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Some knitting things about me:
I first learn to knit when I was about 6 or 7 and continued until I was about 22, knitting prolifically in my late teens & early 20’s. Then I stopped knitting for quite a while, in the last 10 years only managing to knit a snowman cardigan for my daughter when she was young. I started knitting again about 9 months ago to help with depression and now just can’t stop! I’ve discovered the joy and passion in knitting all over again.
I regard knitting a holistic therapy – it calms the body, mind and spirit; helps me relax; focuses the mind; and can be a meditative experience.
My worst knitting habit is downloading lots of knitting patterns while knowing I’ll never have time to knit them all.
If money were no object I would run out and buy more knitting books, lovely non wool natural yarns & more circular needles.
The knitting technique I am most afraid of are complex lace patterns, I haven’t tried those yet.
My knitting heroes are Debbie Stoller (love the Stitch’n’Bitch stuff), Erika Knight (love her innovative ideas), Tara Jon Manning (Mindful Knitting and Compassionate Knitting are two of my favourite knitting books), Amy R. Singer (for her No Sheep For You), Interweave Knits magazine (great projects), and my Mum for teaching me to knit and inspiring me in life.
I knit in public whenever I can – I usually take my knitting with me wherever I go.
The thing about knitting that makes me most impatient is knitting the backloop cast on row.
I never get bored with knitting: I love the creative process; the colours and textures; the variety of things to knit; and the calming effect knitting brings.
I do most of my knitting in my living room sitting on my sofa. I have a large Ikea bag in the corner next to me filled with various yarns & current knitting projects, and my knitting books and magazines are in a bookcase nearby. I also have a large wicker chest in my spare room filled with yarn, and need another to accommodate the ever-increasing yarn stash.
So far I’ve knitted mostly for myself and my daughter – mainly scarves, socks, fingerless gloves, bags and jewellery – but my friends all got scarves for Christmas and I’m currently knitting baby things for another friend, and knitting for some charities too.
My favourite things to knit are bags, gloves and socks. I love working on dpn’s.
My favourite yarns are natural ones, but not wool as I’m allergic to it, and not silk unless it's peace silk (from moths that are allowed to live).
My favourite needles are my Mum’s old plastic ones.
I used to do quite a lot of cross-stitch, especially Celtic designs. I also make hand-made cards for friends and family. I would like to try soap making and learn to crochet.
Other (useless) information about me:
My favourite: colour varies with my mood; music is varied and includes a love of opera, as well as rock & indie; books are mainly 18th & 19th century women authors, but also Gothic novels and modern thrillers; novel is Anne Bronte's The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall; play is Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra; poet is Sylvia Plath; food is Indian; soft drink is diet Doctor Pepper; tea is Darjeeling; coffee is a real Italian espresso; chocolate is Green & Blacks Mayan Gold; jam is damson; sandwich is hummus & roast vegetable; salad is Greek salad; fruit is rhubarb; dessert is summer pudding; 'icecream' is blackcurrant sorbet; flowers are lillies; cities are Cardiff & Venice; country is Wales (then Italy); building is the Pantheon, Rome; bird is a jackdaw; mammals are bats & wolves; holistic therapy is reflexology; forms of forms of exercise are yoga & swimming; sport is rugby; aromatherapy oils are patchouli, juniper and tangerine; clothes shop is Monsoon; comedian is Eddie Izzard; films are To Have & Have Not (Bogart & Bacall) & Desperado (Antonio Banderas); car is a Mini Cooper S (one day I hope to have one…)
Places I’d most like to visit: Venice again (& again); Sicily; the rest of Italy; Lhasa in Tibet; Granada & Moorish Spain; Iceland; Holland (to trace my husbands ancestors); and most of the places in the book 1000 Places To See Before You Die
Things I dislike: sexism; racism; religious intolerance; war; cruelty to animals.
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