What I made, by Sharon

I finally, finally finished the cardigan for Bee. I got her to try it on, but she put it over the jumper she was already wearing, so who knows? This project was a bit meh for me, but I really like the pattern and might make it for myself too. In wool. Not acrylic, even thought the acrylic is OK ... if you can't wear wool. When she tried it on the bottom buttonhole turned out to me too loose, so i took it home to fix it. I'll wrap it up and give it to her for her birthday, which is the 8th of July. I also finished Elise's mitts . These are a surprise present, and I'll wrap them up and give them to her for her birthday, with is the 7th of July. I really like how they came out, and it is a pattern I would make again, maybe as a charity knit. And now my needles are free. I'll do some charity knitting until I see Rachey, (hopefully Tuesday) because I want to measure her up for the cardigan I'm going to knit for he r. This has turned into a bit of a year of knitting f...

On Monday I finished my Good Beer Week knee-highs .  I'm very happy with them. The pattern , by Winwick Mum was a great recipe. I also knit a pair of socks as a gauge swatch in January, and discovered that on 2.25 needles, with this kind of sock yarn I should be looking at a 60 stitch sock. I made long foldover cuffs, and they are warm, and sparkly and stay up well. Winner of a project. I also have enough yarn (50 grams of the plain blue, 20 of the sparkle stripes) to make either another pair of socks, although I think I'll make sneaker liners. After finishing the socks I cast on a pair of convertible mitts for my mother. It seems like a really practical idea for my public transport taking mother, and also a good use for this lovely handspun that I wasn't sure what to make. I had a plan when I spun it, but then decided against my original plan. This works though, and works well. I was going to give them to her at dinner tonight, but we've got a 7 day lockdown happen...

  Kieran  (or Kizza as he is usually referred to), is my favourite Brother-in-Law. I have four brother-in-laws, but he's the one I like best, and not just because every time we go away, whether it is for a night or a month, he comes and looks after our cats. He mentioned to Leon that he couldn't find the hat I made for him in 2016, so I decided it was time for a new one anyway. I dyed the yarn I recycled from my Carbeth  a light brown, and made him a Tiilda hat Since I know he wears the mitts I make him all the time, I also made him some matching mitts.  The knitting of these took 5 days total. It would have been four, but i decided to do the alternating cable cast on on the bottom of the mitts. Then I matched it with the tubular cast off. When will I learn that the tubular cast off is not stretchy? So I had to pull that out and replace it with a stretchier cast off. Other than that, it was a very smooth knit and I really like the results.

 In February I decided I was going to knit 10 charity hats, or baby cardigans, or mitts or whatever this year. for the next few months I knit a charity item or two each month. At the beginning of May I was halfway to the goal. And then, because I had a bit of a gap before I wanted to start my next project, I dedicated a week to charity knitting. Turns out I can get a lot done, including 2 hats and 3 pairs of mitts. So I have, obviously, reset my goal. I was trying to knit a kilogram of LOSY (left over sock wool) for charity this year.  This lot weighs nearly 300 grams, but that's not all LOSY. Some of it was still stash, some is mohair. Anyway, I keep on acquiring more. I'm not complaining, just resetting my goal. Should it me a kilogram of donated items? A specific number (maybe ten more.Or 14 more to make it an average of two a month?) Or knit all the LOSY? Anyway, after all these very quick hats and mitts, I'm off to knit myself a pair of knee high socks. t...

Excitingly I've got three finished things for this week.  I finished (and blocked) my Peerie Flooers mittens.  I am quite happy with how these (and the matching hat) came out. Pretty and cheerful and matchy matchy for winter. I knit another charity hat for KOGO.  80 grams of LOSY (left over sock wool) off to a good cause. They've done a call out for baby cardigans, so my next project might be a Baby Surprise Jacket or two.   And finally, I used some easy to felt left overs I had lying around to make myself a pair of  felted slippers . When I finished them they were huge. I put them in the washing machine on 40 degrees and when they came out I worried they were tiny, but they actually fit perfectly. Now the only thing I'm worried about is the seam that runs across the sole. We'll see how comfortable they actually are to wear. Wow, a great week for finishing things. I have also acquired rather a lot of yarn and fibre in the last month, so I'll be d...

