Tangelled Angel

1. Whats your favourite type of yarn?

Merino wool, or wool of almost any type except the really scratchy stuff.  I like wool blends with cashmere/ silk in them.
I like homespun yarns as so much time thought and effort has been put into them.
I have some yarns that I just pet, that have silk in them and are oh so soft.
Anything that is soft and silky, or soft and springy! I like cotton, but generally only knit small amounts with it as I find it hard sometimes on the fingers
Colour wise, I’m not generally fussy, but find that I’m tending to go towards greens at the moment, though I like red’s, oranges, blues,pinks, purples black and brown.
I’m not fussed on yellow for some reason, unless its for a baby garment.

2. What’s your least favourite type of yarn?
Oh, do you have to ask (of course I do, I was one of the people setting the questions, doh!)
Acrylics and fun fur/fun yarn.  I don’t see whats fun about it.
Some acrylics can be useful for some items, and if they are soft to touch, then thats a bonus point for them, but I generally tend to steer away from them.

3. What’s the first thing you do when you visit a new yarn shop?
Its probably genetic engineering in knitters, I think I do what most knitters do, start at the start of the shop, work my way through, all the time feeling, smelling, squeezing yarn, putting it back and making a note of the general area my favourites are in, then go and check out the magazine/book section, then come back and make a decision on what to buy.
I also do a bit of a check out of the knitting notions that are on offer, in case there’s anything I need/want/desperately have to have.

4. What other crafts do you do / would like to do?
I spin, occasionally- not as much as I’d like. I love baking when I get a chance.
I have done a lot of mosaicing in the past but haven’t done much in the last couple of years
I bead a bit and I make the odd card/paper craft.
I’d like to learn how to crochet, I can do a single chain, but anytime I start reading about how to do it, the terminology puts me off, I think I need someone just to show me how its done, I’m a visual person moreso than a reader from books
I’ve done some sewing lessons a couple of years ago, but the teacher was pretty bad, she kept on showing us photo albums of her work and not getting down to the actual teaching aspect of it.  The garment went unfinished, and I havent done much since, but I’d love to learn properly.In fact, I’m planning on buying a sewing machine.

5. What magazines do you currently subscribe to?
Currently I subscribe to Rowan magazines only.
I did have a subscription to Simply Knitting but found that I wasn’t really making anything from them, and got more mileage out of the Rowan magazines.
Similarly I had subscribed to Interweave knits last year and have only just started knitting one item from one of the magazines. Of course, the spring IK came out, and had lots of nice things in it, so I had to get it.
The newsagents in Ireland generally don’t have a great selection of knitting/craft magazines so most magazines need to be subscribed to or ordered over the net generally anyway.
There seems to be lots of nice magazines out there that we don’t even get a sniff of, I have tasted Phildar magazines and like them, and there are lots of magazines in other languages like Japanese, German, French, that would be lovely to have a look at.

6. Put this type of magazine in order of preference:
Knitting / Crochet / Other Craft / Food / Home / Fashion / Celebrity Gossip / Garden

Knitting/OtherCraft/Food/Crochet/Garden/Home/Celebrity Gossip/Fashion

7. What items do you like to knit / crochet?
Traditionally, small items that are a quick fix and give me that sense of completing something, but this year I’m focusing on larger items, have started a cardigan for myself, and doing smaller projects in between.
I have a list of cardigans/wraps etc that I want to do, as well as other things like socks, lace-work etc.
This year I’m trying to focus on knitting for myself a bit more, but its not quite working out like that. Babies keep coming along!

8. Are you allergic to anything?
Fibre wise, Im not great with scratchy wools, make me itch a lot, in fact I can’t really wear anything itchy, it just drives me mad.
Angora gets up my nose, in my eyes, down my throat, so can’t use it at all, not even in a blend usually.
Apart from that, I’m not great with a lot of dog breeds, they make me sneeze, nose run, eyes get itchy, general uncomfortableness,so hopefully this doesn’t impact on this exchange!
Food-wise, I’m allergic to shellfish, not that you’ll be sending me shelfish, but just so you know!

9. What do you like to smell of?
Clean scents,fresh scents, vanilla, lemon, mango, chocolate (yes its fresh!), cinnamon as long as its not overpowering, homecooking as long as its baking.
Success after a particularly challenging project.

10. What’s your favourite way to relax?
Its amazing how relaxing knitting really is.  I’ve taken out my knitting just before a job interview, do a few rows, and feel that it does the job!
Apart from that, I like to read a good book, have a long bath with bubbles and a glass of wine (pity you can’t bring knitting into the bath eh?), meeting up with friends, going out for dinner, going out for walks in the Burren (place in Clare- west of Ireland) or along the beach (again in Clare).
Popping round for a cup of tea at my parents and sitting in the kitchen chatting…
Playing with my cats.

11. You’re stood in front of a Victorian style sweetshop, an Italian cafe, an old fashioned bakery and a dainty tea room. Where do you go first?
This is a hard one, why did we say this again Isobel??
I think I’d like to go into them all, but I’d have to prioritise.
I’d go into the dainty tea room first, sit and have a cup of tea and watch the world go by, from the window seat of course.  If I had some knitting with me,(as if you need to ask), that would make an appearance also.

12. What do you come out with?
Well I’d say that this dainty tea room would be well up on the teas of the world (its IS my imagination of course) so I would probably indulge in some Honeybush tea to bring home with me, or some rooibus tea if they had a particularly nice flavour.  If they had any nice mugs in china, I may get one of them too. Can’t beat a cup of tea from a china cup/mug.

13. Where do you go next?
The bakery, get some freshly baked bread, and some nice yummy things for my boyfriend and me
I would of course, have to follow up by going in to the sweetshop and then into the cafe to buy a take away frappucino
Yes, okay, I like a bit of caffeine occasionally.

14. Any other words of wisdom for your pal?
I hope you manage to get a sense of what Im like and who I am from my blog. If not, feel free to ask me questions!
I am actually quite easy to please, and love getting a parcel in the post. Makes me smile all day long, it does.