What I made, by Sharon

This weekend I finally finished Leon's vest. It probably would have been a much quicker knit except for the two weeks in the middle when I didn't knit at all. I'm not convinced that knitting caused the problem in the first place, since, while I'm back to knitting I still can't clean . (To be clear, that's a CrossFit move that's causing me pain, not scrubbing the house). Anyway, that's currently blocking and even though I think it looks great, I'm glad to see the last of it. It's a grim reminder of  a month when I barely knit. I'll get some photos on Leon once it's blocked and dry. So, onward to happier days. My next project is a pair of socks Leon. During my layoff I bought a new knitting bag, because I wanted a new knitting a new knitting bag, and a also: pink giraffes. I'm knitting Twisted from Knitty , out of some Madeline Tosh I bought from Webs earlier this year. It was a little more purple than I expected, but Leon says i...

It won't some as a surprise when I tell you that I love sheep. I love them for their wool, and I love them for their meat. I love them because they are much more intelligent than they are usually given credit for. But mostly I love them for their woolly fuzzy bodies and their calm knowing eyes. So, when one of the shopping websites I haunt had sheep bookends for sale, I thought I'd buy one to use as a doorstop in my bedroom. And then this adorable Sheepy arrived: Look at his adorable face. He follows me around the house, sitting next to me when I'm on the computer, watching me spin… and just being generally adorable. The only problem is, when I did put him in front of the door, Tarragon decided to make friends. First he sniffed Sheepy's bottom, and then he started eating his wool, so we'll see how long Sheepy stays soft and adorable. There may be a follow up post with a pictured of a slaughtered Sheepy, but hopefully things will settle ...

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago , my Moosie was on it's way. And now it's here: I cannot describe how beautiful it is, and my meagre photography skills certainly fail to capture it! It's 33 grams, with a tulip wood shaft. It's pin balanced, and spins so beautifully. The weight of it makes it ideal for making light fingering yarn, which is perfect for shawls. The fist project I'm working on with it is is a EGMTKs merino/seacell blend, that I bought a couple of Bendigos ago.   I'm finding I'm taking a spindle out with me where ever I go, which is not something I traditionally do, but I'm trying to minimise the knitting, in order to ensure my arms finish getting better. If I'm going to be completely honest, I'm not sure that spinning is a whole lot better than knitting, but Leon's vest is just too big to carry around. One of the few advantages of not carrying knitting around with me is that instead of carrying the big blue bag I...

  to Chicago, in the 1920s! The pattern is a scarf, designed by Franklin Habit, the yarn is an amazing green with bits of shiny in it and beads! I'm excited to be knitting with beads, something I've only done a couple of times before.   One of the funnest things about this club is the attention to details. They don't just send a pattern and some yarn, it really feels like a trip. So this time, as well as the pattern and the yarn, we received the beads, floss to help thread the beads, info about Chicago in the '20s, some "candy" and a flapper necklace to get us in the mood. Love this club so much!   I really like this pattern too, I can imagine wearing it with a summer dress, and it looks like I get to it before summer. I am knitting again, but only in moderation, and projects take a lot longer when I only pick them up every second day for 45 minutes. Still, it should only take me a couple of weeks to finish Leon's scarf and a pai...

I'm knitting again, but trying to ease back into it, having seen the Osteo's face when I let slip that its not unusual for me to knit for five hours in a day. So on Saturday instead of knitting I put my stash on Ravelry , and discovered that I have 23,725 meters of yarn. That's nearly 24 kilometres. What's missing from this number is my sock yarn scraps, which I seem to have an awful lot of, the yarn I am currently knitting with, the bathmatt yarn I just spun, because I didn't bother measuring it, and the package from New Zealand . Which contains, 2 jumpers a vest and two pairs of socks worth of yarn. And I will open it , as soon as I have knit: 2 jumpers a vest and two pairs of socks. For me, the most interesting thing about counting my yarn was discovering that 37 out of my 53 yarns are sock weight. 11409 meters, or nearly half my yardage is sock yarn. Luckily, you can never have too many socks!

My moosie spindle is on it's way! I ordered it maybe two years ago, but I had to wait, because, well, some things are worth waiting for. And it couldn't be better timing, since I have rather refound my spinning love.  So, while I wait for it to arrive, and wait to be allowed to knit and spin again (I asked the Osteo if I was allowed to spin, and he said no. Actually he said "um, what, spin? huh?" and then I explained about spinning. He said no, but I'm not sure he knew what he was talking about. That's what I get for going to a Crossfit osteo. I wonder if there are knitting osteos out there somewhere) I'm preparing some fibre. I dyed this in January 2011 and it was a bit compacted. What it needed was a thorough teasing out. Which is what I gave it. I think Leon was a bit relieved that I found something to do in from of the television, because we've barely watched anything since I paused from knitting. Nearly back to it now, and I have some ...

Somebody who works in my building decorated their bike like this: It makes me smile every single morning.