What I made, by Sharon

W elcome to part 31 in a series of non-fiction book reviews, originally based on the idea that the books I request from netGalley 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! 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 thanks to Netgalley. Today we have the Violent Femmes first album, the Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night, and owls. Diverse indeed!  Owls by David Alderton (Publishing 14 April 2026) Owls have been a source of fascination and awe throughout history. In Indian folklore, owls represent wisdom and helpfulness, while in Ancient Greece they were seen as a good omen if sighted before a battle. Today, owls are often kept as pets by bird lovers, and can be found in woodland and forests from the Canadian Arctic to the...

 We're in the middle of Autumn, but the weather has been beautiful. I took the day off work to go to the beach with Anna, knit, drink coffee and follow it up with a trip to Cosco. Bliss. Speaking of knitting, my Celeste is going very nicely - I'm whizzing down the stocking stitch body. Is there anything more soothing than stocking stitch in the round?   Yes there is - knitting stocking stitch in the round with yarn I dyed myself . The reading has been good too. It's all NetGalley all the time at the moment, since I have 23 outstanding books - all ofr the future, and my ratio is still 94 percent, but I need to stay on top of it.  I just finished  Griftopia by Suzy Vitello  a somewhat odd family drama / satire on American life.  Now I'm reading The Thornbacks by which is even stranger, about a couple of female morticians (but I'm pretty sure that's not the point). It set in an unnamed city that feels a LOT like Melbourne, and is quite the experience. I'm a ...

I don't know what the collective noun for a group of hats is - a charity of hats? A celebration of hats? Anyway, this week I knit four hats, three for charity and one for a work colleague. I do love the  Fits the Whole Fam Hat  pattern. It's simple (as are most hats) It fits all sizes and it's made with three four ply (fingering yarns) held together, so it eats up a whole lot of yarn. Perfect for left over sock yarn.  I've finished with the current spasm of hats, because I will be concentrating on my Celeste jumper, but this has been (another) very pleasurable diversion.

I've had a good month with KoboPlus, currently finishing up  Vengeful by V.E. Schwab,  the second in her superhero (or not so much heroes) trilogy.  I should just have time to finish this, and complete the book of Victoria Goodard short stories which I got halfway through and then took a break from before my subscription expires. then it's back to NetGalley reviewing, which I have let lie fallow this month. I have 20 book waiting, which for me is a lot, but they are all for the future. and spread over the next 6 months. I'll be starting with   Griftopia:   by Suzy Vitello w hich, based on a cursory reading of the blub seems to be about families and overexposure and scam and grifting.  In audio I just finished   This Song Is About Me  by Melissa de la Cruz,  which is what you would get if Daisy Jones and the Six had been about Taylor Swift instead of Fleetwood Mac. It was a pretty enjoyable read, and the audiobook narrator was very good ...

Yesterday I finished reading Victoria Goddard's Till Human Voices Wake U s. while I always love Victoria Goddard (her books are heartwarming and affirming) this one was a bit weird. It was one of her very early books. I enjoyed it, but not as much as her later stories. I'm continuing the urban fantasy theme with Dancers in the Dark  w hich is set in the Sookie Stackhouse universe. I read all the Sookie Stackhouse books a very long time ago, finishing them in 2014, but I don't think I read this one. I'm enjoying it. Next up is A Ray of Sunshine   by Astrid Harewijn. Women's fiction, for a change of pace.  In audio books I decided I needed a complete change, and am listening to the last Aaron Faulk mystery by Jane Harper Exiles .  It's been a while since I read a non-cosy mystery and I'm loving the growing air of menace.     In crafting this week Shoni asked me to knit a pair of mittens for Lulu's birthday, so I did. I've just for the thumb of the seco...

The other day someone commented that my socks look like whimsy and happiness, and I thought about how I want my life to have many moments of whimsy and happiness.  So this weekend I decided to sew some dragonfly patches I had acquired on a spare cushion cover.  I don't sew much, and it's possible that my table is not an ideal height for sewing and this was kind of fiddly, so now my shoulders ache a bit, but my couch is just a little bit more whimsical. Now I'm off to collapse on it and read a book. Happiness. 

