What I made, by Sharon

After I wrote about my Joji bags  I realised quite how much I dislike the flesh pink of my box bag, so I decided to colour it. I used Angelus acrylic paint, which is apparently good for painting sneakers. I knew  there was a risk that it would end up streaky, or splotchy or that I would get turquoise all over the vachetta handle and tag, but I decided it was worth the risk. i taped everything I didn't want to risk getting turquoise on and set to work. It was so much fun. I haven't painted anything in the longest time, and it came out the prettiest colour. The cleanup was simple and this really wan't messy at all. I'm curious to see if it will crack or peel over time, but right now I am so pleased with the colour and texture and how much fun this project was.

 I've made two pairs of long socks recently - these beauties in my  colours that fall down terribly and these in autumn colours that stay up like nothing else, but don't match my general aesthetic - which is pink and teal.  I've ridden my bike to the gym, done a full deadlift session and ridden home again with only having to adjust them once. The problem is that I have theme colours, and these are not it. So I decided to reknit them in pink and teal: The pattern was even better the second time around, maybe because I was knitting with colours that make me so, so happy.  I wore them to the gym today - riding there in the rain, deadlifting and then coming home and they required no adjusting at all. Also, the colours make me so very, very happy.

 I mentioned that I am doing a test knit, and I'm super excited about it. I cast on on Saturday and have made it to the beginning of the body. It's in Shaker Stitch, which is kind of like half brioche, but worked differently, so it's slow, but it's so squishy and lovely and fun.  The designer is Sanna and Co and she is just so talented. Stay tuned, because hopefully by next week it will look like a jumper, and it's such a magnificent pattern. I'm reading the latest Taylor Jenkins Reid Carrie Soto is Back . There are two different covers and they are both magnificent. The book itself is pretty good, although it seems to lack to secrets, history and backstory of Malibu Rising or The Seven Husbands...  It seems like a simple story, although it's still a good story.  And that's my week in knitting and reading.  To read my all my book reviews, and to see everything I knit, you can find me on Ravelry as  Sharondoublekni t and on GoodReads as  Sharondblk .  I

I had a plan for spring - I wrote about it here . All well thought out and ready to go. Something I hadn't mentioned though, is that, when we were at the Coburg market I met a woman wearing the most remarkable two-colour brioche jumper. As you know, I am currently obsessed with brioche, and that jumper is one of the reasons why. I started following Sussana on Instagram, ( @sanna_and_co )  and then she put out a testing call for it. How could I say no? I'm swatching this weekend.  The yarn is from The Australian Wool Store , a dyer called Kathryn. So, my knitting is now this jumper, rather than the Joji jumper I had planned. My other plan was to dye yarn for the Westknits KAL. I'd ordered undyed sock yarn from Bendigo woolen mills, and I had two inspiration photos I was planning to use, both were quite pastel and lovely: Then, on Thursday night I got an "out of stock" email from Bendigo. They will send the yarn ... sometime. So I bought a kit:  It happened to be

Last week I mentioned that I started a review copy of Indomitable by Claudia Brooke and then set it aside. Since it was a review copy, I thought I should give it the respect of trying to read it, so I picked it back up. I was happy to read some urban fantasy about a dog that was bitten by a vampire. Sounds fun, right? Well, it wasn't. I hated the main female character Gracie. When a second first person voice appeared I thought the book might be salvageable. Then a third first person voice showed up. I guess Claudia Brooke doesn't know that books can be written in the third person? Anyway, I know we are not meant to quote directly from review copies, but let me give you a little sample of Gracie's thoughts after her boyfriend gets called in to work when she is at his apartment:  "He had picked me up, so if I wanted to go home, I'd have to call a relative. Scratch that. A relative ride would come with questions and lectures. Uber would be a better choice. But I was

I finished the Wednesday Sweater I've been working on for the last couple of weeks,and it fits the brief perfectly. I wanted what I wanted when I made Carbeth - a snuggly jumper to wear while at home, reading and drinking tea. This jumper was a joy to knit - particularly since I overdyed the Cascade 220 that I bought from an op-shop. It's a colour that manages to be both lively and restful at the same time. I followed the pattern exactly, including doing the tubular cast offs. I ranted about tubular cast-off as recently as my last project, but here they work, are not too tight and look beautiful. The detailing on this pattern is beautiful. There is a different kind of shoulder construction, and I'm not sure what it's called, but it involves picking up stitches - and the designer provides a way that gives such a beautiful join: The only thing I would do differently is that the pattern calls for twisted rib on the sleeves - on the collar you twist both sides, so it&#