What I made, by Sharon

Three years ago, as part of Kate Davies' Inspired by Islay, I made a pair of house socks called Baffies . These were orange and white, and I found I wore them all the time in the house. So comfortable. After we moved, I could only find one of them and eventually I threw that out, because I try to only keep things I love, need or use around. And then, as part of the great clear out of 2018, while going through one of my clothes drawers, I FOUND THE OTHER ONE. Still, I only had one, since I threw out the first one.  It's the middle of winter now, and cold and I really missed those little slippers. After I finished the hot water bottle cover I moved straight on to a replacement pair. They took me a weekend of knitting, and have barely come off my feet since. And I match my homewares, which is an important factor in making colour choices, right? 

I finished the vest on Tuesday, blocked it and wore it on Thursday. We saw Puffs (a Harry Potter play, with the premise of  what were the Hufflepuffs up to while all the stuff that went on in the books was happening. Brilliant) and took the opportunity to get some photos. I really like how this came out. It's deliberately a little bit looser than my other vests, I'm currently going through a positive ease stage in my life.  The Kate Davies pattern was typically brilliant, easy to knit but still interesting. The only mod I did was to lower the neckline by starting it when I started the underarms. All in all a very happy making project.

When I started k nitting Carraig F hada I bragged about how beautiful my tubular cast on was. When I got to the neck, I used the matching tubular cast off. After all, I keep reading about how stretchy it is, and I love the look of it. It's a bit of a pain to work, 4 rows of slipping stitches, then dividing the stitches onto two needles and kitchenering them, but I kept telling myself that the extra hour or so it took me now would be more than made up for by the joy it would give me. Fail Fixed Once I'd cast it off I tried it on: and the collar cast of was tight and binding. It made the whole vest sit wrongly. Pulling it out was nearly impossible, in the end I had to cut out the cast off. So frustrating when I thought I was being so clever!

Funnily enough, this month I'm reading Golden Fool the second book in the Tawny Man trilogy. Last month I was reading the first. I have actually read some other books in between! If youw ant to follow my reading, you can find me on Goodreads as Sharondblk . This pic shows my view... I am knitting the Kate Davies vest  Carraig Fhada . I've had the yarn for it since the beginning of 2017, and i can't believe it's taken me this long to start it. I'm knitting it in the specified yarn, Kate Davies' Buchaille, and loving it.  It's such a fun knit: beautiful yarn, intuitive pattern with a great rhythm to it. but this one shows the knitting better. This weekend is a long weekend here (Queen's Birthday, even though it isn't, biologically speaking, the Queen's birthday) I am looking forward to going in to the three day weekend with such a compelling book and fun knitting project on the go. There will, of course, also be some running, some...

While we were away Anna mentioned she would like some house socks. I made her some twinkletoes years ago, and she is definitely knitworthy. I came back on the Monday of Good Beer Week. I decided that the lace edging of my Village Sweater Wrap   really would not be suitable for a week of drinking, beer and dubious lighting, so this was the perfect time to knit something simple:   I made Anna a pair of Kate Davies’ Baffies, from last year’s Seven Skeins Club. That club really is the gift that keeps on giving.   These were quick and simple, but not without drama. The first problem is they were coming out too large. A normal knitter would have gone down a needle size, but I’m drinking knitter, and I only had 3.5mm needles with me, so I ripped the foot and increased by 4 less stitches. Then, after I finished the first one, the iCord was way too tight. I couldn’t get it over my heel at all. So I ripped it, and re-iCorded, picking up more stitches. And here t...

I finished Leon’s winter set and Skip took photos on Saturday, in a brewery, because that’s the way we roll. The set was started a little late, because I wanted to wait until the end of the Inspired by Islay club, and I was quite concerned that winter would come before Leon had a winter set for 2017.  But the weather held through April, unseasonably warm and pleasant. It was so lovely having the Melbourne comedy festival with nice weather – like normally happens in Adelaide. The comedy festival finished last weekend, and  until this morning it was still warm. And then today winter came! I’m not the biggest fan of winter, but at least I know Leon will be wrapped up in an enormous amount of yarn, warm and cosy and so pretty.   The details of the hat: I took the chart from Singing Sands  scarf, and put it into the pattern for Shore Street hat . I had to adjust the numbers by two for the increases, but after that it worked like a charm. It’s important to ...

I’m making Leon’s Winter Set (2017) from Kate Davies’ Singing Sands pattern. I adapted last years Pawkies mitts by slotting in the Singing  Sands colourwork pattern. Luckily both pattern are knitted over 14 stitches, so that was very simple. I used a tubular cast on and cast off. I love the way it looks, but it’s a pain to work and really isn’t very stretchy, despite what the internet says. I had to redo the first one, because it lacked stretch and looked funny: I’m really happy with how they look. I was surprised when Leon choose these colours, because the blue/green colour is very pretty. Now onwards, to the scarf. Winter is coming and I started this later than I usually make Leon’s Winter Set.

My Buachaille order arrived, for Leon’s winter set and the Carraig Fhada vest for me. Look how pretty it is:   Now, what I like to do when getting large packets of yarn is to do a stash count update, just to check I’m heading in the right direction (which is less yarn, by the way)   Prior to the addition of the Buchaille, I have 14322 meters of yarn. At the end of last year I had 15807 metres, so its holding pretty steady.    The main gains - or rather losses -  I have made so far this year are actually in yarn that wasn’t counted in the stash. The left over sock yarn which, in December 2016 weigh  one and a half kilograms, has been reduced to a much more reasonable 870   grams – yes, it’s now measurable in grams!   After adding this latest purchase my current number is 16412 . Now I’m off to cast some of this lovely Buchaille on for Leon’s Winter Set. The beginning of April is quite late to be starting this. Luckily,...

