heard of.

The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby – F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J. K. Rowling
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story – George Orwell
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
1984 – George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J. K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 – Kurt Vonnegut
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C. S. Lewis
(Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides)
(Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell)
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Atonement – Ian McEwan
The Shadow Of The Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
Dune – Frank Herbert

The iPod Party Shuffle meme instructions: List the first 10 songs from my iPod in shuffle mood.

Evil – Interpol.
Kids with Guns – Gorillaz.
She’s a Rebel – Green Day.
Razor – Foo Fighters.
40 ft – Franz Ferdinand.
F.O.D. – Green Day.
Better do Better – Hard-Fi.
Night Drive – Jimmy Eat World.
Intro – Violet Femmes.
Bike Scene – Taking Back Sunday.

December 30th 2005
Filed under General, Socks, Sweaters

I nicked this from Woolly Warbler

What new knitting techniques did I learn this year?
Thanks to Tracy (she sent me a sock starter kit as part of SP5), it has to be socks and knitting with DPN’s.

Which completed project from the last 12 months are you most proud of?
I think that would have to be Lucky – she became a labour of love, or the beaded bolero I made for my sister.

What was your biggest knitting disaster of the year?
Not sure really – I guess it would have to be Florence that I started knitting realised I was never going to wear it and also I think the pattern was a bit too much for me, I am useless at intarsia.

What knit craze grabbed you this year?
Without a doubt it would have to KSH - I love it, so far all I have used it for is scarves – but I think I may have to knit a Butterfly or Cami in the New Year.

And New Year Resolutions?
At the moment none – but it is an excuse to make a list

Happy New Year!

September 14th 2005
Filed under General, Swaps

I have noticed a few questions have been added to the Secret Pal Questionaire…. so I am going to update my answers

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
We don’t get Red Heart or Lion Brand in the UK, so I can’t really comment on them – I have no objections to acrylic for certian projects.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
Crochet, a bit – but I haven’t done any recently.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
No.

4. How long have you been knitting?
I started when I was a kid (about 9), did a little during High School and College to relax – but started up again last year.

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

6. What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Anything berry-like, I love Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Yes, I only like British Chocolate – but I love Jelly Belly and Twizzlers.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
Card-Making. Although, I haven’t had the time recently.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (If your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Mainly alternative, old school Britpop (Blur, Stone Roses, Verve).
Current tunes on my iPod, are Weezer, Funeral for a Friend, Interpol and Nine Black Alps.
Yes – I can play MP3s.

10. What’s your favorite color? Or–do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can’t stand?
I love Blue, but am planning to knit a lot of greens and purples. I’m not really keen on Oranges and Yellows.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Been with my b/f for 6 years – no children or pets.

12. What are your life dreams? (Really stretching it here, I know)
I guess to be a success at my business and hopefully to get married in the next few years.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
Over the summer it was cotton, now it is Rowan’s KSH.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
None.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
KSH Scarves – getting ready for Xmas

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I mainly knit cardigans and scarves – I love scarves as they are quick. I am getting to grips with socks.

17. What are you knitting right now?
Cotton Sweater for my Dad, Cardigan for my Mum, Branching Out Scarf.

18. What do you think about ponchos?
Hate them.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
I am moving towards circular needles – as I hate seaming.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Aluminum, I find plastic needles too light and have never tried knitting with bamboo.

21. Are you a sock knitter?
Yes

22. How did you learn to knit?
My mum taught me when I was a kid, then I have picked up tips from books and recently online.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
About 3 months.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Marvin the Marshin, Batman oh and I love the Disney/Pixar films.

25. What is your favorite holiday?
I love summer, but also Halloween as it’s my birthday.

26. Is there anything that you collect?
Batgirl and Birds of Prey Comics.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
None – I tend to just buy magazines when I am in the store browsing.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
Easy Knitted Accessories.
New Knits: 20 Knitting Projects with a Contemporary Twist.
Weekend Knitting : 50 Unique Projects and Ideas .

29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven’t bought for one reason or another??
No

30. What are your foot measurements, and what kind of socks do you like?
Size 7 shoes (oh big feet) and I love self-patterning sock wool.

August 24th 2005
Filed under General, Sweaters

be sorted @ nimbo.net

I signed up for the Another Weasley KAL, I am going to wait until Saturday to start as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is on Sky Movies – and even though I’ve seen it a million times, I thought it was so perfect to start the scarf then.

In other news I have started my Mum’s twin set – that is going to take a long time to knit, I am knitting the sweater on circular needles – knit stitch all the way – so I am hoping it will be a little quicker… if it goes well I think I will final invest in those Denise Inter-changables I have been dreaming about.