What I made, by Sharon

 We borrowed Katie' car and headed off into the mountains - the Australian Alps, to be precise. There is a trail that runs from Walhalla all the way to Canberra (about 650 kms). Our intention was to walk from Walhalla to Baw Baw ski resort, spend a night in a lodge and then come back down. Day one went to plan, and we spent the night in a lovely campsite next to a stream. Day two was very steep, and it was 36 degrees and a total fire ban. We decided to head back down the mountain - where we had a wonderful cooked lunch, and coffee - and then drive to where we were originally planning to walk to that day.  Unfortunately there was a tree the size of Katie's car blocking the road, so we ended up driving back to where we had walked into the day before. The next  day we drove to the top of the mountain and  had a fairly easy day, just walking the tracks of the resort without packs. Then on day four we headed down from the top of the mountain. It's all dispersed camping, s...

We are about to head into the mountains for 5 days of hiking, so I won't be linking up with my normal link-ups - and I'm not sure that there will be much posting on Christmas Day. Anyway, we don't Christmas, but we do hike! One of the things I love about hiking is the amount of time there is, and how there is nothing to do. I'm very bad at doing nothing, so I always bring a fully loaded e-reader and a good knitting project. The knitting project is  The Traveler Shell by Andrea Mowry . It thought I knew what I was going to knit on this trip (  The Article  by Kate Davies )  and then out of the blue, less than a week before we left I decided I had to knit this.  I cast it on a couple of days ago, because I don't want to get caught on a mountain with knitting that isn't working out: In reading I'm going to clear a few NetGalley books, starting with Alarm Fatigue . I started it last night, and so far I'm enjoying it - the writing is a teeny bit clunky, but t...

I had a personal day on Friday, partly because my father needed picking up from hospital (he had a standard procedure) and partly because I'm very tired and a bit wrecked, with everything that has happened. We started the day with a run, and went and got Katie's car, which we are borrowing while she is in America. We hosted my parents on Friday night.  Since it was my birthday dinner I made my favourite things - chicken soup. I didn't even serve a main course, I just made chicken soup, challah and salad. For dessert I made chocolate pudding, which didn't set, so we used it as sauce for the kugelhopf cake my parents made for my birthday. Lots of strong family traditions there! Saturday we caught the train to Ballarat for Hanrahan family Christmas. It was lovely - some of Leon's family lives in the Gold Coast, and it's always so good to see them. Sunday we didn't get out of bed until ten o'clock. I'm just very tired right now! I skipped Sun day's r...

 As well as my friends giving my yarn, there are other reason's why my stash doesn't go down. But before I tell you about the latest acquisitions, and show you my new yarn, let's celebrate my stashcount (prior to this yarn being added). 13,548   metres. A number I would describe as "well under control". Haven't seen it this low in ages.  And then I got more yarn!  I recently participated in an Alma cardigan knit-a-long, and I made a modified alma for Elise. I won a skein of yarn from Bombed Yarns. I love Bombed Yarns . It would have been silly (and felt a bit rude) to just get one skein, so I got four skeins of this lovely greenish yarn for Leon's winter set, and some matching sock yarn to make him matching socks.  Glorious. The we had the Richmond Knitters annual Christmas self-striping: I say this every year, but Dani really outdid herself. Suzanne chose the colours this year, and also provided this door prize: Beautiful. It's like she picked the co...

I'm not feeling super positive as I write this. The good thing about having lots of friends who are all friends with each other (I accidentally made all my separate groups of friends cross pollinate) is that when something goes wrong everyone supports each other. We are all sad together. So many messages "are you ok?" " how are you feeling?".  The bad thing is we are all sad. Anyway, it's my birthday today and while I don't feel full of joy, I do feel very loved. And of course, throughout it all I have two of the great comforts of my life - reading and knitting.  In reading I'm reading a Kobo-Plus book  Our Liminal Spaces by Poornima Manco . It's set in India in the 1990. I'm enjoying it so far, it's a relationship based book, and covers things like changing social expectations and modernisation. I'm still listening to Longbourn . It's taken quite a dark turn, which I wasn't really expecting, since Pride and Prejudice is a r...

When I woke up on Friday morning I had a message from Elise saying 'call me'. that's never good, and unfortunately what she had to say was that Rachey had died overnight. I took the day off, and spent some time with Elise, who had been up since 3 am, helping to deal with the police, funeral home etc.  Then I went to dinner with my whole family, which was loud and lovely as usual, (and as usual, I didn't take photos) On Saturday we celebrated Katie's birthday, which was a lovely chance to get together and celebrate. Saturday night was the Richmond Knitters Christmas party, with it's joy, and traditions. Dani outdid herself with this year's yarn - designed by Suzanne.  Sunday I did the cleaning (boring but required) and then went to visit Raph, who is doing about as well as expected. Leon and I went to the Classic Cinema and saw A Chorus Line. They play musicals on Sunday afternoons and it has been such a treat seeing a bunch of musicals at the movies. A Choru...