I mentioned the other day that I had decided to knit another baby Suprise Jacket, this one out of the left overs from last years Buchaille yarn, plus some extra cascade pink I had left over. I thought I had loads of yarn, but half way through I realised I was going to cut it fine. Two thirds of the way through, and I was cutting off the tails of stripes to finish rows. I used every skerick of the Buchaille, and almost all of the Cascade.  I had to use colours I didn't think looked great together, because that was what I had. Leon looked at the piece on my needles and described it, kindly I thought, as "an art piece". i asked him what sort of art, and he said "conceptual". I went to knit night on Monday, cast off, and sewed in the ends. When I brought it home and showed Leon he said "that is surprising". And it is. I love it. 

I finished Leon's winter set, blocked it and we went to the park on Saturday to take photos. This was the longest I've ever taken over a set -I did the mitts in November last year as part of Kate Davies 7 skeins club. I did the hat , also from the 7 skein club a couple of weeks ago: If you look very carefully, you may be able to see that I didn't actually divide the stitches evenly. One "wedge" is big, and one is small. I started the stranded pattern when out to dinner with girlfriends, and didn't notice until I was almost finished the deceases. I like it, and so does Leon, so I didn't rip. The photo above shows the yarn dominance issue on the gloves. I learnt so much knitting those tiny mitts.   And finally there is the scarf. I cast on provisionally, knit the stranded pattern from the mitts, cast off and then knit the other way, so it matches. While miles of stocking stitch, knit flat might not always be thrilling, doing in Kate Davie...

As I said earlier in the week , and all evidence to the contrary, winter is coming, and I thought I would get Leon's winter set (2016) done. I knit the mitts as part of the 7 Skeins Club, and last week I made the hat, also from the club. I decided to improvise the scarf by taking the motive from the mitts and putting it on a scarf: It does mean that the scarf has a right and a wrong side, but I think it will look good anyway. It also meant a lot of flat colourwork, which did took forever, and I've still got the other end to do. It will be worth it to have the matching set though. I'm reading Half the World by Joe Abercombe. It's the second in the Shattered Sea trilogy, and I'm loving it as much as I did the first .  I really don't want to put it down. I love reading good fantasy, and this certainly qualifies. And I'm still struggling through M agda Szubannski's memoir   Reckoning . She's just so negative. And I'm a third of the way ...

I finished my not-so-deep V Argle vest, and I am very pleased with it.  I used Kate Davies' yarn, Buchaille , and I can't rave about it enough. It has a beautiful hand, and a beautiful  sheepy smell, and is really sticky, perfect for steeking. The knitting proceeded with very little drama, it was an easy to knit, easy to follow pattern. Once I'd finished the knitting and the steeking I tried it on and discovered a very strange thing: the straps were too long, but only at the front. Which makes no sense, since the whole thing is knit in the round. Anyway, I cut the straps shorter, and did the finishing, which, like on all steeked projects, seemed to take a really long time. I am so, so happy with how this came out. I'm really glad I raised the neckline: I'm REALLY glad I went up half a needle size, since it's pretty fitted, bordering on tight: And I'm really glad I finally knit this beautiful vest. I'm pleased until I waited ...

Like everyone else, I love being on holidays, and there is something glorious about a staycation. I'm doing nothing but seeing friends, knitting, reading, going to the cricket and relaxing. No pressure to achieve anything much. As I wrote yesterday, I've knitted a gloriously ridiculous amount on my colour work vest . I actually only have twenty ever decreasing rounds to go, and then it's steeking time. I'm reading Half a King  by Joe Abercombie, and loving it. It's a good rollicking fantasy trilogy, set in a norse like world. Really well written and I can't put it down. And I'm not going to talk much about what I'm listening to this week, because it turns out I mainly listen at work and when I'm putting out the washing, and I don't need to do that much washing.  And that's my week in yarn and books. pop over to Ginny's blog to see what she, and the rest of the Yarnalong, are up to this week.

Like every year, I have a break over Christmas. This year I have pushed out my return to work date to the 11th of January. And, like every year, Leon and I start this time by going to the Boxing Day Test . This year, on Christmas eve, I received  my order of  the Kate Davies yarn, Buachaille. I ordered enough for Leon's winter set, and also for Eunny Jang's Deep V Argyle Ves t. I bough this pattern a very long time ago - maybe 2011, but I wanted it to be less deep V, and I had never steeked, or done colourwork and I had no idea how to change the pattern. After a solid six months of training by doing Kate Davies' patterns, I'm ready to go. I have to knit the vest before I can knit Leon's Winter Set (2016) because the amount used for that is variable, while the vest amount are constrained by the pattern. So here I am, starting another steeked, stranded colourwork project. I guess I've found what i love, so why not keep doing it?

My yarn for the Seven Skeins Club arrived today! It's lovely. Sheepy but still soft, with lovely colours and a glorious smell/ And here it is: This is the before photo. Now, in eight weeks, I will (all things going to plan) have an after photo, with seven finished objects and a whole lot less unknit yarn.