KnittingCateling

Busy mom of two, loves knitting, reading, crossword puzzles, cats and a nice hot cuppa. We live in the Midwest; have a calico and a tortie - littermates who are very sweet with each other - and a Corgi/Schipperke mix. The newest addition to our family is a 3-y-o Puggle. He is a lot of fun and a lot to get used to!

I am a Liberal - Feminist - Christian, and no one of those paths precludes any of the others.

I really prefer to swap for items that have some practical use for me. Loosely translated, that means "yes" to washrags, embroidered tea towels, CD mixes, greeting cards, teas, chocolate, Morsbags/string bags and knitting supplies; "no" to most papercraft supplies, matchboxes, ephemera and stuffies unless specifically requested.

I knit. I love to play Scrabble and work crossword puzzles. Word-searches are wayyy down the list. I don't care much for Soduku. I love Apples to Apples and the quirky Gamewright games such as There's a Moose in the House and Sleeping Queens.

I also love to garden - going to the nursery and choosing new plants is such a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning. My favorite flower is daffodil - I have hundreds of them in my yard, and they're lovely in the vase as well.

I have sensitive skin and get sneezy/headachey reactions to most scents, so please no lotions, bath stuff, candles, potpourri, etc. About the only exceptions to this rule would be natural cedar blocks or natural lavender sachets.

I am all about quality over quantity. I try to support my local small businesses, and actively avoid WalMart and Dollar Tree. Good quality items on deep discount are awesome; cheap flimsy crap is not.

I am a Girl Scout troop leader and an assistant Cub Scout den leader. Bring it on!

Indigo Girls, KT Tunstall, Sarah McLaughlin, Melissa Etheridge and other 'girls with guitars'; Annie Lennox, Depeche Mode, The New Order, Erasure and the rest of alternative 80's music; Michael W Smith, The Newsboys, Mark Shultz; old country like The Statler Brothers, The Judds, Johnny Cash; Rockapella, The Nylons

"Guilty Pleasure" music includes Dan Fogelberg; England Dan & John Ford Coley; Merrill Bainbridge (omg I cannot believe I am admitting this in public!); Rush.

I'm not so much about the 80's power balads. Please no Celine Dion, "Hot New Country" or rap. While I want very much to like The Cranberries, the discordant vocals really just set my teeth on edge. :(

I love mix CDs!! If you like to make them, I would love to have one and I promise I will listen to it - usually in the car.

I recently learned that the station that played 60's hits when I was in college is now playing hits of the 70's and 80's - I'm in love!!

Green, purple, green & purple together, blue.

I love oceany colors, and all the lovely shades present in a peacock feather. I've never met a colorway named "Vineyard" that I haven't liked. Sometimes a nice regal red really hits the spot!

Not so wild about bright yellow, bright orange, bubblegum pink, neon anything, camo.

Chocolate brown is OK but will never replace black for me. I only like brown with other earth tones - I don't like brown & pink, brown & aqua, etc.

Kaffe has a lot of interesting things going on in his fabrics. Some I really like and others I don't - sometimes I am surprised at how he can stretch my color boundaries but still the chocolate brown with pastel just leaves me cold.

I really like large polka dots (dime or larger - silver dollar dots are awesome) and small stripes that are irregular in width and/or color. I also like paisley. I really really like high-contrast batiks and I really really don't like muddy-looking batiks.

Jane Austen, Jasper Fforde, Sandra Dallas, Marge Piercy, Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Jacqueline Carey, Tracey Chevalier, Harry Potter, Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency, His Dark Materials. I am interested in the Outlander series but have not read any yet.

When I was a little girl, I loved The Happy Hollisters book series. I'm starting to re-collect them for my kids. I would be very interested in doing a private swap in exchange for some of these books. Please contact me for needed titles.

Crash, Pride & Prejudice (BBC 1995), Hot Fuzz, Moulin Rouge (Ewan, please come over and sing me to sleep every night, 'kay?), Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow I could watch as an endless loop for hours and not stop drooling. If it's got Colin Firth or Hugh Grant, the plot has to be pretty darn hideous to get me to not at least check it out once.

I don't watch much TV - I watch movies instead.

Knitting. I have strong intermediate skills but prefer small/simple projects to appease my short attention span and pick up/put down nature of being a single mom. I make lots of washcloths, also chemo caps and baby knits for the new niece born 1/31/08.
Would desperately love to figure out how to knit socks. I have the Magic Loop and Sock Soar on 2 Circs books but not the requsite needles (yet). I prefer natural fibers - soft, squooshy and luxurious. I have a pretty low tolerance for itchy. Mohair and I just cannot get along. Love alpaca, merino, cotton, bamboo, some high-end microfiber blends, and of course cashmere. Please no petroleum products. I prefer wood/bamboo needles. I really do not need any more straights at this time, and I am full up on stitch markers.
I cannot crochet to save my life and I have no interest in spinning or needle felting at this time.

If you are not a knitter, or if your yarn shopping is limited to Michael's, Wal-Mart, JoAnn's, etc. ... dishcloth cotton is always welcome. Sugar & Cream, Peaches & Cream, and Lion Cotton are the brand names, for any non-knitters. My Secret Santa at the office gave me about 10 balls of dishcloth cotton and it was THE BEST SECRET SANTA GIFT EVAR.

I also like to sew things with big pieces, such as Morsbags, simple garments and perhaps an apron. I don't generally have any use for fabric pieces smaller than fat quarters.

I do a little bit of embroidery, mostly on kitchen towels. I love the vintage-looking Aunt Martha's transfers of food and tableware with faces. I also adore the Sublime Stitching transfers.

I am not a papercrafter. Please do not send me papercrafting supplies as I cannot use them. I would love to receive your handcrafted notecards in a swap. I will ooh and ahh over your talents.

Also not so interested in Kawaii - I don't really like things that are cute just to be cute, if that makes any sense. My daughter, being a girly girl, loves Kawaii, especially Hello Kitty.

I love dark chocolate and milk chocolate, especially with caramel. I also like nuts, nougat, coconut, mint in my chocolate - but not all at once. :) I do not like white chocolate and I do not like fruit in my chocolate at all. I like chocolate dipped shortbread/biscuits. My favorite overseas goodies is a Cadbury Boost candy bar, and I love it!!! I can't decide whether it's a good or bad thing that I can't get them in my area. The other super-yum thing I was just introduced to is salted caramels. Oooh, baby.

I like to drink tea, especially as the weather turns cooler into the winter. Earl Grey and some of the classic black tea blends such as English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, etc are what I prefer. I do not like Lipton tea. I do not like fruit or spicy flavors in black tea. I am not interested in medicinal teas.

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