100 Things, the second half

49. I learned to knit from a Martha Stewart: Baby magazine when I was pregnant with my second child.

48. It was 18 months before I realized that I purled “backwards”.

47. A year ago I discovered the wide world of knitblogs and my knitting technique has been much improved.

46. I love to knit socks, especially little ones for my kids. (They go faster and it’s easy to try out new patterns/techniques on a smaller scale.

45. I have just discovered the magic of felting.

44. I have never completed a sweater, but I have a goal to finish at least one in the next year. I have 2 on the needles: one for Miz Izzy and one for me.

43. I have an irrational fear of intarsia and entrelac.

42. I am really drawn to lace, cables, and Fair Isle.

41. I have a classic/retro sense of style.

40. I have a secret fun fur/novelty yarn stash that I’m trying to forget about. If I let it sit in the stash long enough, will it turn into cashmere?

39. I started teaching myself to spin this summer. I succeed in fits and starts.

38. I love to make things with my hands, but I rarely get time to do anything but knit (it’s portable and quiet and I can follow my kids around the house instead of be chained to the craft table or sewing machine or kitchen.

37. I have made my first foray into dyeing my own yarn. It’s been really fun (and messy).

36. I have knit 6 pairs of socks, not one pair has been for me.

35. Actually, out of all of the finished knit projects, only one has been for me: a cherry-red bouclé scarf - the third item I knit.

34. I am not so selfless with my other crafts.

33. I have an obsession with those black and white hard cover composition notebooks. It stems from my college days when I lived in the science lab.

32. I use them for everything but science projects now. My favorite thing to do with them craft-wise is decoupage the covers. The other ones I use to write my stories and journal design ideas.

31. They have to be the black and white covers. The ones that are different colors are just not right. Those books go to the kids for their writing and drawing practice.

30. When I’m designing or thinking about a project, I have a difficult time thinking in color. I tend to think in black and white.

29. I dream in color, though.

28. I’m inspired by various things: knitbloggers, American popular culture during and after the WWII era, Victorian England, the United Kingdom in general.

27. I rarely follow the directions on any project or recipe.

26. I’m beginning to understand the reasoning behind the general obsession with Japanese craft books.

25. I decorate my house with a Pottery Barn sensibility, on a Wal-Mart budget.

24. I love to go to estate auctions. Especially ones with good junk… rusty, unloved, chipped, peeling junky junk. For example: my favorite candlesticks are really just rusty old bedsprings that kind of support the candles from falling over.

23. When I’m being especially creative, I tend to wear silly hats (like Jo March in Little Women), and make huge messes.

22. My idea of a perfect afternoon would be a tea party with my Mom: complete with dressy dress, the good china, tea party hat, crustless sandwiches, tiny cakes, jam tarts, clotted cream and lemon curd, and plenty of silly giggling.

21. I plan to fully do this for my 30^th birthday next year. Hats and all.

20. I would love to have a cat, but I’m terribly allergic to them. I love dogs too, but they’re too rambunctious.

19. My favorite pets are little birds. I love the little finches and budgies and canaries. They always sound so happy.

18. My favorite animals in general are birds. I love robins, cardinals, chickadees. I dream of having a Peregrine or Merlin falcon someday. If I could be any animal, I’d be an owl or a raven.

17. I’m fascinated by butterflies as well.

16. I enjoy many types of music, thanks to a well-rounded musical childhood, courtesy my parents. I have little tolerance for country-western, rap, and acid jazz. I don’t discount them completely; they’re just not the first things I seek out when I want to listen to something.

15. I’m particular to baroque music (Bach, Vivaldi, Corelli, Handel), acoustic (The Beatles, James Taylor, Ron Sexmith, Jack Johnson), jazz standards (Billie Holliday, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Harry Connick, Jr.), musicals (Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein), 80’s alternative (The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Smiths, Blondie, INXS, Duran Duran), and a smattering of Ska, Punk, Reggae, Techno, Classic Rock, American Pop and Alternative, and British Pop.

14. I love to watch Romantic Comedies and Science-Fiction movies.

13. I read practically everything, but I love literary thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, literature classics, latin-american literature, british literature, and historical fiction.

12. I love chocolate (isn’t that a requirement to be a “real” knitter?) Dove promises are my poison of choice, but mostly because better/different chocolate isn’t widely available around here.

11. I also love coffee, but coffee doesn’t love me. It makes me crazy, well, crazier than usual.

10. I am getting an impressive candle collection… I like food/spice smells, but not so much with the flower-y smells. My current favorite is the White Pepper from White Barn Candle Company. I loved it in the store in the Mall of America, and thought I’d be able to get here at my local Bath and Body Works, but no dice. I wish I’d bought it when I was there. I also like pink grapefruit and cucumber (no melon) and vanilla.

