What I made, by Sharon

I finished my Reagan , and it was a joy to knit from start to finish. From the miles of stocking stitch to start, to the very intuitive lace, it flowed off my needles in glittery blue joy. The yarn was my only unplanned purchase at Bendigo 2018 , and I have no regrets about it. It's a lot, but I love it, and since I wear so many black dresses, I think it will be a useful addition to the wardrobe. I changed a couple of things: I added 8 stitches to each sleeve. If I'd followed the pattern as written, I'd have had to make the biggest size, and the sleeves would still have been too narrow. Do you lift? I lift. And as a consequence I've learnt to modify knitting patterns. Possibly because of that change, the pointy fronts sit lower than on other peoples', or maybe that's because I'm fairly short. Either way, I like it. I did a folded hem, because I found the hem as written odd, and then continued the i-Cord around the whole outside.     People...

I don't often knit more that one project at a time, particularly not when my primary project is something as simple and fun as the Reagan Cardigan . But there have been a few days of late when it was not practical to bring this, with its 200 grams of yarn and stunning Town Bag. Like taking it to work when I might have a chance to knit during coffee with my boss, or making Leon carry it on a run.  There's a sock in progress in that fancy running vest Or the night that I had to pick up 200 odd stitches, and I was going to be at the pub in bad light with beer. So I'm also knitting a sock for Leon. It's the rather stunning House Baratheon pattern. I had it memorised after one repeat, the yarn is stunning, and it's very portable. Perfect choice as an alternative project.  Usually I don't like knitting two things because I never know which I "should" be working on. this is simple, since there is a primary (Regean) and a secondary, that I only ...

My Reagan is growing nicely: it's a really simple knit, and the lace is very intuitive and self correcting ... except when you take it to knit knight and have a wonderful time ...and have to do a lot of fixing!  The colour is a lot - you can't really see the sparkles in photos, but in real life its quite full on. I've done 5 repeats of the lace, and I think I will eventually have between 7 and 9, so not too fare to go now. I might even get it finished on the weekend. Because it is a bigger project - 3 skeins of 4 ply, although I don't know if I'll need quite that much, I decided to finally break out the Fringe Town Bag I bought last year .  A couple of times I've carried it as my handbag, and just slipped my phone and wallet in the pockets. It just about folds down small enough to show in a bike pannier. My judgement: it looks good, and work well. It would be even better for someone who carries a small handbag, and who gets around by car, rather th...

I knit Kate Davies' Ursula cardigan in April 2015, and in September 2017 it made it's way to the back of my chair in my current job. I don't wear it that much - it's there for the days that I forget that my office is arctic when I'm packing for work. Which is why I was shocked the other day to see I have worn a hole in the left elbow.  I guess I lean that elbow on the desk while I am "working". I thought about darning it, but I don't have the original yarn, and it felt like an invitation for the same thing to happen again. So I bought "leather" elbow patches and sewed them on.  I quite like how it looks and it makes one of my favourite cardigan's functional again.  Before After

Monday was Labour Day, which meant a long weekend, and we didn't go anywhere exotic, or do anything exciting. We had a movie night with friends, went for a run, and saw The Clock , an movie made up of time based clips from other movies. It's finished in Melbourne now, but if you ever get a chance to see it - or part of it - it runs for 24 hours - I recommend it. A really relaxing weekend, which left plenty of time for reading and knitting. On Saturday I started Bad Ideas by Missy Marston.   The blurb says this: Trudy works nights in a linen factory, avoiding romance and sharing the care of her four-year-old niece with Trudy's mother, Claire. Claire still pines for Trudy's father, a St. Lawrence Seaway construction worker who left her 20 years ago. Claire believes in true love. Trudy does not. She's keeping herself to herself. But when Jules Tremblay, aspiring daredevil, walks into the Jubilee restaurant, Trudy's a goner. Loosely inspired by Ken "t...

I planned to take these photos and blog about the set last weekend - and then it was 38 degrees both days, and I couldn't, in good conscience, ask Leon to put on his cosy winter woollies and pose for photos in the blazing heat Unlike last year, when I was frantically finishing the knitting as it was getting chilly, this year's winter set was knit in the the heat of summer. Leon was kind, and grateful enough, to pose for photos on a 36 degree day. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Using Kate Jordan's Alight pattern went well - she designed the hat: and the mitts: and then I took the cable and put it on the scarf. I was a bit concerned about that, since the pattern as written has cable twists every row, but in the end I think it worked out. I particularly like the way it looks on the back. It did turn out that I didn't need to be rushing around getting another ball of the 4ply. In fact, the set only used 60 grams of four ply for the hat and m...

I knit one pair of socks in February, from left over yarn from Leon's Winter Set 2019 - which I promised to get photos of, and completely forgot. Drop by over the weekend and you can see the glory that is Kate Jordan's " Alight " pattern. Kate designed a hat and mitts set, inspired by tiles in the Wellington Railway Station. I then used the pattern on a hat, mitts, scarf and: SOCKS. I'm really happy with how these came out. It's basically the mitts pattern, but whacked onto a 64 stitch heel-flap-and-gussett top down sock. As well as being the completion of Leon's winter set it is also eligible for the Kanga/Kiwi KAL, since the pattern is New Zealandish and the yarn is the extremely soft White Gum Wool sock yarn. And that's February. My sock plans for March are (after I finish the cardigan I'm knitting for myself) is to make another pair of Game of Thrones socks for Leon. This was my attempt to get a photo that showed the detailing on bo...

Welcome to the March Yarnalong . I'm, just starting my next knitting project, Reagan by Elizabeth Kreamar.I swatched on the weekend ,but only got cast on this evening, so I don't have a whole lot to show for it yet.  Given that its a lace cardigan knit with fingering weight yarn, I think we'll be seeing this one for a while. I'm reading A Gentleman in Moscow I'm about half way through it, and mainly enjoying it, although it's an odd book, not following a quite linear narrative structure. I'm listening to No One-Tells You This a memoir by Glynnis MacNicole. I'm two thirds of the way through and not really enjoying it. it bills itself as a memoir about "If the story doesn’t end with marriage or a child, what then?" but it's just the ramblings of a really self involved single woman, who thinks everything is about her, and who seems to be struggling to see marriage and children as anything but the default position. Weird for som...

This is the yarn for my next project ( Reagan by Elizabeth Kraemer ) There it sits, so perfect, so pretty. I've printed the pattern, and attached my interchangeable needles. I've swatched, but haven't measured my gauge or washed my swatch.For now, for this instant, the project is perfect. I haven't started worrying about the gauge I got, about it coming out too big, too small, too wide, too narrow. I'm only a little worried, at the very back of head, about the wearability of a cardigan knit in Tiffany Blue sparkle yarn. For now, for this one moment, it's nothing but dreams and potential.