What I made, by Sharon

  In between going to Queensland for ten days and going on a craft retreat next week i have a full week at home. I'm making the most of it, spinning and knitting and reading during the day, as well as spending time with friends in the evenings. I'm going to to CostCo with Anna this afternoon - I love CostCo and not having a car (or all that much storage space) means trips don't happen that often. Because I've been away, it's been two weeks since my last Wednesday post - and I can barely remember what I've read! Of particular note was The Floating World    by Ben Eastham, which was a thoughtful very near future dystopian read about privilege and surviving and also the art world. I've just started  But For Fortune *. Since I'm only two chapters in, I don't really have anything to say about it yet, although the front cover is lovely. Next up? Whatever I see on my Kobo when I get to that point.  In crafting I'm knitting the cardigan I started two we...

 We're back! We had a marvelous time, although it started out rocky, with our flights delayed by three hours and, instead of going straight to Brisbane, stopping in Sydney.  I dislike flying and airports, so it was a poor start to what turned into a lovely holiday.  We Starting in the Gold Coast with some time with Leon's sisters, a beer festival, which Kris joined us for, as well as Ingrid, Tony and their son Harrison. Gold Coast was lovely. Even though the Saturday was COLD and raining, it was actually warm enough to get in the pool on Sunday, and spending time with Kerrie and Fiona is always a pleasure. Monday we took the train to Brisbane, and spent the next week relaxing, exploring and going to Brisbane Festival events. We also went to a Jim Henson exhibition and the museum.  We stopped for a coffee when we got in to Brisbane  and this Bearded Water Dragon was just hanging around in the coffee shop courtyard.  Trevor jones was there doing piano bar, so...

I've had a tough winter - reoccurring colds, skin fissures, a torn triceps, currently infected finger. I'm tired! I'm cold! So, we're going on a relaxing jaunt to Queensland, first to the Gold Coast for a beer festival and visit with Leon's family, and then to Brisbane for the Brisbane Festival and just to relax, get warm, visit some breweries and maybe a yarn shop. I've got my travel project cast on (it's the  Hoodie Shawl Cardigan by Susanne Sommer ) I've got a bunch of books on my Kobo to choose from and I'm ready for some relaxing time. I'll be back with a Queensland report in ten days. I'm pretty excited though, because I'm not back at work for another three weeks. After Queensland I've got a week at home, just doing some more relaxing, and then I'm going to a craft retreat for a week. 

Last Wednesday night I tore a left tricep at Pole. then on Saturday my right forefinger got horribly infected for no apparent reason.  I'm pretty grumpy about it. On Thursday I cast on a crotchet project in some left over handspun. It's been quite a fun project, because I speak crotchet as a second language, so it's taken attention and care. Alos, I can joke about being crotchety.  It's not perfect, but it is recognisable as a garment. The reading has been up and down this week.  I finished  Worry Box by Chris Panatier *, which did not live up to its early promise. You know when a book has a plot hole that you cannot forgive? This has that, and also characters whose emotions flip-flopped in a way I found unbelievable. The sentient house was believable though. Now I'm reading  Best Fake Fiancé  by Roxie Noir , the second in the Loveless Brothers series. Charming low stakes romance, just what I needed. Up next could be anything. Maybe Taylor Jenkin's Reid's...

  The last couple of weeks I've been working on two things - the Field Day Jacket  in bulky handspun and, when that got too big to carry around with me a Musselburgh   to match my new blanket jacket. They look so good together! There are no photos. I managed to wear the hat and out on Friday and Saturday without getting a photo, the first time to go to my parents for dinner and second for my in-house pole competition. Today we went to the St Kilda pride centre for Leon's end of term choir extravaganza and I wore the cardigan and the hat.   I love this cardigan so much. I was trying to spin 8ply (doubleknit) yarn, and failed abysmally. the bulky yarn sat in my stash until a couple of weeks ago, when I went on a mission to find a pattern that would work with it. I did not know I needed a bulky oversized cardigan with toggle buttons, but now that I have one, I can tell you: perfection. I knit it pretty much to pattern, although I did add the pockets - perfect ...

 Last weekend I finished spinning the fibre I've been working on for a while: 480 grams and 983 meters of around an 8ply. I'm pretty happy with it. It was very fun to spin, and to produce what I had been aiming for. I then decided I want to make  the Argyle cardigan Links  so I needed a contrast colour. I decided to dye some fibre pink and orange as the contrast: I mean, I love it, but I would call it scarlet, mauve and pink. I'm pretty pleased with how fluffy the fibre is, even after dying. Meanwhile and unrelated I found out that avocado can be used as a natural dye. I asked Anna, my most avocado eating friend if she could keep her pits for me. On Tuesday she gave me a week's worth of avocado pits. I extracted the colour, let them cool, strained it and threw in a skein of of sock yarn, just to see what might happen.   I really like it. i also really like the Nundle "high twist" sock yarn, it's very plump and pleasing, while still being a true sock-we...

