What I made, by Sharon

This weekend was the third She's Crafty event. The previous two were yarn markets in Melbourne, while this was in Castlemaine (about an hour an a half from Melbourne). There was a market and some classes. we skipped the classes this year as it wasn't that clear what was going on and they all sold out. The market itself was pretty good - I bought yarn for Electric Village  and a linen blend for a summer top.  Afterward we went to an art place called Lot 19 and hang out in an old W class tram! It was surprisingly comfortable, and really fun just being in the country, spending time with friends and breathing some fresh air. I got to fake drive the tram and that was excellent fun. If it runs again next year will look at staying up there, and doing some classes.   Thanks Kris for driving, and for the (as always) good time.

 I bought a new Joji Envelope bag.  Why? you may well ask Just over two years ago I bought a camo print envelope bag . I have a weird obsession with camo print. I loved that bag. It's the perfect size for most projects, it goes well in other bags, it's easy to carry, either over the shoulder or using the top handle. At some point one of the side clips broke, and I replaced it with a split ring.  Then, in July Tarragon had surgery and afterwards came home with a Fentanyl patch. He was so drugged up that he was sleeping on the couch on bag and didn't even wake up to pee. Pee all over the bag, all over himself. Ugg. I put the bag in the washing machine and it came out clean, but rather faded. I wanted something bright and lively.  When I saw this lipstick pink bag I had to have it. It's so soft, and smells like fresh leather and I love it. It's actually nice to have one thing that isn't teal, sage or turquoise! I also bough a giant tote - not from Joji this time.

My knitting has been ridiculous this week, and I'm well through the body of the dress . I'm not quite sure how it went so fast, since I was also spinning on the weekend , but the proof of the dress is in the wearing, as the old saying goes.This is the best photo I have, it was me being amused that the dress, my water bottle and coffee cup are all the same sort of sage colour. You can't see, but it's currently mid-thigh length, and almost ready for the next part of the colourwork.  In reading I finished the Claire Keegan short stories, and moved on to my next NetGalley review book Ana Turns  by Lisa Gornick.  I was reluctant to start this, because it sounded sort of silly and heavy at the same time. I don't know why I requested it, that's a whole other question, but I am loving it. It's about Ana, on her 60th birthday, and her friendships and family and difficult and joyful relationships. It's nuanced and meaningful and I'm finding it hard to put dow

I woke up on Saturday morning and thought "I want to spin today". This was unexpected - I don't think I've spun since July last year, when spinning was making my shoulder hurt. While I now know what I need to do with my posture to make sure I don't get sore, I never got back to it. My wheel sat in the living room with a half completed project, just waiting for me to be ready. So, on Saturday morning I picked up my wheel, moved it to the "dining room" so I would have somewhere to put my drinks and started spinning. And on spinning my second little puff of fibre I found a clump of evidence of insect life. I threw out the contaminated patch and put the fibre and the Joji Pampa bag I was storing it in, in the oven for half an hour. While that was happening I walked back past where my spinning wheel has been sitting and there were tiny white maggot on the floor. MAGGOTS. It was horrifying, but I cleaned it all up and hopefully that was the source of the moth

I knit Suska's socks by Andrea Mowry. They are quite plain socks, knit with a strand of mohair, held together with sock yarn on 2.25mm needles. They are warm and fuzzy, and (unsurprisingly) don't fit all that well in shoes. I knit the smaller size and while they do fit, they are pretty firm. I think they will make lovely socks to wear around the house, but I don't really need more house socks. The Stephen West MKAL socks are perfect house socks and also don't fit that well in shoes.  I did the first one inside out to reduce purling. For no particular reason I knit the second as directed - which meant a lot of purling. Normally I complain about doing tons of purling, but for some reason this time it was fine, although the second sock is just a tiny bit looser, and fits a tiny bit better. These were fun to knit - and they were toe up and magic looped, two things I rarely enjoy. A toe up sock with a heel flap and gusset is something I enjoy: The pattern was clear and like

After last week's drama this week has been much better (at least for me personally, let's not talk about the state of the world or what happened in our referendum). I read John Scalzi's Starter Villain, which was really good, but very quick. I was luucky enough to get aNetGalley approval for Claire Keegan's So Late in The Day   which is three short stories. I've read the first one, which was very powerful and rather sad, so I'm taking a break before reading the next story. In between I'm reading Crushing    a novel about a 28 year old trying to find herself. It's quite light, and it's set in Melbourne at the end of 2021 and Novak perfectly captures how Melbourne felt after being the longest locked-down city in the world and the weirdness of being in your late 20s without having a clue what is going on. After I finish that I will probably read my next NetGally review book - Anna Turns by Lisa Gornick. The knitting is going well. I've just got th

After I abandoned the MKAL I was left in a bit of a conundrum: what to knit next? I had a plainish  sock on the needles, but that was just designed to be a filler between clues, and I wasn't feeling very excited about it. So mid-last week I cast on the Arrows Down jumper - which I'm going to make as a dress. The colourwork is so soothing and relaxing, which is a bit of a relief since my last  colour work was a bust. This just flows on the needle. Delightful. The yarn is squishy and wonderful, the pattern flows logically and its making me happy. I was around the house on Saturday, and really got a chance to make progress. Then on Sunday I met up with my old school friends for brunch, and I took the socks with me. I've finished the first and cast on the second, so that will be perfect for knitting at knit night tonight and the pub tomorrow, while I finish the last 10 rows of colourwork for this yoke. I didn't get a picture of my friends, or of the sock, so here's a

Not my second cabled jumper ever, obviously, but my second in this current cable obsession. (the first is here ). I love this one too - it's warm and cosy, although I though it would be a bit longer - it sort of rides up a little. It might settle over time. I knit it  to pattern (it's the excitingly named Sweater Number 20 ), except I reduced the stitches for the cuffs and bottom band so that the cables would flow into the ribbing without interruption.  And I love it. The only odd thing is I've worn it out a couple of times and no one has commented on it. I'm used to getting compliments, or at least comments on new jumpers! Maybe my friends have spoilt me! Anyway, it's comfortable, warm and very squishy. Everything I was aiming for. 

