Fiber Geek Questionnaire

The January/February issue of Fiber Femmes Magazine http://www.fiberfemmes.com/ had a Fiber Geek Questionnaire to fill out and post. It has taken me a while but I finally got it done this AM...

1. Do you raise fiber, animals or plant, or are a fiber user only? I have animals
If you raise animals/plants...what do you raise? I have an angora goat, two Finn and one Romanov sheep. I would like to grow cotton this year if time/weather allows.

2. What's your favorite fiber & why? Don’t have a favorite but I have spun Cormo and Shetland the most.

Which fiber do you like the least & why? I haven’t met a fiber I didn’t like but I have only been spinning for 2 1/2 years and I haven’t tried them all yet!

3. What's your worst habit relating to your fiber? I rush things to much. I don’t learn how each fiber should be spun, I just start spinning therefore I don’t do the fiber justice. And even though I know this I have to feel it flow instead of researching it. I am bad.

4. In what ways does your fiber habit make you a better person? I am calmer but I also tend to zone out and not hear people, which irritates certain members of the family.

5. How would your life be different if you had to give up fiber? I would have more room and money for one. I think I would have gone back to smoking as fiber keeps my hands busy. I wouldn't have the animals and I wouldn't have met some of the people I have met both of which have enriched my life.

6. What tools, yarns, books or gadgets can't you live without? Oddly enough I would have to say the internet. I live in a fairly remote area. There is a world of information, patterns and fellow addicts out there no matter what time of the day or night. The access to different fibers not produced in your area, patterns and techniques for knitting that I have never seen or heard of, and the blogs/KAL's with photo's to egg you on to becoming better at what you do is astounding.

7. What was your first fiber project? When I was small I learned to crochet by making a doily. The first thing I made with my own homespun was a shawl on the triloom. The first knit project was a scarf.

8. Do you have any fiber mentors? Yes

Who are they and why? Cyndy from http://riverrim.blogspot.com/. I have learned to not say “I would never do that” in front of her. She has answered all my questions~ so many that if she had caller id she pry wouldn’t answer her phone when I called! She got me weaving on the tri, watching the group spin made me want to spin and I loved a pair of mittens she made so had to learn to knit. From Grace http://antique-spinning-wheels.blogspot.com/ I got two beautiful finn sheep along with advice on how to raise them and some gorgeous wood products her husband made. She fearlessly starts these projects and makes it sound so easy that you have to try them. This has expanded my knitting greatly.

9. Are you a member of any guilds? No guild but a group

If so, which one(s)? A couple of us get together at the local library once a week to spin and show and tell.

10. What's the most exciting fiber project you've undertaken? Spinning my own wool was pretty cool. I literally took it from start to finish there. In knitting I would have to say the Wee Aran Knit http://www.cs.oswego.edu/~ebozak/knit/ck-patterns/wee.aran/ On most things I do, if someone says it is nice, I would just thank them. With this project it was “yeah it IS gorgeous isn’t it!” I love it and packed it away for future grandchildren. Hopefully moths won’t get to it before I get any.

11. How many people have you mentored? A couple

In which fiber arts? I am trying to teach my children how to spin. My son has better coordination but his sister wants to learn more than he does. I taught the local boy and girl scout troops how to weave on the triloom and last week I helped each girl scout learn to knit a square for Warm Up America.

12. Do you consider fiber crafts to be functional or artistic? Both A hat, mittens, sweater can be functional but artistic at the same time.

13. What, mainly, do you make? Shawls on the triloom, and I knit hats, mittens, socks and baby sweaters. I crochet afghans.

Do you keep, or give away, most of your projects? I give them away.

14. Are fiber crafts an avocation or vocation for you? It is an avocation now but I wouldn’t mind it turning into a vocation

15. How many people are you committed to being a mentor for in 2007? As many as will listen to me go on and on about the smell of fiber, the feel of fiber, the cute fiber animals, walking around in hand knit socks etc etc etc