 For no particular I decided to knit a pair of house socks out of some really fun yarn I was given at the Richmond Knitters Christmas dinner. I have a comfortable pair of house socks, but they are grey, and I thought it would be fun to have something brighter and peppier as we head into winter. In reality, there is only this short stretch of autumn when I wear house socks, soon it will be time to get out the ugg boots. I choose to knit the same pattern as last time - Andrea Mowry's Bear Paw socks. They look weird off because they are ribbed all around, even the soles, but they are comfortable to wear. I sized down from last time and made a women's small. These fit firmly, unlike the previous ones which are a bit sloppy - but very comfortable around the house. They are really fun. I've been wearing them non-stop and am wearing them as I type this. I had some yarn left over, so I knit a quick pair of socks for charity. The group I knit for likes to make sets with socks, a ju...

even though I said it was Kobo + this month. As I said in my weekend report I had a joyous amount of reading time. I read Vicious by V.E. Schwab, which I really enjoyed - more man made superheros. Then I requested  A Song Only We Can Hear by Elliot Wake, mainly because the subtitle is A novel about cancer, music and love. I'm halfway through, and I would subtitle it a novel about abusive people and the cancer patient who love them.  After I finish this I'll go back to kobo +. I might read some Charlaine Harris - there are some of her novellas available, and she writes a good story. In audiobooks I returned to Netgalley, because I was really excited to request and receive Yann Martell's Son of Nobody.   It's a strangely structured book, comprising a made up history of the Trojan War from the point of view of a commoner, the notes on it by a modern scholar, and his personal life interjected in the middle. I'm very close the end and I kept thinking it would come tog...

I just had the longest, most relaxing weekend in history! I took Thursday off because it was Passover, and so the Easter break was 5 glorious days. I feel like we made the most of it (in a relax hard way). Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were family dinners, and Saturday and Sunday night we went to comedy shows (I love Comedy Festival time!).  I did have a little knitting mission - in December I finished a cute little top called Backlit , something I had been planning for ages. One the Wednesday I noticed there was once drop of coffee on the centre front. I did everything I could - washed it, tried to scrape it, but the stain remained. So I ripped it back. And then knit it forward! In this photo you can clearly see the line between the old knitting and the reknitting. Now it's re-blocked the textures are the same. Other than that we did a lot of sleeping - 5 days without an alarm is my idea of bliss. I woke up every morning at my own pace, and then lay around reading until the ...

 Regular (blog) scheduling has recommenced! Life scheduling - who knows. I've got 5 days off in a row - one annual leave day for Passover, and then four days for Easter. Bliss. On the first day off I finished  Joji's  Hipster Top . It was a very fun knit, with some fancy shoulder stitches and then simple two row stipes, all the way down.  The only criticism i have of the pattern is that she says that, once you finish the knitting there is no finishing. Sure, if you want it to look unfinished. I put some i-cord along the back neck, and did a tubular cast off to make it look more finished. I did not do jogless stipes, something that is very obvious when you look at the side seam, but doesn't really bother me. I don't know how much wear I'll get from it this year - while yesterday was beautiful, today there is a distinct chill to air. It was a fun, satisfying knit and I can imagine it with a pair of simple denim shorts, or with a full black skirt. It styles surprisingl...

As well as everything that has been going on in the world, there have been some dramas close to home. Leon's elderly father died last week. The funeral was on Monday, and the whole family (7 children, 12 grandchildren) were there, so it was a sad occasion, but also beautiful. And the church it was held in must have seen me coming, because this window was clearly designed with me in mind. As I kept promising I signed up for a month of Kobo Plus. My first book was Lavie Tidhar's The Violent Century , which posited that some people got superpowers before World War 2. an alternative history, which I found quite compelling. now I'm reading King Cal by Peter McDade, and loving the plot, wanting to know what happens, and also finding it quite plodding and repetitious, and the relationships don't resonate with me.  After this I'll either take a turn and go back to romance (Penny Reid's The Prom King ) or read V.E. Schwab's Vicious , which sounds like it shares some...

