What I made, by Sharon

  Like what feels like everyone else, I'm obsessed with Wordle . If you haven't come across it yet, it's a word game where you have 6 guesses to work out a five letter word. There is one game a day, launched at midnight. I started playing two and a half weeks ago, and so did Leon. When I saw that Ham and Eggs had released a c rochet pattern to make a Wordle , i couldn't resist.  I based the pattern off Leon's Wordle 215. Like the game itself, it was a pleasant, low-stakes whimsical thing to do. 

I've been knitting for KOGO for a while now (probably since 2017) They are great, in that they donate locally and like baby cardigans. the problem is that they  only like superwash wool or acrylic. This is understandable, but I partly (mainly?) knit for charity to use up left overs, and a lot of my yarn is 100 per cent wool. I found out about AKWAK (Australian's Knitting  for War Affected Kids) who prefer 100 percent wool. So, when Romi Hill released a pattern for mitts, I dug out some superwash and knit them to for KOGO. The she released another pattern in the series, a washcloth and soap sack. I knit them just for the joy of it - and then I was browsing the AKWAK group and discovered that they donate these exact items. After I finished knitting Leon's jumper I needed something simple, because I was out and about last weekend. I grabbed some left over handspun that has been hanging around in my stash since 2019 and used it with the remaining wool from Leon's jumper to...

We have the day off for "Australia Day", also sometimes called "Invasion Day". I'm a member of the "change the date" squad - even putting aside the decimation of the original inhabitants (which isn't something I want to do) the arrival of a bunch of convicts in Sydney cove doesn't seem like the best date to choose to celebrate the whole country. Anyway, I appreciate a day off, this working full time thing is very tiring. I've had a week finishing things up. I just have to block the mitts and bath set I talked about l ast week. I'm also knitting a brioche cowl, to use up some yarn I have had around for a long time. these will all be donated. Come back Friday for finished object pictures and more donation chat. I unfortunately had to give up on  Battle of the Linguist Mages .  I said last week that I was enjoying it, but it's turned into endless battles, where people sing power- morphemes at each other endlessly and nothing happens. ...

I started knitting the Wyrit jumper, by Kate Davies, for Leon on the day before Christmas. Every year we go to the cricket, which usually provides a lot of knitting time. This year, not so much , since it only went for two and a half days. The dyer of this yarn (that would be me) made the error of not retying the skeins. They were tied a little tightly, so the dye didn't penetrate as much under the ties. I alternated skeins, but it still looks a little like someone has splashed bleach around.   The cable was really fun and quite intuitive and easy to drop down and fix on the THREE times I crossed them the wrong way. Other than that I was convinced it wouldn't fit, but now it's done I think it looks alright. I really wanted to get the photos taken and Ravelry and this blog updated, but this whole week it's going to be quite hot. Leon was a good sport, and we took the photos in the hall way of our apartment block, but this is his face when I asked him to show ow he felt ...

I'm normally a monogamous kind of knitter, but this Wednesday I'm finishing up three projects. Leon's jumper just needs the neck added.  I thought it was too tight and short, so I blocked it before doing that. while it was drying I knit a washcloth .  I got to the cast off and went to bed. Literally just the cast off to go! And I've been knitting these mitts at work and at knit night on Monday, so just the cast off and the thumbs to go on them. And the ends. Lots of ends! It's very unusual for me to have three projects on the go,  let alone three with just a tiny bit of work left on each of them. I'll get them all finished in the next couple of days, leading to the crafters big question: what should I knit next? I'm reading She Get's That From Me by Robin Wells. I picked it up when I was reading a different book called He Gets that From Me   by Jacqueline Friedland. The books have similar themes - complicated modern fertility, what makes a family, wh...

