What I made, by Sharon

I've almost finished my Colour Affection (where almost means I have 10 more rows, but the rows are over 400 stitches each), so I've started to get ready for my next project. As mentioned , I bought a Rams and Yowe s kit from Kate Davies. I finally put al the yarn on my stash page on Ravelry ( adding 2300 meters for those of you playing along at home).  I found a knitting bag big enough to take all this yarn, photocopied and read the pattern, familiarised myself with the yarn colours, and now I'm ready to go! Well, as soon as I finish 10 rows of over 400 stitches each, that is.

In fact today, everything seems relaxing. I have today off work, the sun in shining and I'm just having a nice quiet day. I'm reading Fiona's Flame  which which is the last of the Cypress Hollow novels, by Rachael Herron. After finishing  All the Light we Cannot See   I really wanted to read something light and a little bit predictable.  I'm still knitting Colour Affection . I've now done the number of repeats called for in the pattern, but I'm just going to keep knitting.I've got plenty of yarn left and it's very relaxing, back and forth in every increasing garter stitch rows. And I'm listening to Scott Adams' How to Fail at Nearly Everything and Still Win Big , The Story of My Life . I'm neither loving it nor hating it. It's kind of a motivational book, and I do actually need some career motivation, so maybe I'll take something positive away from it. Or maybe not.  And that's what I've been up to this week. Pop ove...

Last week I finished Mort socks, the sixth pair I have knit from Rachel Coopey's D iscworld Sock Club. They were very pleasing socks, with a mirrored cabled pattern down the outside of each leg. The other this that made these socks pleasing was the yarn / pattern combination. I dyed the yarn myself, and it came out the perfect colour for this project, a dark black with purple undertones which rather matches the description in the Discworld books of the colours of Death's garden. (If you haven't read the books, this won't make any sense to you. Go read them. Start at the beginning with The Colour of Magic).  So now I'm halfway trhough knitting the socks from the Discworld sock club, six down, six more to go.

It's Wednesday, and that means I'm participating in Yarnalong, hosted by Ginny. Pop over to her blog and see what she, and all the other yarnalongers are up to this week. As promised I cast on for another Colo(u)r Affection .   I'm hoping to make this one just a smidge bigger than the original pattern. I'm at that point where the rows are not that long yet, and you look at it and think "I'll have this finished by the end of the week". But that's a rookie error, and I'm an experienced knitter and I'll be lucky if I have the third colour joined by the end of the week.  I'm listening to H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald . A memoir, read by the author, my favourite type of book. I am glad I read (listened to) T.H. White's The Goshawk   first, because she is rather obsessed with White and his story, and I wanted an unfiltered take on that book. I'm still reading  All the Light we Cannot See   and still enjoying it. It's slo...

This winter is cold. Very cold. Actually colder than last year. In fact this has been the coldest July in ten years. I'm cold, and being cold makes me grumpy. So, given my love affair with Kate Davies, and Jamieson and Smith yarn, and how much I am really not enjoying this winter, I ordered a Rams and Yowes blanket kit! I'm really excited about it, although a bit scared because there is a LOT of colourwork knitting in this blanket. Still, it's all in stunning, natural sheep coloured Shetland yarns, so I imagine I will enjoy it thoroughly. 

Remember the jumper I was knitting based on one I surreptitiously took photos of on the street one day? Well, we went back today and took the same photos, but with Leon's finished jumper. Here they are: I blanked out the strangers face, it seemed like the polite thing to do. Taking these photos was hilarious, while I stood on one side of the road and Leon stood on the other, a stranger came up behind me and looked at my phone, just to check out what I was taking photos of. Ah, St Kilda, never change. I'm so happy with how the photos above turned out. The jumper itself is ok. The neckline turned out a little lower than I was planning, and the reverse stocking stitch does not look as smooth as I would have hoped. Maybe a couple more washing will sort that out?  Certainly I think it was a worthwhile experiment. And every time I design something for myself, I am reminded of the challenges of designing. Will I do it again? Probably, I have a whole f...

It's Wednesday, and that means I'm participating in Yarnalong, hosted by Ginny. Pop over to  her blog  and see what she, and all the other yarnalongers are up to this week. This week I'm still reading  All the Light we Cannot See   and still enjoying it. It's slow going, but enjoyable. I just haven't had a lot of time to read this week. I'm still knitting  the Discworld sock club,  Mor t. I'm almost up to the toe. Of the first sock. And I cast on over a week ago. I'm not sure why it's taken me so long, it's a great pattern, but not overly complicated. I'm listening to Soul Music  the next Discworld book, which ties in well with the sock, because it;s one of the books that features Death. It's a really good one, and I'm loving it. I hope you are enjoying your reading, crafting and audio this week. Do share!