caffeine and yarn

*little dance*

I am in Knittymama's Coffee Swap II. So excited! My partner in the swap, during the pursuit of knitting while drinking coffee, lives in the UK! How fun is that?

My answers to the coffee swap questions:

1. Whole bean or ground? Whole bean. I have a fully-equipped coffee corner in the kitchen which makes this possible.
2. Fully loaded or decaf? Are you kidding? Fully loaded of course (otherwise what's the point?). Caffeine is my "drug of choice".
3. Regular or flavored? Regular. Why change a thing?
4. How do you drink your coffee? Hot and straight up (black), with a curl of the lip if you try to move my mug before the first cup is done. My coffee and I have a morning thing.
5. Favorite coffee ever? One year a student in my classroom brought back from his family vacation in Guatemala a one pound bag of locally grown coffee--it was rich with a bit of a nutty aftertaste. I coveted it and yet, being only a pound, was gone all too quickly.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee? (Fussy? See number 4.) I don't like bitter coffee or the super dark roasted.
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? Homemade banana bread (with walnuts, of course) smeared with cream cheese. Oh, I can taste it already. Fresh bread just out of the oven with melted fresh butter on top and sometimes a dab of honey. If you are going to go "bad", go with style.
8. Anything else about your coffee preference? Hum...can't think of anything.
9. Yarn/fiber you love? Wool, cashmere, silk, qiviut, angora, alpaca...well, all the wonderful natural fibers.
10. Yarn/fiber you hate? Hate is such a strong word, but it quite fits here: acrylics, man-made-oil-synthetic-based products.
11. What's on your needles? Lopi pullover with wool and silk, wristlets with alpaca, wool, and cashmere, several socks with superwash wool, fair isle hat with wool and cashmere, scarf with cashmerino (this is in the classroom).
12. Favorite colors? Blues, greens, browns, dark purples, dark reds. No pastels, no pinks, no bright oranges.
13. Allergies? No, only to things that bloom *sigh* (my garden, my lemon trees, etc.) but it doesn't stop me.
14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest? In the order of chocolate (just in case you want to know), no dark chocolate. As far as knitting, I carry my knitting in baskets--oh, I use canvas bags, but they are inside the baskets. Absolutely love knitting with rosewood and birch needles. Bamboo are ok but manufacturer's quality is not consistent. I support fair trade and women's cooperatives for products when possible.