Slipstravaganza finished

When I decided to play along with Stephen West's ten year anniversary mystery shawl knitalong Slipstravaganza I did it for fun and for the distraction. Things were not good here, and the idea of having something to look forward to every Friday, and Stephen's kooky Instagram posts and the community chatting on Ravelry was too good to pass up. I'm usually a product knitter. This time I didn't care if by the end of this I had a fun shawl to wear on the couch, or something to give away.

The knitalong did not let me down. Each clue was something fun and different, but still easy to follow a long with. knitting in such bright colours was cheering.

Using my own hand dyed yarn as the main colour was pretty sweet, and the colours from two of my favourite local dyers (Stranded in Oz and The Purl Box) just added to the fun.

Each weeks clue only took about three days of knitting, except the last, which was a solid ten days of intense knitting.

And then it was done, and I had made this beauty. I love it. It's huge, and yet easy to wear. I'm pretty short, so this might even be considered too big, but I love it.

The colours are bright but still co-ordinated. It feels like wearing a blanket, but looks like, and is, something special.

I was thrilled to find these (I think) banana palms in the local park. It makes these photos look so tropical and exotic!

I'm so glad I did this year's MKAL. It was everything I hoped it would be, and then a little bit more.

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Geogradiant MKAL Part 1 - that was unexpected (spoilers)

Stephen West released the first MKAL clue on Thursday night. I started knitting it without looking at spoilers. When I got up on Friday he had sent through an "alternative" clue one. I then went and had a look at the spoiler thread to try to work out what was going on. Which was that some people thought the pattern looked like a "German hate symbol". I knit on anyway, since I was half-way through. Then he took down the original clue, replacing it with a mitred square in garter stitch. The Ravelry forums and Instagram are a complete shit-show, even though Rav is being moderated. It's been a bit disheartening, having something that is usually quite light and fun weighed down with all this. I admire Stephen's quick and sensitive response to this drama. I also feel that anything can look like anything if you squint. To me this looks like a Celtic knot. I think mine is pretty, and I'll knit on through all crises.

Linky Wednesday - the one with the drama

The drama about the Stephen West MKAL continues, and I can't be bothered with it. It's meant to be a fun, interesting, communal knit and and that's not what this year has turned in to. Stephen has done his best in a difficult situation, but I'm just not feeling it. Meanwhile, Israel is at war, and we (as a country) are going to vote "no" on a referendum that asks for basic consideration for Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders. So yeah, lots of turmoil here. It's very tiring. I'm knitting a sock and considering what happens next. Luckily the reading was dramatic in a good way. I'm reading a NetGalley review copy of Last Summer at the Lake House and it's great. Super dramatic family drama about three sisters who loose their father unexpectedly and then find out that the family has secrets. I 've nearly finished it and I don't know what I'm going to read next. I've got a bit of a break between review books, so maybe Sta

Mussleburgh musings

I made a Mussleburgh hat earlier in the year, and even though I thought I was following the directions exactly it did not come out quite right. It was a little bit loose. My head is 51 cm, my gauge was 7 stitches, so according to the pattern I knit the right size. It's also a little bit shorter than I would like it. Too long for a beanie, too short for a good turn-up. I couldn't work out why. I still wore it, but it was not quite right. When I decided to knit one for Elise I knew I wanted to make it longer, and tighter. After I finished Elise's (with 24 fewer stitches) I realised something about mine: Now, this is a knit tube. I know how to knit tubes. When I make sleeves or socks, they don't balloon out in the middle. So I decided to reblock it. The instructions actually specifically say to fold it inside each other after blocking, but I probably folded it and dried it on my head, because that's how I block my hats. Not this time: Now it's longer and thinner

What I made, by Sharon

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