What I made, by Sharon

I'm having one of those weeks were work is sending me everywhere. I love it, so much knitting time! On Monday I went back to Wangaratta, and visited the Woolen Mill. I am intent on reducing my stash and knitting up what i have first, but last time I went to the mill, in April, I bought what I though was a jumper's worth of bright yellow patonyle. Then I decided I want to make Vitamin D , but with long sleeves, and possibly longer. Also, I actually need to start making my clothes bigger, because my shoulders have grown. But I can walk on my hands now, so it's all worth it. Anyway, I went to the mill and bought 100 grams of the yellow yarn. it's a different dye lot, so I'll have to stripe it in if I need it, but I am rather sick of playing yarn chicken. I'm really looking forward to casting on this cheerful cardigan.

and not just metaphorically! As I sat in Melbourne Airport for my plane, knitting away waiting for my plane to Mildura I started to think about all the places I've knitted this blanket. It's been to Seymour (twice) and the Gold Coast and Swan Hill.  And now, as the border gets close to being finished, it got to fly to Mildura. It's also been to two breweries and countless pubs , bars and coffee shops. The thing is, I have loved knitting this project, possibly more than anything I've ever knit before. I'm almost sad to be almost finished. But, the other day, Elise mentioned that her blanket it looking rather raggedy. A colourwork blanket would be much more hardy, right? 

This week weekend marks the beginning of Good Beer Week 2013 , and Leon and I put the bikes on the back of my parents car and drove up to Wangaratta. We stopped off at the ACS shop, but there was nothing there I absolutly had to have, which I was not sad about, because I am still tryinhg to knit my stash down. On Saturday during the day we rode up to Beechworth a visited the Bridge Road Brewery. I wish I had taken photos, because there were sheep everywhere. So many sheep! I finished my Hawthorne shawl on Thursday, and since it was pretty cold I wore it all weekend. No photos though, because I haven't blocked it yet, and I think that will make it look quite different. On Saturday night we attended an event  called Hop vs Grape . Basically they bussed us out to a winery and fed us 5 courses delicious, each one matched with both a beer and a wine. Needless to say a good time was had by all. I took the opportunity to take some photos of Leon's latest jumper. So that...

Every year, coming up to what we call Bendigo, but what is officially titled the Australian Sheep and Wool Show I consider not going. I say thing thing like "I have all the yarn I need" or "I'm feeling skint" and this year I just feel tired. Even though lovely people had offered me lifts up and back and even a bed for Friday night I just wasn't feeling it. I've just got back from a month overseas, I bought a crazy amount of yarn at Woolfest and I'm just tired. I'm also training for a half marathon, so I have to fit running into my schedule somewhere. So, by Monday night I had decided I wasn't going. But, when Robyn was leaving Richmond knitters she mentioned she would be driving up, leaving at 9ish and coming back at fourish. Perfect. I got to go to the show without getting up early, and come back the same day. I was relatively restrained with my shopping, which is good, because the stash box is pretty chockers. I bought 4 skeins ...

Unlike my last big trip, this one was full of fibre highlights. The weather in Dublin was shocking - it was colder than in Melbourne, so I bought myself some laceweight and went and had a beer. The we went to Portugal, where they sell yarn by weight - unlabelled, but lovely, and super, super cheap. I bought nearly a kilogram of yarn for a jumper for Leon. I ended up posting that back sea mail, which is good because I did quite a lot of shopping later on. I wanted to get a picture of the yarn shop there, but they didn't speak English, and were not overly friendly, so I thought I had better not. I met up with Jen   in London and she took me on a yarn crawl. It was lovely to see her, and the yarn shops were amazing. Then I went to Cockermouth and met up with Nicola and her sister Rachel , whose blog I read. It was amazing to see Nicola and so nice to meet Rachel in real life, although I feel like I sort of know her already. Woolfest was amazing. There were some shee...