2023 - end of year wrap up and reflections

Previous years here: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016

Another year gone, with some changes and also lots of rhythm and routine. This year I quit powerlifting and started pole dancing, I did studio yoga regularly and then decided to do it virtually. we had three hiking holidays, including finishing the Grampians Peaks trail, tropical rainforest and four days in a desert. We had a lot of fun with family and friends.

In reading I continued to read sci-fi and fantasy as well as a general mix of books. I read 114 books, 65 of which were review books, which is quite a high percentage. The most surprising thing that happened in books is that I requested a book about making polymer clay earrings and now that is one of my hobbies.

In knitting I made 44 project and used 27,662 meters of yarn, which is slightly fewer projects and quite a lot more yarn than in previous years.

The group I was charity knitting for changed their submission methods in September, so I need a new charity knitting focus, but that can wait. I again went to three yarn festivals, and ended up with 21,090 meters of yarn. There has been a lot of movement from last year, everything I have is beautiful.

Now I'm off to bake some biscuits for this evenings New Year's eve celebrations, which i will spend with some of my favourite people. I'll be back on Tuesday to tell you about all the crafting I've done during my Christmas break.

Comments

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...

Slowly slowly

I haven’t posted about my actual knitting for a while. This might be because not much has changed since the last time I talked about my knitting. This is the edging of my Village Sweater Wrap: The picture fails to capture how much further there is to go. I'm just past the first arm hole, so just over a third of the way through. It’s 47 stitches of relatively simple lace. I’ve been knitting it since Monday two weeks ago. It’s quite pleasant, and slowly growing but I can’t quite work out why it’s growing so slowly. One reason I know is that the first week I was knitting it during Good Beer Week, so I didn’t take it out and about with me. I knit other things, and when I’m knitting two things it makes everything feel like it takes forever. But the main reason, I think, is that this is just a slow knit for me. I love the needles I’m knitting on ( Karbonz of course) I love the yarn, I love the way the lace looks. So really, what’s the rush? I’m not going to be cold...

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...

What I made, by Sharon

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