Because I don't have all that many review books (15, but that's from here until January) I've been reading randomly and loving it. First I read  Woodworking by Emily St. James , which Katie mentioned her book club was doing.  She did then invite me to book club, but I'm not a bookclub person, even though I love it when people talk about books. My other group of friends who are in a bookclub are doing  Yesteryear , and I'm not going to that either, although I do want to know what they all think. After that I read   Only for Tonight by Kendall Ryan , a romance that I enjoyed. I don't know why sometimes I love a romance and sometimes they fall flat for me - maybe this time it's because I loved the main couple from the get go. Now I'm reading  Worry Box by Chris Panatier *. It's horror and sets up the tension early. Now it's letting me relax and I really don't think that's going to last long. Really well written.   Next up is  But for Fortune...

 I solved the 'problems' in this post  by ordering a custom Thread and Maple page. Now my extra quads can sit above my cables. And I do have extra Quads, because Morris and Sons now sell them, and I can run up there when I'm getting coffee at work. The other day I was outside the shop before it opened, begging them to open the door, crying for a needle. Just a little taste to get me through the morning.  Katrina from Lola and Louie had to special order this in and while I waited, every couple of days I sent her an email asking for something else to be added to the order. Since the whole thing took 6 weeks to come, I didn't even remember everything I'd ordered, but I'm a happy camper right now. A page of my Quads, one for my crotchet hooks, and a magnetic ruler. now I jsut need to do some crotchet!   I did also cave and get the Addi Unicorn Trio. These were hard to source in Australia and in the end I went with the evil empire. I haven't knit with them yet,...

 I've run out of themes again! This week, like so many, have has ups and downs. On Sunday we went to the Museum, which I haven't done since 2001! We saw an exhibition on ancient Rome, which felt very relevant to the  Gaius Petreius Ruso Series by Ruth Downie , which I have been gradually listening my way through. This week I read    Enemies with Benefits by Roxie Noir.  I got it free somewhere along the way and then left it sitting on the bottom of my Kobo because enemies to lovers isn't my favourite trope, but I really loved this. Good communication, good communication and four more in the series - currently on Kindle Unlimited, if that's the way you get your books. Then I read  Thoughts Be Bloody * by Auden Patrick  which is meant to be a magical Hamlett retelling. It didn't work for me, for a number of reasons mainly because I think it was a bit YA, and also there is (spoilers) basically magical time travel. I hope it finds its audience though. ...

I've been knitting the Alpine Bloom dress for a month. Heavy laceweight on 3mm needles. On Sunday night I tried it on to see if it was long enough and discovered two things: It was time for the bottom and, despite being commercial yarn and all from the same dye lot, there are clear differences in colours from the different balls. Despite knowing I won't wear it like this I finished it. It was about 20 rows of lace for the bottom and one sleeve. Now I have to decide what to do. I know I don't have the energy to rip and reknit. I could try to dip dye it, but that may well wreck the whole thing, particularly because the yarn is partly cotton. I could rip it back and have a pretty top, but I don't want a top, I want a dress. I could embroider something on it, or duplicate stitch some matching flowers to call the eye away. I could ignore it and wear it anyway.  I could always stand in dappled shadow so that the stripes don't show. The stripes did soften after a wash, b...

Last week I finished the horror novel  Tapeworm * by A.P. Thayer . It was very good - I went for lunch at work and didn't come back until it was finished - an hour and a quarter later. Oops, body horror can't be left in suspense. Then, aas predicted I read  Never Lasting*  by Angela Bourassa  . It's an 831Stories Romance, and I usually quite like these, but I hated it. Insta love, a main couple that I didn't want to get together, not ideal. I said that my next book  Thoughts Be Bloody * by Auden Patrick  was a horror - it's not, it's a Hamlet retelling with magic. It's not due until next month, so I decided to read the oldest book on my Kobo  The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride  . It's good, but is not a fast read. It's got heavy themes - race, sexual assault, privilege, poverty. After I finish this, it's on to the next oldest book  Enemies with Benefits by Roxie Noir.  It's the first of a romance series that I got for...

  A while ago, to protect my hands, back and shoulders, I made a rule. One 30 minutes of spinning at a time. this has serves me well. I think having a time cap actually encourages me to get that half hour in. Inspired and encouraged by Sonia I signed up for a one week spinning retreat. I am very excited that i get to spend an entire week just crafting.  And then I realised that I haven't  spun for more than half an hour in a day since I can't remember when. I did mention to my physio that I tend to run into trouble if I spin too much. Last time I mentioned spinning he thought about bike based exercise classes. this time her got it and gave me some strengthening pre-hab that seems to be helping.   While I haven't actually ended up spinning for more than half an hour a day, I have been spinning almost every day. Amazing how quickly the spinning gets done when I actually sit down and spin! I've finished three bobbins of 125 grams per bobbin and just have one more t...