What I made, by Sharon

A couple of months ago Sally put out a call for test knitters for the Treetops jumper and a pair of 8 ply socks. I decided against the socks, because I would only wear them around the house, I didn't have the yarn, I'm trying to limit my sock knitting, and they are toe up and I didn't have the needle size in DPNs and I keep saying I'm going to knit a dress. But on sick day number two I "accidentally" responded to a message asking if anyone else wanted to join the test knit. I decided to use the few grams of HalfBaked HandDyed yarn left over from Treetops and the hat I made afterwards, and some matching really pretty Spotlight "cashmere" that Kris destashed last year. And then I knit the socks. I reversed the detailing on the toe of the second sock, because apparently I'm unwilling to follow directions, even for a test knit. I think it looks very pretty.  It's very well written pattern, and, even though it's toe up, they h...

I consider myself a moderate minimalist, which means I don't want to have 21 hats for 21 outfits, but one perfect hat. Although as a moderate minimalist, two or three perfect hats would be fine. But going into this winter, I found I lacked that "perfect" hat. I love my  Bracken Beanie , both for the hat and for the memories, but it's unwieldy to shove into a bag. I like my Kate Davies Knitting Season hat, but, when worn with something complicated, it's a lot. I wear Bousta Beanie on my bike, and so it's been relegated to that use only . So with the leftovers from Treetops , I decided to make a Latu , a relatively plain, slouchy beanie, with just the perfect amount of cable detailing. I was sick Tuesday and Wednesday this week - I felt like crap and I couldn't talk so I was home from work and feeling some self pity. Knitting this hat was a bright spot. So simple, so perfect. I like the way it looks with the brim folded I like how it looks when...

I finished the Treetops jumper on Wednesday, so I did what I always do when I need something to knit and have no time to plan: I cast on a pair of sneaker liners. I wanted to do helictical single row stripes, and was trying to work out a way to do an afterthought heel, but by casting on the heel provisionally and then knitting in, when I found the Fork in the Road sock pattern. It does exactly that, although it uses a hat heel. Since a normal afterthought heel doesn't suit me that well anyway, I decided to go for it. I cast on in the first pub of the evening, and knit the ribbing. We left the first pub, partly because we were always going to, but also because they turned the lights down and it was kind of dark. We got to the second pub, and I tried to cast on the heel stitches using Judy's provisional cast on in two colours. I still think it's possible, but I was 4 beers down and struggling. The bar tender turned the lights down (why do they do that?) He saw me looki...

I'm not sure why Kate Atkinson's  Case Histories  was on NetGalley, since this was first published in 2005, but I wasn't going to argue when it popped up. And I'm very glad it did, because I really enjoyed it. it is apparently  "literary detective fiction" whatever that means. It reminded me of Cormorant Strike and John Rebus, so our detective - who is ex-army, ex-police (sound familiar?) is in good company. There is strong characterisation and some truly funny moments i this book - although some of the "mystery" is not played out in the plot at all, and just explained outright in the last 20 pages. I guess I read the occasional mystery more for the people than the plot. I've already bought the second one in the series - weirdly, NetGalley also game the the third one, so I've got that to look forward to as well. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the e-Arc, and putting me on to this great series.

I mentioned I was excited to knit Treetops jumper, and that excitement never wore thin.Usually there is one place in a project where I am sure it is not going to fit, or I realise I should have striped the yarn, or used different yarn, or the instruction become opaque. Not with this jumper.   It was just a pleasure to knit from start to finish. The HalfBaked Handyed yarn is such a lovely wearable colour. After blocking, I would think that there was silk in it - it has a lovely sheen and drape. I pretty much followed the pattern - although I did the lace on the front and the back.  The pattern calls for just the front, since this was a test knit I asked if I could do it on both and Sally Oakley, the very talented designer, said that would be fine.  She is from Tasmania and when I mentioned it was Good Beer Week here, she told me to look out for her brother's beer - Ocho . I did, and had a great red ale and, at GABS where these photos were taken, a...

It's been a fabulous week with good beer, good food and good friends. In fact, it's been one of my favourite Good Beer Weeks yet. I finished the jumper on Wednesday, so it was blocked and worn to GABS, and we even managed to take a photo reminiscent of my favourite photo from last year. I am rather exhausted, both because I've been out every night drinking, and because I've caught the bug that's going around, so here is a collage of my good beer week. I'll be back next week with a full post of about the beautiful Treetops jumper, and what I knit after I finished Treetops.

While I was waiting to cast on my Good Beer Week project I started a pair of socks for Leon - the House Martell socks, the second last in the Game of Thrones sock series I'm knitting my way through. I really like the way they came out, but the knitting of them was actually quite annoying! The pattern was simple enough, but for some reason I could only do some of the cabling without a cable needle, and it was just fiddly. The yarn is Shibui , so a nice yarn, which I got when Suzanne was doing a big destash , but it bled all over my hands.   Ans weirdly made my pink shellac nails go purple. As an aside, those nails also lifted really quickly. This week I've switched to SNS and I'm really liking it.   The finished pattern looks quite nice, but if I had known it was going to stripe I might have overdyed it.  When it was time to do the toe of the first sock I asked Leon to try it on and he could barely get it over his heel. He took it off and put it back on aga...