In Answer(s) To Your Questions ...

Hello and happy Monday! I hope your weekend was a good one. Mine was quiet and enjoyable, nothing elaborate to report. Yesterday was the last day of the Anniversary Sale at the yarn store (it's been around for 18 years!), so it was kind of crazy busy on top of Knitting Circle. It makes the day go by so quickly, which works for me. 

Anyway, I had posted last week, asking all of you if you had any questions for me. I promised to answer them as well as I could today, so here you go. 

Dee wanted to know:

This question comes from a book I just started reading -- The Measure by Nikki Erlick.

If someone gave you a box and inside was the answer to how long you would live, would you open the box? I'm reserving my answer until I finish the book. I have an inkling that my answer now and my answer at the end of the book may not be the same.

My answer: This is something I actually ponder from time to time - would I like to know how long my life will be? To some degree, it would be nice to know. You could "make the most" of your time at least in theory. But would you? I fear that I would start out that way, and then give up because what would it matter, etc.? So for the most part, my answer is no. I try to enjoy and be thankful for what I have while I have it, and do the best I can. I became aware at a very young age that death doesn't care how old you are, or what you would still like to accomplish, so I think I've always been super aware that my time being alive was tenuous. Currently I've outlived my father by 14 years, and in a few years if I'm still here, I'll have also outlived my mother. 

Having said that, an unopened box in a house full of cats is a problem ... 

Valerie wanted to know:

If you could travel to any one place in the world, where would it be and why?

My answer: This is another thing I think about a lot, and to be honest, the answer kinda depends on which day you ask me. Right now, today, I would like to go back to Nova Scotia and/or Newfoundland, because I loved them both when I was there before, and also because when I visited them previously, I was not a knitter. Since then I've learned of a few shops that sound fabulous in both places so I'd love to check them out. Also, since finishing the book Still Life, my lifelong wish to go to Florence, Italy has been rekindled.

Who knows by tomorrow what my answer might be??

Deb's question was:

I'd love to know what the best selling yarns are in the different weights.

My answer: The only one I know for sure that is the best selling yarn in the shop all the way around is Malabrigo Rios. People LOVE that stuff! (Us, not so much. It generally arrives tangled in the skein and winding it is a complete nightmare.) It's also worsted weight, so it has a lot of uses in different types of projects. 

If you ask me this question during the holiday season, my answer would be any of the bulky or chunky weight yarns. Those suckers fly off the shelf at that time of year.

Others that are regularly popular are Rowan Felted Tweed (DK), Fiberstory DK and sock yarns, Biches et Buches Petit Lambswool (fingering) and Mohair (laceweight). The store brand Loop yarns are also popular, particularly for anyone who is visting from out of town and wants to buy local yarn.

Kym inquired:

When and how did you learn to knit? And what was the first finished thing you ever knit?

My answer: When I was in about the fifth grade, I was home from school with mononucleosis. The neighbor lady across the street came over one day with some bright red yarn (I'm sure it was acrylic), and said she thought I might want to learn to knit to have something to do while I was recovering. She had cast on some stitches, and taught me the knit stitch. I knit-stitched that sucker until I ran out of yarn, and I'm sure it was a mess, though I have no memory of how it looked. However, by the time I was "finished" those neighbors had moved away! No one I knew or that my mother knew ("Oh for God's sake!") could knit, so I actually have no idea what happened to that long red piece of fabric. Since we moved a lot, it probably got tossed when we moved away from that house.

Years later, when I was married and living in Chicago, we lived not far from a Lee Ward (remember those?) in one of the nearby 'burbs, and I bought some yarn (acrylic), and got someone there to show me how to cast on. I knit a really long scarf for my mother for Christmas, and the lady there also showed me how to bind off. It didn't turn out that bad, and my mother actually loved it. But it was probably another ten years or more until we moved here, and there was an actual yarn shop, and I took formal lessons to learn to knit. My first project that was completed as a result of those lessons was a sweater vest for The Tim. 

Kim and Shirley had similar questions:

Kim - What does your home look like? I think you live in urban Philly, and I think you have several floors, but I also think you have some kind of back yard but no front yard? But maybe that's just the movie in my head?