The drama about the Stephen West MKAL  continues, and I can't be bothered with it. It's meant to be a fun, interesting, communal knit and and that's not what this year has turned in to. Stephen has done his best in a difficult situation, but I'm just not feeling it. Meanwhile, Israel is at war, and we (as a country) are going to vote "no" on a referendum that asks for basic consideration for Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders.  So yeah, lots of turmoil here. It's very tiring. I'm knitting a sock and considering what happens next.  Luckily the reading was dramatic in a good way. I'm reading a NetGalley review copy of Last Summer at the Lake House and it's great.  Super dramatic family drama about three sisters who loose their father unexpectedly and then find out that the family has secrets. I 've nearly finished it and I don't know what I'm going  to read next. I've got a bit of a break between review books, so maybe Sta

Stephen West released the first MKAL clue on Thursday night. I started knitting it without looking at spoilers. When I got up on Friday he had sent through an "alternative" clue one. I then went and had a look at the spoiler thread to try to work out what was going on. Which was that some people thought the pattern looked like a "German hate symbol". I knit on anyway, since I was half-way through. Then he took down the original clue, replacing it with a mitred square in garter stitch. The Ravelry forums and Instagram are a complete shit-show, even though Rav is being moderated. It's been a bit disheartening, having something that is usually quite light and fun weighed down with all this. I admire Stephen's quick and sensitive response to this drama. I also feel that anything can look like anything if you squint. To me this looks like a Celtic knot. I think mine is pretty, and I'll knit on through all crises. 

 As I noticed in part 1 of this review series, when reviewing books, particularly non-fiction, the reviewer is also telling the reader about themselves, what they like and what they do. Since this blog is all about these things, here are reviews of three more non-fiction books, that with reveal even more about my character and personality.  As usual these were given to me by NetGalley, in exchange for honest reviews.  The Knitting Pattern Writing Handbook  (releases October 31 2023) I'm an accomplished knitter, and (once) dabbled in designing, where I discovered that writing up patterns is hard work! This book is very helpful in that respect, and makes life much easier. I don't agree with everything they have to say - I am currently knitting a jumper pattern that only has gauge in pattern and I would really like have valued a gauge in stocking stitch, and it doesn't have a schematic and many of the other knitters who knit it have been quite disturbed by this. You can reall

 Australians Knitting for War Affected Kids (AKWAK) runs on an annual cycle that involves us sending in our contributions around August, and then they are packed and all sent to Syria in a shipping container, and then the knitting begins again. I've decided this year I'm going to knit sets for AWAK, and my sets will have a jumper, hat, cowl and mittens. On our recent weekend away I decided to finish my first set for the year. I cast on the jumper on the way to the airport, and finished sewing in the final end for our decent into Melbourne.  I used leftover Millorachy Tweed and some ancient Jamieson's and the y arn from the cardigan I ripped and am very happy with the way it came out. These random projects really are the most fun, and using up yarn that has been sitting around at the bottom for my stash for years is so satisfying.

Yep, it's the day before the Westknits MKAL launches, which always feels like a day suspended in excitement and waiting. I've nearly finished the jumper I've been working on: I have not wound my yarns for the MKAL, they are ready and waiting: But I have read some good books! All NetGalley review books again. I finished Hold My Girl by Charlene Carr and it was so good. The premise of the story is that two embryos are swapped at an IVF clinic, but the sperm is not swapped. It goes from their in swirling layers of drama. I actually cried at the end, and as soon as i finished I bought one of the authors previous books, which I don't normally do, but I really enjoyed the writing. And I'm about a third of the way through Mudflowers  by Aley Waterman, a rather mannered story of young people, doing young people's things and feeling lots and lots of feelings.  I'm joining in with Kat from  As Kat Knits  for Unravelled Wednesday and Kat from the  Bookdate  for It'

I hadn't been to Sydney in 25 years. It's the other really big city, and I tend to go to smaller places. So when Kris suggested a weekend in Sydney I enthusiastically said YES. Leon, Kris, Katie and I headed up on Thursday after work (which means different things for all of us, so we were flying at different times). Friday was a public holiday in Melbourne, but not in Sydney and we went on a craft brewery crawl.  Friday night Trevor, one of our favourite cabaret performers was doing a piano bar in the Rocks, so we went to that.  Saturday we started with a trip to Skein Sisters , a yarn shop which I have bought from on-line. It was such a cute shop, and I bought the final skein for this year's Westknits MKAL, as well as a bunch of accessories.                                                                                                         Then we went to more breweries, including meeting up with some of Katie's friends. On Sunday we were a bit touristy and took a