What I made, by Sharon

  It's not secret that I'm obsessed with knitting bags. I've managed to limit myself to Joji & Co bags, becasue they are so good. I last posted about buying Joji bags in Jul y , but somehow a new envelope bag made it's way to my house (it's a  better colour in real life!)  it's to replace the previous one , which I had used a lot and also was always a bit too lipstick red, and not quite the right shade of pink I was hoping for. Weirdly, I seem to replace these every two years. At Bendigo this year, Nat brought out her Thread and Maple Needle Binder. I was obsessed! It's funny, because I don't really need any storage - I have a Joji needle binder  in beautiful brown from 2020 and a DPN holder from 2021 in human skin pink.   So, I've been resisting, although I always knew I was going to give in at some point!  Last week I was having a very bad day, and also I got a pay rise, and I gave in and put an order in. I started with the notions page: And so...

Tarragon and Willow didn't interact much, but since he died last Friday she has become even more interactive with us. She's sitting on the couch, which she never did before, and helping with everything. Here she is helping my newly finished cardigan for my mother to dry: Now I'm knitting a quick charity jumper from leftovers. I love using up leftovers. This weekend we're going car camping, and I'm going to cast on a pair of socks for my dad to knit while we sit around a campfire. In reading, I finished  Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson.  It was fine, I guess. Loads of characters, lots of unnecessary details and an unsatisfying ending. Now I'm reading   a NetGalley review copy of  The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell . I'm loving it, even though it is time travel. It's also full of magic, so in my mind its more fantasy than time travel and for some reason I can deal with that! I'm about a third of the way through and looking forward to seeing...

 On Friday we said goodbye to Tarragon. He was the last of our OG cats - Princess Daisy, Ms Juniper and Lord Tarragon.  We then spent some serious time trying to get the house to smell less like pee. The last few months have been hard on the floors and the couch.  Other than than the weekend has had all the usual (running, friends, dinner with the folks) but it's all just a little bit sadder than usual. My house smells better, but feels rather empty. 

 In 2021 I made t he first lot of dishcloths . In January 2024 I made some more . They were all made of left over cotton from my weaving attempts. Some of them have worn out. Some are very tired. I suspect some are lost in our linen 'closet' (a single shelf in our laundry cupboard). So this year at Bendigo I bought some thicker cotton and, between other projects I've been making dishcloths. We use these to wash dishes, not to dry them, and we like quite a small one, knit tight, not a big floppy one. I made the Ballband Dishcloth pattern by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne And then the traditional corner to corner 'Gradma's Dishcloth'  Ravelry: Dishcloth Recipe pattern by Robin Wiest I probably shouldn't have bought two balls of yarn, I have quite a lot left over. Back into the stashbox until these wear out and I have another dishcloth frenzy!

I know every week is full of review books, but I said I was having a break. Instead I requested and received   Case Study: A Dystopian Novel about Absolute Empathy by Arsenii Moskvichoff . The description is in the title! It's not the best novel I've ever read, but an interesting thought experiment.  I'm also listening to  a time travel anthology from A mazon Originals  published " The Time Traveler's Passport ". Time travel stories are not always my favourite, but there was a John Scalzi story, so I requested it. I've listened to 5 or 6 of them, and its been really rewarding. Each story is very different - time machines, time loops, stolen time. Really original, even the one that I didn't love.  Now I'm finally reading    Shrines of Gaiety  by Kate Atkinson , before my library loan expires. I've only just started, so no opinions yet.  Next up is another review book  The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell , which might also have time...

  On Saturday we gathered to celebrate the Richmond Knitters 18th birthday. I've been a member since 2008, not long after they started although it felt very well established even then. I'm close to an OG member, although there are a solid group of longstanding members. It was a lovely day, with cake and friends. we played pass the parcel, with the biggest parcel I've ever seen - and the best prizes too. Thanks Sonia, the Richmond Knitter's founder and leader, for organising this and so many other things. We used this opportunity to choose the jumper for this years' Bendigo project ( Celeste by Petite Knit) and caught up with friends from near and far - including Nat, who came from Tasmania for the day. Then Sunday we had afternoon tea to celebrate Isabella, my niece's 18th birthday. She is such a delightful human being, and it's always delightful to get together for such joyful reasons.   

 I normally work from home on a Wednesday, but this week our new manager started today, so I worked from home yesterday and now everything feels a bit off kilter. I finished  Annie Bot by Sierra Greer . It was a very powerful and compelling read, focussing on misogyny, freedom, personhood and a whole lot more. Then I decided to get  Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson  from the library. Which I did, and I got it as far as Adobe Digital Editions, but it wouldn't actually open on my Kobo. I'll keep working on it. In the meantime, I'm reading the final of John Birmingham's silly action romance books  The Bjorn Identity  . It's enjoyable, silly and low impact. In listening I requested a time travel anthology from NetGalley  The Time Traveler's Passport.  I don't always love time travel, but there was a John Scalzi story I wanted to listen to. I actually really enjoyed the R.F. Kaung story, which is interesting, since I don't love her books. I've got t...

  W elcome to part 27 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  this was just a place to put these reviews, but now I can see how broad my non-fiction reading is, and how many interesting, good (and sometimes not-so-good) books and topics I've had a chance to explore. Today we have three takes on popular culture:  disability representation in the movies, an audiobook about the Golden Girls and a book about number one songs on the Billboard charts. Popcorn Disabilities: The Highs and Lows of Disabled Representation in the Movies by Kristen Lopez  Publishes 27 November Popcorn Disabilities  is an impassioned but nonetheless fun and engaging survey of how Hollywood has dealt with disability over the last century, covering not only the many ways that cinema has dis...

