Meme from your stash

Theresa over at the Keyboard Biologist threw down the meme gauntlet, and since it's about weird things, I can't resist.
Here are the rules: Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.
Alrighty.

1. I like eating fish and seafood, but it can't look like fish or seafood. So trout, sardines and whole lobsters are out of the question. I have no such qualms with meat. Maybe it's the eyes.
2. I know the entire text and all lyrics of the movie The Wizard of Oz by heart - in two languages, English and German. Even weirder: when I was still translating novels, that knowledge came very handy. You wouldn't believe how often that movie is quoted. A friend of mine, also a translator, would call me in the middle of the night sometimes when she got stuck. I could rattle off the Munchkin song at 3 am out of deep sleep. I'm not sure I could anymore though, these days I need more concentration.
3. Another weird bilingual tidbit: as a true bilingual person, I mix and match the languages freely. Thoughts and personal notes are often composed in Germlish, and sometimes I'm not even aware of it. But: I count in German. Always. I can be totally immersed in a knitting project from an English book, watch an English movie and talk to an English-speaking person, I will count my stitches in German.
4. I'm very much a dove when it comes to my opinion on political conflicts, but I'm a passionate amateur military historian. I have "favourite wars" (Gallic and American Civil), and my dream vacation would be a tour of civil war battlefields. I think I could market my monologue on the fabulousness of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain as a sedative ("I could never be a partisan leader - a man of one idea" - I'm telling you, do not get me started.)
5. I like knitting socks, but I don't like wearing them. Of all features of my sometimes rather odd appearance nothing draws more strange looks than my feet. I go barefoot in Birks and other open-toed shoes as soon and as long the weather allows - and my standards are pretty loose there (it was unseasonably warm here, so I went barefoot until late last week, December or not). I never have cold feet.
6. I cannot watch horror or other violent movies. I know it's just fake blood and perfectly healthy actors, but that doesn't help me. If I'm in a group hell-bent on watching a movie like that, I do not look at the screen at all - for two hours, if necessary. True exchange: "Have you seen Pulp Fiction?" - "I heard it." - "You mean you heard of it?" - "Nope."
On the other hand, I have absolutely no problem with psychological thrillers - the scarier the better, as long as there is no blood and guts - and Stephen King is one of my all-time favourite authors.

Bonus weird thing: I'm posting this meme even though I don't know six other bloggers well enough to inflict a meme tag on them. So, Poet, feel tagged, otherwise I'm going to have to make this a free for all. So there ya go.

In other news:

Oh yes, I will. I think Wendy's and L-B's idea is great, and this shall be my New Year's resolution. Well, the bloggable one, anyway.
So, in order to set myself up properly for pointy fingers if I fall, here are my modified rules. I marked the original parts I took from Wendy's blog in red.

Knit From your Stash 2007

My rules:

1. The Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run through September 30, 2007 -- a period of nine months.

2. I will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:
2.a. Sock yarn does not count.

2.b. If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that I really and truly do not have the yarn for, I may buy yarn to knit that gift.
Also, I’m allowed to buy yarn as a gift to friends or secret pals. But I must give away ALL of it, no sneaking in a test skein to see if the yarn is „good enough“.

2.c. If I am knitting something and run out of yarn, I may purchase enough to complete the project.

2.d. I get one "Get Out of Jail Free" card – I am allowed to fall off the wagon one time.
Nope, there are enough exceptions to the rule as it is. And here's one more: all bets are off if I get to go to the States before the end of the challenge. I’m allowed to buy yarn in the US as I please (why oh why wasn’t the Mason-Dixon warshrag craze upon me while Peaches and Cream was still within my reach???). In person, this does not apply to shopping online at US stores.

2.e. I'm planning to do some charity and fundraiser knitting in 2007. I may buy yarn for that if I can't find anything suitable in my stash. Again, that means ALL the yarn has to go into that, there will be no instances of "Oops, who'd have thought the laceweight silk would not make a warm afghan, guess I'll have to use it for myself."

3. I am allowed to receive gifts of yarn.
Well, anything else would be positively churlish, wouldn’t it?

4. Spinning fiber of any sort is exempt.

5. Tools are exempt - after a thorough reorganization (who am I kidding, I mean organization) of the ones I have. After that, I suspect that I will have all the tools I need.

6. Books are hard. I don't really "stash" my books either and I can't get most English-language books at the library to look at them before buying. However (deep sigh), there will be a limit of five knitting, spinning or otherwise crafty books or patterns (five overall, not five each). Magazines are exempt, because I've got a subscription.

I don’t have a stash of epic proportions. Basically, I'm joining the challenge because I want it to stay that way. I know, I know, what red-blooded knitter doesn’t want a huge stash, but I must admit to feeling overwhelmed by it sometimes, even though it’s not that big. It’s a general question I find myself thinking about - when does hoarded treasure stop being treasure?

There is a practical consideration as well. In 2007, I would really love to save enough to buy an Ashford Traditional, you know, a "serious" spinning wheel. I'm not knocking my lucky find or anything, especially since I haven't even tried her yet, but with the Ashford was love at first sight for both its growth possibilities and beauty. As a bonus, I was actually able to try one of them, so I already know that it spins like a dream, even if I don’t :o). I was going to simply work this plan into my budget, but if it could be a side effect of this fun challenge, so much the better. Yes, I think it's going to be fun, I’m feeling the stash love here ... and now I’ve got the voice of Julio Iglesias stuck in my head („To all the yarns I’ve loved before“). Julio Iglesias? I worry about myself sometimes.