What I made, by Sharon

 Last week I had just started  The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga, #1) by John Gwynne, a Norse style fantasy. Unusually, I haven't finished it - although I've done plenty of reading this week, but this is 480 pages, and it's not the fastest read. Lot's of battles and fighting and many characters with unfamiliar names. I'll get it finished at lunch today - it's the first of a trilogy and I'm pretty sure it has a cliff hanger ending.  Next up is a quick romance  Encore Performance by Leila Sales,  from 831 Stories. It released today - I'm a bit behind on my NetGalley reading. I know they think they are being clever with those covers, and at least it's not AI, but having all the covers the same is pretty boring. I know Penguin Classics did that, but it was before we were all doing flatlays for IntstaGram.  Then I've got  Whistler by Ann Patchett,  which just came in from the library. I'm excited that I can read library books on my Kob...

 A little while ago Anna nightmare some  Ístex Plötulopi – Unspun Icelandic  and I was very pleased to take it off her hands. I've heard of this 'yarn' and it's always fun to knit with something new to me. I'd hear it's very warm and light because it doesn't have a lot of twist. I bought some carry along mohair and last week cast on an oversize dress . I was between sizes, so I opted to go up rather than down. I soon discovered the yarn is called unspun because it is UNSPUN. This means it drifts apart at the slightest provocation - like pulling it out of the puck it comes in, or having the mohair on top of it, or any slight pressure.  Luckily, there are no ends, you just hold the yarn next to the break and it melds back into the knitting, kind of like joining when you are spinning.  You HAVE to centre pull from the puck, and the beginning of each on is full of yarn barf, and if you pull on it too much it comes apart.  It's Icelandic because it comes from...

I first queued the  Ravelry: Hoodie Shawl Cardigan  on 10 September 2025, bought the yarn at Bendigo in July 2026 and finally cast it on on 10 September 2026, exactly a year after I decided to make it. I cast it on with the idea of taking it on holidays to Brisbane and then craft camp. At the beginning it was the perfect project to have with me - simple and entertaining at the same time and small enough to throw in my favourite handbag  (the  Mini Tote from Bon Maxie ). It knit up faster than I expected, and, by the time I was off to craft camp I only had one sleeve left, so I left it at home. I was quite please to be reunited and finish that last sleeve.  There are no dramatic stories of knitting this - it was simple and satisfying. If I did it again I might slightly reduce the pick up rate on the front bands. The rate is 1 to 1, which gives a loose, floppy unstructured look. I might like it even more if it was a bit less wavy. I also did the bottom band in gar...

 After a few fun weeks of travel , time off and craft retreats  normal life has resumed. And while I would rather have free time than have to work for a living there are compensations, like earning money to pay for all those fun things! And tonight I return to Pole after a break due to injury and holidays.  Of course, while I was doing all those fun things I was also knitting, spinning and reading. On return from the spinning retreat I was eager to start my next project - I'm spinning up 200 grams of this gorgeous fibre as a heavy laceweight, aiming for about a thousand metres.  I've just finished the cardigan I cast on exactly four weeks ago the  Hoodie Shawl Cardigan It didn't actually take me a month to knit, I took a pair of socks away with me as a more portable project. I will be back with blocked and modelled photos on Friday. I have swatched for my next project - a fluffy dress. I don't swatch if it's a type of yarn I'm familiar with, but I wanted to know...

I'm just back from the Geelong Fibre Forum  and it was an incredible week.  Spending the better part of a week with nothing to do except craft was amazing. We stayed in the Geelong Grammar Manifold house as borders. I did a spinning class with Janet Day    E very morning I would get up, run or do yoga and  go get breakfast.  Class would begin at 9 - a day of spinning, learning and chatting with the other class members, interrupted by a morning coffee break and a delicious lunch time. At the end of the day dinner was there - no cooking, no thinking! After dinner there was a chance to go on spinning, or just to hang around, socialise, read and knit.  It was so refreshing, to have no other obligations, nothing to do except create with a community of like-minded women.  Over the week I finished made some art yarn, a batt and then I spun the batt into yarn (that I will hopefully, finally, use to weave cushions for my couch).  But for me the week w...

 As mentioned, after ten days in Queensland I came back for a week, and now I'm heading off to Geelong for a crafting retreat. I decided not to go back to work - it was only four days (Friday is a football related public holiday and Monday was Yom Kippur), so I figured just take the full three weeks. As well as going away and my usual activities (except no Pole, since I have a slightly torn tricep), I have spent my time engaging in some rather random crafting pursuits. I think we have to wear name tags at the retreat, so i made some out of polymer clay. I think they are pretty cute, particularly the pink one. I finished the crotchet baby jumper out of handspun: It's cute and functional, although I really struggled with the stitch count on the sleeves. At some point I'll crotchet a matching hat. I finished the spinning project I was working on - 185 grams and 417 metres of a light DK weight yarn. I'm probably going to use it as the contract colour for an argyle cardigan....

  W elcome to part 34 in a series of non-fiction book reviews, originally based on the idea that the books I request tell you everything you need to know about me. I have, after so many chapters of this series, realised that all these posts say about me is that this was just a place to put these reviews, but now I can see how broad my non-fiction reading is, and how many interesting, good (and sometimes not-so-good) books and topics I've had a chance to explore. This time we have 2 books about specific albums and one about LGBTQ+ folklore and that one wasn't even a NetGalley book, but it is non-fiction, so I'm including it here. The other two books were  provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Paul Simon's Graceland (33 1/3 Africa) by Kalvin Schmidt-Rimpler Dinh Celebrated, controversial, and conspicuously eclectic, Paul Simon's Graceland stands among the monumental albums of the 20th century. This book explores how and why it made its mark, from th...

  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 ...