What I made, by Sharon

Welcome to Wednesday, where I play along with Ginny from Small Things blog. Pop over to her blog to see what she and everyone else is knitting and reading this week. This week I've been knitting steadily away on Cria . It's ticking away nicely, I've got one cuff and a sleeve to go. I think I'm really going to like wearing it, but having been looking at this pinkish colour for over two weeks I might need a break before I put it into heavy wardrobe rotation. I'm listening to God Bless You Mr Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut. Its a satire, which is not usually a genre I enjoy, but I thought it would be good to expand my reading horizons and literary education, particually in light of the book I am currently reading . Which is Lick by Kylie Scott . Here's a screenshot of the cover: I think that rather says it all. After finishing All That I Am , which ends up being incredibly sad and heavy,  I just needed something light - a palette cleanser, and this book ...

I emailed Shoni and asked him for his head size, and I decided the hat I made for Shoni was too big, and that I am going to make him one to fit. The problem is that he wanted "nonscratchy" wool, so that rules out some of my favourites from the stash, and I've been knitting Romi's oddments and basically I have no yarn in a suitable colour. Now, I know I could have gone past Morris and Son's  and picked up some yarn, but I am still trying to knit from stash. I I did have 90 grammes of the Pear Tree supersoft merino from two Bendigos ago. Actually, now I think about it, that's the same yarn I made his sister Elise mitts out of recently.  So, I skeined up all the little balls I had, spit splicing them into one skein of yarn and put it in the dye pot, aiming to make it a nice dark green. I threw in some green, and a little bit of black, and some navy for good measure. I am many things when I dye, but scientific is not one of them! I was rather surpri...

I've been knitting away on the body of Cria, knit up the row, purl back. Enjoying the yarn, enjoying the needles . Everytime I get to a knit row I think "this will whip by". Every time I get to a purl row I think "ugg, these take forever". So I though I would conduct an experiement. I sat down, in my rocking chair with my knitting and knit four rows. I started with a purl row, so the odd numbers are purl and the evens are knit:  What this tells me is that the purl rows are actually slower, I'm not just imagining it. Also, I know that I have 35 more stocking stitch rows, followed by 14 rows garter stitch, so the body of this cardigan should take me under three and a half hours, which is really just one good evening in front of the tour de france. It probably would have been better if I hadn't worked that out.

Welcome to Wednesday, and on Wednesday's I do Yarnalong with Ginny . Pop over to her blog to check out what everyone else is knitting and reading today. This week I'm about half way through knitting my Cria . Well, I hope I'm half way, because I've used up half the yarn! I'm very much enjoying this knit, I just hope it fits when it's done. I'm reading All that I Am by Anna Funder - I'm about half way through. I'm enjoying it but not as much as I expected to, based on her other book Stasiland , which I couldn't put down. All that I am is written from three different points of view and is in three different time periods - between the world wards, during WWII and in modern day Sydney. It jumps around a little too much for my liking. Because I'm now reading a World War II novel I've taken a break from listening to War and Remembrance , just as I got half way through. I needed something lighter, so I'm listening to the eigth Discw...

I wonder why we always talk about yardage, rather than meterage? And as a runner mileage, rather than the stupid sounding kilometerage. Actually, to be honest, as a knitter I can talk about millage as well, since I have miles and miles and kilometers and kilometers of yarn. Today I added my small Bendigo haul to my stash page :  and calculated how many meters  I bought: 2569 . Or two and a half kilometers. This brings my current total up to 26089 , which is actually 263 meters less than after  after the Handknitters Fair  two months ago, but is five kilometers further than I have ever run. In any even it all fits in the stash box , and even with a couple of purchases planed I think i can get it down below 20 kilometers by Christmas.

Staying in Bendigo this year was so much fun. It meant that, as well as all the usual Bendigo sheep activities I got to hang out with knitting friends, and run on the Bendigo Creek path (so pretty, I really should have thought to take photos. It also meant I spent the Friday doing some shopping , and the Saturday I was free to look and, and play with, all the sheep: and Angora goats, using their horns to scratch each others heads! I was (I think), very restrained in my yarn buying. I bought 500 grams of Bennett and Gregor, which I am going to make a vest for Leon and a jumper for me, by striping it and pairing it with some leftovers from last years show I bought 300 grams of Dyed by Hand sock yarn. In sOctober I'm going to knit Cookie A's epic knee high Rhiannon socks And I also bought one skein of Stranded in Oz sock yarn, because: SPARKLES!   But my favourite thing that I bought might be these ...

The Australian Sheep and Wool show, or Bendigo, as we call it is nearly upon us! This year, for the first time, I am staying up there. I'm excited about the weekend, although buying yarn is the least of it.  There are also candles and ugg boots and fudge and buttons and  who know what else. I am, or course planning to buy some yarn, especially as there is now significant room in the stash box. And the most important thing I can do before I go is check my stash mileage: 23065 which I must say i am quite happy with, since it's a reduction of over 3000 meters since I last checked, 2 months ago. Still I expect the reduction will be more than made up for over this weekend: I've ordered 300 grammes of sock weight for a jumper for me, and I'm hoping to buy another 300 for a pair of fancy cabled knee high socks. I also want some Bennett and Gregor to make a vest for Leon and a jumper for me. Other than that, everything is possible and noth...