 I decided to make a little toy to go with the charity baby jumper I was knitting. I chose the very cute   Pentapus . I made one... and then I kept making them. Six so far and I don't think I've finished yet. I want to try some in some very bright colours, and some in stripes. So fun. They take about 45 minutes each and the legs are actually bobbles, not sewn on, so they can't come off. Child safe toys for the win! I've also been knitting a top for myself. It's pretty straightforward, but the colours are just making my heart sing. It's Joji's  Hipster Top , a little sleeveless tee. We are in the dying days of summer, so I don't think I'll get much wear from it this year, but the simplicity of the knit (stocking stitch in the round) is makes it great public knitting. In reading, I just finished  After The Siren by Darcy Green , a very sweet MM romance set in Melbourne and the AFL. It was refreshing and nice and I got it from the library, which is stil...

Really, all I'm questioning is, does there have to be a theme and a dramatic title? No there does not. As predicted last week , I'm clearing up my NetGalley before I do a month of Kobo Plus I read    Found Time  by Caroline Goldstein , which was a lovely romance, full of lovely people, but the stakes were so low that It all got annoying. Now I'm reading Start at the End  a sliding doors novel about a couple who meet, fall in love and then different options emerge. It's intriguing. Next up is Transcription by Ben Lerner. I'm not much of a blurb reader, so the main thing I know about this one is that it is short! I've been listening to two audio books, one non-fiction by myself -  Do I Know You  by  Sadie Dingfelder . It's meant to be about face blindness, but it's also about her other visual and neurological challenges. I feel like I should like it, particularly since Leon has a lazy eye (I can't believe it's still called that) but Sadie seems l...

 On Sunday we went to Ballarat because Leon's father is not doing well, so we went for a (probably final) visit. One our way we stopped and ran around Lake Wendoree and then took photos of my just finished  Agave . And when I say just finished, it was still slightly damp when I put it in the car. This was a really fun knit, my first with linen and a rare instance of me using the exact yarn recommended in the pattern. I followed the directions and knit it flat, which was a bit tricky until I got the hang of the lace on both sides. I extended the sleeves (flutter sleeves, I love them so much) by one repeat, because I wanted to use up as much yarn as possible, and have the sleeves as fluttery as possible.  It ended up 46 inches around, instead of the 50 I thought I was knitting, but since that's still 12 inches of positive ease, I think it's plenty. I got to wear it yesterday. Summer is rapidly receding, but I'm hoping to get one or two more wears before it goes away in fa...

I decided to make a fun pair of sneaker liners, as a simple project to work in public while I knit the bigger, more complicated Agave top. I thought it would be fun to knit them in conjunction - two at a time, but on separate needles. Finally I thought I would try the HiyaHiya needles and compare them with Chiaogoos for sock knitting. I actually bought the HiyaHiya circulars a little while ago. One was slightly bent when it arrived in the mail. I straightened it out and it seemed fine, but that should have told me everything i needed to know. I also seem to need to keep relearning the same lessons, because I made the same observations about the two brands' double pointed needles back in 2019. I cast the first sock on. the HihyaHiyas are very pointy, and split the splitty yarn quite a bit and bend if I lever too hard. After completing the cuff, heel and first set of stripes I cast the second sock on using a Chiaogoo circular. It is pointy, but not sharp. After completing the cuff, ...

After last week, I'm just proud of myself that I'm getting this published on Wednesday. We've had a fun busy time, with a weekend away, work being busier than normal, and last week we got out floors and carpets redone. We still haven't put the house back together, and many of our belongings are in the largely unused spare office in my block. Even with all this, I've had a good time with the crafting and the knitting -   I finished my  NetGalley review book  Shake Out the Ghosts,  but I didn't enjoy the second half and 2 starred the book. Not ideal, since I DNFd my previous review book. I don't think it's me being grumpy - I'm currently reading  Saint's Blood (Greatcoats, #3) by Sebastien de Castell   and it's a whole lot of swashbuckling fantasy fun.  I've only got three review books between here and May, so I'm going to read them and then do a month of Kobo Plus. They are a romance, a woman's fiction and 177 page book, so more of...