What I made, by Sharon

 Sometimes I like things that are fancee, just for the sake of fancyness. For my birthday Leon got me the Thread and Maple needle binder. The binder itself has room for bits and pieces, DPNs and a holder for other pages. I had already bought myself the notions page. I'm obsessed with this page, because it holds all my notions, but mainly because I cut up a piece of magnetic metal, slid it into the pocket and viola, finally a portable solution to chart tracking. For my birthday, I bought myself the Chiagoo needle tip page and then cables page, as well as the notions pouch: Most of my DPNs fit in the pockets of the binder, but I had some left over. I was debating buying the small DPN page, or the large DPN page when Katie messaged me to ask if I could use this: Yes please. So serendipitous.  I am finding this setup very convenient, as well as feeling fancy. When I need something, or to put something away I can grab the whole package. My knitting stuff lives in the study, which ...

Monday was a public holiday, so we had the day off. Then Tuesday I worked from home because it was mant to be 45 degrees at 4pm when I usually leave work, and then I went in on Wednesday because I don't like to work from home all the time. So now I really have no idea what day of the week it is, except that I'm writing this post so it must be Wednesday! I had a quiet long weekend - I said no to a number of social invitations, and saved myself for running and enjoying my new couch . It gave me plenty of reading time - I finished  Traitor's Blade , loved it. I'm so glad it's the start of a quartet and I get to spend more time in that world. Then I finished a NetGalley review copy of  The Duke's Secret  by Sue Williams .   It started well, but I really didn't enjoy the second half. It's dual time period historic fiction about the Duke of Wellington, his housemaid / mistress and then one of their descendants. Both timelines are in present tense, and some of ...

  W elcome to part 29 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! 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. Today we are going truly diverse, with Leonard Cohen, lipstick and menopause.  The World of Leonard Cohen by David R. Shumway  (publishing 29 January 2026) Leonard Cohen's artistic career is unique. Most poets and novelists do not become rock stars. No other rock star's career peaked in their eighth decade as Leonard Cohen's did. Cohen's popularity is still growing five years after his death. In The World of Leonard Cohen, a team of international scholars and writers explore the various dimensions of the artis...

Last week I said the reading was "back on point" whatever that means! In fact, as I read further through Shari Lowe's Just One More Day I felt it was decidedly average. Not bad, just not  good. With no pressing review books I went through my e-reader to work out what to read next. I found  Traitor's Blade (Greatcoats, #1) by Sebastien de Castell , the oldest book on my e-reader and am loving it. I don't know what took me so long. High fantasy, lots of sword fights, a slightly sarcastic narrator? Yes to all of that!  Next up is  The Duke's Secret by Sue Williams , Australian historic fiction which sounds quite fun. I'm listening to  The Names by Florence Knapp . It is so powerful and full on and I highly recommend, even if my heart has broken at least three times already.  In knitting I made a little pair of toddler socks for charity to use up some left over yarn. I'm also knitting a secret test knit jumper, so next week I guess I won't have any ...

 I recently realised I don't have a lot of summer knits, so I'm working to rectify that. I started with   Bladlilje / Lily Leaf pattern by Lene Tøsti , a sleeveless cotton top I knit with some slubby cotton I found at an op-shop . I cast it on last Saturday and, somewhat to my surprise I had a finished top by Thursday.  Cute lace detailing, actual shaping instead of the more common recent boxy silhouettes and bright pink yarn. Bliss. This weekend was warm, and we went to high tea in the Yarra Valley. It was the perfect opportunity to wear this top, and to get photos is front of an historic hedge. I have enough yarn in an equally aggressive blue to make  the Bongo  top, and I'm looking forward to that. 

 the Vagina shawl. Possibly because of this picture from Stephen West's pattern: (c) Stephen West Possibly because this was his third mystery shawl and the previous two were quite normal, and then he dragged a whole lot of mystery knitters into this! I knit this in the lariest colours possible, purple and orange and green. Not a natural combination, but I love it. The yarns all have a story. The purple I bought in Sydney for the Stephen West MKAL that I didn't finish because some people thought it  looked like a German hate symbol.  The dark green is Socks that Rock that Katherine destashed. Socks that Rock is my favourite sock yarn ever and I was so pleased to be able to knit with it again. The orange is a beautifully round yarn, dyed by Stranded in Oz, and I got to buy it directly from her at last years SA Fibre Feast.  The knitting itself was quite the pleasure, it's really just garter stitch, a couple of short rows and some yarnovers. Stephen's photos are really...