What I made, by Sharon

Elise asked me for a pair of socks. I've only made her one pair, and that was a really long time ago, so i decided to make her some nice, complicated socks. I'm using my last skein of Little Dipper yarns, and chose Cookie A's Vilai pattern. I love the way it looks, but I am questioning whether knitting such complicated socks makes any sense. It's so slow, and there are so many lovely socks out there with an easy to remember repeat. And yet these really are special, and I think I'll give them to Elise for her 40th birthday, so I guess I'm leaning gently towards the concept that they are worth the effort. I also have it in my head that I would really like to knit all the patterns from Sock Innovation . Cookie A has disappeared, so there won't be any new patterns from her, and it seems fitting to knit all her back catalogue, before I get sad about there being no new patterns.

I finished Leon’s winter set and Skip took photos on Saturday, in a brewery, because that’s the way we roll. The set was started a little late, because I wanted to wait until the end of the Inspired by Islay club, and I was quite concerned that winter would come before Leon had a winter set for 2017.  But the weather held through April, unseasonably warm and pleasant. It was so lovely having the Melbourne comedy festival with nice weather – like normally happens in Adelaide. The comedy festival finished last weekend, and  until this morning it was still warm. And then today winter came! I’m not the biggest fan of winter, but at least I know Leon will be wrapped up in an enormous amount of yarn, warm and cosy and so pretty.   The details of the hat: I took the chart from Singing Sands  scarf, and put it into the pattern for Shore Street hat . I had to adjust the numbers by two for the increases, but after that it worked like a charm. It’s important to ...

I went to my parents place on F riday night with my repair kit - somehow the grafting on the shoulders of my mother's ASJ had failed, so I knew I had to repair that. While I was there, my father produced   a pair of socks, which he wears at Marysville, and said they were getting thin in the heels.  Which is not surprising, since I made them in 2011 and he wears them directly on carpet.  I was very excited, because I has some green sparkle yarn woth me. I explained about visible mwndsing - I'm not sure he was entirely convinced, but I did it, and I love it. I was really happy he brought them to me before they were completely worn through -it makes the repair so much easier. What I cannot explain is why it looks like there is straw in the yarn.Still, they are repaired, and I've put making a pair of thick indoor socks on the list of things to kniy for him.

The second half of Leon's scarf went much faster than the first half - it turns out when I spend more time knitting, more knitting gets done - SURPRISE. anyway, after I steeked it, I did the edging, which took a while, but was not as tedious as I feared, even over 800 stitches of i-Cord cast off. And now it's done.  I left off the last half repeat (1 set of "beans") and I'm glad I did, because this scarf is both very wide and very long. It's lucky it looks good on both side, because it really likes to show the "wrong" side, or at least it did while we were taking these photos. I'm just relieved that Melbourne's weather has been unseasonably warm - I was quite concerned, given that I started this winter set so late, he would end up cold, but the weather right now is balmy. And I'm only a day from finishing the hat, and then winter can bring its worst.

I think I have blogged more about this little baby jumper than any other project I've made! I got the yarn back on March 22nd  - the same day I bought our new home . At some point I finished the sleeves and ordered a zip. I was a bit scared about putting in the zip, but it was actually quite painless and I love the way it looks: If (when) I make this again, I am going to do the entire sleeves in the contrast colour, rather than starting from where I did, but I am very satisfied with how this came out. It's a very cute pattern, and one that will hopefully not take me 3 months next time!

As I suspected when I cast it on , my Singing Sands scarf was twisted. In fact I think it might have been twisted twice: On a project this long, it actually didn't matter much while I was knitting it, the twist was always somewhere on the other end of the needles. Still, it was quite exciting to get the to bit when I could steek it: Add caption And now, it's no longer twisted, but I still can't see how long it is, because the needles are significantly shorter than the scarf. I've excited to see how it will look spread out. Once I've finished the border, which is over 800 stitches, and ends with an I-Cord cast off. Luckily Elise has invited us over for a movie afternoon / evening, which will make those rows go flying by. Well, that's what I' m hoping, anyway. I'll see you on the other side of that border.

As part of the great destash of 2017 , I'm going through my knitting notions. For years I have used the tins by The Sexy Knitter, swapping out the contents until I have my perfect tin.  I actually kept the last one (with the alpaca face) but have been using this sheep one for a while. Quite a while. Long enough for the hinges to have gone a bit wonky, and the photo on the front to actually fade. These tins are the perfect size, and very cute. Over a year ago, I saw a tin of actual Altoids in the shop where I buy my tea and coffee.  I've had them in my work desk draw and have been slowly eating my way through the tin. And now, they are finished. I took the magnet from the top of the old tin, and here it is, nice and new and shiny.

It has surprised me how often I'm knitting somewhere pretty, and I think "oh, I should take a photo for yarnalong", or I'm quietly writing comments in my head about whatever book I'm reading. The yarnalong gave a certain structure to my blog too.  Today's post is not very structured at all! I've had the last two days off work, and have gotten rid of so much stuff. We're taking a  minimalist approach to moving, partly because I want less stuff and less clutter in my life, partly because we're moving into a smaller place, and also because the less stuff I own, the less I have to pack! I destashed about 20 Addi fixed needles last week. They are such lovely needles, but I'm obsessed with my interchangeables. As a thank you Katie gave me two lovely skeins of sock yarn: This one is Oyster Yarns, which is The Purl Box indie dye label, And this is a Zauberball : I haven't had a Zauberball for ages, so I'm very excited. I know it...

That's the instruction we've all read a thousand times, right? The Singing Sands scarf is knit across, as in - the full length of the scarf is cast on, knit in the round and steeked at the end. So, I cast 400 odd stitches on, and thought "how can I avoid twisting?" and then I thought "who cares?" Obviously I'll do my best, but if they twist, I'm cutting it apart in the end anyway. Because of the widthways construction, the whole scarf is only 49 rows. 49 very, very long, rather twisted rows, but still, only 49 rows. I'm off to knit a row right now... I'll be done in an hour or two.

I’m making Leon’s Winter Set (2017) from Kate Davies’ Singing Sands pattern. I adapted last years Pawkies mitts by slotting in the Singing  Sands colourwork pattern. Luckily both pattern are knitted over 14 stitches, so that was very simple. I used a tubular cast on and cast off. I love the way it looks, but it’s a pain to work and really isn’t very stretchy, despite what the internet says. I had to redo the first one, because it lacked stretch and looked funny: I’m really happy with how they look. I was surprised when Leon choose these colours, because the blue/green colour is very pretty. Now onwards, to the scarf. Winter is coming and I started this later than I usually make Leon’s Winter Set.

So, last week Leon and I bought a house! Well, actually a perfectly sized flat. The thing about our perfectly sized flat is that it’s a bit smaller than our current rather home – where we live now is a giant flat built in the 1960s. We’ve got loads of space, a  dining room,  a garage and a storage room. Unfortunately, not too much maintenance has been done on the place in the last three decades. The place we’ve bought is lovely – 15 years old, with a new kitchen, views to forever and nothing is falling apart. But it’s got a carspot, and room for a dining table in the living room. So, I’ve had a look at my stuff and I’m getting rid of things like a crazy lady! Also, it turns out I’d rather get rid of everything than move it. I'm destashing as if we are moving into the carspot, rather than the flat! All our CDs –GONE. All the DVDs –given away, books - bye bye... Some needles that I'm setting free. I love these, but I always use my interchangeables. It’s been really...