What I made, by Sharon

It's impossible to go anywhere in my place, or take any photos, without encountering a cat right now. We are catsitting my parents cat, so all up we have four Bengals or half Bengals in our two bedroom flat (well, Princess Daisy technically is in no way a Bengal, but she's feline royalty, so that will do for me).  My Mini Manu is going well. I've joined the body and sleeves, and now it's just the yoke, the buttonbands, the pockets, the iCord cast off... so a little bit to go really.  I'm reading John Scalzi's T he End of All Things which is four linked novellas set in The Old Man's war universe. It's fine, much better than the previous book in the series, readable but not setting my world on fire. And I've just started listening to The Hare with the Amber Eyes . My mother-in-law read it for her book club, and recommended it although she said there were difficult parts. I haven't listened far enough to have an opinion yet. Click over ...

Today was the barely publicised Coloured Sheep show in Cranbourne and Kate and I went to check it out. We had very few expectations, but figured even f it was a bit of a non-event we would have a fun road trip.  Well, it exceeded all expectations. There were sheep, goats, chickens and rabbits to look at and pat. There was a heavy emphasis on spinning, with loads of complete fleece for sale. I was very restrained, but I did buy 200 grams of fibre from Beer and Skittles . It's two braids died the same colours, one with sparkle and one without. I also bought the yarn for Kate Davies Epistrophe . I've been wanting to knit this out of White Gum Wool  for a while, and being able to see the colours was very helpful.     I decided on yarns that were quire tonally similar, while on line   I had been thinking about much more contrasting colours. So, a very fun, interesting day, and I got to pat a goat.

Unlike last week , this week everything is new and fresh. As promised , I'm knitting a very pink Mimi Manu for my niece. That's the start of the first sleeve in the picture. I'm reading   We are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory. I had not heard of it but Wil Weaton recommended it.  It's utterly compelling and I can barely top reading for long enough to write about it. And I'm listening to the end of the Once and Future King series, The Candle in the Wind . It's all rather odd and I like it best when I am listening at work, as the story flows gently across my conciousness. Ans that's me for another week of knitting and reading. Make sure you pop over to Ginny's blog to see what the rest of the yarnalong are doing this week.

a very little tea pot. I've had these two teapots for years. The larger blue one is the one that Leon and I use together and until recently the small green one has sat by itself in the cupboard. Recently though I've found myself using it when Leon is not around. Which is fine, but I notice how quickly the tea gets cold without a tea cosy.  We have a great tea cosy on the large pot, I think it's Leon's favourite thing I have ever made for him! So, I just had an idea. I have Kate Davies' Sheepheid hat pattern. Surely I can modify that, make it smaller, add st eeks and have a glorious tiny tea cosy? I'm off to measure things!

  I finished my Weatherwax socks yesterday.  I like them, although they haven't photographed particularly well. They fit, but they could be tighter. Since this seems to be an ongoing theme, it seems like it's time to go down a needle size when I'm kitting socks on two needles. So, the lace isn't quite as obvious as it could be. The other reason is that I am a lazy photographer and Juniper wasn't being a very good photographer's assistant.  I deliberately modified the pattern so they were the same length. I accidentally  modified it so the pattern repeats more on the left foot than the right. I'm claiming it as an homage to the original asymmetrical patter.  

When Kate Davies announced she was making her own yarn, I was  very excited. After all, one of her favourite yarns is Jameson and Smith a wonderful woolly yarn from the Shetlands. Then she showed us the colours and I was smitten. But what makes it even better is that for the launch she made a club: One shade of each colour, seven patterns released over seven weeks and some other stuff. To be honest, I was so excited about seven new Kate Davies patterns and this yarn that the promised project bag, recipes and book are just icing on the cake!

I think this is the first time this has happened! Last week I was at the beginning of my book The Twelve , by Justin Cronin, my sock  Weatherwax Socks  by Rachael Coopey and my audiobook Discworld book 17 - Interesting Times. Now I'm near the end of all three. it's funny, I've been enjoying all of them and had a fair bit of time to read, knit and listen, it's just a matter of timing. Last week lots of people commented on how pretty my yarn for these socks is. It's is super pretty, I love sparkle yarn! It's hand dyed by one of my favourite dyers, Stranded in Oz.  And that's me for another yanalong, remarkably like last week! Pop over to Ginny's Blog Small Things to see what she and the rest of the yarnalong are up to this week.

