Rules of the interview game:
1. Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions; No five questions will be alike!
3. You will update your website with my five questions, and your five answers;
4. You will include this explanation on your website;
5. You will ask other people who want to be interviewed five questions.
These questions are courtesy of Rene. If anybody else wants to play, let me know and I will send the first 5 folks 5 questions, as per the agreement. :)
1. What's the best meal you've ever had and why?
The best gastromonic meal that I ever had was in the Chateau de Mercues. It's hard not to drink well and eat well in such a stunning setting. The Chateau overlooked the Lot and we ate like kings. The wines are fantastic and as hubby and I were visiting at the end of the harvesting season, the scent of fermenting grapes was everywhere.
The best, as in most memorable meal that I had, was actually a picnic made by husband, who was only a boyfriend at the time. I grew up on 2 types of picnic. Type 1, was soggy sandwiches, wrapped in aluminum foil, washed down by a can of Diet Coke. Type 2 was the extravagant ones for the 4th of July, barbecue burgers and hot dogs ( charred on the outside, frozen on the inside), coleslaw, potato chips and iced tea. The setting was fantastic, outside the Vaux-le-Vicomte... champagne, saucisson, epoisse, fresh baked bauguettes, saucissons, etc. He even packed a picnic blanket so that I didn't have to sit on the grass (with the bugs). The morale of that story is, don't build a chateau nicer than the one that the king has...or he'll put you in jail and get your architect to build him a new home (Versailles).
2. How did you start knitting?
My grandmother taught me when I was about 7. It was hard work, since all my family knit continental style and I knit lever-style. I picked it up again briefly when I was in my teens, and again when I was in Uni (my dorm mate was also a knitter). I didn't really start to knit again until I visited Peter Jones in London. I just fell in love with the Rowan and Annabel Fox design, so I plunged in and bought some books and yarns. After a Rowan workshop with Louisa Harding in Holmfirth, I was hooked.
3. What has been your favorite and least favorite knitting projects, and what made them that way?
My favourite project is the seascape Shawl by Evelyn Clark. It's a lovely pattern, knits quickly and is stunning when block. I used a cashmere silk blend, very similar to Richesse and Soie. The pattern is well written, no errors and the yarn really suited the pattern.
My least favourite project was something I designed and knitted for a Knitting Exchange that I co-organised with Emma, on the Rowan Knitting Circle. It was trully the nightmare project. I wanted to get leather handles made, and after 3 weeks, gave up as the leather was a very poor quality. I then decided to knit the handles, in Rowan denim, in the summer heat (can we say the husband was not impressed with all the things that turned blue). It was nearly 10 foot of i-cord! Rowan denim shrinks so the cord had to be longer. The linen stitch that I used wasn't all the fun to knit either... and did I mention that there was an enormous amount of sewing (which I despise). I ended up posting it a month late to my exchange recipient and it never arrived. So all that work and all that fretting and it's probably somewhere in the 'lost' mail bin.
4. What non-knitting website do you visit the most?
www.nytimes.com I always crave news from home. I'm also a regular visitor on www.theregister.co.uk
5. What's your favorite holiday?
I love Chinese New Year. It's all about food and family. Nothing commercial at all.
Self-imposed deadlines
I'm one of those people that always impose deadlines on myself. It's Saturday and I'm 3 balls into birch, but I'm still hoping to finish on Sept 1, eventhough, I'm not working on it (it's so easy, it'll knit itself, right?). I'm now working on this Debbie Bliss pull-over. It's the Herringbone Sweater from the Family Knits Book. The original pattern was done in Rowan Denim, a lovely shrinking/fading indigo yarn. I've recalculated the pattern to use some Rowan Wool Cotton that I had 'in stock'. I really love the Rowan Wool Cotton. It's very soft and springy, and feels lovely to wear, even on bare skin. Rowan denim is also a great yarn, but it tends to dye everything (me, the sofa, needles) blue.
I was supposed to have finished this sweater last week, but in my rush to leave the house for my trip, I sort of left it behind. So the revise schedule, Herringbone sweater to be done by Sunday. As for birch... realistically, next weekend. I am so envious of 'one project at a time' knitters. It wasn't so long ago that I was like that, but I was turned to the dark side by the Rowanettes. Now I hoard wool, (I can't use that yarn, it's got to be used for the *right* project), have about 5 projects on the go (and socks don't count), collect knitting paraphanelia and spend far too much time surfing for bargains and plotting my next adventures. I'm still a project knitter though, I generally finish most of what I start, eventually.
The London Powercut
Well, it happened on Thursday night at 18:26 and Londoners are so used to problems on mass transport, that no one batted an eye when they were told that there was no way to get home in the pouring rain. No thoughts of terrorism whatsoever, just mutterings about the incompetence of London Underground and fellow passengers passing along the customer charter (to get refunds for delay in journey).
Enmassed, thousands walked, umbrella-less, over the Thames to Waterloo to find a British Rail train (quite a challenge considering the boards were down). Overall, it wasn't too bad, took me an hour more than usual to get home and my husband arrived in shining armour (silver car) to save me an additional 40 minute trudge home from the train station through the rain. I looked like a drown rat, but he still let me into the car, it must be love.
