What I made, by Sharon

We have come to the end of sOctober - my favourite month of the year. To celebrate I am knitting  Sake  by Cookie A . It's not overly difficult, but every stitch is charted and every row has cable crossings, so it's a slow knit. I'm also knitting the sleeves of Leon's jumper, which are very simple and soothing. We're going on a road / camping trip this weekend, which will be a chance to make some good progress on the body. After a couple of not so great books I'm reading  The Watchmaker of Filigree Stree t by Natasha Pulley  It's a lovely book (cosy fantasy, maybe, although not that much fantasy) I really like the way Natasha Pulley writes, which is great, because she has written ten books, and I think the library has most of them. Next up is  The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale.  A review book which is apparently a twisty thriller. That's probably what I will read.  I like Pip Drysdale, but I mainly selected it for the cover: I love a face cover, I love palm...

W elcome to part 18 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 so many chapters of this series, realised that all these posts say about me is that have eclectic taste and endless curiosity. This time I am exploring whiskey cocktails, gnome poems and a book about counting sheep designed to help children sleep. All books in this post are kindly provided in e-arc form from the publishers through NetGalley. The 20 Little Poems for 20 Little Gnomes by Raven Howell (already released)  I've recently become a little obsessed with gnomes , so when I saw this book I had to request it. It's a beautifully illustrated book of lovely, positive little poems. I thought it was utterly charming, and ended up reading half the poems out loud to my husband. I would buy this book as a gift for a friend with a new baby, or for an early (1s, 2nd or 3rd) birthday present. Utterly charming....

As I write this I have just finished a library book -  The Lessons by Naomi Alderman . I loved it. Now I am embarking on the oldest book on my Kobo -  Transmission  by Morgan Rice .  Look at that cover! It's the first in a sci-fi series about aliens arriving on earth. It's pretty short, and I've just discovered it's young adult (quite young) so I don't know how why I bought it. After that I have  Happy Place by Emily Henry,  which I had on hold at the library, and it just appeared when I had my Kobo on wifi to return The Lessons. There was no email or anything, and now I am confused as to how I'm meant to know that a book is ready. The only thing that has come over from previous weeks is the audiobook  Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke . Not my favourite cover, but I am enjoying the book. 32 hours for an audiobook is good value, and I'm enjoying the narrators tone. I've got less than ten hours left, so I'll have to start thinking ab...

 I'm not sure why, but last week it popped into my head that I wanted to make some polymer clay gnomes. I hadn't sculpted for a while, and I had SUCH a screaming desire to make gnomes that I couldn't control myself. On Saturday I mentioned it to Elise, and she asked if she could have a gnome. So I make a platoon of pink and purple gnomes. The little ones I made into stitch markers and earrings, and I intended the big one for Elise, but I fell in love and am keeping her. Then on Monday night Dani asked if I might make some gnomes to match a photo she sent me of a four woman juggling troupe, so I made these: And I made this chubby gnome for Elise. I also experimented with some Halloween coloured  gnomes, for those who celebrate I've got a busy few weekends coming up, so I've put the polymer clay away for now, but you can be sure it will be coming out before Christmas, because what could be better than a Christmas gnome?

 I knit Kris' socks, and they micro striped! This pattern is 60 stitches, 4x1 twisted ribbing I wasn't expecting that, based on the yarn in the ball - I never saw it in the hank, but I still wouldn't have predicted it. I was pretty excited to knit Monkey socks (64 stitch lace pattern) with the leftovers. I had an image of how the stripes would bend with the pattern. It looked very nice in my imagination and plans. When I started knitting I very quickly realised that this was pooling, rather than striping. The pooling is quite funny - Leon describes it a pink sock from another dimension superimposing itself on a striped sock from our dimension. The bright pink doesn't go all the way around,a nd they are mutchy poolier.  They look a lot better now they are done and I love them!   And I get to be matchy matchy with Kris, so double bonus. I also had the fun of knitting Monkeys again - first time since 2010, and it is such a fun, easy effective sock pattern.

  And I'm still knitting socks: Nearly done! They are Cookie A's Monkey socks , which went viral in 2006. I feel very retro. In reading I am a bit more current, having just finished a NetGalley review copy of  The Thinning by Inga Simpson . A very moving, lyrical, dystopian climate change thriller, set in New South Wales near Parkes. Very evocative and scary (the climate change stuff, not the thriller aspects of this book). Now I'm reading  No Hard Feelings by Genevieve Novak   which is glorious book about a hot mess 20 something, who is doing her best. I love this genre  of hot mess millennium women trying to grow up and get their acts together and I love the fact that it is set in Melbourne. And the main character doesn't just catch the but, she catches the 246 bus. that's my bus! Lot's of authors who set their books in Melbourne have trams as the only form of public transport, but she has trains and busses too. I'm feeling quite provincial! It's well ...

