What I made, by Sharon

I ripped the mitts , but didn't have the energy to immediately cast them back on, and found myself feeling a bit indecisive and between things. Last Sunday, at a beer drinking event, I'd had a very honest conversation with a very nice person (I have to say this, because without tone, she might sound like she was being horrible, or dismissive, and that's not what was going on). She asked at what point do you have enough socks and scarves and jumpers and so on? And I'm pretty close to that point. And then Kate and I were discussing Kate Davies ' new book of haps. There are 15, designed by some of my favourite designers and I'd like to knit all of them. But I certainly don't need 15 more shawls, and I don't have that many people in my life who would appreciate or deserve a handknitted shawl.  These are my hand knitted jumpers. I'm not going to be cold, ever again So, I'm knitting a pair of sneaker liners, but that conversation is nagging a...

I'm listening to All the Single Ladies and I can only describe it as terrible. It's non fiction and purports to be about "unmarried women and the rise of an independent nation". What it actually seems to be about is that it is better to be single than in a bad relationship. Which I agree with, but it's like the author cannot see a relationship where the couple grows together, or does things separately if they don't want to do the same things. It also doesn't seem to be written in any order, lacks structure and relies heavily on anecdata and presenting the author's thoughts as if they are facts. In fact, after summing it up here, I have decided not to waste my time listening to the second half. I'm knitting Kate Davies' Goats mitts after finishing the hat this week. only they are coming out really big, so I'm going to rip back and start again, on 2.5 mm needles, rather than the 3.25 called for in the pattern. I'm reading What i...

Twist pullover was a bit of a weird knit for me. I started it when camping and, as predicted, it was a perfect knit for those circumstances. I don't know if it was because of the weeklong bush camping, but, before I had it finished, it smelled weird. For those of you not in Australia this wasn't because of campfires. No campfires in our bushfire prone national parks. I've got a super sensitive nose, and I could smell it. Not bad, but like it needed a wash. Then I picked up the stitches for the sleeves,and it was messier than I hoped. Then I tried it on and it was shorter than I had knitted it. Anyway, I finished it, and blocked it - ah the magic of blocking, and here it is: I quite like it, even though it's on odd object. It's very warm and very light and I can imagine throwing it in my bag on a nice summer evening. I've worn it twice, and each time I received a number of unsolicited compliments on the colour and the shape or it, so that's a good s...

I finally made my way to visit Elise in her new house, and give her the replacement "blanket of love" also known as Kate Davies' T i r Chonaill.   But I was more worried about how the cats would react. They loved the previous blanket, but that was made of supersoft Cascade 220, and this blanket it from Wendy Traditional Aran, which can best be described as rugged. I needn't have worried though. A couple of days later Elise put this photo up on Instagram:  I'm counting this project a success on all counts: great pattern, fun knitting and a recipient who loves it. Now, I'm off to knit some more Kate Davies colour work, because that'sy favourite thing in the world.

I finished  Twist pullover . Its blocking behind me as we speak. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks on, once it's dried. After getting two third of the way through it, I abandoned My Brilliant Friend . I was finding the blow by blow description of the protagonist's childhood tedious,and they kept carrying on about these shoes, and she had no personality and on Saturday night I thought "they are going to marry her 15 year old best friend off to someone she hates, and I can't bring myself to care".  That's not a spoiler, by the way, I don't know that was really going to happen, but I also didn't care. So I abandoned that, and started Until Tuesday, by  Luis Carlos Montalván  an American ex serviceman and was tearing up before I had finished the first chapter . Not the best written memoir ever, but he really made me care. I have just cast on for a Kate Davies colourwork hat, The Goats of Invers...

Well actually we went to Woodend do do the 20 kilometre Run The Rock fun run. Woodend is an hour outside Melbourne and we decided to stay in our favourite place - Holgate Brewhouse. Yep, we slept in a hotel that is also a pub, restaurant and brewery. The entire weekend, we only took two pictures: In this I'm knitting the second sleeve of Twist Pullover. And I'm having a great time, the run in the morning was amazing, field and cows and horses. I love country runs, especially when there is trail running involved. We spent the first half of the afternoon in a wine bar, drinking bubbly and eating cheese, and the rest of the evening in the brewery, eating dinner and drinking good beer. But at the same time I'm also marooned on Sleeve Island, knit, knit knitting away and getting absolutely nowhere.    That's a picture of the sleeve taken on the train home. So far to go. And the worse part is, I'm not sure I'm going to li...

Because I blogged before I added my newest purchases to Ravelry, I had to wait to see how much yardage I now have. Keep in mind my basic aim would be to have as little as practicable , but I'm always going to have some beautiful lace and sock weight that I buy when I have the opportunity, or when I get bargains at the Mill or whatever. Perhaps a more realistic goal would be to not have any yarn that is more than a year or two old, which would also translate to keeping the stash below 15 kilometers , since that's around what I knit in a year. Well, before I bought this new yarn I had 15525 meters of yarn (down from my previous count  in December of 17823 which is quite pleasing, because I have bought a fair bit of yarn since then). It currently sits at 17984 metres, which is  certainly the upper end of where I want i t, but also fine, since each skein and ball has a plan and a destiny waiting for it.