What I made, by Sharon

As everyone knows, I try to keep as small a stash as possible. It's not that small, it fluctuates between 15 and 25 kilometres. The other day at knit night I announced that I had decided I needed orange socks, but I didn't have any orange sock yarn. Kris piped up "I've got orange sock yarn". Sonia announced that she had orange sock yarn - Collinette Jitterbug, a discontinued yarn I adore and Kate said she had some that she had ordered one day when she was not feeling well. I pointed out that it was very nice that they all had orange sock yarn, but that was their orange sock yarn, and I am a big girl who can buy her own yarn. Sonia then decided to give me her orange yarn - not one but two skeins of Jitterbug, which was once my favourite sock yarn, but has been discontinued. It's the perfect shade of orange, and knit up beautifully into Cookie A's Sake Socks. I had put off making these socks, because every knit stitch is twisted and there are cables on ever...

What to say about this pair of Cusp socks, pair three of sOctober 2019? The sock design looks quite intimidating in the book (Cookie A's Knit Sock Love ) but the knitting of it was fairly straightforward, and I love my yarn / pattern combination - especially when viewed with Regan, the cardigan that this yarn was left over from. I was suprised that these knit up in a week, I thought the heavily charted pattern and twisted rib would slow me down, but I guess the fun of them kept it all moving well.  The main weirdness of these socks is that the first one was just a smidge small /tight (although I often find that socks that are quite firm on first wearing are the best in the long run) The second sock is perfect. when i showed them to Leon, he could see which one was tighter, but thought the tighter one looked better. Oh well, they both feel good on, and are so pretty and sparkly. I love using up left overs, which is why my next socks are going to use the rest of this ya...

It's been a big week in NetGalley land. I started reading A Million Dreams By Dani Atkins. It's pretty good, although in order to avoid spoilers, the blurb completely fails to accurately reflect what the book is actually about. It's a good read, accurately compared to Jodi Piccoult with relatable flawed main characters. There are a couple of small things that are bugging me disproportionately,like that it is set in a generic English city. And I get not every book has to have a really strong sense of place, but she describes parks, and suburbs and I keep wondering if it's Manchester or Devon. I don't know why this is irritating, the writing is good and I'm three quarters of the way through after three days. Although I think it might be about to take a turn for the over dramatic. We'll see. The other review book is knitting book!It's Baby's First Knits by Debbie Bliss (which I would link to, but it's not up on Ravelry yet, even though i...

I finished Conic on Wednesday, and it was blocked and dry on Thursday night. I wore it to the pub, where we had dinner with Kat and Nick, who were in Melbourne for family and for work. So nice to catch up with far flung friends. Then I wore it to work on Friday.  I think I'll wear it every day. Despite my earlier fears, I really like it. The Blacker yarn is half linen, half wool and it is crisp, but still has wonderful drape. Extending the sleeves worked too. They hit just below the elbow, which keeps be warm enough and also avoid the "problem" of ribbed cuffs on my considerable biceps.      I love, love, love the cable down the back.  I really like this shape, lose and batwingy an a giant circle. Leon doesn't so much he said "it looks good ...when your arms are by your sides", but I like all that fabric. Like my Strathendrick , it's a bit of a wearing blanket, although it is more summerweight than the jumper. I was planning to follow m...

I get to a certain point with every big project I knit, where I am convinced its a failure. The last one was Leon's jumper, which was terrible - until I blocked it and it was great. I'm now well over half way through Conic , and I'm concerned it's going to be unwearable.  I went up a size (and down a needle size) because the smaller size was ...smaller. Now I'm worried that there will be massive amounts of positive ease. I did the sleeve decreases slower, because I wanted it to hit below the elbows.  Now I'm panicking that this will make for a weird batwing shape. I'm trying to stay calm, to remind myself that this is meant to be an odd, oversized shrug thing. That I panic every time. But mainly I'm trying to knit as fast as I can, so i can see if it's a winner, or if it's the a strange, batwi nged bizaro thing that I fear I am knitting.

I've been working away on Conic . Because you pick up the "sleeve" stitches from almost the middle of the back, they are very long rows. Also, I paused on the first "sleeve" to start the second one - because I was out last Saturday, and I didn't want to risk finishing the first sleeve. Picking up those stitches is intense, so I did that,and then knit the first part of the sleeve. So, progress is slow and not interesting for others, but it is quite fun for me. Other than knitting Conic I am obsessed with the new Fringe Town Bag, which is like the Field bag which I use for all my knitting except socks, but bigger. Do I need one? No. Do I desperately want one, in the toffee (on the left) ? Yes. These are in very short supply. They do their updates at 9am Friday Central Time. For some reason I thought that would be 1am here in Melbourne . I Googled it, I didn't just magically decide. Last Friday night was very hot, and we were still up at 12.45, so...

Saturday was the first day of summer, and Melbourne celebrated by having absolutely beautiful weather. It was also the first day in decades that Junction Oval - at the end of my street has hosted the cricket. The last couple of years have been spent renovating and reviving the ground, and it's lovely. So much smaller than the big stadiums,with grass to lounge on. And people giving away fairy wings. No idea why, but I enjoyed my day wearing them. Needless to say, I got a lot of knitting done. I'm knitting the appropriately summery Conic , by Cookie A, out of a linen / wool mix. It was just so relaxing and pleasant, and  sign of things to come. Today the weather is much more ordinary, and I'm curled up at home, knitting and reading, but Saturday showed so much promise for the coming season - both in cricket, knitting and just relaxing in the sun.  I'm also pretty excited about this shrug: it starts with the back panel, and then you pick up stitches for the...