For the moment. Probably.   This stunner is the December club yarn from Stranded in Oz. I've been a member of her club for the last two years and pretty much loved everything she has sent. This pair is designed for a bub baby jumper, and I am looking forward to knitting it. I think I won't resubscribe, even thought I love being a member of the club, because I currently have 12 single skeins of sock yarn, 8 of which came from various clubs over the last two years. Is this so bad? No, but my entire stash is only about 12000 meters, so it's a fair percentage. it's also about 2.5 kilmometers of yarn, and I've been pushing, and failing to get under the 10 km mark for about 5 years. Additionally, I've become obsessed with self striping yarn (again. I bought this book ). And thirdly, I really want to buy lots of stuff at Bendigo (presuming Bendigo happens). So, no yarn club for me. although i said that last year, and signed up at the last minute. Lets see how this actu...

 A lot of people I follow participate in One Little Word, an exercise where you choose a word and use it as a tool for the year - a word like choice, or calm or gratitude. It's a nice idea, and i love reading people's posts, but I wasn't particularly interested.  I came across a sentence the other day that just changed my whole approach. This is it: Just that. Instead of thinking about all the terrible things that might happen, and spiralling and ruminating, reminding myself of the equally likely possibility that something magical will happen. And sometimes the magic is so small and yet so precious. Today they keep playing my favourite songs on the radio. So small and yet so delightful. And that's what I'm doing. Just looking for the wonder and the magic in every day.

My Monday night knit group meets at a pub, which is currently not doing food on Monday nights. My Tuesday night trivia group has decided not to go to the pub until Omicron has peaked. The outdoor beer festival we were going to on Saturday has been "postponed". Which is all to say, even though I'm back at work and have started a new gym thing (power lifting, I'll do a post about it soon) I've had some time to spin. I'm about half-way through Leon's Winter Set (2022) and hoping to get it spun, plied and swatched by the end of February.  I am still knitting away on Leon's jumper . I'm so close to finishing the second sleeve, then it's just a matter of working out how long the body should be and we're done! The reading has been a bit odd this week. I read a NetGalley review copy of I am My Beloveds , which was full of unlikable characters and  polygamous psychodrama (full review here ) and now I'm reading New Animal which is full    of unl...

 A very long time ago (December 2010) I made my second pair of sneaker liners - a pair of Stephanie Purl-McPhee's tiptoe through the tulip socks. I made them to wear to pilates.... which i stopped doing in 2011. Since then I have worn them regularly to ride, and to Crossfit. They've had a good run. Over time they have shrunk down a bit, and the top now site just under where my shoes go, which is not ideal.  Still, I'm so fond of these socks.  The other day i got them out of the wash and realised that they are just falling apart. The edges of the intarsia has holes, and they are quite tired. Still, they have worn well for a very long time. I thank them for their service, and bid them goodbye. 

I don't do a formal "first read of the year" as many do, but on Saturday I started John Scalzi's The Kaiju Preservation Society . I was pretty chuffed when i scored an e-arc from Net-Galley and I was happy to be starting the year with some sci-fi. I must admit after a big night on Friday I didn't feel great on Saturday, and we just laid around on the couch reading all morning. this was the perfect book for that. It's written in a light way, although it has some serious themes. It was just a delightful book, with an extremely delightful cover. Unfortunately I finished it on Sunday and t hen I started Maggie Smith's Hamnet , and I rather think I'm missing the point. Why make this a fictionalised story about Shakespeare? Why not just write historical fiction? Very confusing. Anyway, I'm about 60 percent through and just spent 15 minutes reading a birth scene and I can summarise what what has happened so far in the book in two paragraphs, and it's ...

I finished processing the fleece for Leon's Winter Set (2022). It felt very time consuming, and I started out with 600grams of unwashed fleece, and ended with 389 grams of batts. Will that be enough for his set? Probably, because  I did something I've never done before - I did a sample spin before starting the project. It was a very valuable exercise, both because now I know tis spins up at. If I spin consistent with my sample I should get about 800 meters of yarn, which is plenty. it's probably about a sport weight, of course I will have to swatch to see what it really is. Sampling also helped me refine the way I'm making rolags from the batts.  I'm very happy with the sample, which i finished a couple of days ago, and have been dedicating myself to spinning during this time off between Christmas and going back to work on the fourth. Even spinning this long draw, I imagine it will be a couple of months  before I have the yarn finished - dependent on how much we are...