pennycarp

I'm a retired first grade teacher living with my husband in his hometown in Iowa. We have two adult sons but no grandchildren. The other loves of my life are my German Shepherd, Moxie, and my ruddy Abyssinian cat, Razzle Dazzle.

I love fall with all the changing colors, winter with snow and colder weather and spring with flowers everywhere. I'm not a summer person as I don't like hot weather and bugs - especially the kind that bite.

I believe my first, and continuing, big interests in life (other than cats and dogs) were dolls and paperdolls. I have been actively collecting both since the mid-90's. I started with looking on eBay for an 11" Dydee Doll in better condition than mine from my childhood. I found one, and she was the start of my current collection. She joined most of my childhood dolls which my mother had saved for me - all in pretty good shape except for my having cut the hair on every one of them! Then it occurred to me that if I could find a childhood doll on eBay, I could probably find the paper dolls I remembered from my childhood, too. Bingo! I have quite a collection of paper dolls from the late 40's through the 50's, almost all in uncut condition and a few even in mint condition. What fun! :-)

My favorite music is classical. Some of my favorite composers are Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Rossini.

I like to read mysteries, suspense, romance and any combination of those genres. Some of my favorite authors are Nora Roberts, Suzanne Brockmann, James Patterson, Linda Howard and Fern Michaels.

The Great Escape, North by Northwest, The Sting, Harry Potter, Chicago, Secretariat

Dancing With the Stars, Army Wives, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Criminal Minds, Project Runway, HGTV

Knitting is currently my favorite craft, but sewing is a very close second. I've sewn lots of doll clothes for swaps and round-robins. For this reason I prefer solid color fabrics or prints in small-scale that are suitable for 10" to 18" dolls.

I'm thoroughly addicted to knitting socks, so fingering weight sock yarn is what I'd really like to receive. I've progressed from 5 dpn's to using two circular needles which I really like. And right now I'm working on two socks on one long circular. I'm not enamored with this technique, but I'll see the pair of socks through to completion and then see if I'll do it this way again.. The two socks on the magic loop are completed, and my verdict is that I'll be sticking to two circulars. I've already gifted a friend with my 60" magic loop. :-)

My favorite colors are blue, especially teal, and green, but I also love fall colors when they are combined in a skein of yarn. I like solids as well as multi-colored yarns. I do not like neon colors and am not fond of pink, either.

Most of my swaps have been great. I've gotten all kinds of yarn in many different weights and colors, although, I was flaked on my second swap. What a disappointment! :-( However, the coordinator was an angel to me, gifting me with a gorgeous purple cashmere yarn.