April 05, 2005
and still more answers
i believe this is the last set of questions for me to answer... if i've requested any others and forgotten about them, please forgive me!
alice, these were a welcome distraction. thank you!
1. Tell me at least three of the nicknames that go with Alice that people have come up with for you over your life? (alas alas its all ass alass and ally ally bowling ally were two of mine)
due to a typo years back, one of my best friends has always called me Lice. attractive, right? another friend called me al-ass, guess which sylable the emphasis was on! the third? i dont actually have a lot of alice-related nicknames, or any nicknames for that matter. but if i recall correctly there was some al-ish-kinda-sorta name calling for a while, mocking me for never being able to make up my mind, hah.
2. You design your own knitwear and patterns; some knitters are most comfortable with knitting from a pattern with the recommended yarn. What you think gives you the courage to design and create what you want?
even when i work from patterns, i can never seem to use the recommended yarn, gague, or... pretty much anything! i have a large chest, and after my first two ill-fitting garments, i realized i HAD to get more brave if i was going to knit things i could actually wear. i've always been an artist at heart, too... and i love the idea of visualizing something, and WATCHING it come forth from my fingers as i knit it. i design by the 'flying by the seat of your pants' method, then... if it works, i can go back later on and say 'yeah, that was all intentional!'
3. Ok – now for knitting- where do you get most of your yarn and why? What is it about the shop (on or off line) you like best?
for a while most of my yarn was coming from rediculous ebay purchases... which is how my stash has expanded to the un-managable size it's at right now. these days, though... i do all of my shopping at the knitting cove. my LYS is only 4 blocks away from me! it's a small place, and they dont have the greatest selection... but they're LOVELY people, they all know me by name, and are more than happy to special order anything for me that they dont already carry.
4. Besides conversations on the train – do you knit with others? If you do – when and how did it start? If not – why not?
up until two months ago, i was actually the only knitter that i knew in real life! through my ex boyfriend, though, i discovered stitch witches, the group that meets at the coffee house near his place. (look, something good DID come from him! hah.) and just by hanging out at the coffee house with friends and knitting, many people have come forward and told me they were knitters, or wanted to learn... some even had projects in their car, and brought them in to join me at open mic on fridays! and, just DAYS ago, i found out there's another group of local knitters that meets on thursday... i'm going to go this week for the first time!! i'm so excited to finally have other people to knit with :)
5. How do you deal with those people that sneer at knitting when you are knitting in public?
frankly, i've only had that happen TWICE. and i do a lot of public knitting, believe me. i had one of those uber-scary feminist crazies come up to me downtown once, and just walk up to me and say 'do you realize how much you're setting back the womens movement by debasing yourself like that?' i replied by basically smiling at her and wishing her a good day... it's just not worth a fight! hah. the other time, a little-old-lady type on the train leaned over and said 'oh, dearie, you're doing it wrong!' i was knitting socks with the magic loop technique, and she started telling me that a sock should never look like that, and the needles were ALL wrong for the yarn, and... blah blah. at the time, i had only been knitting a few months, but i knew well enough to know i was doing just fine. so i just kind of pretended my music was too loud on my headphones and i hadn't heard her... heh.
alice, these were a welcome distraction. thank you!
1. Tell me at least three of the nicknames that go with Alice that people have come up with for you over your life? (alas alas its all ass alass and ally ally bowling ally were two of mine)
due to a typo years back, one of my best friends has always called me Lice. attractive, right? another friend called me al-ass, guess which sylable the emphasis was on! the third? i dont actually have a lot of alice-related nicknames, or any nicknames for that matter. but if i recall correctly there was some al-ish-kinda-sorta name calling for a while, mocking me for never being able to make up my mind, hah.
2. You design your own knitwear and patterns; some knitters are most comfortable with knitting from a pattern with the recommended yarn. What you think gives you the courage to design and create what you want?
even when i work from patterns, i can never seem to use the recommended yarn, gague, or... pretty much anything! i have a large chest, and after my first two ill-fitting garments, i realized i HAD to get more brave if i was going to knit things i could actually wear. i've always been an artist at heart, too... and i love the idea of visualizing something, and WATCHING it come forth from my fingers as i knit it. i design by the 'flying by the seat of your pants' method, then... if it works, i can go back later on and say 'yeah, that was all intentional!'
3. Ok – now for knitting- where do you get most of your yarn and why? What is it about the shop (on or off line) you like best?
for a while most of my yarn was coming from rediculous ebay purchases... which is how my stash has expanded to the un-managable size it's at right now. these days, though... i do all of my shopping at the knitting cove. my LYS is only 4 blocks away from me! it's a small place, and they dont have the greatest selection... but they're LOVELY people, they all know me by name, and are more than happy to special order anything for me that they dont already carry.
4. Besides conversations on the train – do you knit with others? If you do – when and how did it start? If not – why not?
up until two months ago, i was actually the only knitter that i knew in real life! through my ex boyfriend, though, i discovered stitch witches, the group that meets at the coffee house near his place. (look, something good DID come from him! hah.) and just by hanging out at the coffee house with friends and knitting, many people have come forward and told me they were knitters, or wanted to learn... some even had projects in their car, and brought them in to join me at open mic on fridays! and, just DAYS ago, i found out there's another group of local knitters that meets on thursday... i'm going to go this week for the first time!! i'm so excited to finally have other people to knit with :)
5. How do you deal with those people that sneer at knitting when you are knitting in public?
frankly, i've only had that happen TWICE. and i do a lot of public knitting, believe me. i had one of those uber-scary feminist crazies come up to me downtown once, and just walk up to me and say 'do you realize how much you're setting back the womens movement by debasing yourself like that?' i replied by basically smiling at her and wishing her a good day... it's just not worth a fight! hah. the other time, a little-old-lady type on the train leaned over and said 'oh, dearie, you're doing it wrong!' i was knitting socks with the magic loop technique, and she started telling me that a sock should never look like that, and the needles were ALL wrong for the yarn, and... blah blah. at the time, i had only been knitting a few months, but i knew well enough to know i was doing just fine. so i just kind of pretended my music was too loud on my headphones and i hadn't heard her... heh.