Shirley - I would love to see a tour or photos of your home - inside and outside. Just a few your are comfortable with sharing. My impression is that you live in a historic home.

My answer: 

You two have given me an idea for blog posts! 

Most photos I have of our house are related to holidays, knitting, or our pets, so I've decided to work on taking photos that are just of our house, street, etc., to show you at some point. The photo above I've posted before, but for those who do not remember, this is the street where we live in Center City Philadelphia. We live in an area with many historic homes, but ours is not officially historic. Our house first shows up in census records in 1850, so it's at least that old. 

We have three floors, plus a basement, and street planters as well as a side garden. The side garden is where another house used to be, and at some point, someone who owned our house tore that house down and turned it into an enclosed garden, which is both lovely and rare in the middle of the city.

Our street is - as you can see above - *really* skinny. Trash trucks just barely fit through, and it is too skinny for snowplows when it snows. It was built to accommodate horses and carriages, and never widened after that (not uncommon in Philadelphia).

So Kim and Shirley, even though I have only shown one photo and filled you in on some of the details, I have to thank you for giving me ideas to go forward. I'll start taking more photos and organize them into one or a few posts. 

andrea rules had a bunch of questions, so I'll put my answers right afterwards:

1. if you have to type a string of letters that are capitalized, do you hold shift down for all of them, or put on caps lock for all of them? I used to do caps lock, but haven't figured out how to do that with my Chromebook, so I have to go the first way.

2. if you could go back and do things over, would you pick a different profession and what would it be? If I couldn't be a librarian, Id' want to be a writer, which is even less lucrative (if that can even be applied to librarianship, haha), and more difficult to make a career from. So I would probably have spent even more time unemployed. If I could do things over and be rich to start with, I'd start an animal rescue.

3. least favorite word and why? Preventative. Preventive is right there, people and sounds better!

4. what food fad do you hate the most? Subsistence food that becomes a trend. Case in point: ramps. Growing up in WV, ramps were something people had because they were a) everywhere, b) cheap as dirt, and c) something green that you could afford (see A). Now, ramps are very chic, and people act like they just invented them out of leftover avocado toast or some dumb shit like that. (Disclaimer: I love avocado toast. I have loved it for years. But of course, now it's a thing. Ugh.)

5. tell us a strong opinion you have about something truly inconsequential and silly, and yet it baffles you that other people do not feel the same. Oh Andrea, you know me so well - but you also know that this could be a series of posts in my case, right? Currently, I just read an article that said Oprah was a "true spiritual leader." And if that is the case, please just kill me know. I cannot stand Oprah in the first place, but a true spiritual leader - give me a break! Also, Tom Cruise is neither handsome nor a good actor (I will fight you on this one).  I'll stop now, but there you go. 😀

Carol wanted to know:

I'm originally from Baltimore (lived in NE Baltimore City and Baltimore County) - now I'm in NC. What are your favorite places to visit in Baltimore and Philly?

My answer: I love walking around in my niece's neighborhood in Baltimore (I think she lives in Federal Hill?) - lots of historic buildings, some cute shops, and good places to eat. There's also a lovely park nearby to just hang out and people-watch. I love walking around in downtown Baltimore as well, and there is an area whose name I don't know but it's not that far from the Harbor and there are all kinds of twisty streets and funky shops and a really good bagel place.

In Philadelphia, I love going to the Japanese House in Fairmount Park and walking around there and the Horticultural Center, and I also enjoy walking around the Wissahickon Trail and looking for areas I haven't seen yet. Running into people on horseback is just a bonus. 

Kim's question cracked me up:

What is the title of your memoir?

My mother named me for her maternal grandmother, and she used to say it was a good fit, because both of us would "just as soon look at you as go to hell." I of course have no idea what exactly that means, but I think I get the gist. So I think my memoir would have at least the working title of Now That You've Read This, Leave Me Alone.

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OK, this is long and somewhat rambly, but there you go. You asked, and I answered the best I could, and enjoyed it all. I hope you found my answers worth reading, and enjoyed seeing what others wanted to find out. 

Let's keep our fingers crossed that this week treats all of us well. Thanks to everyone who asked a question, and thanks to all of you if you have read this far!