What I made, by Sharon

The 2019 Boxing Day Test (Aus V New Zealand) finished yesterday, at the end of day four. It was quite good cricket this year, even if we did beat the Kiwis fairly convincingly. The previous two years have had a lot of interruptions for rain and some very dull cricket. For those of you who are not familiar with test cricket, play starts at 10.30am and goes until 6pm, with breaks for drinks, lunch and tea. It can go for up to 5 days. What that equates to is a lot of knitting time. If you want to see my daily updates have a look at my Instagram. Here's the body at the end of day four: 56 cm, which is the length in the pattern. I'm taking it to 66cm, so it will be long enough to wear to work. progress should continue fast on this: although the cricket is over, I've got a whole week off work. The weather is stinking today, hot and cloudy and windy, so we're going to keep watching Marvel movies, (only 7 to go!) and I'm going to take a break from the body and start...

I was thinking about how, despite being Jewish, there are some very strong Christmas traditions that I, and my friends, have developed. It starts with Christmas day lunch at Elise's. This started with an orphans lunch Elise used to host when she lived overseas. Now it tends to be a collection of Jews and atheists with nothing better to so. The food is always delicious, this year being largely vegan. I made my traditional steamed Christmas pudding - this year with margarine, and whipped brandy "butter". we had lunch, took the dog to the park and then watched a Christmas movie. very relaxing and fun. Then comes the Boxing Day Test. I've been going to all 5 days (when there are five days) for the last 5 or six years. It's a great opportunity to sit and relax and knit  - I'm knitting Kate Davies' dress Gries , so getting a really good start on in helps. 3mm needles. Even with 12 days off between Christmas and New Years, this may take a while....

I had my husband's family Christmas on Sunday, which is always fun.  This year we went to the one's who have horses, and got to play with the horses.  Such fun. It was a lovely day in the sunshine, away from the city.  it also meant a little bit of travel time, where I finished the LOSY hat I started on the Saturday.  I also had a little bit of time to work on the final present for Channukah, a kippah for my brother. Now I just need to block it and I'm good to go.  Sometime on the weekend I also found time to knit, wash and block a swatch for my Gries dress, so I'm good to start on that. Which is great, because work is definitely winding down,and I'm looking forward to having lots of time over the Christmas / New Years break to work on this rather large project.  

Ok, so complaining because a large pair of socks took me 7 days is ridiculous. But the first one took two days (a weekend) and the second took 5, so it felt really slow.  Particularly since I didn't get any time to knit yesterday (Thursday). We're hosting Friday night dinner tonight, and it's going to be 43 degrees Celsius, so we cooked and prepared all the food yesterday, and we are serving cold soup, followed by cold roast chicken, followed by chocolate mousse.   The socks were originally going to be all in the top colour, which was destashed by Kris, but there were breaks in the yarn, and I lost 30 grams of it to tangles while skeining in up. So i faded in the second colour. I used by new Signature 2.25mm double points for the first time and I love them. The fabric they are creating is lovely, and the needles themselves are sharp and sort of grippy but still fast. As for the socks, they are the Vanilla is the New Black pattern, which is a top down heel f...

Yes, I'm knitting socks again!  These are for my father, who likes pooling and crazy colours, so hopefully they will be well received. I have to say, they have knit up very quickly, I started them on Saturday and was on the heel of the second sock by end of play Monday.  Of course, going to work has rather slowed down progress, but I need to work so I can afford to buy yarn. My reading has been rather less focussed than my knitting. I've read a few short more stories from Take Us to A Better Place (NetGalley), which has been good, but there are only so many short stories I like to read in a row. If you want a copy of these stories, and there are some top shelf authors here, including Martha Wells, here is the link. Then I tried to go back to Bird Summons (also from NetGalley) and just couldn't settle into it. So I went the old fashioned route, and am reading a romance, King of Hearts , the third in a series by L.H. Cosway. I'm really enjoying it, the ...

I finished Birds of a Feather on Friday, blocked it as soon as I got home from work and it was dry to wear on  Saturday.  On Saturday we went to Moon Dog World  - which has amongst other things a lagoon -  to celebrate mine and Jen's birthdays and Rachey's 4 year release from hospital, although I more like to think of it as "any excuse to go to a brewery". Anyway, that explains the flower crowns, it's how we celebrate. Apparently I only took 2 pictures of my friends, and didn't mention I was taking them, so here they are, mainly with their backs to the camera, and not smiling at me! It was a good chance to get photos of the shawl, and also to wear it, because I had doubts right up to the end. One issue was that there was no schematic, and because of the unusual construction it wasn't clear to me until I had cast off that it's a shallow triangle shape. Mine is HUGE. I quite like it, particularly with the weird weather we'v...

I've been undecided about this shawl ( Birds of a Feather by Andrea Mowry) since I cast it on. Not sure about the colours, not sure about whether I was enjoying knitting it, then not sure about the shape its turning out.  I also want to get a pair of socks cast on for my dad, which have a deadline. the shawl does not have a deadline. Someone else might have set this shawl aside, or abandoned it completely. Not me. I've been obsessively knitting it to get it done before the weekend. Knitting at lunchtime, sneaking a row in at work, just knitting, knitting knitting. the yarn amounts in the shawl are the same as the Elton oversize cardigan, and I'm trying to knit it in two weeks. My hands are pretty tired, which is not smart, since I'm then going to mission knit the socks, and then it's 5 days of Boxing day cricket match. Never mind, I'll rest them after that. Due to the above facts, reading has been a little slow. I'm listening to Three Women by Lis...