What I made, by Sharon

The Richmond Knitters used to hold frequent knitalongs, but we don't so much at the moment. There was a phase where every-time someone was considering knitting something I liked I would say "lets do a knitalong" to which they would reply "no". They were just being mean because I have more time to knit than most people, and I knit quite fast. Still as we know, a KAL is not a race. Anyway, when I was sending the group an email about something else I suggested a Find Your Fade KAL, and a bunch of people said yes! Very exciting. I was obsessed with choosing my colours. I really want it to fade and not stripe. I also really wanted to use only stash yarn. I overdyed dyed two of the left over skeins from Twists and Turns, and now my fade looks like this: I'm pretty happy with how it looks, and it puts a significant dent in my single skein sock yarn collection.  Here it is, all wound up and ready to start on Wednesday. Now to clear my needles so I'm starting wit...

I'm near the end of my book  A Light In the Dark by Miranda Sapphire. It's a retelling of beatury and the Beast, with a really strong lead female character and a tender and wounded Beast and it's just delightful.  Also, the cover: I've finished my audio-book - The Tsar of Love and Techno  , which was very good and very different and I'm about to start a short memoir called Hillbilly Queer , from NetGalley. I'll let you know how that goes. I've almost finished the body of a charity baby jumper. it's for a "sets" knit-a-long for AKWAK. I want to get this, and a hat and cowl done by the end of the month. I might even be able to squeeze in a pair of gloves. And that's my week in reading and knitting. To read my all my book reviews, and to see everything I knit, you can find me on Ravelry as  Sharondoublekni t and on GoodReads as  Sharondblk . I'm joining in with Kat from  As Kat Knits  for Unravelled Wednesday and Kat from the  Bookdate ...

It was meant to be a quiet weekend - Leon and i got our 2nd COVID boosters (the bivalent one) on Thursday, and we both had side effects that felt a lot like COVID. It was a brutal 26 hours,a and then I got better. On Friday i was too fatigued to knit! Aweful. i wasn't too tired to read, and I'm reading Miranda Saphire's A Light in the Dark , which is a sexy, feminist retelling of The Beauty and the Beast, so much of the day was spent lying on the couch reading. On Saturday I went to the gym and then had the rest of the day for whatever I wanted (after cleaning the house of course. We always clean first, and then do the relaxing). I finished the sneaker liners with the SHaG heel.  I really like the heel, it's the same fit as a heel flap and gusset, but much tidier. Then I made a cat toy  That was meant to be a gift. Which would have been great, except I left it on the bed and Willow decided it was great to play with. Successful cat toy, failed gift. I'll make ...

 I'm currently obsessed with  Birgit Freyer's  slip stitch helical socks. I bought a book of six patterns, and plan to make at least two of them for Leon and a couple for me. i started with the Xara socks. They are a marvellous confection of 1 x 1 cables, helical stripes and fun! They are a very good way to use up partial skeins of yarn, and you know how I love to use leftovers. They do lack stretch in the leg, which is why this pattern calls for 80 stitches in the leg. it's a German pattern, and is very well thought and and well written and also suggests  you use whatever heel and toe you like best. For this first pair, I went with the heel-flap and gusset. It's my go-to. I've tried a lot of different heels and always come back to this, because it just seems to fit best. in the past I've used an afterthought heel, a sweet tomato heel, fish lips kiss, hat heel, fork in the road heel, Crystal heel, you name it. I seem to have used the most variety on s...

This week I am using the leftovers from last week's  socks to make a pair of sneaker liners. The only interesting thing about them is that I am using Sarah Jordan's SHaG heel - simultaneous heel flap and gusset method. It's very clever. I'll be back on Friday to discuss this, and other sock heels. Sarah is a genius designer, and also writes an interesting blog and participates in unravelled Wednesday, which might be how I first came across her.    The reading is going well in the ears, and not so well with the eyes! Leon and I started Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone    and it's very clever and knowing and fun. It's set in New South Wales, and read by an Australian bloke (Barton Welch) and it's murdery and fun.   By myself I'm still listening to  The Tsar of Love and Techno , and still loving it. With my eye's I'm reading Helen Garner's Monkey Grip.  It's her debut novel, published in 1977 and I when it came up a...

I'm knitting *Xara* socks out of left overs from my Lace and Fade Boxy. I love knitting things that match, and I love using up all the yarn! The technique involves helical stripes (my favourite!) slip stitches and 1x1 cable crosses and [produces a very effective result. It's not very stretchy, so the leg starts on 80 stitches, and it's pretty slow because of all the cable crosses, but it is very pretty. I'm reading a NetGalley review copy of Mr Breakfast  by Jonathan Carol.  It's a bit of a Sliding Doors concept, with the Graeme Patterson, our main character being given the ability to choose between three versions of his life. I loved the first half, but it's getting a bit jumpy and incohesive,  with a lot of diversions and random rambles that go nowhere and I kind of just want it to be over.    I've also started the audio of The Tsar of Love and Techno . I've only listened to the first "story" - apparently they are interlinked short stories....

It's been a lovely weekend. For the first time this summer it's warm, but not stupidly hot and not raining. Generally speaking it was quiet weekend, without any exciting plans (or photos!). On Saturday I went to the gym and then cleaned the house - I told you it was a thrill a minute around here! Then I finished the jumper I was knitting for charity. This jumper was quite the drama. I started it from a Drops pattern, but then the pattern was weird, so I used Elizabeth Zimmermann's raglan formula . I thought I was making a 6 year old jumper, but it's more like a ten year old. Still, it will keep some child far away warm, which I guess that's the point. I also made Willow a cat toy - it's delightful to have a younger cat who plays with toys. She loves to pick them up and carry them around in her mouth, so I thought the shape of this would be good. She seemed to ignore it, but when we woke up this morning it had moved from the living room and was on the bed, so sh...

In 2018 I knit Joji's Boxy jumper.  Then in 2021 I frogged it, because it was grey, and looking tired. Last year I saw her Lace and Fade Boxy pattern. I realised I could knit it from stash and then I got obsessed with knitting it. I cast on on Christmas eve, and finished on the second of January - the fact that I knit this giant jumper in ten days is testament to what a fun knit it is. Also, that it was four full days of cricket this year!  I love it. I love that it is light and just a little bit warm, perfect for a Melbourne summer night.  I love how it looks different depending whats underneath - some of these photos have a black dress under, and some a pink t-shirt and it looks totally different.  I loved knitting it - 10 rows of easy lace, lots of stocking stitch, so fun. The only thing I changed from the pattern is I brought the neckline up a bit and used ribbing rather than a curled edge, because I thought the original was a bit sloppy. I also knit the s...

After a delightful 11 day break I'm back at work, it's raining and I would rather be home with my cats. Still, I'm wearing a new jumper (which I will post all about on Friday), and I'm having fun with my knitting and reading, so it's all good. I'm knitting a child's jumper for AKWAK. It's based on a Drops pattern, and I was trying to knit a 6 year old size, but it's coming out closer to a ten. Still, it means I will use up lots of Left Over Sock Yarn (LOSY), which is my major goal for the early part of the year. I'm reading T he Blacktongue Thief   which is both epic fantasy and very funny / silly. A good way to start a new year. In non-fiction I'm reading a NetGalley review copy of Object Lessons OK .  This is using the development of the ubiquitous O.K. to track other social, technological and linguistic changes. I'm enjoying it. And that's my week in reading and knitting. To read my all my book reviews, and to see everything I kni...