What I made, by Sharon

 After a string of brilliant books I had a three star audiobook ( Everyone's Seen My Tits: Stories and Reflections from an Unlikely Feminist by Keeley Hazell | ) and a DNF of a fantasy book ( House of Dusk by Deva Fagan ). I'm not even sure why I wasn't enjoying the fantasy, I just couldn't bring myself to care. As a palette cleanser I'm reading a   For Her Eyes Only    a  really fun John Birmingham action romance, set in rural Scotland which I am enjoying (available on Kindle Unlimited, if you are that way inclined.) After that I've got another NetGalley review book  Very Impressive For Your Age by Eleanor Kirk, which is about ' chasing your dreams and losing your ambition from a stunning new Australian voice.' Needless to say I'm looking forward to it, although I might not read it yet, because  I am listening to another NetGalley review book that might be a bit thematically similiar  Young Fools  by Liza Palmer .  I'm ...

  I finished the Luminos Tee  last Wednesday. I'm very happy with how my yarn choices look, and the fit of it. it should be a perfect summer top - the main yarn is partly linen. The only problem was that it's a summer top, and everyone who has knit one has lovely photos of them, wearing this little top in the sun. It's current 10 degrees and raining here, so that was not going to happen. I  am asking myself why I made this in the middle of winter. i don't know, it just really wanted to get on my needles.  I decided to see if i could style it as a slipover, and I really like it this way. We took this photos at my parent's house, in front of their enviable book cases. I also got some 'with book' shots. Someone on BlueSky was sharing a rumour that people are more likely to get approved if they have bookish photos. I don't know about that - I rarely get declined, my theory is that the earlier you request it the more likely you are to get a book. It might als...

Really there is no theme this week, just reading, listening, knitting and spinning, and Stephen West mystery sock spoilers at the bottom of this post, so here's a picture of Willow relaxing on some just plied skeins of yarn. I just finished  Horse by Geraldine Brooks.  It was amazing, I felt all the feels. I actually shed a tear at one point. To deal with that emotional book hangover I'm reading a quick non-fiction - Metronome (Object Lessons) by Matthew H. Birkhold  (NetGalley review book) . It's acting as a good palette cleanser. I'm going to follow that up with something completely different -   House of Dusk by Deva Fagan . Described as ' A romantic epic fantasy featuring a fire-wielding nun grappling with her dark past and a young spy caught between her mission and a growing attraction to an enemy princess.' I'm really looking forward to this one (also a NetGalley ARC). In audio I am working through my review books. I finished  Cammy Sitting Shiva by...

I just had the most balanced, wonderful weekend. I did lots of stuff, but also felt like I had enough time - to knit, to read to spin. But not too much time, I easily get cabin fever if I spend too much time in my little flat. We did all the things we usually do - hosted dinner on Friday night, ran on both Saturday and Sunday, saw friends for dinner and went to a show, cleaned the house. So I don't know why this particular weekend felt so good. Maybe because it was blue skies and sunshine all weekend? Maybe because my reading and knitting were all very satisfying (come back Wednesday if you want details). I don't know, but I wish I could capture this feeling of balance.  There are no photos in this post, because the only time I had my camera app open all weekend was to film at practice time at Pole - where I successfully completed a trick I've been struggling with. It was just that sort of weekend. Ease and flow!

 I seem to have a few books about 30 year old sad girls in my eye and ear reading. It's a genre I enjoy, but I don't need them in both formats! So, I've just finished  NetGalley review book   Isn’t It Nice We Both Hate the Same Things by Jessica Seaborn , about a mid-30s divorcee and her search for meaning, or at least friends! I have mixed feelings about this one, you can read my full review here. Next up is    Horse  by Geraldine Brooks .  In audio I finished the witchy, magical  The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland  by Rachael Herron  and am  about to start  Cammy Sitting Shiva by Cary Gitter  another story about lost 30-year-old. I've got a bit of a focus on the audio books at the moment. I requested a book from NetGalley, didn't hear back. Requested another, still no response. Requested a third and then all three came through! I'm quite pleased though, since I am quite focussed on the knitting, and often listen to b...

On Thursday the zip for my hoody arrived. Sewing this in scared me for two reasons - I had to shorten the metal zip and then I had to sew it in. I've sewn a zip into knitting before, but that was a baby jumper and 2017 was a very long time ago. I wanted a metal zip that matched, and I couldn't get one in Australia, so I ordered it from China. if you squint you can see how much too long the zip was. I also knew I couldn't get anything like the right length and i was going to have to shorten a metal zip. I looked up advice on line and then stared at the zip for a long time before starting! It took a surprisingly long time to pry off the metal bits, but in the end I got a zip that matched, fits and suits.   Sewing in the zip was a (relative) doddle. I finished it on Saturday and wore it out to Sunday lunch at the pub. It felt like the perfect, comfortable, casual jumper. This jumper, where I dyed the fiber , spun the yarn ,  knit it and finally doing the finishing, and get...

