A Bluestocking Knits

(The ever-delightful Joy tagged me for this meme.  Play if you want, dear Reader, with no pressure!)

What is your all-time favorite yarn to knit with?  I don’t know if I really have a favorite yet.  One of the reasons for my starting a knitting blog was to try new things, new yarns and patterns and techniques and inspirations.  That said, I really did enjoy my projects with Jaeger Extrafine Merino and Rowan Calmer, and suspect that Rowan Wool Cotton is not too far away in my future.

Your favorite needles?  Wooden or bamboo, so far.  Haven’t tried Addis yet.  I like the sound the wooden ones make, a nostalgic little tick-tick.  I had a wonderful pair of rosewood circulars a few years back, a beautiful reddish-golden-brown wood, so smooth and warm to the touch.  Laura, who was about one then, was fascinating by my knitting and used to tug at it as the needles moved, and as she grabbed hold of the plastic center, one of the needles snapped in my hand.  I tried gluing and sanding it, but of course it wouldn’t hold.  I recently splurged on a replacement, but they’re just not as good this time, I don’t know why.  Sorry, a little "Citizen Kane" moment there — "Rose-wood!"

The worst thing you’ve ever knit?  I don’t even remember!  I’ve had my share of howlers, to be sure — too-long sleeves, weird shaping, poor color or fiber choice.  I usually just rip ’em out, or if I can’t bear to look at something, it goes into the donation box.

Your favorite knit pattern?  I rarely knit the same thing twice, except for dishcloths, and I refuse to nominate a dishcloth as my favorite knitting pattern.  I have especially fond memories of a few recent knits — Kate Gilbert’s Clapotis, and Nancy Bush’s Truly Tasha’s Shawl and Ene’s Scarf from Scarf Style.

Most valuable knitting technique?  Possibly the humble Kitchener stitch, a.k.a. grafting.

Best knit book or magazine?  I subscribed to Vogue Knitting for a long time, until I came to the conclusion that there were a lot more things I didn’t want to knit in it than things I did, so I switched to Interweave Knits, in the early part of the Melanie Falick years, and I like it a lot.  A large percentage of my knitting books library is from the days when I had pots of money to spend on myself, so that I have a good collection of older Rowan/Kaffe Fassett books, Kim Hargreaves, etc. etc. and not many new ones.  I still like almost all of the patterns in Marion Foale’s Classic Knitwear.  Probably the one that I use the most is a reference book, Montse Stanley’s Knitter’s Handbook.

Your favorite knitalong?  I don’t think I’ve done enough of these to justify an answer, as I’ve been happy with all of them.  The Scarfstyle and Gathering of Lace-along ones are especially interesting due to the number of projects available and the unlimited time!

Your favorite knitblogs?  I’ve just revised my posted list a bit to add a few, though I usually read a number of others via links from my links, as well.  It’s so easy to get distracted, but I kind of like that, sort of like walking around at a party and chatting with old friends and meeting some new ones.  I am so impressed that there is such a variety of knitbloggers out there — my own list includes people from all over the US (some natives, some not), from the UK, Canada, Scandinavia, Australia, and Hong Kong, female and male, some "classic" pattern-lovers, some adventurous, some very fast knitters with new projects every week, some plugging away until they have one wonderful thing to show.

Your favorite knitwear designer?  This is a tough question.  Like with clothes, knitwear designers often have a wide variety of designs, some that I would wear and some that I would not.  I tend to like the simpler things, almost always the more "timeless" designs, and am hardly ever trendy.  I think that Elizabeth Zimmermann fits this description (and often her daughter Meg Swansen, too), and the less-fussy Kim Hargreaves and Debbie Bliss designs too.  I’ve also really enjoyed the two Nancy Bush things I’ve done.  Kaffe Fassett is my wild card — judging by most of my projects, you wouldn’t think I’d be interested, but he blows my mind.

The knit item you wear the most?  For old favorites and sheer durability, probably these,

a riff on the simplest Kaffe Fassett "Stripes" pattern in a double-knitted scarf, and

a variation on Martha Waterman’s Cat’s Paw Square Shawl from Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls, with only the Old Shale border.