What I made, by Sharon

  Finished.  I'm pretty happy with it. It was a pretty quick knit, (two and a half weeks, and i was also crocheting). It's funny how quick it finally was, after I spent years planning for it, buying yarn , spinning for it  ( three times to get the rainbow yarn just right) and finally spinning t he perfect yarn during the last lot of lock-downs.  I added an extra lace panel, because I had plenty of yarn. It's not small, but I thought it would be bigger. I really like giant shawls these days. It wraps around my shoulders, but would really need a shawl pin to stay put properly, although I'm writing this in an overly air conditioned meeting room and it's just sitting over my shoulders in a delightful way.    I did the lacy cast off. It took me two days, but I love it. The holes mirror the edge holes, and it's just adorable. I love the technique and am interested in  Sylvia McFadden's   other patterns. I can imagine a similar shawl, but in pale dream...

One of the interesting things about making things for myself is that it requires me to consider exactly what I like and want. When I buy a sports sock from a shop, the leg is the length they made it, and I'd never thought much about details like that, before I started making my own. Since I started making my own, I have spent a great deal of time considering excactly what my requirements are, and developing the perfect solutions, not just what i happen to be able to  buy. This is true, not just for socks, but for the width of Leon's jumpers, the length of my sleeves, basically everything that I make.  The last bathmat t I made, in July 2011, I simply crocheted until I ran out of yarn. I figured that, on a cold marble bathroom floor, bigger is better. When I was knitting my current one, I wanted it big enough that we can both stand on it, but not so big that it takes u- the whole floor. So, having thought about it, I stopped my ten stitch bathmatt when it was just a bit sm...

It's funny, after all the back and forward, should I or shouldn't I knit a lace shawl for my mother right now, after I decided to do it I loved knitting it so much. Partly it was because of the pattern - that Jarrod Flood is a genius. Partly it was because of the yarn - knitting my handspun makes me happy. It was interesting how the colours came out. If you look at what it looked like unspun the colours are quire bright. In the final shawl they are a bit more muted. But lovely all the same, and I was very happy with the way the stripping came out when knitted. I really struggled to get a photo that captures the colour, the drape and the wonderful lace pattern. I adored knitting from the longest edge in, and despite starting with nearly 100 yards less than the pattern called for, I was never in danger of running out of wool. The final size is a generous one and a half meters across the top, and 75 centimetres to the point, so it's a proper shawl that my mot...