Tuesday, May 29, 2007

I've been tagged!

Wow! I've finally made it in the blogging world. I've been tagged for the first time; by The Knitting Ewe!! Thanks, I think. I must tell seven random things about me. Compared to the Knitting Ewe, I'm not terribly interesting.

Here we go:1) I spent four years in a convent. Not just a Catholic girls' school, but a real convent where we all wanted to become nuns. This was in the 1960's when there weren't a lot of opportunities for girls. The nuns in "my" convent were quite accomplished--my French teacher was a Fulbright student; two nuns ran a printing press operation; my Chemistry teacher was the first woman to attend Marquette Dental School; the financial managers for the order were nuns; the woman who ran the physical plant and huge boilers was a nun. Wow! I was "in the convent" during my high school years after which .....(see #2)

2) My family moved to Northern Nigeria for two years. My father was with a government project. Very, very interesting experience, to say the least.

3) I learned how to knit in the convent from my fellow high schoolers. I loved it. I knit while studying. For a period of time knitting was prohibited on Sundays because it was "work." I protested this, since we were required to do schoolwork on Sundays. The ban on knitting on Sundays was lifted!!

4) I hide yarn from my husband. I think he has good reason to complain about the size of my stash. My problem is that I have to keep the yarn in the basement and I forget what yarn I have. I've made lists, etc., but that doesn't help. I keep finding surprises whenever I look.

5) I stopped knitting when I was about 30 and started again when I was in my late 40's. I'm not sure why I didn't knit for 15 or more years. During that time I made lots of my own clothes. When I began to knit again, I was shocked at all the new yarns and interest in knitting. In my previous knitting life I was a lonely solitary knitter. It's so much fun to have a vitual and a tangible knitting community!!

6) I just graduated from library school (a master's degree in library sciences) at age 57. Now, I must look for a job. I'd rather knit!!!

7) I love coats and jackets--this must be because I live in the upper Midwest. I would own 25 coats if I had the money and the closet space. I believe life is better with a coat or jacket for every temperature. Some casual, some dressy. I would even love a fur coat ( I know, this is not politically correct), but I would wear only a vintage fur coat--at least 50 years old. when I was in college I had an old ratty racoon coat from the 1920's that I wore on campus in northern Wisconsin. It was so cozy warm. I've never been so warm in the winter.

8) I started taking piano lessons at age 50! I had always wanted to take them when I was a child, but our family had no money for lessons, much less a piano. I stopped lessons when I started graduate school and had no time to practice. If I find a part time job, I will take lessons again. I loved it. I wasn't very good, but I loved it. The music sounded magical to me--to think, that my hands could make music!!!

Whoops, I've gone beyond seven. I'm not too good at following directions!!
I'm still looking for ideas for socks for my sock pal for sockapalooza. She is from New Mexico. I'm not sure what people wear on their feet in a warm climate--since I'm from the frozen north!
Thanks!!

4 comments:

betta said...

Gail, I can't believe I didn't compliment you on your degree!! Congratulations!!! Late is better than never! ;)

I'm trying to buy right now the ticket for july, but Lufthansa won't let me, grrrrr!

yvette said...

I hope you find a pattern for your swap partner, I just bought Lucy Neatbys Fiesta Feet socks because I think my Mexican friend would love them, though I am not sure I am up to the challenge!

Melissa said...

I loved reading your meme answers. One of our local schools has a librarian job open. Wanna move to Louisiana? :)

Knitting Ewe said...

Amazing! I especially admire you going back to school. Something funny happened - sort of a game of telephone with the tag going blog to blog - it's 8 interesting facts! Now you have to tag 8 people! As for the socks - The Monkey Socks - a Cookie A. Pattern on Knitty is great. Also, a lot of "hot" climates are really cold inside due to AC.