Amelia (another sharerer of the Inescapable Name), aka The Bellwether, recently had a nifty meme up on her blog. I took the bait, and so here are my answers to the five questions she asked me:
1) Why do you like (or, dislike, should that be the case) chocolate?
First off, I do, very much so, like chocolate. I know that there’s lots of science that explains the happy-making tummy/brain chemistry of chocolate, but really I think the reason why I like it is that it is a sweet treat (I have a very sweet tooth!) with a warm and complex flavour. It is both exciting and comforting at the same time.
2) What’s your favorite knitting tool?
Odd question, this. Ignoring the scarcastic part of my brain that says “um, needles?”, I think first I have to confess one thing: I am a knitting cheapskate. (Actually, my drop spindle escapades should illustrate this full well!) I don’t really have a tonne of knitting tools, and even the basics that I have are pretty bottom-tier. So, while I’d like to be able to say something like “my Lantern Moon ebonys” or “my electric ballwinder”, I think my favorite tools are the things I can make on-hand as neeeded for the project: safety pins or twists of wire for stich-markers, a Swiffer handle “nostepinne”, a shoebox “lazy-kate”, what ever I need at the moment and can cobble for myself. Maybe that really makes my favorite knitting tool my odd brain?
Tell me about 3 Amelias that you know (historical, fictional, or real).
~ Amelia #1 (historical): Amelia Earhart, about whom I know little, but she springs to mind. I’ve often had it said that I’ve my head in the clouds; maybe this is a trait of Amelias…
~ Amelia #2 (fictional): Amelia Bedelia, that amusingly literal-minded maid from beloved children’s books. I think as a kid, I liked reading about her becuase she also had the Name, and was a bit sillier/scatterbrained than I was.
~ Amelia #3 (real): Amelia Coleman, my great-Grandmother. My Grandma was always telling me how I must have inherited my creativity from her: as a wife and mother, she taught piano to bring in extra pin money and apparently preferred handicrafts to housework; as a young woman she was once commissioned to sing before Queen Victoria. I wish I could have met her, across the ocean and the years, but I like to think that I have inhereited more than just her name.
4) What career path did you not take, and why?
Nearing 30 and barely having a career path at all, this is a touchy one! Most recently, however, I have chosen not to pursue a PhD, something I truly thought was “for me”. Last year, as I was completeing my MA, I was seeing sides to academia that I really didn’t like, things that made me hurt and angry. When autumn came (the time for applying to PhD programs), I let it pass, no applications, no contact with professors. There was still too much frustration inside when I thought about being a student again.
Lately, there is less anger, but I think that the distance has let me think about academics as a career choice with a broader perspective. There are still many things about it that lure me, teaching being the topmost (oh, how I would love to just speak to people about reading good books!), and I know that every job comes with its own set of stresses and sacrifices. I’m just not sure it is “for me” though, and until I do know, I’m going to see what else there is in the world for me to try. I do think that I will get a PhD someday, but it may be more to satisfy my ego than to reclaim that career path.
5) In what ways does your fiber habit make you a better person?
When I knit or spin, I am usually calmed, finding a peace in the rhythms of fibrecraft that I don’t get through music, embroidery, drawing, or whatnot. And even those times when I’m swearing like a sailor as I rip out sitches or drop the spindle again, these moments teach me to have patience, to believe in my ability to fix my own mistakes, to not give up.
So, want to play? Here’s the scoop:
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the
questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone
else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five
questions.
Aemmeleia's Ephemera 
Thanks! That’s a really cool knitting tool (“my odd brain”) and I love the sound of the gizmos you create with it. I dunno if she’s hit the internet, but another fictional Amelia is “Ameliarann Stiggins and the Green Umbrella” — an English children’s story from my mother’s time (and thus, the source of my Name)
I would love to be interviewed. And another Amelia is Amelia Bedelia – a childrens’ book character. (and she is quite the character)