Is it near the end of April already?

Hello, fellow knitters and coffee drinkers! Hello! I'm a bit behind in my introductions to the "group". I have, however, electronically connected with my coffee and knitting pal. Half way around the world, no less! If she sees this, some may be a repeat of a personal email to her (sorry). I am very excited to be a part of the coffee swap this time around. I have only been reading blogs since January...what a wonderful new world I have discovered. Last week I opened/started a blog of my own. Still new in the "making entries" division, but give me time. The internet continues to amaze me; it's a bit like Alice going down the rabbit hole.
I have been around yarn my entire life. We raised lambs (and calves) who were rejected by their mothers. My grandmother knitted her entire life. She used to tell me stories of unravelling old sweaters to make new sweaters and of saving sugar by making/canning sugar water during the depression. My family and extended family always got new sweaters and slippers, as well as hats and mittens each year from her. I miss her terribly and wish I could still glean knitting wisdom from her. I carry on the tradition of knitting, making for the family, but I also include teaching students in my classroom (sixth graders). I have each of them knitting, for themselves, for family, and for charity. They made their own needles and with the exception of only a couple of kids who are "fighting" the pull of yarn, they are happy to sit and knit. During this time of year in the classroom, with standardized testing (a very sore subject for me as a teacher so we won't ever bring it up again), knitting is a wonderful thing for the kids to do if they finish a test early.
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.