More About Me...

So, last night I carefully ripped out the square. Ripped out all that mohair... it was painful. Not just emotionally, but I was peeling a small potato for dinner and peeled my knuckle and then the mohair fuzz got in there and... ow.

But the yarn will continue. I have to knit a fish for work. It will be felted, so it's OK if I effe it up.

And here are more interview questions, this time from Illana. I am really proud of myself for asking her to interview me, because I don't know her. AT ALL. But she left a comment, so I thought it would be ok... (such a wuss am I. wussy wussy wuss wuss)

What is your favorite fiber to knit with? Do you prefer warm and wooly or smooth and silky?

Pure wool is my favorite as far as fiber goes, even though Kidsilk Haze is my favorite yarn. And I'm going to go for a warm wooly yarn (such as Peace Fleece or Yorkshire Tweed) over smooth and silky. Not that I don't love merinos and cashmeres...

This question is just for my ego: Hmmm... I see that my blog is in your sidebar... What criteria does a blog have to have to get into your sidebar? Is it content, pictures, tips, or cool templates? Do you ever take blogs out of your sidebar?

There is really very little criteria to get in my side bar. My blog went on hiatus for essentially 2 years. When I started it (spring 2002) the knitting blogging community was still relatively small. When I came back, everyone and their mother had a blog, so I just would follow links and rings and everything. When something caught my eye, I'd bookmark it, but I was at work and blah blah... more than anything, my sidebar is a list of the blogs I read consistently. It's more for me than anything. I have not removed a blog yet, but am thinking about it. I have some that I want to add, some people haven't updated in ages, etc. For your own ego, I believe the following things caught my eye: 1. The argyle background 2. The countdown to Hannukah 3. You were working on the hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and I was knitting a bazillion baby bonnets from the same book.

Wow you've been to Hong Kong? What was that like??

I was in Hong Kong for exactly 46 hours. It was crazyness. I had been living in Nanjing for several months and had a penpal from junior high in Hong Kong, so I sceduled a long layover on my way home to finally meet her and chill. (48 hours is the cutoff for what is considered a layover and what is just 2 seperate trips)

The weird part about Hong Kong was that is was West and East all mashed together. I didn't have a lot of culture shock issues in Nanjing because it was so completely different than anything I had known before. Hong Kong placed the 2 things I had known (Mainland China and the America) and put them on the same street corner. And there were all these white people. And a lot of the Chinese people weren't from the Han ethnic majority, and I was really sleep deprived and was hanging out with this girl that I had known for years, but had just met and... it was a trip.

The other weird part about Hong Kong is that it's a really mountainous island and the whole city is built up on this little bit between mountain and ocean. I should scan some pictures in and show y'all. The airport though, is gorgeous. It's built out into the bay and a lot of it's window, so you see this plane, then ocean, then mountain and the shopping's really good. ;)

China, in general, was awesome.

What is your favorite online yarn store, and what is your least favorite online yarn store?

Favorite online store is The Knitting Garden. It's pretty much where I go when I need something. I don't have a least favorite. I live in an area blessed with yarn stores and because I work at one, I can get a lot of things ordered, so I don't buy yarn online that often.

What is your favorite recipe? Do you like to cook?

I love to cook. My new favorite is visseychoise from Joy of Cooking.

My second favorite is my own version of one from Desperation Dinners. The essentials are: in a pot with some olive oil, place 1/2 chopped onion and a lot of chopped chicken and 2 cloves pressed garlic and lightly fry until chicken edges are no longer pink. Dump in 2 cans of chicken broth and a package of cheese tortellini. Bring to a boil. Add some diced tomatoes. Simmer until chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup pesto sauce and 1/2 cup heavy cream. Pepper and salt.

I make a lot of pizza. My favorites are pesto with chicken and artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers on a whole wheat parmesean garlic crust and pad thai.

I also make a lot of various salads, usually pasta based and coat them in Miracle Whip as a true testament to my northeastern Wisconsin upbringing. Ghetto Mac (blue box macaroni and cheese with hamburger) is my ultimate comfort food.

I'm also looking for a good tomato sauce recipie FROM SCRATCH. As in, start with 1lb of tomatoes...