What I made, by Sharon

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...

I was so excited about starting the Miller's Daughte r shawl, having been planning for it for about 3 months. Winding the beautiful Wollmeise, finishing all my other projects, and then casting on - four times . The first time was basically a gauge swatch, and I decided to go down a needle size. The second time I was doing double increases instead of triple, so the nine stitches I started with remained nine stitches. The third time I did the decrease every row, missing the instructions that some rows don't have decreases. Then I finally got through the first garter section. I guess reading the instructions properly might have helped. I knit the first lace repeat with no major drama. Then I started the second repeat and I could not get the first row right. that took me four attempts too. So frustrating. But then I got into the rhythm of the shawl. It really is as beautiful as I'd hoped, and, now I've got the hang of it, it's not a hard knit at all. Now all I nee...

I put Summer Blooms out to block yesterday at lunchtime, and, with the current weather, it was practically dry before I finished pinning it out. There seemed to be a few choices as to how to pin out the points - I chose the simplest, both because I liked the look and because I'm lazy.   I think this is my favourite photo of the shawl: I don't really have much to say about this shawl that I haven't already said:it was a really fun knit. I loved knitting lace in laceweight, it gives a lovely, squishy, foamy result, and finally, I love the size, colour and shape of this shawl. 

Just like last year we went to NYE on the Hill music festival for New Years.  We has a ton of fun, listening to music, camping, drinking, not sleeping very much - I'm very, very tired right now. I took Summer Blooms  with me, and it was perfect, mindless knitting: except the second last row, which was heavily beaded. Still nothing some sunshine, some music, an espresso martini and a whole lot of beer couldn't help me through. At lunch time today I cast off. I'm really happy with it, although you can see even from these photos that a heavy blocking is going to do it a world of good. Leon and I had camera battery issues, so my talented photographer Skip  took these for me.  All in all, a wonderful way to bring in the new year, and the perfect project to knit while I was out and about the last week. I will, of course, post photos after it's been blocked, but I'm too tired now to be pinning out points. I hope you had fun at New Years. Lets...

When I thought that I would not be able to knit the lace rows of Icarus in public I cast on a pair of socks for Leon. While socks as an easy knit in public pattern makes sense, I cast on Eunice socks, by Cookie A. It’s a twenty stitch, twenty row repeat, with a cable that requires two cable needles. So much fun, so pretty. Ahh cables and lace together, what could be finer? I finished Icarus and am working away on the lace socks. After I finish them I’m going to knit a top down cardigan, with a lace panel down the front. And then I am going to make Jared Flood's Rock Island shawl out of handspun for my mothers birthday . Now, I know I said I wasn’t going to knit a shawl for her birthday because I wanted to stop putting so much pressure on myself but I have to do it. I have to knit lace, I can’t stop. Like someone who has their first line of cocaine and thinks they can stop any time they want, but they just don’t want to yet because its too much fun. Like any add...

On Sunday I cast on for the Annis shawl from Knitty. It starts by casting on 363 stitcfhes. I thought that this, and establishing the first row would be the challenging parts of this shawl. It turns out that the challenge is knitting 363 stitch rows. Even though there are only 18 of the lace rows, for some reason this is psychologically more challenging than knitting 363 rows of 18 stitches each. I started the rows with nupps yesterday. I don't mind them and am not struggling with the actually nupps, but it is slow going. In fact, last night I only did two rows, while knitting from 7pm until 10.30. Mind you I was at the pub and perhaps the beer and cider where not conductive to speedy knitting. Hopefully my stitch count is still right! I only have three more of the nupp rows left. I'm hoping to finish them today, as well as do a bit of spinning for Owls.

Or Swallotail, as I rather mysteriously named it on Ravellery. I finished it without drama and blocked it using the blocking wires that I received with such drama months ago. The points maybe didn't hold as well as I hoped, but the yarn was 50 percent viscose, which might explain that. The lack of beads or nupps certainly isn't a problem, again the yarn was quite heavy and drapey, so more heaviness may have been a disadvantage. Leon and I went to see Mary Poppins last night, which was on at Her Majesties Theatre, next to Chinatown. The pillar we have used as the backdrop of these shots is actually the entrance archway. It was so nice to leave the house, which I hadn't done for two days, and to leave my suburb, which I hadn't done since New Years Eve.

The first half of staycation was great. I got all the knitting done I planned, plus a pair of anklets. I saw family and friends and did everythingIi meant to - except I only got one out of four shelves tidied up. The basic problem being I have too much stuff .Where things started to go slightly off track is that just before New Year I got a sore thoat and now it has developed into a full blown chest infection. I went to the Doctor yesterday and she gave me the rest of the week off. This was the first time I have ever had a doctor put on a mask before coming near me. On New Years Day I cast on for the Richmond knitters Swallowtail knit-a-long. I knit the 14 repeats of the centre pattern and everything was going to plan. I don't think I am going to run out of yarn, the pattern looks good in my colours and the lace was easy enough to memorise. And then I started on the border and the plan got derailed a little. I don't like the look of the nupps, and am not sure I have enoug...