What I made, by Sharon

W elcome to part 33 in a series of non-fiction book reviews, originally based on the idea that the books I request tell you everything you need to know about me. I have, after so many chapters of this series, realised that all these posts say about me is that this was just a place to put these reviews, but now I can see how broad my non-fiction reading is, and how many interesting, good (and sometimes not-so-good) books and topics I've had a chance to explore. This instalment we have popular psychology, linotype machines and reality TV. All books were provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Reality TV For Snobs Turn skeptics into fans and fans into scholars with this smart, entertaining guide to 20 influential reality shows, from The Real World to The Traitors . Much like reality itself, reality TV has one main There’s just too much of it. Whether you’re a devoted fan who wants to share your passion, a specialist who doesn’t have time to watch every show, or a ske...

  After I finished  Preaching to the Choir * a really enjoyable horror novella by Adrian Tchaikovsky  I realised I had time to fit ion a non-review book, before proceeding to  I Love the Whole World!* by Victoria Hannan . I went to the library app to see what I might like to read. And there, waiting for me was a notification saying that I had 11 days left to read John of John . This is the Read With Us  September book. Read With Us is an online bookclub, run by many of the same people who participate in Unravelled Wednesday. i don't really participate, but I was inspired to request this book from the library. I had but a reservation on it when they first announced it, but had been told it would come my way by March 2027. And yet, here it was! I'm enjoying it, but it's not a light read and it's not a book to skip quickly through. The writing must be savoured and relished. I am racing through Hell Bent    the second in the Ninth House trilogy. It's a boo...

 My 83 year old mother fell over on the street the other day. She put down her left hand (she's left handed) and fractured a bone in it. While it could have been worse, it's  not great, particularly since she is very left handed. She can't go to her gym classes, or swim, which are her main sources of exercise, so, for the first time in her life she's seeing a personal trainer. She's irrepressible and I love it.     Anyway, it's winter and it's cold and she can't wear a glove over the brace she has to wear, so she asked me to make her a mitten. Just one. I tried to suggest I make her a pair, but she said she was happy wearing mismatched mitts. I was going to make her two anyway, and then i realised that was because I would hate wearing an odd pair. So I did as requested. One large simple mitten that goes over a wrist brace. I know because I tested it on my old brace. Hopefully she won't need to wear either the brace or the mitten for too long. And the...

I finished the  Primervera socks I started for something small and convenient to carry around at Bendigo. Every Christmas, our good friend Dani of HalfBaked HandDyed fame dyes the Richmond Knitter's a special self stripping, riffing of the Christmas theme. this one has twelve different coloured stripes, for the twelve days of Christmas. I stole Sonia's photo, because it was better than mine: Stunning. I have come to the realisation that I don't like wearing plain, stocking stitch socks. They sag, and don't grip my legs well. The patterning on this sock is basically a 7 x 4 rib, with some extra fancy stuff thrown in every 6th row. They are so comfortable! The heel also called for a style I've recently adopted - adding one or two garter stitches to the edge of the heel flap. For some reason if I just slip the edges of my heel flaps it never ends up as neat as I would like, but this technique makes picking up those stiches easy and very neat. Even with this modifica...

I got sick again!  This winter it's just been one thing after another. A bad cold kept me at home Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I always work from home Wednesdays, so I did log on today. Being sick left me lots of time for reading and knitting, so it's not all bad! Double Standard*  was an excellent short romance.  Ninefox Gambit* by Yoon Ha Lee is complicated  military space opera with lots of things blowing up and an interesting societal structure. It got me through a day when I barely got off the couch!  Now I'm reading  Never Date a Celebrity* by Claire Forsythe w hich is  Sapphic romance, set in rural Northern Ireland. very comforting.  Next up is the final two books in my current attempt to stay ahead of Netgalley deadlines -  I Love the Whole World!* by Victoria Hannan (Australian Women's fiction) and Preaching to the Choir * by Adrian Tchaikovsky   (horror novella).    The knitting has been very satisfying, since ju...

I often don't swatch. I cast on with a fair idea of my yarn and usual knitting style. If it doesn't work out, I stop and reassess. On Tuesday I cast on for   Alpine Bloom pattern by Caitlin Hunter  which I was intending to extend into a dress with a full skirt. It was apparent pretty early that, while I had gauge, my fabric was going to be too loose to make a dress that was decent. After googling slips and finding pout I could buy one at K-Mart, I stepped back and started swatching. I started with doubling the yarn on 3.5 mm needles, which made a nice fabric, but a bit thick. Then I went down to a 3mm needle, which makes a lovely, but slightly airy fabric. Back up to a 3.5 for comparison and that was immediately way too stretchy and flexible. I ripped what I had started and cast on again with smaller needles.  The second attempt has been much more satisfying. The colourwork is soothing, the contrast colour is slowly changing from pastel to pastel shade and the fabric...