What I made, by Sharon

I identify as a minimalist, but not an especially good one. Leon and I share a rather small closet. When we moved here 6 years ago it just had a shelf and a hanging rail. We bought some Ikea baskets, and it was OK. But I keep knitting things, and thinking about getting the cupboard fitted out properly. About two months ago i got two quotes and we ordered new insides! Very exciting. We had to pull out the insides of the cupboard and do any filling / painting and sanding that we wanted done. We did this, and on Thursday, ready for Friday's install we moved all our clothes into the living room. On Friday morning the company texted me to say the installer had called in sick and it would be another week. Now all my clothes are in the living room. I texted this photo to a friend and she said "at least it's tidy".  But tidy isn't enough for me, I want less stuff. Not no stuff, but less and I want it all out of sight. Which brings be to this book I requested from NetGalle...

Everything is kind of at the beginning right now. I've finished my Find Your Fade  shawl. I love it, I just have to sew in the ends and block.  After I finished that I started a sock for Leon. It's a two colour sock with bright colours, which is very unlike him, but he chose the colours. I like it, although it looks a bit sports team to me. I only started it yesterday, so it's got a way to go! I finished the book I was reading ( Severance by Ling Ma) I'm still processing it, it has many layers and reflects on late-stage capitalism, community, the immigrant experience. Many things. It was first published in 2018, but is a pandemic novel, and Ling Ma might have been somewhat prescient. There is no panic, or rushing around, just a slow bur of "the End".  Brilliant. I'm not sure what I'm going to read next - probably the oldest book on my Kindle ( The Maid ) I want to either read or delete all the books that have been hanging around on my Kindle, always ...

On Saturday we went to the Ballarat Beer festival. We go every year, but this year was particularly fun. They moved the location just a tiny so that there was enough shade to go around, and, while it was 37 degrees on Friday, Saturday was  a perfect 26 degrees and sunny. It's a dog friendly even, and we were sitting near a group of people with 7 golden retrievers (and one black lab! ) between them, so there were lots of lovely dog pats. I took no photos - not of my friends, not of Kris and Bee grooving at the silent disco, not of my drinks, not of the petting zoo, including sheep, so here is a selfie Leon took: I was hoping to not be on a lace section of my Find Your Fade    but instead was at the beginning of the lace section at the beginning  for the car trip there. I figured it would be fine, since it is simple mesh lace.  I messed it up, but kept knitting in the car, in the mainly dark on the way home. oops. Do I care? Not really. I also messed up ...

  I'm at, or somewhere past the halfway point of my Find Your Fade . It is one of the most addictive knits I've done in a really long time. There is always a change of pattern, or colour coming and it is simple enough to keep knitting, knitting, knitting in all conditions. The reading and listening is also going very well. Last month I finished my Kindle Unlimited subscription (it was worth it to me at half price, it was definitely  worth it at  99c for three months, but it's not quite worth it to me at full price). I don't leave my Kindle wi-fi on, so the remaining KU books I had are still there. I'm rapidly reading through them, since I can't connect to wi-fi without loosing them. I'm reading The Paris Affair by Pip Drysdale. It's a mystery / thriller with a possibly unreliable narrator, and I'm really enjoying it. It goes well with the audio book Leon and I are listening to together - Everyone in My family has Killed Someone, which is a very k...

You may recall last week I had nothing on my needles in preparation for a 1st of February Find my Fade cast on. Well, cast on I did, and it's growing very fast. It's a really fun knit, there is always a change of colour or some simple lace coming up so I can't stop knitting. I actually left it at home today, because it was too distracting having it sitting next to my desk at work. My hands will probably appreciate the rest too. In bookland I'm just about to finish    You Be  Mother, by Meg Mason, which I started a whole week ago. I'm not sure why it's taken me a week to read this, it's a delicious, delightful family drama filled ride of a book. i guess I've been spending all my time knitting instead of reading! In audio books I'm listening to A Kind of Magic , by Anna Spargo-Ryan. Ir's very good, but it's also a lot - it's her memoir of living with mental illness.  Because of this, I've also started a novella The Sisters   by Derva M...

For December and January Australian's Knitting for War Affected Children (AKWAK) held a "sets" knit-a-long. I managed to complete three sets in the period.  It was a fun challenge, and a great way of using up pretty much all my left over 8 ply, and a bunch of left over sock wool too. The problem is that knitting the items is not enough. After I've knit them I have to sew the ends in, update Ravelry, tally the items so AWKAK knows I've knit them and store them until it's time to send them, rather than leave them in a messy pile on the computer table. I got my act together this morning and did all that. Now they are packed up, and I'll pop them in my car-part storage cupboard  until AKWAK are ready to receive them - usually in August. It feels good to get the administration part of the project tidied away.

This Wednesday I have nothing on my needles at all! I'm between knits. I just finished some charity knits yesterday, to clear my needles for the Find Your Fade knit-a-long starting today! I'm casting on tonight and am very excited. I'm listening to a review audio book - Hillbilly Queer by J.R Jamison. It's a memoir of someone (the "queer") in the title, who goes on a road trip with his father (the "hillbilly"). It's got some really interesting stories, particularity when J.R. is talking about other peoples' story. He himself seems whiny, judgemental and trying to be cute, but just coming across as judgemental. He's convinced everyone is (literally) trying to kill him. In his head no-one is kind.  I think he needed therapy, not to write a book. And one small thing that keeps on bugging me is he continuously refers to his "brown leather flip flops, 4 inch inseam shorts and leather bag" as if that makes him some sort of gay flag...