I has questionz!

Five, to be exact.

About a week ago, Lynn participated in a game where a blogger would give her five interview questions, and she'd answer them on-blog, and then open it up for other people to request questions.

Well, I have to admit - I love the idea of interviews. One of the things that makes me more than a wee bit jealous is when I see some other blogger being interviewed on the craftzine blog or in a magazine. And yeah, I know - what I do isn't as innovative as what those interviewees do, and I'm probably not as interesting or as "alternative" as they are (in some cases, it seems that either tats or piercings or playing in a garage band are a prereq for landing a craft interview).

But it's an idea I love...I admit, egotistically, I like the idea of thinking that other people CARE about what I have to say, enough to ask me questions. (One of the "waiting games" I play - like when I'm in line somewhere - is to imagine an interview of myself in my head, with someone asking me questions and me coming up with witty and intelligent replies.)

So I had to ask for questions from Lynn. If any of the rest of you want to have five questions, drop me a comment - I'll either e-mail them to you, or post them here, and let you have at it on your own blog (or in comments, if you are blogless).

So here are her questions, and my answers:

1. When did you first start knitting?

I originally learned when I was 10. It was Thanksgiving, we were visiting my paternal grandmother, it was cold and rainy and the house was very small with everyone in it. I had already learned to sew and crochet and I needed something new, so my mom taught me how to knit - just the knit stitch at first. The first thing I ever made was a scarf for my Kermit the Frog doll, which was my favorite toy at the time (he had a whole wardrobe, in fact...a suit and a tuxedo and jeans and t-shirts and pyjamas and a bathrobe and even slippers...all made by me or my mom).

I did a little knitting off and on over the years - in high school I made a Dr. Who-inspired (except it was just black and white) long striped scarf. It was like 9 1/2 feet long and I had to wrap it four times around my neck and shoulders to keep it from dragging on the ground. (I kind of cringe now at some of the things I did as a teenager that I thought at the time made me special and unique and interesting).

I didn't really pick it up again big-time until 1997 or so - when I was in grad school. Then I learned how to make mittens and fell in love with the idea of knitting in the round. I also realized that knitting tends to be a better pick-it-up-and-put-it-down craft than quilting (which was what I was mostly doing at the time) - it works better for those times when you only have fifteen minutes free or something like that. (Especially when you are in the situation I was when I was in grad school, where I didn't have a sewing room, so I had to take out and set up, then put away, my sewing machine every time I wanted to use it.)

2. Are there any crafts you would like to do but haven't gotten around to yet?

I toy off and on with the idea of learning to spin. And I think it might be fun to know how to tat. But the truth is that I'm so busy right now I can't really take up anything new without seriously neglecting my current loves (piecing, quilting, knitting, and crocheting).

Someday I'd like to get back into ceramics. I did a little pottery in high school and that was a lot of fun, especially working with a wheel.

3. When you were a little girl what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was very little, I wanted to be a "movie star" (NOT a celebrity; someone more like Kate Hepburn who was a good actress and wasn't just famous for being famous) or a painter. Later on that shifted to being a teacher or a scientist or a writer. So I guess I partially am doing what I wanted to do when I grew up.

Even as a kid I knew I didn't want to be a nurse, or a doctor, or an astronaut - which I know are three common suggested-vocations by kids.

Oh, for a short period of time I thought I might want to be a minister, too. I still contemplate that and think maybe, in retirement, if divinity schools still exist and there's still a need for the liturgical sort of person who cares about seasons and colors and meanings, I might go and get some kind of training...

4. Describe your ideal vacation.

Somewhere safe and interesting and not crowded. My biggest problem with the trip to Chicago recently was all the crowds. I'd love to go somewhere that's like an artists colony or somewhere where there are a lot of interesting boutiques or especially antique stores.

(Even going to McKinney counts a bit as a vacation for me.)

I think the Texas hill country - like Fredericksburg - looks like an interesting vacation spot.

Another vacation I think I'd enjoy would be a stint at a folk school - there are several around the nation - where they teach things like spinning or clog-dancing, that kind of thing.

For an outdoors type vacation, I'd prefer going to the mountains - somewhere with really good and interesting hiking, that is not too hot - and stay in a nice cabin or lodge. (I do not camp. If there isn't indoor plumbing, I'm not too interested in spending the night.)

I am definitely not a "lie on the beach in the sun" kind of person.

5. If you were put in charge of a billion dollars to be used to make the world a
better place what would you do with it.

There are so many ways I could go with this but I think I'm going to go 'small' with this, because in my observation, it seems that trying to go too "big" or complex or solve any of the major looming problems of the world tends to either fail, or cause undesired consequences.

So what I would do would be to spend the money to institute cooking and nutrition classes (and REAL nutrition, not some kind of "let's scare the pre-teen girls out of eating ever again so they won't get 'fat'" type of nutrition) in primary schools. And offer the classes free to any adults who don't know how to cook. And generally work to encourage people to get involved with the concept of food and its making again.

I'd also encourage things like community gardens, and farmer's markets, and small-scale local agriculture (you DID say a billion dollars...). Make food more accessible, especially make good quality food more accessible to poorer people or people living in the depths of the city.

Maybe, make it kind of like art appreciation or music appreciation, but with food. Because - people may live miles from the nearest art museum, or they may never be able to get out to a concert. But everybody EATS. And if we could improve people's enjoyment of and understanding of how they ate, that might lead to a higher quality of life for everyone.

(I see too many people who do not seem to enjoy or care about what they eat - to them, food is sort of a grudging necessity, and all too often it's an indifferent hamburger or a wilty salad grabbed from a fast-food place.)

Part of it would be a general health thing - I think the more people understand nutrition and what's going into the food, the more they care, the more likely they are to make good choices. But I also think - and I realize this may not be true for everyone - but I think there's something fundamentally satisfying and good about being able to cook for yourself. It's a tiny area of your life, maybe, but at least it's one area of your life where you can feel competent.

And maybe by teaching people to be competent at cooking, some people will get the idea of, "Hey....there's something I'm good at! There's something outside of work that's worth doing!"

I'd love to think of many thousands of people out there in the world caring passionately about the quality of the food they bought and ate, and also spending time talking about things like the loaf of bread they baked over the weekend, or a new way they figured out how to cook beans, or debating the merits of different types of vinegars.

And I admit there's a tiny bit of selfishness in that - because if I made people more conscious and more caring about their food, that might mean it would be easier for me to find good fresh ginger (among other things) in the supermarket.


So anyway.

If YOU want some questionz, drop a comment or an e-mail and I'll come up with five for YOU.