9. I love office supplies. Just the smell of paper and wood pencils instantly decrease my blood pressure.

8. Besides chocolate, I love black licorice and “interesting” mustards. When I was a kid, and my dad would go on a business trip, he would bring home a locally made mustard from wherever he went and we’d have a tasting party. The best one that I remember was from the Two Virgins in San Francisco.

7. I could eat Italian food every day and not complain.

6. The same with peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

5. I still have my blankie and my first doll.

4. When I’m sick, I sleep with my blankie. It’s magic, you know.

3. My first doll looks just like my Dad did when I was a kid, right down to the bell bottom pants and longish brown hair and moustache.

2. Yes, I’m a Daddy’s Girl.

1. Family is the most important thing in the world to me. Knitting for that family is a close second.

100 Things: the first half

In anticipation of SP9, and the fact that I want to be as cool as the others (I'm really not much of a follower), I think I'll join the 100 Things Meme love-in... here you go.

100. I am the oldest (and only girl) of 4 kids (age range: not quite 30 to not quite 16).
99. As a direct result of the above, as friendships go, I'm generally more comfortable with the males of the species. As I get older and (hopefully) more mature, I'm getting better at being friends with women too.
98. My mom and I are really close. I realize how lucky I am for that at least once every day.
97. I met my husband on a blind date set up by his sister and my brother, around Christmas 1999.
96. We became engaged on President's day, 2000 (It was a Valentine's day pre-emptive strike).
95. We were married on Good Friday, 2000.
94. I always said it would be cool to be a "millennium bride", if only for the fact that my (future) husband would always remember how many years we've been married.
93. The brother and sister-in-law that set us up on that fateful blind date got married to each other last summer.
92. Yup, that means double cousins.
91. I am a notorious procrastinator
90. I tend to do my best work under a swift-approaching deadline, thereby reinforcing #91.
89. I learned to read when I was 18 months old.
88. I read my first "real" book when I was just a bit shy of 2.
87. It was The Hobbit
86. I haven't stopped reading since.
85. As a kid, I used to compulsively count things. My brain is too full now to do much of that anymore.
84. I have a semi-photographic memory
83. Because of #84, I am a really good speller
82. My almost-finished Bachelor's degree is in Biological Sciences
81. My true love is English Literature
80. I have an unhealthy obsession with semicolons and parenthesis.

79. The majority of my jobs have been medical related.
78. I wanted desperately to go to Medical School, but Organic Chemistry and getting too involved with patients pretty much deterred any further progress.
77. I started writing children's stories when I was in the 2nd grade.
76. I am having two stories published this year, and a series in development with my artsy fartsy graphic designer brother. (He's the coolest!)
75. I am an idea person. Not a detail person.
74. I had a very creative childhood.
73. My parents were and are extremely supportive of everything I do. They never told me that I couldn't do anything I set my mind to. Again, I realize how lucky I am to have had this growing up.
72. I hope I can instill the same mindset in my kids.
71. I can sew, quilt, knit, paint, collage, bead, sing, play the cello, put up drywall, tile a shower, lay hardwood/tile/laminate/vinyl flooring, shingle, cook, bake (not the same thing), frame, and "fix" things.
70. I despise cleaning with every fiber of my being.
69. I love to travel. I don't get to do this very often, but I love it.
68. I hope to go to the UK someday.
67. I spent most of my formative years learning how to do household-y things (except clean... yrch), like make great food, decorate, sew, etc. to "impress" my future husband and he really doesn't give a rat's behind if I can do those things, except make chocolate chip cookies.
66. If there was something in my repertoire I wish I could do better, it would be make better chocolate chip cookies. I have a curse. I can bake anything else to perfection. Just not those. Not for lack of trying, mind you.
65. I think I look my best while pregnant.
64. I'm pregnant right now. Baby's due the middle of September. This is #3 (and most likely the last one) for us.
63. I would seriously consider being a surrogate for any of my family members.
62. I am truly amazed at the capability of my own body to grow and nurture another person. This humbles me in more ways that I can imagine.
61. My religious faith has a definite grounding aspect for me and gives me a great deal of comfort in my life.
60. My political faith does not.
59. I spent most of my adolescence being labeled a "liberal", when in actuality; I was just about as conservative as they come.
58. I am a pragmatic idealist
57. I believe in responsible conservation, but not to the point of impeding human progress
56. If they took volunteers for the Mars colony today, I'd be one of the first to sign up... family in tow.
55. I have a very strange sense of humor. Must have been all of those BBC shows I used to watch on Public Television as a kid.
54. I write a mean (often dirty) limerick... just try me!
53. My favorite color is red, though I've been going through a brown phase for the last couple years.
52. 60% of the clothes in my closet are black
51. I have very dark brown (almost black) hair, but 2 of my soon to be 3 kids have blonde hair. I'll report back if baby #3 is different.
50. In case you were wondering, my husband has blonde hair. I was counting on the dark to be dominant... no such luck.