Wanida by Cookie A was such a dream to knit for me. Cookie A was clearly designing on DPNs, which is how I knit my socks. Each pattern repeat is sixteen stitches. Very simple, very fun. I knit these on the 2mm HiyaHiya's I picked up in Scotland , and I have to say these pointy, pointy tiny needles are working well for me. They seem to be bending just a tiny bit, but I have knit 5 pairs of socks on them (since April. That actually surprised me quite a lot when I looked it up. I'd better slow down on the socks). I also enjoyed knitting these while wearing Boxy (I made these from from leftovers of that wonderful jumper) and tomorrow I am going to wear them together, and it will satisfy something deep in my soul to be so very matchy matchy.

(I wrote this post while I was in Thailand, but I couldn't get the photos to upload. I'm back home now, I'll post a full wrap up of my holiday in the next day or so) I brought the socks I was knitting for Elise with me to Thailand. Cookie A's Vilai  socks are by far the most complex socks I've knit for a while, and I didn't want to loose momentum on them. Despite how much I bitched and moaned while knitting them, in the end they are worth it: Jayne who is on holidays with me has the same shoe size as Elise. She was kind enough to model these for me. Then she asked me for a pair of her own,and how could I say no, really. 

I'm not sure that i am actually going to blog much, i forgot how much i hate typing on a tablet, but i am sitting on my balcony, knitting on Elise's sock, and soaking in the sun and this view And appreaciating the good things in life.

I didn't knit for Monday and Tuesday, I alternately iced and heated my wrist and prayed to get better . On Wednesday all ten of us took a sherrut (like a taxi, but also like a bus) to Jerusalem and I tentatively cast on a pair of socks of Leon - Cookie A's Milo . My hand pulled up perfectly and the (possible) tendinitis did not reoccur. I was worried these socks would be too complex while running around the middle east, but the pattern is actually easier than it looks. After a week we all went our separate ways, and Leon and I headed for Jordan, where we spent a couple of days in Dana  Village  before hiking - with our packs, something I haven't done before, to Feynan Eco lodge . This might be the most wondrous place I have stayed. During the day we hiked or did activities. My personal favorite  activity was called "a day with a Bedouin shepherd" and it was exactly...

  would that be called a sockestry? Anyway. For G ood B eer  Week I decided to knit a relatively simple sock: Wedge, by Cookie A . I'm using the yarn that I bought last time I went to W angaratta and, while I don't hate it, it's certainly not stripping up in the way I expected. The mysery is th is: I'm 90 perce nt sure I followed the pattern correctly. On  the foot the sock looks and feels fine. But take it off and it looks like the heels and the toe are rotat ed by 90 degrees.    I looked on Ravelry and other s seem to have found a similar thing. I'm going to finish the se cond sock and see if it looks the same. It's all very strange, b ut I guess if it's a comfortable, functional sock that what m atters. Except it bothers me , be cause it's weird and odd.    

For some inexplicable reason, before I started the toe of the first Cauchy sock I weighed the ball of yarn. It said I had 54 grams of yarn left. After I finished the sock I weighed the sock: 45 grams, and the remaining ball of yarn - 53 grams. I looked at the yarn and discovered that it is only 300 meters, and it's a relatively thick yarn. Still I was surprised to run so close. Here's a photo of just some of the leftovers from socks I've made:  I'm used to having a third of the ball left, even when knitting for Leon. This time the yarn was thicker, the leg was longer, and I have enough left for two blanket squares. Probably.   Still, I'm very happy with the socks, and even happier to be done. This is great pattern, and it's classic Cookie A, but something about the process irritated me. The pattern should have been just enough to keep my interest, but instead sat in that awkward place where it requires concentration, and yet is not all that interesting. S...

Last Wednesday I picked up my first Cookie A package from the post office. I has not looked at any of the pattern of yarn spoilers, so I had no idea what to expect. When I opened the package I was not disappointed: A Cookie A project bag Alisha Goes Round yarn in Merino and Silk in red ! I was especially excited because I really wanted to knit some red socks. Then I went and looked at the patterns and biscuit recipes. I'm not committed to making all the biscuits, but I'll tell you about it if I do. I have decided I'm going to knit all twelve sock patterns even if - or perhaps especially if - they are not the patterns that I would first choose for myself. So I went and downloaded the February patterns. One of them- Wayward is a Cookie A signature piece, with travelling cables, anatomically correct toes and definite left and right socks. The other Mokoto, was a slightly odd looking sort of lacy sock with double yarn overs. I told Leon I'd knit his a loa...

Last year Cookie A launched her inaugural sock club . I thought about joining, but I was also thinking about joining the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rocking Sock Club . I couldn’t make up my mind, so I didn’t join either. A few weeks ago I stumbled across some of the Cookie A patterns and yarns that were part of the 2011 club and I had to join for 2012. There was no prevaricating, no big decision. I wanted in. Sign ups began 9 September, 8 am Pacific Standard Time, which is 3am Melbourne time. I told myself I wasn’t going to wake up at three in the morning to sign up, especially as Cookie A told me (on Ravelry) that she thought that there would still be spots available in the morning. Still, at 5 am I was sitting in the dark squinting at the computer screen, which seemed very, very bright. Despite my inability to see straight at 5am my 5.05 I was signed up and back in bed.And too excited to sleep. So today I am quite tired, but thrilled to be playing along with Cookie A and the other club mem...

I know there are three more days left of my favourite month of the year, but I'm pretty much done. I finished my Pomotomus last night and I love them. They are stupidly bright, and insanely comfortable. Cookie A, how I love your designs. It's been a fun month, knitting three pairs of socks. With another three days of the month to go, I am tempted to cast on for one last pair of socks: I have an eight ply pair in my queue, I'm sure I could knit those in three days... but probably better to go on to other things. So, goodbye sOctober, the funnest month of the year. I'll see you next year .