What are your favorite types of knitting projects?
I like having something in progress that is completely mindless, thus the socks. I mostly knit plain generic socks, though I have binders and a hard drive full of fancy sock patterns. I carry the current sock in progress everywhere I go, in case I can grab a moment here and there to knit. At those moments I don’t want to have to dig around for the pattern and think about it.

I also love lace knitting. I’m certainly not an expert (yet!), but I’m working on it. If it’s in a foreign language that I can’t read, that’s even better, apparently.

If time and money were no object, what would you knit, and for whom?
I’m fortunate in that money isn’t that much of an obstacle to my knitting desires. The time issue is much more of a factor. Well, time, and the fact that I apparently can’t count, knit, and drink whiskey at the same time. You’d think I’d learn.

Anyway, given unlimited time, I’d knit up a bunch of Shetland lace shawls. And maybe a few dozen intricate Fair Isle sweaters. And knitted lace doilies; those really get my attention, even if I likely never will knit one. The lace patterns by Herbert Niebling and Christine Duchrow fascinate me.

I mostly knit for myself. I am definitely a “process” knitter. I’m likely the world’s slowest knitter. I also have a lot of stress in my work life, so knitting on a deadline for someone else just doesn’t do much for me.

Other endeavors/hobbies?
Office supplies, which should come as a surprise to no one who knows me. I belong to a pencil of the month club, from www.pencilthings.com. Every month they send me cool pencils, erasers and other little writing gadgets. Yes, I’m a nerd. And I have a million books that compete with my yarn collection for space.

Any funny or outstanding knitting experience?
Funny? Most of my memorable knitting experiences have not been exactly funny. They usually involve some combination of whiskey and stupidity, ending up with me grabbing the camera and saying “whoa, the blog readers will love this one."

Seriously, I took a two-day class from Beth Brown-Reinsel on knitting gansey sweaters. It was at a tiny rustic resort in Idaho last fall, and it was wonderful. She is a great teacher, and it was my first ever formal knitting class. I also took a class this winter from Evelyn Clark based on her book “Knitting Lace Triangles” that was terrific.

Favorite tip or technique?
Lifelines. Many lace knitters abhor them, I love them. I use Glide brand waxed dental floss (unflavored). I thread it through a row of stitches every so often after a pattern repeat, or when there’s some big change in the pattern. Whenever I forget to do this, it comes back to bite me. Even if you only need to rip back to it one out of a hundred times, it’s worth the trouble.

Any other parting words or things you want to share?
Knit what you like, buy more yarn than you think you’ll ever use. Don’t feel obligated to follow “rules”. When I learned to knit a few years back, I started by knitting a real adult-sized sweater. I learned a lot along the way, and it certainly isn’t the world’s greatest sweater, but I don’t think that beginner knitters should feel intimidated by thoughts that any project is too difficult for them.

It’s all knitting and purling, with a little counting and some luck thrown in. And you can always rip it out and redo it, or show it on your blog as a cautionary tale.