What I made, by Sharon

I got a lolly delivery yesterday. A kilogram of mixed lollies, including mint leaves, which haven't been available in supermarkets for nine years. I might be more excited about the lollies that the knitting and reading, even though both have been going very well. This might be a lolly blog now! In reading, I realised that, since I actually don't really like Margery Allingham's work, I don't have to read the last book. That was a very liberating thought. I'm currently reading a NetGalley review copy of  Inheritance by Genevieve Gannon  , which is a rather marvellous book. Its two timelines - one in the immediate future where a woman is considering having a baby gene modified, and one thirty years later, where the impacts of gene modification are being felt. It's set in central Melbourne, which I love. It's a pandemic book, which was a bit of a surprise. It very well written and I would definitely rather be reading than working today.  After that I havea coupl...

It was another lovely weekend spent reasonably close to home. On Friday we went to my brother's place for dinner, which is always nice (for us). They were hosting because one of their Golden Retriever  had a knee operation and can't be left alone. Their dogs seems to spend a lot of time at the vet. Saturday was sunny and beautiful and I had brunch with Elise. I wanted to confirm her measurements for  the cardigan I was about to cast on for her. She is about to head overseas for a month, so there is no measuring while I'm knitting. Then in the afternoon I made buttons for said cardigan. While I was there making checks, I made a pair of earring for Katie. Sunday was very relaxing and indulgent, although there was also a lot of exercise in there! We went for a run in the morning. The runs are getting longer and faster and more tiring. I'll probably do the half marathon at the Marysville running festival in November. Then I finished the hat I've been working on.   I t...

When I decided to make a sock with the left-overs from my Rose Cardigan, I wanted it to be purl side out. The jumper is knit flat (so much purling) so I decided to knit the sock inside out so most of the fabric would be knit, rather than purled. It does mean that the cabling is "backwards" and, unless I made a particular effort to look, mistakes go unnoticed for a lot longer than would happen if I could see it in the course of the knitting. Luckily I know how to drop stitches down to fix cables, which was required more than once! I was worried that the gusset picked up stitches would look messy. When I mentioned this to Brent, he provided me with his sock pattern, which happens to look equally good from either side. I don't think that was quite the reason he designed it, but I'm pretty happy with how that went. The only other thing I didn't consider is that the toe is also inside out, and, off the foot it looks a little odd.  As you can see, the one on the left is...

In meditation it's said that the pause between the in breath and the out breath is a gap, a space to rest. Well, I'm in that in-between space for reading, listening and knitting. This is a random photo of a highlight of my week - I filled up my lolly jar. These are just supermarket party mix. During the lockdowns, we sources a great pick-and-mix delivery service, but at some point they started sending from the UK, which is a bit silly. Rachey messaged me a new one she found, and I impulsed purchased a kilo of mixed lollies, and then she sent me a link to the biggest lolly shop in Melbourne, which also delivers sweets by the kilogram, so i think I'm sorted for the rest of the year!  In reading I've just finished  The Beckoning Lady   by Margery Allingham . It's the second last book in the Summer of Mystery, and I have to admit, having now read nine Margery Allingham books, that they are OK. I wouldn't have read them if they were not connected to this club, but on...

I do love a quiet weekend, in and around my home. On Friday evening we went to my parents for dinner, and then on Saturday morning we ran to Sandringham.  It's ab out 13 kilometres down the beach and it's just other runners, and yacht clubs and the sea. Some parts of it are on Beach road (Melbourne's premier weekend cycling route) so there are packs of cyclists. Today was cloudy, mild and had very little wind, so it was perfect. We had breakfast and caught a train home. Sandy is the furthest our train line goes, so, as our runs get longer, it gets more complex, but for 13 k's its perfect.  After we came home and showered and rested I dyed the yarn for Elise's cardigan. It's a bit boring, but it's what she wants. I then finished skeining the remaining 20,500 meters of yarn - ten skeins in total. Now I write out the yardage I realise why it felt like such an epic task.  Anyway, not it's skeined and ready to dye for further projects. I also had some time to...

In my 20s, in my first houses by myself I was obsessed with pink and purple. I had pink and purple sheets, I made artwork for the first flat I lived in by myself and I inherited a giant 60s pink and purple coach from my grandparents. My bicycle, custom built for me in 2002 is purple.   At some point I relaxed, and got a new favourite colour - teal and turquoise.  I thought my next colour would be seafoam - I recently bought a new seafoam bag, and a Kobo case (before I actually bought my Kobo!) But what actually seems to have happened is everything is turning pastel blue. First I bought a new water bottle, then an actual Kobo cover (which only comes in three colours, so I was limited. Then, entirely to my surprise when it was time to buy new Ugg boots, I bought lovely pale blue ones.  These are replacing the purple ones I bought in 2021 , and I was thinking about teal even then! My first pair lasted 7 years and my second only three. My other observation is that each p...