This week I'm back at work and back to my normal activities. Much as I loved being on holidays it's also quite nice to be back at knit-night, Tuesday night trivia and Pole classes, as well as being reunited with my spinning wheel. In reading last week I forgot to mention I was about to embark on a review copy of  Last Night at the Disco by Lisa Borders.  It was a fun and fabulous book. I love reading about the music scene of the 70s and 80s (think  Daisy Jones & The Six a nd  The Songbook of Benny Lament  ). This book is told from the point of view of someone who was there at the beginning,and thinks she should get more credit than she does. Loved it.  Now I'm reading (another) NetGalley review book,  Heart the Lover by Lily King . This is another book about people reading and writing books, this time literary fiction. I'm loving it - my heart aches for these young people. I remember how dramatic everything seemed when I was young.  After th...

 The day after we got back from the hike was Yom Kippur, so I took the rest of the week off. Unpacking and cleaning hiking gar can be a lot! On Thursday Elise and I did our traditional, non-religious Yom Kippur hang, then Leon and I went to the theatre in the evening. Friday was for relaxing, and then we hosted my parents for dinner. On Saturday we planned a little trip Northside - it's funny, because it's one suburban bus and about 20 minutes away, but I just tend to stay in the city or south of the river. We went to a hot sauce shop and tried (and bought) hot sauce. We then went to Aunty Peg's, a fancy coffee shop that won't put milk in coffee. i got a nitro coffee, which was delicious, and funny, since generally i don't like nitro beer. Then we went to Molly Rose, to collect our beanies from going to every Pint of Origin  venue with year. Now I have two commercial beanies to celebrate drinking. On our way through we stopped at the Lululemon outlet. we haven't...

 Just before I left on my hike I finished  Restitution  by Tamar Shapiro , a very good, thoughtful NetGalley review book. I figured on the trip I would read my next book    The Worst Thing I've Ever Done  by Clare Stephens , another NetGalley review book.  what actually happened was, just before we left Leon got offered Murder on the Great Ocean Walk , by Isobel Balckthorn.  It wan't a particularly good book, but the characters walked the very same walk we were doing, and it was amusing. instead of eye reading my own book, Leon read my this one while I knit. i was glorious. The hike itself was fabulous - 6 days and 5 nights of walking on a track that wanders the cliffs, where the Great Ocean road goes inland. the campsites were lovely, 4 of them had ocean views.  we got our food and supplies just right, and even though it rained quite a lot one day, we stayed dry and happy.  We saw three echidna, two wallabies and one snake. it was a ver...

We're preparing for the  Great Ocean Walk a six day, 110km unsupported hike, and I like to be thoughtful about this part of preparations, since if you don't have something you can't get it, but if you bring something you have to carry it. This is why I won't be bringing the Swancho on this trip, even though it is going well: Actually, I don't know if there is six days worth of knitting left it that! I'm taking the light cardigan for my mother that I talked about last week.  As I do all my reading on an e-reader I can take as many books as I need! I used to bike tour before e-readers and I would pick up books as I travelled, and some of them were not good. And I was travelling alone and it was before I knit, so books were important! I'm currently finishing a NetGalley review copy of   Restitution by Tamar Shapiro , a thoughtful story about a family the left East Germany, and the ongoing consequences and choices that led to. Next up is  The Worst Thing I'v...

With the sickness in our house and being away every second weekend, we had a relatively quiet weekend in and around home. On Friday night we went to my parents for dinner and I got my loom back. I did some weaving, including a course in 2014, and was fine not weaving since, but Sri Lanka gave me some ideas, and now I want to make handspun cushions. Warping the loom scares me, but I'll watch some tutorials and I'm sure I'll work it out. Leon and Elise's choir had it's 20-year birthday celebration, so all four of the connected choirs had a performance.   And we started to pack for our next adventure - a six day hike with no opportunities for resupply. Willow wants to come too. 

I mentioned that I had bought some new bobbins from Ackerworks.  I LOVE the bobbins. They are pretty coloured, they spin well and they don't make that weird screeching noise that by original bobbins sometimes made when they spun too fast. This picture shows the bobbin, and also an historic moment when Willow came and sat on my lap. She is a very companionable cat, but not generally a lap sitter. Earlier this week I finished my first project on the new bobbins - a three ply to go as colourwork with my latest spin. I like how it looks, but I only managed to get 105 meters so it's thicker and / or denser than I was planning. I should have just enough yarn for the colourwork on H umulus . Hopefully. Now I'm on to my next spin - Leon's Winter Set 2026. I'm trying for a three ply again, but this time actually spinning finer (hopefully). It's Gotland, so it's a bit hairier than I'm used to and the fibre prep is loose and easy to spin (maybe it's pencil rovi...

After our wonderful long weekend away we can back to a very windy, grey Melbourne. Somewhere along the way my arm has become infected, so now I'm on antibiotics. I'm pretty tired. Luckily the reading and knitting have been very good. I finished  The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón . Can't say I'm glad I bothered! Now I'm reading another older book from my Kobo -   A Family of Strangers by Fiona Lowe .  It's family drama set in small town Tasmania, and I am there for it. I'm about halfway through, and after that I've got two NetGalley review books  The Worst Thing I've Ever Done  by Clare Stephens  and  Restitution  by Tamar Shapiro . In audiobooks I'm listening to the second in the  Gaius Petreius Ruso  series by  Ruth Downie   Terra Incognita . So far, so enjoyable. Comfortingly like the first in the sreies, but different enough to be interesting,  In knitting, I mentioned I was going to start a new project for our w...