What I made, by Sharon

 I've really run out of clever titles! There's no theme this week, just good books and fun knitting. I finished (NetGalley review book)   Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer , which was a good sci-fi featuring sentient robots and found family. Recommend. Now I have a break between review books, and am reading  Tyrant's Throne  the fourth and final Greatcoats novel. Swashbuckling fantasy at its best! Next up I'm back on the NetGalley wagon, and back to my original plan with    The Tea Planter's Secret (The Ceylon Series #2) by Clare Flynn  the second in a historical romance series set in Ceylon. Maybe this will inspire me to actually plan the return trip to Sri Lanka, rather than just hope a plan appears. In knitting I'm making a Bendigo project with the leftovers from the jumper I was knitting last week,  McKinnon Beanie by Susanna Kaartinen . Brioche with cables! It's been a long time since I brioched,  and I'm not sure I've ever done c...

This year  Richmond Knitters chose the  Celeste Sweater by Petit Knits  for our annual Bendigo Sheep show knitalong. It wasn't a jumper I felt particularly drawn to, but we had agreement, and early, so I was happy to knit it. the pattern is written for 8ply, and I have enough 8ply jumpers, particularly as a colourwork yoke adds quite a lot of warmth. For me a lighter jumper for inside with a jacket over the top if going outside is perfect for our Melbourne winters. Melbourne winter can be pretty sad and grey, so I wanted bright pastels (Easter egg , or 'candy' coloured were my inspiration ). I'm pretty happy with the results. There were a couple of dramas with the knitting - where the pattern calls for the main colour to be used in the yoke, it didn't really work, and then I used a speckled white, which also didn't work, so I ripped and reknit the last 8 round (the ones with ALL the stiches) twice. And then I realised the row that had been ripped out from and re...

Kat from  As Kat Knits  took a blogging break, and I missed her posts, and I also missed the communal feeling of linking up with other knitters and readers. She's back, and here we are. I finished    Major Gift   by Tiffany Izuma, which was a romance. It was fine, it was just so low stakes. Now I'm reading  Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer  After that it's  The Tea Planter's Secret (The Ceylon Series #2) by Clare Flynn  the second in a historical romance series set in Ceylon. I got the first one from NetGalley last year the day I was flying out to Sri-Lanka, and now I have the second while we are planning our return trip.  The knitting has gone very smoothly this week - I've been pumping out the stocking stitch in the round, and have only got a little bit of the second sleeve of my Celeste  to go. Knitting this has been such a joyous colour explosion, and I'm pretty pleased that my next project is going to be a brioche hat u...

W elcome to part 31 in a series of non-fiction book reviews, originally based on the idea that the books I request from netGalley 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 thanks to Netgalley. Today we have the Violent Femmes first album, the Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night, and owls. Diverse indeed!  Owls by David Alderton (Publishing 14 April 2026) Owls have been a source of fascination and awe throughout history. In Indian folklore, owls represent wisdom and helpfulness, while in Ancient Greece they were seen as a good omen if sighted before a battle. Today, owls are often kept as pets by bird lovers, and can be found in woodland and forests from the Canadian Arctic to the...

 We're in the middle of Autumn, but the weather has been beautiful. I took the day off work to go to the beach with Anna, knit, drink coffee and follow it up with a trip to Cosco. Bliss. Speaking of knitting, my Celeste is going very nicely - I'm whizzing down the stocking stitch body. Is there anything more soothing than stocking stitch in the round?   Yes there is - knitting stocking stitch in the round with yarn I dyed myself . The reading has been good too. It's all NetGalley all the time at the moment, since I have 23 outstanding books - all ofr the future, and my ratio is still 94 percent, but I need to stay on top of it.  I just finished  Griftopia by Suzy Vitello  a somewhat odd family drama / satire on American life.  Now I'm reading The Thornbacks by which is even stranger, about a couple of female morticians (but I'm pretty sure that's not the point). It set in an unnamed city that feels a LOT like Melbourne, and is quite the experience. I'm a ...

I don't know what the collective noun for a group of hats is - a charity of hats? A celebration of hats? Anyway, this week I knit four hats, three for charity and one for a work colleague. I do love the  Fits the Whole Fam Hat  pattern. It's simple (as are most hats) It fits all sizes and it's made with three four ply (fingering yarns) held together, so it eats up a whole lot of yarn. Perfect for left over sock yarn.  I've finished with the current spasm of hats, because I will be concentrating on my Celeste jumper, but this has been (another) very pleasurable diversion.