...there's no place quite like home
It doesn't matter where I go or how much I've enjoyed myself when I'm away, coming home is always a welcoming experience. So, I was in good spirits, the moment I got out of the taxi (polite, sane driver in a Fairway, with space for tall, leggy husband and suitcases) and through the front door and over the pile of junk mail. The best thing about visiting my mom and pop ... the tumble dryer! I still have laundry waiting for me, but most of the stuff in the suitcase has been freshly washed and still smell faintly of bounce.
A Close Family of 30
Visiting my family in NY is always chaotic. My family isn't one for a lot of organised planning and a gathering of 'close relatives' will mean 30-40 people. So my long weekend *home* was just a very long meal, intersperse with some shopping, sleeping and errands. The Times (UK) had an article recently about stress and how PAs were the most stressed people in the office (more than the senior managers), because they had very little control over what was happening. Obviously these PAs are not Chinese, because not being told until the last possible minute and being expected to drop whatever your doing to do something else, is just simply the normal state in any large traditional Chinese family.
I did get to see my nephew Kris, who's getting bigger every day. Who would have guessed the amount of joy he would bring to so many lives on the day that so many make checks out to the US Treasury. Here's a picture of Kris shortly after birth and here's one of him just 17 weeks later.
Check-out that bib...handknitted by his 'Auntie' Kay from Mason-Dixon Knitting. Did I mention that Kris is a champion eater? Well, this babe, can consume 6 ounces of formula in under 4 minutes...and don't you, try giving him 5 ounces because he'll know straight away that he's been diddled and I assure you that the ensuing wails of injustice will reverberate from coast to coast.
Maniacs on Wheels
Taxi rides in NY are always an adventure. Never in my entire life, have I met such a surly bunch of maniacs on wheels (and I have taken taxis in many countries). The taxis are big cars, usually a Crown Victoria, but somehow, the driver is comfortably seated and the passengers are squashed into the back with their knees under their chins and nose pressed to the plastic partition between passenger and driver. Heaven forbid, if you've bought a lot of wool and needed it stowed in the trunk. Heaven forbid that you should open the window, when the AC is on, because the driver has left the plastic partition open and his cologne is making your eyes watered. Heaven forbid that you should want to go into the boroughs. In my experience, (and apologies to the sane drivers, surely you must exist), 98% of all NYC taxi drivers need to attend charm school and need driving lessons. If you don't like the thrill of roller coasters or bungee jumping, take the subway.
Stash Acquisition
So what did I buy?
I've have to compile a list of my favourite 'real life' shops one of these days.
Birch
I wasn't allowed to knit on the plane, so in fact, I missed out on 15 hours of knitting :-(. I did work on it whenever I had a free moment, and I'm now about half way into the 3rd ball of wool.
It's about 20 inches now.
I will finish birch but in case I don't, I was given some suggestions from various relatives, as to what I can do with my UFO
(1) beard for Santa costume (that's Father Christmas to the Brits)
(2) toupee
(3) duster
(4) big powder puff
(5) packaging foam (this is one fluffy yarn!)
(6) tutu for small child
Just so that you don't think that I've been skiving.... I've managed 29,391 stitches to date.
Sobig
This nasty little virus has been spoofing my e-mail address and turns out that lots of well meaning people have written me to tell me about the virus I have. Honest guv, it wasn't me. I am not sending you wicked screen savers or information on applications. I have sent out some thank you emails but have since changed the subject line to avoid being placed in the circular file. So thanks to everyone for my birthday wishes and presents. I'm a lucky girl to not just have my own 'Ian' but all you wonderful people as friends.
Knitting
Birch is going smoothly. I'm into the 6th pattern repeat...and onto ball #2. I don't have any pictures of that to show today, but thought you might like a glimpse of the fairisle intarsia bag that I've completed recently. It's a quick knit and uses up some spare cotton glace and Jaeger pure cotton that I had from previous projects. It's just the perfect size to hold a pair of gift socks. Don't you just love the thriftiness of that.
And for the record... I wasn't hiding ... this site is still under construction ... would you expect Michelangelo to unveil David before he was done? Not that I'm implying for one moment, that I'm in the same league ;-).
Getting Untangled
If I thought that thinking up a good, unclaimed site name was challenging, I had no idea how much fun was installed. After a few days of struggling and reading up on all aspects MovableType, Css, html, etc., I've finally gotten myself untangled.
Birch Knit-along
This is a knitting site, so here's the knitting stuff. Thos, esteemed Rowanette, suggested doing a knit-along. What a wonderful idea. I have to join in for the social aspects if nothing else. I looked forward to casting-on day, 15th August. Sure enough, I casted on my 291 stitches in kid silk haze, after stringing on 300 odd beads. Working on such a fine and hairy yarn is a bit of an experience, when teamed with 5.00mm needles. KSH is unique in it's ability to slip off your needles with ease whilst fiercely clinging to it's neighbouring stitch for dear life. So, in addition to trying to keep the stitches from sliding off, you're also fighting to make sure that they don't bond to each other when you don't want them to.
Here's a preview of where I got to so far. Never one to leave things alone, I've made a few subtle changes to the pattern. In addition to adding beads, I've also added a moss stitch border, and my version will be a stole, knitted from the bottom up. So, I guess that makes me a masochist afterall.