My name, to which I am very attached, means "honeybee" in Greek.
I believe this is why I have always been naturally attracted anything honey scented or flavored.
I also believe that is why I am more severely addicted to sweets than anyone I know.
Chocolate will most certainly be the death of me. I do not know my limits.
I once consumed an entire pound of chocolate-covered dried cherries within the course of 24 hours.
I was sick for 4 days.
Caffeine, however, is the secret to my success.
Fact: After just one cup of coffee, my brain functions at efficiency levels undiscovered by modern science.
In my previous life, I was referred to as a bean counter.
I have had many jobs so far in my life, including: server, salad prep, bartender, barista, clothing salesperson, cherry salesperson, meat slicer, real estate office attendant, gym rat, coffee roaster, housekeeper, bed and breakfast host, academic department office attendant, envelope stuffer, manager and most recently, business owner.
I have only been fired once in my life--I was let go because of scheduling conflicts between multiple jobs.
I have a strong work ethic.
I am very good at performing repetitive motions at extremely high speeds.
I may or may not fall under the category of "speedy knitter", and have never met anyone who can wrap silverware faster than I do.
You should see me with a tape gun.
I thoroughly enjoy performing activities that others may consider "mindless"; even though I may wear a blank look on my face, my mind is exploding with thoughts about Life.
I tend to have very strong opinions about how things should and should not be done in Life, and usually have no bones about expressing these opinions.
One might say I have a big mouth.
My big mouth has gotten me into trouble often.
I sometimes think about these strong opinions and realize I would be a more pleasant person if I kept the aforementioned mouth shut.
I would, however, lose a lot of my personality.
Which I like quite a bit.
I am very happy with the person I am. I am truly comfortable in my own skin and think I have a fairly clear concept of myself in relation to others.
That being said, there are only about 17 million things I need to work on.
Like returning phone calls in a timely manner.
And being a better listener.
And a better wife.
I undeservedly landed the best friend and husband in the world.
Just last week, he washed all my sweaters by hand, threw a BBQ for all my knitting friends and gave me a foot massage.
I yelled at him for using up the last of the sour cream.
My husband could care less about yarn, but once I have a project going, he fondles the yarn and tells me that "this is the coolest thing you've ever made". Even if it's not for him.
Which it usually isn't.
Curt and I went to high school together, but we are not high school sweethearts.
We got to know each other through gym class.
During this gym class, we were put in a six week self-defense course. Before we could pass the course, we were required to employ the techniques we learned on an "attacker".
When the attacker grabbed me, something in my brain tripped, and I nailed this 200+ lb. attacker to the ground.
I am now fully confident in my self-defense skills.
I am much stronger than I look.
When Curt graduated from high school, I signed his yearbook and wrote my phone number under my signature.
He found his yearbook while cleaning his truck over the summer and asked me out on a date.
He said he would never have called if I hadn't signed the yearbook. He said he wouldn't have bothered to look my number up in the phone book.
Next This year will mark 10 years together.
We attended separate colleges and developed our own lives away from each other.
I graduated from Hope College in 2002 with a B.A. in English, emphasis in Creative Writing.
Yup. Just one more example of an English degree put to good use.
After I graduated from college, I made a conscious effort to put writing down, so as to give myself a much-needed break.
This, of course, happened at the exact moment I dove maniacally into knitting.
You can imagine how much writing I've done over the past five years.
Exactly none.
Reading hasn't gone much better.
Being a writer takes diligence, consistency and discipline.
I possess very little self control.
Which is why I'm much better suited to be a knitter.
I don't remember my life before knitting.
There is nothing in my life that is more fulfilling than knitting.
Over Memorial Day Weekend 2006, I bought the most charming yarn shop.
Running a yarn shop is much more involved than a knitter might think.
You rarely get time to knit.
Really.
I knit more when I worked for someone else. Exponentially more.
Even though I sometimes wake up at 2:30 in the morning wondering whether I have a budget for $10,000 of sock yarn, owning Inish Knits is infinitely more rewarding than I ever imagined it could be.
My stash is bigger than your stash.
Well, most of the time.
It is excruciating for me to stick to one project at a time.
So I don't.
In a moment of honesty, I will reveal exactly how many projects I am working on right now:
1. a rollneck (or crewneck--haven't yet decided which) in Harrisville's Orchid Yarns in White Marble--shop sample (my size).
2. the Minimalist Cardigan from Fall '07 Interweave Knits in Cascade 220 color #--shop sample (my size).
3. plain vanilla socks in brown Baby Cashmerino (my dad).
These are the knitted items I am actively pursuing at this exact moment in time. This does not, of course, count the items I have cast aside indefinitely, waiting to finish themselves.
Duh.
I am also a spinner.
I prefer to spin with a wheel, but I enjoy my drop spindles as well.
I used to think that drop spindle spinning was ridiculously archaic--until I finally learned how.
I have not yet knit with my own handspun.
Which I am okay with--I just love the process.
I do love what I produce, but I enjoy it as it is--yarn.
I will not allow myself to pick up another creative hobby.
I know that is rigid, and not a very creative thing to say, but I chose long ago to limit myself strictly to knitting and spinning.
Crocheting, sewing, quilting, rug hooking, weaving, tatting, punch needle, jewelry-making, painting, drawing--all out.
It would not be fair to my knitting or spinning to become more of a dabbler in the other fiber/creative arts. If I added something else to the fray, I feel my knitting and spinning would be tossed to the wayside.
As if I need more encouragement in that direction.
While I'm knitting and spinning, I can do another of my Most Favorite Things--listen to music.
Music is my other lifeline.
If I had to choose which of my senses to lose, my sight or my hearing, I don't know how I could forgo one for the other. They are both acutely essential in my life.
I am deeply, madly in love with music.
I need it with me at all times.
The Temptations, Rasputina, the Kinks, Sufjan Stevens, Radiohead, Tori Amos, U2, Nickel Creek, Glenn Miller Orchestra, Alison Krauss, Outkast, Coltrane--I could not live without any of them, among a host of others.
Opera, I could. I have tried. Repeatedly. Over the course of several years. Hate it.
Interestingly enough, I can't get enough of Rogers and Hammerstein musicals.
Neither can my sisters.
I am the oldest of four girls.
I feel very lucky to have the sisters I do--they are precious friends to me.
Two of my sisters are knitters, the other has no desire. Which works out well, since she most recently moved to Florida.
My sister Liz is one of the most brilliant knitters I know. For her first knitting project, she knit a strand of 100 paper lanterns from Habu yarns for me to hang in the window at the shop.
It is awesome to have sisters who are as crazy about your passion as you are.