This week in reading I finished Bananapants (review here , I was a bit meh about it) and started a NetGalley review copy of Lavie Tidar's Six Lives . I've only just started, so I can't talk about the plot, but I do like the way he writes. Next up, another review book due in September. Inheritance by Genevieve Gannon a near future sci-fi about designer babies. I was at knit night on Monday, chatting about picking up stitches for heels when Brent ( Brentusfirmus on Ravelry ) started waxing rhapsodic about how he does his sock heels. When I started taking notes he emailed me the pattern. So, I'm knitting a sock (I only just started, it's a while until the heel) I've nicked the cable from the Rose Cardigan, and I'm knitting it "inside out", so knitting when the purl side is going to be the public side. I've worked out how to cable on the wrong side, not something anyone usually does! It's all good fun. To read my all my book reviews, and to ...

  Welcome to part 14 in a series of non-fiction book reviews,  based on the idea that the books I request tell you everything you need to know about me.  Today we have the periodic table, a children's book about Levar Burton and  photos of a cold water guru! Random, but I'll explain in each one why I requested them, as well as what I thought of them. All books are provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Periodic Table Illustrated: A Guide to the 118 Chemical Elements  Abbie Headon  (releases 8 October 2024) We do trivia every week, and some of us have "special subjects". Leon is good at capital cities. My "special subject" is the period table. Not because I know all that much about it, but because I memorised the first ten elements when I was at school and can still recite them. So I was happy to receive this book. It has a short introduction, followed by two pages for each element. Each contains the same layout - Some information about ...

 As documented here, I spent the last three weeks knitting a dress . It was quite a fun knit while I was doing it - stripes and loads and loads of stocking stitch on the round is my idea of fun. The drama came at the end - the hem curled like crazy. Of course the hem curled, it's 5 rounds of 5x1 rib. I blocked the body before deciding what to do with sleeves. It miraculously stopped curling, but was rather too long. then I finished the sleeves, blocked it again and it's the perfect length. No idea how that happened.  Meanwhile I used the left-over yarn to make my first project from Kate Davies' Summer of Mystery Club - the  Little Venice Hat . It came out a little slouchier than expected, but I love a slouchy hat, so it's a win. I didn't knit them to wear them as a matching set, and the first time I put them on together was for these photos. Separately I love both these items - together they look like a sleep set! Needless to say I won't be wearing them togethe...

I'm reading the 7th Margery Allingham book for the Summer of Mystery - Tiger in the Smoke . I'm enjoying this one, there are not millions of characters that I can't keep track of, and I can see why Campion is involved.  Next up in reading, Penny Reid's BananaPants released yesterday, and I'm in the mood for some light hearted romance / adventure, so I think I'll read that, and then it's back to the review books. I don't have a lot of them at the moment, but I have 4 due in the first week of September, so I'll make a start on them, starting with Lavie Tidar's Six Lives . And that will be plenty to get me through this week, and some of next I except.  In knitting I finished my first pattern from the Summer of Mystery Club on Monday. It's a hat - come back on Friday for the FO post. I'm now knitting a charity jumper to use up the left-overs: I had a sick day this week, and sat in my favourite arm-chair, knitting and drinking tea out of my ...

 Look at the gorgeous, squishy spinning sample. It's 25 grams and 48 meters (so 192 meters for 100 grams). In other words, on the heavy side of an 8 ply not the sport weight I was aiming for.  I'm going to keep trying and spin up the 600 grams of fibre I dyed last week . - if it comes out this weight it will make a great Traveler shawl. If I can get the yardage I'm actually after I'm making the Traveler hoodie . (I just discovered that American's spell traveller with one "l" while we use two).  It very much surprised me to learn that I cannot recognise the size of yarn, and that my default yarn is a 12 ply (bulky). This is a little unfortunate, since my default yarn to knit with is a 4 to 8 ply. In other spinning news, when I was at Bendigo I decided to buy some new bobbins. I've got at least 6 of the old, ugly, plastic Majacraft ones, but they make new ones that are much nicer. It was near the end our shopping Saturday, and I was shattered, so when I...

  Welcome to part 14 in a series of non-fiction book reviews, originally based on the idea that the books I request tell you everything you need to know about me.  I have, after 13 chapters of this series, realised that all these posts say about me is that have eclectic taste and endless curiosity. Today we have hiking in America, a book about sex and lego. All they have in common is that they all release on, or around, the 13th of September. Hiking Hidden Gems in America's National Parks by Ted Alvarez   (Releases 17 September  2024). If you have been around here for a while, you know I hike. And we often hike less popular or well know routes - less people, less booking drama fewer fees, so I was quite drawn to this book, even though I'm not planning to hike in America any time soon. This is a stunning, inspiring book for more experienced hikers. It gives a great overview of a range of less publicised American National Parks and the hikes within them. The photo...