I was happily knitting away on my Weatherwax socks when I read the heel instruction for the second sock. These socks are mirrored so I read the instructions carefully. the I scratched my head and read them again. The I shuddered and said "NOPE". As written, and on purpose the left sock is seven rounds longer than the right sock. Why? Why would I do that? Why would anyone do that?  

On request I am making my soon to be eight year old niece a cardigan. When it came time to buy the yarn, I showed her the colours. I knew she would choose pink, and it didn't surprise me when she chose the pinkest pink in the world. I'm really looking forward to knitting with such a vibrant colour. I bought this from Purlwise , and was six dollars under their free shipping cap. So, instead of paying for shipping I bought some sock yarn, of course. I've been looking for an Orang-utan  orange to make Leon a pair of Ook socks (one of the socks in the discworld sock series) and I think this will do ve ry nicely.

Hi! It's Wedneday,and that mean's it's time for Yarnalong with Ginny . pop over to her blog and see what she and everyone else has been up to this week. I'm working from home today, and that means my brain is kind of fried. Staring at a screen with no distractions from my colleagues, no coffee runs, no interruptions. I get more done at home, but there is a reason I like going in to the office. So, in order to get away from my computer, I'm going to (try to) keep this brief. I'm reading The Twelve , by Justin Cronin. It's the sequel to The Passage,  which I read in April , and enjoying it. Also, there are passing references to the women knitting, although I'm not sure what they are knitting with, since it's  70 years after the end of civilisation and there is no mention of sheep. Maybe we will find out later. I'm knitting and listening to  a Discworld double . Rachel Coopey's Weatherwax Socks   paired with Discworl...

I'm not sure there is anything much more to be said about my Rams and Yowes blanket, except I finished it, blocked it and I love it. I love the front, I love the back, I love the fact that it is 9 natural sheepy colours and matches my cats. I love the way it looks hanging over the back of my rocking chair. I knit the pattern pretty much as written, although I didn't pick up as many stitches for the border - a ratio of one to one, which is what the pattern called for given many people a wavy border, so I followed my feeling and picked up fewer stitches. It came out quite well. The other thing I did was not purling the border. the method i used was not perfect, and if I was to do it again I would certainly try a different method. This took me a month of continuous, monogamous knitting and I loved every stitch of it. I love Kate Davies ' designs, her attention to detail and eye for colour and this blanket has only deepened my love for her and her design ...

I finished Rams and Yowes , which is currently blocking, and I will put LOTS of photos up when it's done -  and cast on a pair of socks from Rachel Coopey's Discworld Sock Series. Now, this is a 66 stitch sock on 2.5 mm needles, which is what I knit all my socks on and it's was too big. So I'm going to have to rip it out, which is fine, except it's not a pattern that can be easily modified to make it smaller, and the fabric wasn't nice at this gauge,  and I don't have any 2mm needles. So, I can't knit that sock. I am going to knit a mimi manu for my neice, but I couldn't order the yarn because I needed to measure her first, and I'm a bad aunt and haven't seen them for ages, but we have a date for this afternoon, so I'll be able to order yarn later on today. I'm going to order it from Purlwise  which is in Australia, so it will be here within the week. Popping over there just now I noticed they do sell 2mm circulars, so I could ...

and not just metaphorically! As I sat in Melbourne Airport for my plane, knitting away waiting for my plane to Mildura I started to think about all the places I've knitted this blanket. It's been to Seymour (twice) and the Gold Coast and Swan Hill.  And now, as the border gets close to being finished, it got to fly to Mildura. It's also been to two breweries and countless pubs , bars and coffee shops. The thing is, I have loved knitting this project, possibly more than anything I've ever knit before. I'm almost sad to be almost finished. But, the other day, Elise mentioned that her blanket it looking rather raggedy. A colourwork blanket would be much more hardy, right? 

The title of this post is misleading. it's only the reading this week that has resulted in rage and confusion. I started a new book last Thursday, and I was sick and felt sorry for myself, so I decided to read the next Reed Brothers book - Proving Paul's Promise . T hese started out as a romance series, but now every single character has a baby. That's not romantic. And, in my world at least, saying  'I want to put a baby in you" is the least sexy thing it is possible to say. So, as some sort of penance after that I decided to read Slaughterhouse Five . I've read some Kurt Vonnegut before and they have been fine, if confusing. This is meant to be his best book. I hate it. It makes no sense, it's bizarre and tedious and I don't know why I'm still reading it, but I'm determined to finish it, even though I'm hating every word. Aside from that everything is both calm and the same as last week. I'm tootling around the border of  Rams a...