What I made, by Sharon

Joining Ginny a day late for this week's yarnalong, because I just got back from a blissful week with no phone or internet.  On my k ayaking and bushwalking adventure I took The Light Between Oceans , because it was set in a lighthouse and that seemed appropriate for a trip in Wilson's Promontory . While I sort of enjoyed it it's not a very good book. It changes tense, has some very weak plot devices and it's just not very good. I knitted on Twist Pullover , which went well and turned out to be a great project for this trip - simple and light. It was such a joy to be able to knit and read in lovely places this week.  I'll  tell you all about the actual holiday tomorrow, and review the knitwear we took with us too.

Tomorrow we are heading down Wilson's Prom way, to spend three days kayaking, followed by three days hiking. I've never done any hike in camping, so I am very excited and a little bit anxious. What if I haven't brought enough food? What if I've brought too much stuff and it weights too much? What if I run out of knitting? In that 40 litre pack is everything I'm going to need for 6 days . Because one of the important things when planning this trip was what to bring to knit. I'm making Twist pullover in laceweight, and I haven't even cast on yet, so I certainly won't finish it. I've got a small dry bag, to make sure my knitting doesn't get wet, and also so I can clip it to the outside of my pack. I've also got mini book light, so I can shine light downwards, so I can knit after dark, and not bother others with my light. So, I feel an prepared as I can be for this trip. Food, boots and knitting. I'll let you know how it went when ...

Welcome to this week's yarnalong, where I, and a whole bunch of other people join Ginny in sharing what we are knitting and reading this week. If you would like to see everyone else's posts, they are over at Ginny's blog Small Things . I'm still knitting Rachael Coopey's Windle Pool socks, just not very fast. We've been really busy, and not the sort of busy that means I'm out at bars , or r unning around the countryside or just hanging out with friends. More the kind of busy caused by fun run s and yoga and getting ready for a holiday we are about to go on. I'm listening to Hogfather, the next Discworld novel, to go with these socks. And I am reading a book called Straight Pepper Diet a memoir by Joseph Naus. It's the story of a sex, alcohol and porn addicted lawyer and, while it is kind of harrowing it is also very good.

I finished Leon's winter set, blocked it and we went to the park on Saturday to take photos. This was the longest I've ever taken over a set -I did the mitts in November last year as part of Kate Davies 7 skeins club. I did the hat , also from the 7 skein club a couple of weeks ago: If you look very carefully, you may be able to see that I didn't actually divide the stitches evenly. One "wedge" is big, and one is small. I started the stranded pattern when out to dinner with girlfriends, and didn't notice until I was almost finished the deceases. I like it, and so does Leon, so I didn't rip. The photo above shows the yarn dominance issue on the gloves. I learnt so much knitting those tiny mitts.   And finally there is the scarf. I cast on provisionally, knit the stranded pattern from the mitts, cast off and then knit the other way, so it matches. While miles of stocking stitch, knit flat might not always be thrilling, doing in Kate Davie...

You may have noticed a little something about the sock I'm knitting in the last post and that's that the yarn is just a little bit busy for the pattern I'm knitting. I knew this from pretty much the beginning of the sock, but I'm persevering because the yarn is so pretty, and I can't see where else I would use it. The thing is, I bought the yarn at the Sock Summit in 2009, and sometime between then and now I stopped knitting plain socks. I'm all about cables, and lace and complexity. I enjoy knitting fancy socks, and I enjoy wearing them. So, while hand dyed yarn is still fine, I now tend to buy semi solid yarn, with the emphasis on the solid.  Six years ago though, I was knitting plainer socks with busier yarn. I'm persevering with  this combination though, even though it is not perfect, because I think the yarn is pretty and should have a chance to be used, and because it was on the bottom of the pile . 