It's only February  and I've finished Leon's winter set (2021) This might be some sort of a record! I've certainly never knit a two metre long scarf in 5 days. This is the second set I've made with handspun, but it's the first time I've been truly happy knitting with my own handspun. There are, I think, 3 reasons for this: 1) I'm a better spinner. I'm also more experienced, so instead of being lazy and spun three lots of singles and 3 plied it. Much lighter, airier and rounder yarn. 2) The pattern - the pattern, which is essentially a broken rib was designed by handspun and very flattering. When I look at all the projects on Ravelry, I think the handspun one's outshine the commercial yarn.  3) Swatching - I did four swatches on four needle sizes, blocked them and then chose the needle size based only on how the swatch looked. A slightly onerous process, but well worth the time. As I often do with Leon's set's I found one element (in this ...

 Lockdown 3 was short, sharp and very productive for me. I finished my Colour Stacking Cowl . It's a bit odd - because you had to do the colours in full repeats, I chose to do two repeats of the colours. Originally I cast on for three and it was far too long, so I ripped it. This is just a smidge short. I'm going to donate it, hopefully someone will love it. Remember on Monday I said I was going to knit 10 charity hats this year? I knit two this week. Patterns are LOSY Hat by Barb Engelking:  And  Fits the Whole Fam hat by Cosy Up Knits.  Total yarn used was 142 grams, but 25 grams of that was left overs from the cowl. Still, it was a good start. I also knit (but have not yet blocked) the hat and mitts for Leon's Winter Set (2021). So a ridiculously productive week. I guess some people stress eat, and I stress knit.  

It's funny, I'm still working from home, and I'm getting done what I need to to, but I feel scattered and not all that productive. On the other hand, my knitting productivity is out of control! I  started the weekend with a pair of Elizabeth Zimmerman May Mitered Mittens for my mother. They are much more loosely knit than I would have done gloves, but we live in Melbourne, not Antarctica, so they should be enough.  This was a really fun pattern, and I see more of these in my future. Then on Monday I made a Woolly Wormhead Classic Beanie  for Kieran.  On Tuesday I made a bigger version of the same hat for Raph: I love them. Quick, fun (look at the crown) and very classic. I made them in Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury , and it reminded me of what a lovely (and economical) yarn this is. On Wednesday I diverted from hats to make a teeny weeny hot water bottle cover. You may remember last year I tried to order mini hot water bottles an...

You may recall that last year I made a pair of Martina Behm's Tough and Toasty mitts , and followed them up with a pair for my brother in law. I loved my mitts. Unlike most, they barely cover the fingers, which means that I have full use of my hands, but they are surprisingly warm.  It never gets THAT cold in Melbourne anyway. So, I loved the mitts. Two things happened though. I did support for a trail run , and it rained on me, and the mitts got wet and I was banging a tambourine and they felted a bit.  Also, somewhere along the way I lost one. I wasn't too worried though, because the mitts only use a tiny bit of yarn. I used leftovers from my Kildarton cardigan.  I also made a Beeswax hat, so now I can be matchy matchy. I really love this Millpost Merino yarn. These, like the previous pairs were blindingly quick to knit and are such fun to wear.A real winner of a project.

In the middle of our "longest weekend ever" we heading up to my favourite relaxing place in the world, Marysville. On the way we stopped and took photos of my just finished Stranachlachar. It was a really fun knit. I changed nothing at all - except ignoring all the weird directions when Kate Davies says to "push the stitches aroun d the needle" Makes no sense, so I skipped it. I even knit it to the length specified in the pattern - very unusual for me, because I'm fairly short. I also made a pair of little mitts a very clever pattern by Martina Behm, that took me one evening to make, and like the vest are a very clever construction.  The outfit kept me warm and comfortable during a very relaxing weekend, which involved much sitting on the deck looking at this view: Quite a lot of drinking tea form the ugliest tea pot in history, on said deck,  And some trail running to the top and bottom of waterfalls.  I love my urban life, wit...