FO Friday - charity jumper and a package sent

Last week I knit a jumper for AKWAK - Australian's Knitting For War Affected Kids, who are my current knitting charity of choice. They are mainly a facebook based group, although they have a Ravelry presence. Basically their volunteers knit through the year. You email to let them know what you are knitting, and occasionally they post saying they need more cowls, or jumpers for a certain age group or whatever. Then at a certain point they call for the donations to be sent in. Someone packs them up, puts them in a container and they get shipped to Syrian refugees living in camps in (I think) Afghanistan. I knit for them because I think it is a worthy cause, but also because they want 80 percent or more wool in garments, and since that's what most of my left-overs are, it works well.

This jumper was really fun: I started it as a raglan, but as soon as I joined the body and sleeves I decided I wanted to make it a round yoke. Also I ran out of the green contrast colour, and used some random handspun for the collar - which I decided to make a turtleneck at the very last minute.

The final day for receiving packages is 31 August, so after I blocked this jumper I packed up the rest of my contributions (4 hats, 2 cowls, 3 baby jumpers, a pair of mitts) and sent them off. I only started knitting for AKWAK in January, so that's not a bad start. I just fit into the large mailing bag. Next shipment I will have a full 12 months of left-over knitting to send, so I imagine it will be quite a bit more, maybe I'll even be able to fill an extra large bag.

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Linky Wednesday - the one with the pause

In meditation it's said that the pause between the in breath and the out breath is a gap, a space to rest. Well, I'm in that in-between space for reading, listening and knitting. This is a random photo of a highlight of my week - I filled up my lolly jar. These are just supermarket party mix. During the lockdowns, we sources a great pick-and-mix delivery service, but at some point they started sending from the UK, which is a bit silly. Rachey messaged me a new one she found, and I impulsed purchased a kilo of mixed lollies, and then she sent me a link to the biggest lolly shop in Melbourne, which also delivers sweets by the kilogram, so i think I'm sorted for the rest of the year! In reading I've just finished The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham . It's the second last book in the Summer of Mystery, and I have to admit, having now read nine Margery Allingham books, that they are OK. I wouldn't have read them if they were not connected to this club, but on...

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.

Unravelled Wednesday - the one where it's ordinary

This week I finished my first book for the 2025 When Are You Reading? Challenge , which was The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker , which covered the pre 1200 time period. I loved it, it's a retelling of the siege of Troy from a feminist perspective. I haven't worked out what I'm reading for the 1200-1399 time period. Suggestions are welcome. I'm currently reading Central Station by Lavie Tidhar , which is science fiction set in a future Tel-Aviv. It's good, but there are loads of characters and I'm not overly invested. Although at least I'm having no problems telling the characters apart, they are very district. I just don't overly care what happens to them. I'm listening to a NetGalley review copy of Mona Acts Out by Mischa Berlinski , which is the story of a woman unravelling. It's very different from Mischa's other books, but quite compelling. I'm not sure what's next, probably something from Kobo-Plus, perhaps Regrets...

What I made, by Sharon

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