What I made, by Sharon

A couple of weeks ago I started a Sanviken Sweater Dress , out of  Ístex Plötulopi – Unspun Icelandic . you can read what i thought of the yarn here . Basically it was a pain in the arse, drifting apart at the slightest provocation. This was particularly annoying since it was Fringe festival time and I was doing a lot of my knitting in bars, or on trams, which are not good places when you cannot put the slightest pressure on your yarn. Anyway, I finished it the other day. it is light, and warm and I think it will be an amazing dress to wear around the house in winter. It is, of course, currently spring and I nearly got heat stress taking these mediocre photographs, but at least I have something to look forward to when the weather inevitably and eventually starts to get colder. Now, onwards to summer and summer knitting.   

 After making my crocheted   baby cardigan I thought I would make a matching hat, also for charity. I chose the   Easy Hat pattern by Vardhman Knitting Yarn  - crotchet a rectangle, sew up and there's a hat. I took it to knit night one Monday, since I didn't have anything suitable on the needles. At the end of the night I had this: I CANNOT crotchet a simple rectangle. I don't know why, it really shouldn't have been that hard! I also had a very jammed up left shoulder because while I knit with ease and flow I have a different approach to crotchet.  I gave up on the crotchet and whipped up a knitted hat: Simple, effective and didn't increase my skill level. Maybe I'll make matching booties in crochet, or maybe I'll take the easy way out and knit some socks.   

My NetGalley queue is relatively short at the moment - only ten books, to be read between now and January. My "ratio" (the proportion of books read to books requested) is at 97 percent. The problem is that I have been reading fewer NetGalley books and more other books, and I looked away and a few deadlines came up. There is  But for Fortune  by Erin Miller Reid,  a book that I should have read and reviewed last month. I've tried to read it twice, and  while I don't think it's a bad book, I could get into it. Then I realised - on the day it was due that I hadn't started  Encore Performance  by Leila Sales . It was an 831 Stories romance which meant it was only a couple of hundred pages long. I really enjoyed it, which made it a quick read. Now I'm reading  The Throwaways by Greta Kelly  which published yesterday. It's kind of like the TV show The Americans - deep cover Russian spies, double crossing, lots of action but also about the relationships....

The day I got back from craft camp I set up my next spinning project - I'm aiming for heavy laceweight for a shawl to wear to a wedding I'm going to next March. I've been steadily spinning away, getting my first 100 grams spun up in two weeks. I'm aiming for the same for my second bobbin. Meanwhile, while I was at craft camp I signed up for Ixchel's fibre club. She's an incredibly talented dyer. She only vends at one show a year now and this year she cancelled because her partner was ill. I signed up for a double serve (200 grams each month) for 3 months.  This is the first package: While I don't usually buy yarn without a purpose, I'm a bit more relaxed about fibre. I'm hoping one month could be combined with this pile in a combo spin to make a jumper (maybe this one from Knitty) but I'm work out the rest as I go.  All I know is I'm loving spinning and this present to myself from past Sharon was a delight to receive today. 

 Last week I had just started  The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga, #1) by John Gwynne, a Norse style fantasy. Unusually, I haven't finished it - although I've done plenty of reading this week, but this is 480 pages, and it's not the fastest read. Lot's of battles and fighting and many characters with unfamiliar names. I'll get it finished at lunch today - it's the first of a trilogy and I'm pretty sure it has a cliff hanger ending.  Next up is a quick romance  Encore Performance by Leila Sales,  from 831 Stories. It released today - I'm a bit behind on my NetGalley reading. I know they think they are being clever with those covers, and at least it's not AI, but having all the covers the same is pretty boring. I know Penguin Classics did that, but it was before we were all doing flatlays for IntstaGram.  Then I've got  Whistler by Ann Patchett,  which just came in from the library. I'm excited that I can read library books on my Kob...

 A little while ago Anna destashed some  Ístex Plötulopi – Unspun Icelandic  and I was very pleased to take it off her hands. I've heard of this 'yarn' and it's always fun to knit with something new to me. I'd hear it's very warm and light because it doesn't have a lot of twist. I bought some carry along mohair and last week cast on an oversize dress . I was between sizes, so I opted to go up rather than down. I soon discovered the yarn is called unspun because it is UNSPUN. This means it drifts apart at the slightest provocation - like pulling it out of the puck it comes in, or having the mohair on top of it, or any slight pressure.  Luckily, there are no ends, you just hold the yarn next to the break and it melds back into the knitting, kind of like joining when you are spinning.  You HAVE to centre pull from the puck, and the beginning of each on is full of yarn barf, and if you pull on it too much it comes apart.  It's Icelandic because it comes from...