 In July 2021 I bought a camo envelope bag from Joji and Co. I loved that bag and used it all the time. 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 Tarragon peed on it . I bought a new one in a lovely shade of pinky red, but I kept using this one - it was ideal for storing a projects worth of yarn, or using when the blue and the pink all become a little too much. I was knitting the bathmat out of it, when the front closure popped right off. So now I am officially getting rid of it. I thank you for your service, camo envelope bag.

I was looking for something to knit with the oldest yarn in my stash - 399 meters of heavy laceweight, handspun by me in  August and  September  2021.  That was when Melbourne was busy earning the mantle of 'most locked-down city it the world', so I guess it's not surprising that I didn't want to look at it for a while! Anyway, I started looking for patterns, and discovered  The Observatory pattern by Kate Davies.  This pattern was released as part of the West Highland Way Club, while I was walking the West Highland Way!  Knitting it was low drama, except the bit where I messed up the lace pattern, and then kept messing it up after I ripped it, because I started back on the wrong row. I really like it, it's like a yarn necklace. It did make me want to spin some more stripped yarn, and then make a shawl where the entire project is knit side to side (like this one by Joji). This time, knitting with my handspun was fun and satisfying and I love the result...

The heading might be a bit harsh. I finished  The End of the Playboy  by Harlin Hailey , which I 5-starred. Then I read  Bad Reputation  by Emma Barry . I requested it because of it's front cover of palm trees - but my e-copy didn't have a cover, and 3/4 of the book was set in Scotland. Weird. I didn't really enjoy it and I only finished it because it was a NetGalley review book. Then I got the first Maisie Dobb s book from the library (yay library book). I know I'm late to this party, but I'm enjoying it very much. Which is a nice change, and it's also nice that there are 18 books in this series, so hopefully that's a lot of lovely reading. Next up is The Thinning by Inga Simpson, a Negalley book which has the bonus of being Australian. I think it's a climate change disaster book.  I listened to a third of  When We Chased the Light  by Emily Bleeker . I love that front cover. I really disliked the narrator. I know the character has an Italian backgro...

Welcome to part 17 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 so many chapters of this series, realised that all these posts say about me is that have eclectic taste and endless curiosity. This time I am learning about Harry Styles, one pot cooking and deconstructed poetry, eclectic indeed! All books are kindly provided as e-Arcs through NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews. Harry Styles Is Life: A Superfan’s Guide to All Things We Love about Harry Styles by Kathleen Perricone | ( Releases 8 October 2024) I  recently reviewed    Taylor Swift is Life , so when I had the opportunity to read a similar overview of Harry Styles, I thought that would be fun. I was expected a non-critical, enthusiastic overview of his career, taken from third party sources and other open information, with hand drawn illustrations, rather than any photos. That is exactly wh...

I noticed one of my bathmats was looking quite sad.  It looks better in the photo than in real life. It's more grey and has got a kind of crunchy texture. Also, there is an actual hole in it. We've been using it regularly since 2016, so that's a more than decent run. I had left over cotton yarn. Cotton is the most appropriate yarn for bathmats, but I've always made mine out of leftovers, and rarely knit with cotton. I decided to make an oval bathmat, using Shelly Husband's advice as to how to crotchet an oval .  It mainly worked, but there is a bit of ruffling in the middle. Also, I used Double Crotchet stitch, and I think Single Crotchet might have been better, since this is quite airy and not dense.  After I made this, I put it on the floor and put the other bathmat in the wash. When I got it out I noticed that, it too has a hole worn through it, so I guess I will be buying some cotton to make a replacement for that sometime soonish.

Happy sOctober to those who celebrate. This week's reading was a bit of a mixed bag.  I read a review copy of  The Day He Disappeared   by Catherine Miller , although I ended up skim reading it because it was a very tedious book. Poorly written, repetitious, predictable and boring. Now I'm reading  The End of the Playboy by Harlin Hailey  which is a sort of midlife crisis Hollywood satire. Or a reflection on aging and society, I'm not sure which. I am enjoying it though.  Then I've got two more review books, the Amazon Original short story  When We Were Friends by Jane Green    And  Bad Reputation by Emma Barry A romance that I requested purely on the basis of that cover! In audio I decided to finally try  Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke  because it's 34 hours long and I felt like I was getting through my credits too fast. I'm enjoying it - it feel like the sort of book that is better on audio. After I s...