What I made, by Sharon

 We're back! We had a marvelous time, although it started out rocky, with our flights delayed by three hours and, instead of going straight to Brisbane, stopping in Sydney.  I dislike flying and airports, so it was a poor start to what turned into a lovely holiday.  We Starting in the Gold Coast with some time with Leon's sisters, a beer festival, which Kris joined us for, as well as Ingrid, Tony and their son Harrison. Gold Coast was lovely. Even though the Saturday was COLD and raining, it was actually warm enough to get in the pool on Sunday, and spending time with Kerrie and Fiona is always a pleasure. Monday we took the train to Brisbane, and spent the next week relaxing, exploring and going to Brisbane Festival events. We also went to a Jim Henson exhibition and the museum.  We stopped for a coffee when we got in to Brisbane  and this Bearded Water Dragon was just hanging around in the coffee shop courtyard.  Trevor jones was there doing piano bar, so...

I've had a tough winter - reoccurring colds, skin fissures, a torn triceps, currently infected finger. I'm tired! I'm cold! So, we're going on a relaxing jaunt to Queensland, first to the Gold Coast for a beer festival and visit with Leon's family, and then to Brisbane for the Brisbane Festival and just to relax, get warm, visit some breweries and maybe a yarn shop. I've got my travel project cast on (it's the  Hoodie Shawl Cardigan by Susanne Sommer ) I've got a bunch of books on my Kobo to choose from and I'm ready for some relaxing time. I'll be back with a Queensland report in ten days. I'm pretty excited though, because I'm not back at work for another three weeks. After Queensland I've got a week at home, just doing some more relaxing, and then I'm going to a craft retreat for a week. 

Last Wednesday night I tore a left tricep at Pole. then on Saturday my right forefinger got horribly infected for no apparent reason.  I'm pretty grumpy about it. On Thursday I cast on a crotchet project in some left over handspun. It's been quite a fun project, because I speak crotchet as a second language, so it's taken attention and care. Alos, I can joke about being crotchety.  It's not perfect, but it is recognisable as a garment. The reading has been up and down this week.  I finished  Worry Box by Chris Panatier *, which did not live up to its early promise. You know when a book has a plot hole that you cannot forgive? This has that, and also characters whose emotions flip-flopped in a way I found unbelievable. The sentient house was believable though. Now I'm reading  Best Fake Fiancé  by Roxie Noir , the second in the Loveless Brothers series. Charming low stakes romance, just what I needed. Up next could be anything. Maybe Taylor Jenkin's Reid's...

  The last couple of weeks I've been working on two things - the Field Day Jacket  in bulky handspun and, when that got too big to carry around with me a Musselburgh   to match my new blanket jacket. They look so good together! There are no photos. I managed to wear the hat and out on Friday and Saturday without getting a photo, the first time to go to my parents for dinner and second for my in-house pole competition. Today we went to the St Kilda pride centre for Leon's end of term choir extravaganza and I wore the cardigan and the hat.   I love this cardigan so much. I was trying to spin 8ply (doubleknit) yarn, and failed abysmally. the bulky yarn sat in my stash until a couple of weeks ago, when I went on a mission to find a pattern that would work with it. I did not know I needed a bulky oversized cardigan with toggle buttons, but now that I have one, I can tell you: perfection. I knit it pretty much to pattern, although I did add the pockets - perfect ...

 Last weekend I finished spinning the fibre I've been working on for a while: 480 grams and 983 meters of around an 8ply. I'm pretty happy with it. It was very fun to spin, and to produce what I had been aiming for. I then decided I want to make  the Argyle cardigan Links  so I needed a contrast colour. I decided to dye some fibre pink and orange as the contrast: I mean, I love it, but I would call it scarlet, mauve and pink. I'm pretty pleased with how fluffy the fibre is, even after dying. Meanwhile and unrelated I found out that avocado can be used as a natural dye. I asked Anna, my most avocado eating friend if she could keep her pits for me. On Tuesday she gave me a week's worth of avocado pits. I extracted the colour, let them cool, strained it and threw in a skein of of sock yarn, just to see what might happen.   I really like it. i also really like the Nundle "high twist" sock yarn, it's very plump and pleasing, while still being a true sock-we...

Because I don't have all that many review books (15, but that's from here until January) I've been reading randomly and loving it. First I read  Woodworking by Emily St. James , which Katie mentioned her book club was doing.  She did then invite me to book club, but I'm not a bookclub person, even though I love it when people talk about books. My other group of friends who are in a bookclub are doing  Yesteryear , and I'm not going to that either, although I do want to know what they all think. After that I read   Only for Tonight by Kendall Ryan , a romance that I enjoyed. I don't know why sometimes I love a romance and sometimes they fall flat for me - maybe this time it's because I loved the main couple from the get go. Now I'm reading  Worry Box by Chris Panatier *. It's horror and sets up the tension early. Now it's letting me relax and I really don't think that's going to last long. Really well written.   Next up is  But for Fortune...