Some attempts at home improvement and a book about home improvement

I identify as a minimalist, but not an especially good one. Leon and I share a rather small closet. When we moved here 6 years ago it just had a shelf and a hanging rail. We bought some Ikea baskets, and it was OK. But I keep knitting things, and thinking about getting the cupboard fitted out properly. About two months ago i got two quotes and we ordered new insides! Very exciting.

We had to pull out the insides of the cupboard and do any filling / painting and sanding that we wanted done. We did this, and on Thursday, ready for Friday's install we moved all our clothes into the living room. On Friday morning the company texted me to say the installer had called in sick and it would be another week. Now all my clothes are in the living room. I texted this photo to a friend and she said "at least it's tidy".

But tidy isn't enough for me, I want less stuff. Not no stuff, but less and I want it all out of sight.

Which brings be to this book I requested from NetGalley The Happy Home by Chelsea Foy.

It's very pretty, but for me every project in it is a no. Some of the projects are super cute but I don't need a match holder for my candles, because I don't have candles. Or pictures for my walls, because I don't have walls. I'm mainly kidding, but most of my walls are actually glass. The rest are plain. we like it that way. i like everything bare, with plants and as little else as I can manage. So, this book has some lovely rooms, that I would love to visit in, have a cup of tea (or wine) and then come home to my stripped back flat. This book does what it says on the cover - and reminded me that my home is about less not more, even if right now the contents of my closet are living in my living room.

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Unravelled wednesday and WAYRN - the one where I prepare

We are heading off for some camping and hiking and general R&R on Friday, so I'm currently in planning and preparing mode. Of course that mainly means deciding what to knit - I'm going to make the Old Romance cardigan by Joji Locatelli. The yarn is wound and I'm ready to go. I completed Leon's Winter Set (2023) just in time, and it's currently blocking. I'm reading Georgette Hayer's Fredrica , which I am enjoying very much. Regency romance is so sweet and, unlike current romance offerings, I know it won't suddenly tumble into gynaecological territory! For unexplained reasons, NetGalley is offering some Georgette Heyer books at the moment - (maybe it's re-release?) and I'm taking this opportunity to read a few more of them 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'm joining in with Kat ...

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Remember how I took every form of transport known to man a fortnight ago? Well, I was missing just one thing, suburban trains. But today I got to remedy that, knitting my way to Dandenong for work. Yay? My Char jumper has been knitting up ridiculously fast. It's easy, pleasant and a well written pattern. I'm reading Rachael Herron's latest book The Ones Who Matter Most . It's a good read so far, family centered fiction, easy to read but still emotionally challenging. I'm listening to Evelyn Waugh's Men At Arms . I'm enjoying it, I didn't really know what to expect, but some of it reminds me of Catch 22, in that it catalogues the absurdities of war and bureaucracy. The narrator has the perfect upper crust English accent and I'm very pleased it's the first of a trilogy. And that's another week of reading, knitting and catching trains everywhere for me. Do pop along to Ginny's blog to see what she and the rest of the yarnalong ...

Why Andrea Mowry, why? (A rant and a rather nice finished object)

As mentioned, prior to our hiking trip I suddenly, and rather randomly, decided to knit Andrea Morwy's Traveler Shell . It's basically an open fronted rectangle in a knit purl pattern. The pattern is FOURTEEN pages long. Why is the pattern 14 pages long? Because, instead of explaining the ten row repeat and then putting the shaping on top of that (e.g. decrease while continuing to knit in pattern), she writes out the entire ten row knit purl sequence every time something changes. Additionally, most of the time she starts with even number being the right side and wrong numbers being the right side,which is just plain odd. It's confusing and it's like she wants to keep you looking at the pattern for every row, rathe than following the very intuitive stitch pattern, which I had memorised after one repeat. The instructions for the band just say 'pick up x number of stitches'. No ratios, no acjnowledgement that different bits of the band have different ratios. Afte...

What I made, by Sharon

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