Normally I do a lot of my reading and knitting when I'm out of the house. I read by the river at lunchtime (here's my view) and I knit with the Richmond Knitters , or at the pub, or on public transport , everywhere . Since we got home from our little trip nothing has left the house. Not my book, not my knitting. Unusual.  While we were away I started reading Prep . I got a third of the way through, and decided it was just a telling of some girl with low self esteem's school life, but nothing really happened. It was a bunch of loosely connected incidents, with a protagonist who is never happy , no matter what happens . Which I would say is also true of Magda Subuski's memoir as well. I'm persevering with the memoir, but I  gave up on Prep and picked up Rachel Herron's recently released book The Darling Songbirds . It's just lovely. I love the main character and, while the plot is predictable, the journey is so enjoyable. I haven't been r...

Leon and I spent the Labor day long weekend in Marysville , one of my favourite places.  We were planning to catch the bus up, but for no apparent reason my father offered us his car, so we drove instead. We stopped in Healesville for coffee  on the way up and I discovered a darling, and relatively new yarn shop .   It had a really lovely collection of yarn, and I found a ball of Lang yarns, self striping with sparkle that I could not say no to. It's important to support lovely local yarn shops, right? For those of you following along at home I now have 15547 metres of yarn. I'm planning to use this for some sort of a two coloured shawl. Any suggestions are welcomed. Other than that, there was surprisingly little knitting, done on the weekend. I want to say something hardcore like "we were there to train, and train we did", and while it's true that we did a 16km trail run, and a 11km hike - I wanted to test out my new hiking boots   the lack of ...

I finished Paperdolls last week and I love it. It's easy to wear, fits like a dream and those creepy, creepy dolls amuse me so much: Look at the expressions on the faces. Each one has her own very special facial expression! The fit was a little looser through the body than I was expecting, but it works: Josh took the photos on our trip to St Kilda, and it was nice to have a photographer who thinks taking photos is fun. This pattern had all the ingredients for success: A Kate Davies pattern, Jameison and Smith yarn and a really practical and fun concept. I think it lives up to that promise, and I'm finding myself reaching for it often, to wear to work and on the weekends. 

As I said earlier in the week , and all evidence to the contrary, winter is coming, and I thought I would get Leon's winter set (2016) done. I knit the mitts as part of the 7 Skeins Club, and last week I made the hat, also from the club. I decided to improvise the scarf by taking the motive from the mitts and putting it on a scarf: It does mean that the scarf has a right and a wrong side, but I think it will look good anyway. It also meant a lot of flat colourwork, which did took forever, and I've still got the other end to do. It will be worth it to have the matching set though. I'm reading Half the World by Joe Abercombe. It's the second in the Shattered Sea trilogy, and I'm loving it as much as I did the first .  I really don't want to put it down. I love reading good fantasy, and this certainly qualifies. And I'm still struggling through M agda Szubannski's memoir   Reckoning . She's just so negative. And I'm a third of the way ...

My friend Josh came to stay, and he's been sleeping in the study, which is where the computer is, which explains why there was no post this weekend. We've had a fantastic weekend . Josh has been to Melbourne three or four times before, but he's never been to St Kilda beach. We took him th ere. W e also took him to C ranbourne, so he got the full spectrum of Melbourne life! All the while I've been knitting awa y on a scarf for Leon's Winter Set ( 2016) . While it's warm here right now, and likely to remain so, Josh has set the mood quit e well. H e's just come back from working in Anta rctica and has been showing us photos and telling us stor ies about ice and cold and penguins. He's heading back to Antarctic a later this year. Ma ybe I sh ould knit him a hat before then.

Because you know I can not get enough of Kate Davies! I'm knitting the stranded bunnet from last years 7 skeins club , in buchaille yarn . I love this yarn so much. I'm  reading Jojo Moyes' Sheltering Rain . I love this kind of book, family drama with a whole lot of back story. And this one has horses too. I'm listening to Magda Szubannski's memoir Reckoning . I normally adore memoirs, especially those read by their authors, but I am finding this quite slow. Hopefully it will pick up. It's certainly nice to be listening to an Australian narrator, and I might try to chase down more books with Aussie readers. To see what Ginny and the rest of the yarnalong are up to, pop over to her blog . I hope you enjoy what you are knitting and reading this week as much as I am.