What I made, by Sharon

and I love it!     This, I must admit, is a bit of a surprise. This was, after all, my second shawl, the one that I threw all the clues I didn't use on shawl number one. Because of that though, it has a wonderful asymmetrical shape. I blocked it quite aggressively for length over depth, and it certainly ended up with a significant wingspan. While Clue 5B was a bit fiddly and I bitched and moaned about it the whole time I was knitting it, it was worth the effort.   I put this on on Saturday, so we could take photos, and it's so nice to wear that I didn't take it off for the rest of the weekend. All in all a surprising success.

Today I had to take a sick day. While I love a day at home to myself, I loathe being sick. Even relatively mildly sick, which is what I am. I've got a nasty cough and I don't have much energy, but that's the extent of it. Still, after I moped around the office all day yesterday disturbing everyone with my coughing, I think they were quite happy when I said I wouldn't be coming in today. Being sick means no CrossFit, no riding, none of the active stuff that I do every single day. Still, there is an upside to flopping around on the couch all day. Yesterday I finished my 2nd Follow Your Arrow, so today I had the opportunity to block it. I have spent most of the day sitting on the couch watching trashy tv and knitting. My mother-in-law asked me to knit a hot water bottle cover for their caravan hot water bottle, and I thought Winterberry would be perfect. Today I had the opportuntiyt to knit most of it. It's pretty straightforward, but has just enough going on to ...

As I like to on a Wednesday I'm knitting and reading along with Ginny from Small Things. Pop over to her blog to see what she's up to this week. This is my week in: Knitting : I'm finishing my second Follow Your Arrow and doing Clue B which is the knitted on border. I have not done this kind of border before, so it's interesting to do something different. I am surprised how long its taking me. Before this each clue has taken between one and three days, this one I'm not half way through and it's day four. I keep reminding myself to enjoy the process and that, if I wasn't knitting this, I would just be knitting something else and that there is no hurry, but I do keep having to remind myself of these things. Reading : I'm still reading, and enjoying Wool . Normally when I'm enjoying a book I can't put it down, but this one I'm reading one fairly short chapter at a time. Listening :  I started the fourth Discworld novel, Mort . This i...

I knit Clue A on my two colour Follow You Arrow, and I was done! Here it is, my BABAA shawl: I have mixed feelings about this shawl and the whole mystery knit-a-long process. Knitting along with everyone was extremely fun, but I don't love the finished item. And the reasons are not Ysolda's fault. Mainly, I don't like the colours. No one to blame but myself on that one. I love both the colours separately, but in such wide stripes they are a bit too much. Perhaps I would have liked them together on thin stripes, but because this was a mystery knitalong there was no way to tell how they were going to look. I also find shawls shaped like this quite difficult to wear. But as an object I think it's quite nice. Although she doesn't wear shawls that much, I'm giving it to my mother. She loves bold colours and quite liked the idea when I suggested it.   The model in the pictures is not my mother, One of my colleagues was kind enough to model for me.

Twice recently, when people have told me they are pregnant, I've come out with rather inappropriate responses. Last week, when one of my colleagues told me she was pregnant, what came out of my mouth was "well, that's not entirely unexpected... congratulations". I've got another friend who is due in May who I said something equally unusual to when she announced it. I can only hope, and presume, that they have better things to think about than the stupid things that come out of my mouth. Also, that they like baby jumpers. I made this little cutie for between bouts of Follow You Arrow, and I think it is super sweet. The yoked cardigan pattern actually goes all the way up into adult sizes, and, since I have some unallocated yarn in the stash I am seriously considering making one for myself.

This week I am knitting three things, which might be a record for me! Unfortunately (or otherwise) I also have things to do that are not knitting, so things seem to be going quite slowly. I'm currently knitting Clue 5A onto my BABA two colour Follow Your Arrow shawl. The lace is simple and enjoyable, although the rows are very long by this stage. I'll be knitting Clue 5B onto my ABAB shawl, but I'm no where near even picking that up. I'm also knitting a baby jumper, which I started sometime last week. The pattern is the very originally named yoked cardigan , by Hannah Fettig, and I only have the button band to go. I'm reading Wool by Hugh Howey .  Contrary to what you would expect from the name, this book has very little to do with knitting. There was one mention of a character knitting early on, although the character was knitting with cotton. It's sci-fi and very well written, although at this point (I'm neraly half way through) a rath...

Yesterday Leon gave his commercial sock covered feet a very sad look, so today I did a sock wash. It makes me happy, hanging out the hand knit socks, seeing the fruits of the Leon Sock Project and the Sneaker Liner Project. It makes me happy how socks are something I do mindfully, not just throwing something on my feet, but choosing the yarn, and making them with joy. Its these small things things that make everything, even doing the washing, so filled with joy.  

This weekend I finished the sixth and final bobbin of yarn for Leon's winter set. Now I have the 600 grammes of singles complete and I just need to make time to ply them. I might take a Friday off in two weeks, so I can get it all done in a couple of days. Hopefully that will improve the consistency of the final product. I also finished the second clue 4 from Follow Your Arrow, this time knitting a clue B onto my single coloured shawl, making it ABAB. Although this was meant to be the simpler clue, I actual found the reverse side rows needed a bit of attention, and was a bit fiddly, but beer might have contributed to that thought. I quite like the way the last two clues came together, like little hearts and arrows. So there it is, two projects not yet finished, but taken to the next stages,waiting for completion.

This week I followed clue A on my multi coloured shawl, because I thought the increases would give it a pretty shape, which they did:     I loved the first bit, which made some actual lace:   And then the rest of it - the next 16 or so rows -  was just columns of yarn overs, much like the most boring lace in the world from week 2 , although there were stripes in there, which did break things up a tiny bit.   I quite like the way it's coming together, and am really interested to see the final clue.    

So I snuck in another pair of socks for Leon, in between all the Following of Arrows. The pattern is Katniss by Rose Hive r, and is a very handsome cable sock. I really enjoyed knitting these, enough patterning to be interesting, but I could still knit it while drink, drink drinking. I took these with me to an Australia Day Barbecue, Geelong Beer Festival and a few trips to various pubs, and they came out none the worse.   The yarn is Mosley ParkChandada, a merino / cashmere/ nylon blend. I bought it at last years Bendigo, because it's a colour that is both interesting and manly. I enjoyed knitting with it, and it feels like it should wear well, although there was some dye transfer during knitting. I threw it in some hot water and vinegar when I was finished and there was no bleeding there, so hopefully it will hold its colour.   I modified these socks by knitting them over 62 stitches, rather than the 70 called for in the pattern, as Leon has lean ...

I have finished the fifth bobbin for Leon's winter set. The last two bobbins are the trickiest, because I didn't have enough of any one fibre, so I've roughly blended 100 grams of I don't know what, with 100 grames of something that was already blended with silk. I'm  aiming for the final effect to be NOT stripped, but with the variety of different fibres I've thrown into the singles for this yarn, I'll just be satisfied if the final plied yarn has structural integrity, and doesn't end up looking like some weird, stripped bouclé yarn.