Questions (and answers) galore

My SP9 hostess, Shelby, recently posted a list of questions that she's asked her group of SP9 participants to answer. So here goes!

1. Where is your favorite knitting spot?
My favorite perch for knitting is an armless chair in my den. It's covered in dark-brown synthetic suede (cozy!) and is wide enough for me to sit on it cross-legged.

2. If you suddenly could never knit again (shudder), what would you do instead?
I would take all the money I now spend on yarn and use it to build a darkroom in my basement. Pretty much all of my photography is digital these days, and although it provides near-instant gratification and easy sharing of photos, there is something to be said for dodging and burning by hand amid the chemical-scented air of a darkroom.

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
I really can't settle on one answer, so let's just assume I won the lottery and could spend a lot of time and money on one big trip.

• Sydney, Australia: One of my very best friends is a woman named Valerye who has been my pen pal for thirteen and a half years. When we started writing to each other, she lived near Montreal, Canada. But she moved to near Sydney over ten years ago and now has a family there. We still write often--mostly via good old-fashioned snail mail, but also by e-mail--and we've never met.
• The Lake District: I'd really love to spend a few weeks just walking and exploring this area.
• Greenland: I can't stand being cold, and I'd probably have a hard time in Greenland as a vegetarian in a fish-and-meat-focused area, but Gretel Ehrlich's This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland inspired me.

4. When you were little, what did you want to do "when you grew up?" Are you doing it?
I was never interested in the doctor-lawyer-engineer triumverate. I entertained a lot of possibilities (artist, musician, writer, veterinarian, archaeologist, smoke jumper), but the one that stuck in my head the most was park ranger.

Am I doing it now? Nope. Instead my life took some unexpected turns (doesn't this happen to all of us?), and now I happily fill my days with freelance editing, knitting, and toddler chasing.

5. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Um, hello? Does it have lots of fat and sugar in it? Does it fall in the category "ice cream"? Then it's my favorite!

All right, all right--I can be a bit more discerning. Pretty much any Ben & Jerry's flavor is a winner with me, particularly Marsha Marsha Marshmallow (because not only does it have my name--spelled correctly!--in it, but the marshmallows are made without gelatin!), Black and Tan, and Pistachio Pistachio. Yum...