Liebster Award!

Lisa N. of Needles and Wool nominated me for a Liebster Award! What a fun way to discover new blogs! I'm happy to participate and spread the love.

Rules:

1. Post 11 random facts about myself

2. Answer 11 questions the awarding blogger has asked

3. Nominate 11 blogs with less than 200 followers, add their links to this post,and let them know that they have been nominated

4. Create 11 questions the nominated blogs have to answer

Random Facts about Myself:

1. I am addicted to Flaming Hot Cheetos, and my friends and family make a joke of it whenever they can. When I made it in England a few months ago, my mom sent 10 bags of cheetos from home in California to ensure my survival in a cheeto-less part of the world. Bless her heart <3

2. I played the viola in my high school's string orchestra for three years (and was terrible at it!)

4. I am a big Harry Potter fan. Thinking about Neville Longbottom's character development gets me all choked up.

5. I've kept a dream journal since 2011, and use it semi-regularly for sketching concepts and paintings.

6. I read a lot of manga when I was younger, and it's still been a staple in my reading today. Some favorites: Trigun by Yasuhiro Nightow, Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue, Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura.

7. I've been slowly becoming minimalist since 2012.

8. The entirety of my personal stash is logged on Ravelry. What a tiny collection of yarn!

9. The shop stash is a slightly different story, but the yardage has been dwindling at a very even rate. My small living space has kept the yarn population under control.

10. I am an INFP on the Myers-Briggs scale.

11. Sadly, I'm allergic to cats. ;_;

12. My most recent gaming achievement: ..beating 2048

My answers to Lisa's questions

1. What is your favorite thing to either knit or crochet? Right now the answer's a no-brainer. Socks! A close second would be hats as the construction is fantastically easy when you work from the brim up.

2. What is your favorite season? With good company, autumn and winter would be my favorites. The cool air means being able to wear my handknits and share the warmth with others!

3. What is your favorite book? Just one? A top favorite book from the top of my head would be Franz Molnar's Prisoners. Jason gave the book to me as a gift and remembering some of the lines sometimes just stops me in my tracks. If you can find a copy, I recommend you read it right away.

4. When did you start knitting or crocheting? I was initially taught to knit at 13 by my best friend, but I took up knitting with a little more depth and ambition in April/May of 2012.

5. What do you like most about knitting or crocheting? What I love most next to being able to turn string into the shape of warm lovely clothing is the therapeutic effect of the craft. I also love the gentle reminder knitting offers us--even the most daunting designs and projects are possible, all you need to do it take it one stitch at a time.

6. What is your favorite food? Since hot cheetos can't possibly be a real food, I'd say second best is sushi.

7. What would be an ideal day for you if you could do anything all day? A nice forest walk and a picnic, and a figure drawing workshop for the rest of the day. :]

8. What kind of wool do you like to knit or crochet with most? I'd like to try a nice handspun sock-yarn sometime!

9. What will your next creative project be? I'm thinking about learning to write and publish my own designs!

10. When did you start blogging and what gave you the inspiration to blog? I started my blog in June 2012 thanks to some other inspiring bloggers and haven't stopped yet!

The 11 nominated blogs

1. Jenna of hardknitlife

2. A. Gingringer of Disorderly Twinings

3. Lottie of Lottieknits

4. Charly of An Accidental Knitter

5. Sabrina of Donnarossa's World

6. Julia of Words and Stitches

7. Kylie of Like Purls off a String

8. Kaiya of Winterlime Knits

9. Nicole of Singing of Hope

10. Cyprienne of Big Knitting Trouble

11. Hanni of Hannicraft

I will stress that there's no obligation or deadline to participate! And if you'd like to join in and answer my questions by all means do it and let me know so I can read them. :]

My questions for nominated blogs

1. Where has most of your yarn been purchased?

2. Do you have a favorite knitting designer? Who are they?

3. Where do you like to knit the most?

4. What is your current favorite song?

5. What was the best adventure you've ever had?

6. What type of knitting/crochet project have you queued or faved the most on Ravelry?

7. If you could only read one book or book series for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

8. What is the strangest place you've crafted?

9. Are you an early-bird or a night-owl? Something in between?

10. What is one post on your blog that you think everyone should read?

11. Recommend your favorite restaurant or cafe in your town!

 Thanks a lot to Lisa again for the nomination! This was a very fun activity and I hope others participate! I've had a wealth of new-to-me blogs thanks to Eskimimi's blogging week, I hope you readers will enjoy learning about these awesome bloggers.

5KCBWDAY7 - Looking Back, Looking Forward

Day Seven (Sunday 18th May): Looking Back, Looking Forward

While I did participate in the KCBW last year, I didn't complete the Day7 prompt. Somehow I wasn't even aware of it! I do want to participate next year, though so here's my miniature list of things I hope to have achieved by then:

• A second knit sweater (either for me or a gift for someone else)

• My first crochet project completed (with some measure of comfort with the craft)

• My first published pattern maybe?

Not a very long list of expectations, but I'm okay with this. :D

On the Kindle: White Fang by Jack London

On the knitting front: The Irish Wellington Socks by Aileen Cahill. I felt the straight up stockinette pattern would complement the self-striping yarn really well. I'm working with Drops Big Fabel in Forest, a fitting colorway with which to remember all of my forest walks while here in England. :D Jason's going to have a pair as well, in his chosen shade of..wait for it..plain black! The simplicity of this pattern will work really well for that too.