  W elcome to part 25 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 books from the Object Lessons series, which is a series of 's hort, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.' I love these, and have previously read Sticker, Blackface, Fat, OK, Glitter, Gin, TV, Recipe, Wine, and Trench Coat. There are a total of 92 books in the series, so more than ten percent. Not bad! Today I add Videotape, Cat and Taco. Videotape (Object Lessons) by Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy  This a book specifically about videotapes. Not the machines, not ...

  My reading last week went to plan, but quicker, so after finished  Taco  (Object Lessons)  I moved on to my next NetGalley review book  Isn’t It Nice We Both Hate the Same Things by Jessica Seaborn . It's great so far. People getting lost (and presumably found later, although that's the story) are my favourite kind of book. After this I've got a bit of a gap in review books, and I have ten books that I brought over when I switched from Kindle to Kobo, so I'm going to start clearing them off the bottom of the metaphorical stack. I'll decide which I read when I get there, but it will probably be   Horse by Geraldine Brooks . I mentioned last week that I got a  NetGalley copy of   The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland  by Rachael Herron . I started that this week and it's an absolute delight. Witchy families? Building oneself up after it all goes wrong? Leaving? Yes please to all of these. In knitting I started   Luminos Tee : Those ...

  I (basically) finished my handspun hoodie on Thursday. Or at least I finished the knitting, sewed up the pockets and blocked it. I can't call it finished until I sew the zip in, and I can;t do that until I receive it. I thought I could just buy one at Lincraft or Spotlight, but they had nothing, and then I thought I'd buy one on eBay, but from Australia. Becasue i was quite specific about what i wanted, I had to get it from China. It'll get here when it gets here. Then I cast on a charity baby jumper which I somehow finished over the weekend.  Now I've wound more yarn, and am about to cast on for a Luminos tee, becasue the middle of winter definitly feels like the best time to make a summer top. On Tuesday (or probably Wednesday) I'll be casting on for Stephen west's Delectable Collectible mystery sockalong, and I'm all ready for that too.  That one only needs 5 colours, and I have 6, so choosing which one I have to leave out might be the most challengin...

 I DNFd  The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth  by Barbara O'Neal,  which surprised me, but I was finding it such a tedious read. Now I'm reading  Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky   and I cannot put it down. Proper old school sci-fi. It will take me a little while, since it's a 600 page book. After I finish it, or during if I need a break, I'll read the  Taco (Object Lessons) by Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado , a non-fiction book about (you guessed it) Tacos. In audio I was thrilled to get a NetGalley copy of   The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland by Rachael Herron . She's one of my favourite authors - I follow her on Patreon because she writes such delightful essays about her thoughts and choices. the cover of this book is wonderful, and I am looking forward to starting it, hopefully later today. The knitting is going well - I'm up to the hood of my hoodie: And the spinning is also progressing nicely - all singles are spun, and now I just ...

 My stash is all on Ravely, and the current volume is 19,756 over 26 entries. That's high, considering I'm making more yarn by spinning, and I'm planning to buy a little more yarn when I go back to Bendigo at the end of August (they just released a Corriedale, and they have a good slow colour changing yarn). Also, I'm about to knit Kris a Swancho out of yarn she has provided. On the other hand, it's not too high - the total is less than I knit last year, it all fits in the stashbox  (pictured below, it's also out coffee table) and I'm excited about all my future projects. As promised I have experimented with my nostepinde, or stick, as I prefer to call it. I made two mini-balls. The first ended up quite egg shaped, and the second a little flatter. They took forever to do. They look a little messy in these photos, but they are actually quite nice, neat balls. That said, because I don't centerpull, I'm not sure there is any advantage of this over th...

We're back, and what a weekend it was! These sheep show weekends are all different, but they all have the same structure and rituals that the Richmond Knitters have built up over the years. This year we stopped as Castlemaine Mill on the way up and lunch and bought wine, cheese and chocolate. Then Nat, Katie and I made our way to the super cute cottage where we stayed this year: (Photo is from the Sunday morning, where we were exhausted and about to make our ways home!) On Thursday night we had our traditional Thai dinner, to fuel us for the excitement that is Friday at the show. Amanda was there too - I'm not great at getting everyone in the photo.  On Friday the weather was perfect - blue sky and no wind. As usual we went to the Women of Wool lunch, had excellent food and interesting speakers. In yarn I only bought the mini's for the upcoming Stephen West mystery sockalong. In 'lifestyle' I bought all the things: The stick  in the middle is a nostepinde, although ...