I spent the last couple of weeks knitting Kate Davies' It's got A Bend In It Shawl.  The title is a joke in a book I didn't appreciate, but I do appreciate the cardigan. It an odd construction, it starts with a triangle shawl, and then magically turns into a wrap cardigan. Most people show theirs closed, but I like it even better open. At the moment I am keeping it closed with a stitch marker, but once I have decided on the final placement I have some magnetic closures I'll use. One of the interesting things about this garment is when I finished it it was kind of lumpy, and the sleeves were almost too tight. Then I washed it and then laid it out to dry, and now it fits perfectly.   All in all a practical, warm hug of a cardigan. 

Tomorrow I am busy all day, with work meetings and then an event at a brewery in the evening, so here's my update from Tuesday, which will be much the same on Wednesday anyway. I'm reading  Saved By The Bride by Fiona Lowe . It's a romance written by the author of the women's fiction book I read last week, and it's on Kobo-Plus.  The cover is pretty ordinary, but the book itself is a romp. Next up  The Shadow of His Hand: Book One of the Markulian Prophecies by Benjamin Patterson , an author that I found through Threads. It might be good, or not, but it was free on Kobo-Plus. Yes, that's all your are going to hear for the whole of December! I'm listening to Longbourn by Jo Baker. It's Pride and Prejudice, told from the point of view of the servants, and it's very good. In knitting I've only got half a sleeve left on my cardigan , so hopefully I'll be back with FO photos by the end of the week. I have also only got the foot of the second sock ...

  After I finished  Birds of a Feather , I read  The Money Club by Fiona Lowe , which was some very enjoyable women's fiction, set about three hours away from where I live. The next book I decided to read is  Fugitive by Krista D. Ball , which is the second in a series that I started last month. Since It was available on Kobo Plus, I signed up for my free month. Kobo Plus is like Kindle Unlimited, there is a range of books, you pay a monthly subscription and you can read as much as you want - but only from that selection. Up next (also on Kobo Plus)  is the third book in the  Unholy Island  series that I've been enjoying very much -   The Island God by Sarah Painter . If you have a Kobo, have you used Kobo plus? Any recommendations for books on this subscription would be welcomed.  In knitting, I've joined both shoulder of my cardigan - only the frontband and sleeves to go.  I am also participating in a super secret test knit, but...

 This is the Rockland crewneck , and I loved knitting it. It was soothing, and came out with me to lots of places (like camping  and running ). The yarn was absolutely wonderful. I love the way it looks, on my spunky husband and I love the way it feels. There were some oddities in the pattern, which I have gone into in my Ravelry post, and won't repeat here. One thing I'm really starting to notice is fonts and font colour. The colour on this pattern is a dark grey, which I couldn't read in bad light - and I knit at not one, but two pubs with insufficient lighting. Anyway, the results are great. I used Drover and Classer yarn, who dyes on Bellevue Park  merino. You might remember I made a dress with that yarn last year, and it is so soft, the stitches melt into each other. As I got near the collar, I started to worry that I was going to run out of yarn. I should have had plenty, but my last ball was getting thin. I looked on Ravelry and no-one had any in stash. I looked ...

 I feel like I'm talking more about my Kobo in these posts that what I'm reading! Anyway, it's my blog, so here are the new cover I got for my reading device: The case I got when I bought it in July is starting to peel at the corners. I do read in the bath, and throw this in bike panniers every day, but I still think it should have lasted longer. Anyway, I had constant complaint about the stand cases available for my old Oasis, so I'm pleased with the shape of this. In actual reading, I read a novella from NetGalley  The Pigment Thief by Myka Silber.  It's the preable to a full length novel, which I'll be looking out for.   I did manage to get a library copy of  the second Masie Dobbs book  Birds of a Feather  by Jacqueline Winspear . It involved waiting util my hold went down from 'a week' to 'available soon' and then poking at my device until it appeared. Odd.  Unfortunately I'm not really enjoying it. Too much intuition, and boring descr...

As everyone knows, I try to keep as small a stash as possible. It's not that small, it fluctuates between 15 and 25 kilometres. The other day at knit night I announced that I had decided I needed orange socks, but I didn't have any orange sock yarn. Kris piped up "I've got orange sock yarn". Sonia announced that she had orange sock yarn - Collinette Jitterbug, a discontinued yarn I adore and Kate said she had some that she had ordered one day when she was not feeling well. I pointed out that it was very nice that they all had orange sock yarn, but that was their orange sock yarn, and I am a big girl who can buy her own yarn. Sonia then decided to give me her orange yarn - not one but two skeins of Jitterbug, which was once my favourite sock yarn, but has been discontinued. It's the perfect shade of orange, and knit up beautifully into Cookie A's Sake Socks. I had put off making these socks, because every knit stitch is twisted and there are cables on ever...

 About three months ago I moved from Kindle to Kobo, partly so I could use the public library (no Kindle with libraries, it's an Australian thing). And it's been the weirdest time. Books appearing, books saying they are expiring the next day, but still working, emails saying my books are available which Overdrive on my device saying they are not. Still I've read some really great books from the library, and they are free. I am currently reading Odd Thomas (Odd Thomas, #1) by Dean Koontz . Apparently it expires in three days, so I don't know if it will just disappear. After that I'm hoping to read the next Maisie Dobbs, but the library says I can have it in two days - and last time I tried this, after the countdown got to 1 day, it just said 'soon' for a week. It's very odd, and also a low stakes adventure. In audio I'm listening to Pachinko   which everyone was reading a couple of years ago. I mainly started it because it was free on audible, and I a...