What I made, by Sharon

 I knit a Ranunculus in 2021 as the Richmond Knitter's Bendigo jumper for that year's (later cancelled) Richmond Knitters Bendigo Sheep Show project. It was never quite right - it got shorter over time and the colours were a bit too swirly.  It is a very useful layer - in winter under a jacket, in summer it's light enough to stuff into a small handbag. Two Tuesday 's ago I cast on a Love Note , which is a similarly themed garment - fluff knit on 6mm needles. The day after I cast on I washed Ranunculus, since I had taken it on both my recent interstate trips. It came out like this: It's not felted, but it seems to have become shorter and wider and the sleeves are long and tighter. Weird, since I did it on a wool wash with all my other woolens, as usual, and the rest of them are fine. Luckily Love Note fills the gap: No too short Not too weirdly coloured. Not too anything. Just a really light, wearable, delightful jumper.  I knit it to pattern, except I didn't do...

This year  Richmond Knitters chose the  Celeste Sweater by Petit Knits  for our annual Bendigo Sheep show knitalong. It wasn't a jumper I felt particularly drawn to, but we had agreement, and early, so I was happy to knit it. the pattern is written for 8ply, and I have enough 8ply jumpers, particularly as a colourwork yoke adds quite a lot of warmth. For me a lighter jumper for inside with a jacket over the top if going outside is perfect for our Melbourne winters. Melbourne winter can be pretty sad and grey, so I wanted bright pastels (Easter egg , or 'candy' coloured were my inspiration ). I'm pretty happy with the results. There were a couple of dramas with the knitting - where the pattern calls for the main colour to be used in the yoke, it didn't really work, and then I used a speckled white, which also didn't work, so I ripped and reknit the last 8 round (the ones with ALL the stiches) twice. And then I realised the row that had been ripped out from and re...

When I got an email from Susannah (Sanna and co) asking if I wanted to take part in the test knit for  Noble Jumper pattern umper for The Bendigo Project , I couldn't say yes fast enough. I dyed the yarn myself and am so happy with this avocado colour. The jumper itself was a joy to knit - intuitive, fun and effective. I didn't need to look at the charts after the first repeat, and it just flowed off my fingers. I do love a bottom up jumper. I learnt some things - manly the edging on the split hem which was so tidy I reused it on Leon's winter set jumper. The rest of the Bendigo Project pattern were previewed today, and I definitely want to knit Susanna's brioche hat . And maybe a pair of   Sheep Show Socks.  

I know I'm not posting this on Friday - I had it all written and ready to go and then Friday was 43 degrees and Leon did not fancy standing in the sun to get photos! When we did our photo shoot, inspired by the other item we were shooting we decided to take photos that mimicked Petite Knits original photos (which you can see here ). I'm not sure what made me decide to knit  Moby by PetiteKnit  for Leon. Maybe because Nikhil, one of my Richmond Knitter friends knit himself one and it looked great? Maybe because I bought this yarn from  Aveley Finnsheep  for a cardigan for me, and then I bought different yarn for that cardigan, so I had 1200 metres of beautiful grey yarn just waiting to be used? Maybe because it has been (just) over a year since Leon had a new jumper? Perhaps I just felt like knitting cables? I felt like Leon didn't have enough cabled jumpers, but it turns out I knit him cables in both 2021 and 2022. Ooops. Anyway, for whatever reason I decided to knit...

 Today I have three finished items that are gifts, so, while I wrote about them while knitting them, I haven't had the opportunity to show you them on their intended recipients. First up is the Swancho that I knit for Kris, so that Kris, Nat, Katie and I can all match. She looks so cute it it! Then there is the Albizia cardigan for my mother. Practical and pretty, this was a (rather lengthy) very satisfying knitting adventure. It's made out of Holst Garn Supersoft, and while it washes up reasonably soft, i actually ended up with a cut on my tensioning finger from the yarn rubbing on my skin. I'm really pleased with how it fits her , and I think she is too. Then we have a charity jumper and hat, which I knit to try to minimise some of my every growing leftovers. here it is modelled by a bear. Hopefully the bear is smaller than a 9 month old. Also a  bonus pair of socks for my father, because he likes fun socks and complained that I haven't knit him socks for a while, wh...

 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 ...

On the 25th of May I started a Pressed Flowers Hat, as a swatch for my Pressed Flowers Cardigan . I knit the cardigan though the first three weeks of June. I couldn't declare is officially finished, because I made polymer clay buttons and I wanted to do shank buttons, rather than ones with holes. I went to my local bead shop. who didn't have any. I ordered some online, and accidentally ordered dolls shanks! I eventually got the right size: I also made matching hair slides, a broach and a shawl pin. Here's our attempt at a picture that shows all of these being worn:  And why did I need a shawl pin? Because, even before I finished the cardigan, I knew I wanted to keep knitting this pattern.  So I made the matching shawl : This was a very addictive knit, made even more so because I dyed both background colours myself.  It's particularly strange because,while the motif is very pretty and very fun to knit, but there are many problems with these patterns. The designer does n...

This jumper is very pretty, but it was a pain in the arse to knit. The colourwork is all non-repeating and I had to look at every single stitch on the tiny chart. Most of the knitting on this was done sitting at the dining table.  The finished jumper is delightful  - the yarn is Purl Box Oyster Yarns Maven DK  and it's a merino, silk and yak mix. Quite stunning. I love the way the colours came out, it feels like a sunset.  I even (accidentally) made matchy flower earrings! I was a bit surprised that it was cool enough in late December to wear this for a full evening - the story is we had 7 people booked for trivia on Wednesday night. We were going somewhere different, since our normal trivia had finished for the year. And then Monday night's knit night ended up being a bit of a COVID spreader event and we ended up with three of us at trivia, some sick friends and some who were waiting to see. It all felt a bit like 2021. I didn't go to knitting on Monday night -...

Not my second cabled jumper ever, obviously, but my second in this current cable obsession. (the first is here ). I love this one too - it's warm and cosy, although I though it would be a bit longer - it sort of rides up a little. It might settle over time. I knit it  to pattern (it's the excitingly named Sweater Number 20 ), except I reduced the stitches for the cuffs and bottom band so that the cables would flow into the ribbing without interruption.  And I love it. The only odd thing is I've worn it out a couple of times and no one has commented on it. I'm used to getting compliments, or at least comments on new jumpers! Maybe my friends have spoilt me! Anyway, it's comfortable, warm and very squishy. Everything I was aiming for. 

  While I was knitting Luna's jumper, I decided I wanted one for myself too. But in in black- in a pink fade. I had four skeins of pink yarn with no purpose in mind, and some fluffy angora that I  bought not enough of for another project. The jumper came out really wearable: in fact, I'm wearing it as I write this. It's comfortable, warm but not too warm and it came out exactly the length I wanted. It was a fun knit, pink fluff is always a good time, and having just knit it, I knew the style and fit. I don't think I've ever knit the same thing twice in a row, but I was such a fun and soothing knit that I really enjoyed both times. And as a bonus, here's a picture of Luna wearing hers: A really  satisfying and successful pair of projects.

 I finished Luna's jumper last week, and now I just need to send it to it's recipient. It looks a little short to me, but it's aligned with the model jumper she sent me, and also I used a full 200 grams (1400 metres) of yarn and had very little left. This is why I normally only post modelled photos!  While I was knitting this, I decided I wanted one for myself, using a fade and some fluff that I had bought for something else and not sued. In the past I would have resisted knitting the same thing back-to-back, but now I rather like it, it feels very soothing. Also, mine (as mentioned) is a light pinkish super fluffy fade, rather than the more restrained black I knit for Luna!