I just might gnaw an arm off if I had to work anything like cables with a jet-black yarn. The smaller skeins(?) are elastic thread I plan to use for the cuffs of Jason's pair of socks. Wool is pretty springy, but I think he'll enjoy socks that do a better job of staying up. We'll see how that goes..

Both yarns are 75%wool and 25% nylon. Thanks for your suggestions! I'm very optimistic about the durable quality of these yarns, and am doubly glad to know that it comes in a worsted weight as well! These socks are gonna fly right off my needles, without a doubt.

I made another small stash addition last friday from Quilter's Quest in Bridgnorth. It's a lovely self striping sock yarn by Four Seasons Gründl, and I've got my eyes on the Vanilla Latte Socks pattern. This'll be a nice little change from all of these thick socks I've made this year! There isn't much info on Ravelry about this yarn, so I'm excited to see how this will look all knit-up. :D

This post is part of Eskimimi Makes' 5th Annual Knitting & Crochet Blog Week. To find posts by other participating bloggers, simply google 5KCBWDAY7 and explore away!

Also part of KCCO! I think I may participate from now on with this. :]

5KCBWDAY6 - Views of Others, Views of Yourself

Day Six (Saturday 17th May): Views Of Others, Views Of Yourself.

(Here are some picks from our wandering in Bridgnorth, to avoid an overly text-heavy post.)

Before making my own blog, I spent a lot of time looking through the gorgeous blogs of Alison Brookbanks, Severien, and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (among many others).

They are each very skilled knitters and designers, with their own unique voice and world. Alison's photos and design sensibility is moody and minimal which appeals to me. Severien's projects are gorgeous, and her writing voice is simple and friendly. Her posts feel like letters to a good friend!  Stephanie's writing style helped me understand that it's okay to not have a perfectly curated and monitored personality for people to take interest in you or appreciate what you have to do! The good she does(with the help of her generous readers!) through her craft and other pursuits, shows how much you can help from wherever you are and can do. Having wonderful knitters and bloggers, helped me out of lurking to just go on and share what I love.

I began knitting a relatively short time ago, and remember pretty clearly the kinds of reactions to it I received. Some were surprised. “You? Knitting?!” (I don’t come off as the type to take up what people would expect to be a delicate, feminine hobby I guess). But the general opinion’s been positive and at least a little bit supportive. :]

It wasn’t until I began selling at craft shows that I got some negative responses to what I do, and it’s usually when they find how much it would cost them to own one of my knits. I’ve had people slam them down on the table like it’s on fire when they hear how much they cost (thankfully yarn doesn't shatter), some straight up laugh in my face, some even politely telling me that they don’t see why this  6-foot-long scarf should cost any more than about $15 because it cost about as much at H&M. I owe it to a lack of understanding of the amount of work and care that goes into these pieces, even if those words really bite. I do what I can to let people know about what goes into making my work, but when all is said and done, Bapsicrafts isn’t for everyone. So I try to let the comments roll off my back, and appreciate the world to me that’s made from the people who happily made my knits a part of their lives. :]

Those who are a little closer to me (read: put up with my knitting while outside or in class) have been super wonderful and supportive of me as a knitter. My mom shelled out a quite a bit of money on these enormous skeins of Red Heart when I was 13 and only dabbling, I’d guess she’s secretly glad that one of the hobbies I suddenly took interest in when I was younger is showing up as a part of my life as a young adult. She and my dad seemed very impressed when I showed off my first finished sweater (which I still have to photograph and make a proper post about!)

Jason for one has been a great supporter of my work too. He tells me that his Christopher hat got compliments often and when asked where he bought it, he’d proudly say that his girlfriend handmade it! He almost never leaves the house without it on, which really makes my heart swell to know!

I think it helps a ton to share what all goes into the craft of knitting. He was very receptive and patient when I ranted about the MILES of yarn I had to frog one night, or my daily gushing about wool socks. He happily held still for measurements, and got to see a yarn he picked out be very steadily and carefully transformed into gloves or socks or a hat. And he was about as upset as I was to find a now cat-sized hat come out of a dryer it shouldn’t have been in in the first place.

An understanding non-knitter is the best kind of person I can knit for and know. I think there’s no better feedback than that moment you catch someone dear to you remembering to set a hand-wash-only piece aside so no accidents happen, or beam when someone says a nice thing about their gloves :]

This post is part of Eskimimi Makes' 5th Annual Knitting & Crochet Blog Week. To find posts by other participating bloggers, simply google 5KCBWDAY6 and explore away!

5KCBWDAY2 - Dating Profile

Day Two (Tuesday 13th May): Dating Profile. Write a dating profile for one of your past finished projects.

Fun loving vegan, looking for a special someone to keep warm.

I'm fun loving, bright, and flexible(WINK~). Looking for a good friend or more to leave the house with once in a while, though I'm no stranger to staying in and chilling in front of a movie. Cool with a fling, but open to a longterm meaningful relationship. I can take it.

Likes: Long walks in chilly weather, good tea and scones, campfire songs, ghouls(little green ones)

Dislikes: Clothes dryers on "High" If you're down to meet, drop a line! Let's be good friends. :)

This (somewhat late!) post is part of Eskimimi Makes' 5th Annual Knitting & Crochet Blog Week. To find posts by other participating bloggers, simply google KCBW5DAY2 and explore away!