What I made, by Sharon

We're going camping and hiking on Sunday so mostly I'm wrapping things up, packing and planning for that. I finished Swancho yesterday, and it's blocking and almost dry. Juniper is supervising.  To fill in time I cast on a charity hat , nice and mindless and a good way to use up some left-overs. I had a bad time with a review book (review here, but I don't want to focus on it because I feel really sorry for debut authors when I don't enjoy their books and write negative reviews). Now I'm reading A Darker Shade of Magic   by VE Schwab. So far I'm enjoying it, but I did only start it yesterday, so I can't really comment yet. And that's my week in reading and knitting. To read my all my book reviews, and to see everything I knit, you can find me on Ravelry as  Sharondoublekni t and on GoodReads as  Sharondblk .  I'm joining in with Kat from  As Kat Knits  for Unravelled Wednesday and Kat from the  Bookdate  for It's Monday, What Are You R...

I  spent this weekend on a yoga retreat in King Lake, in the Yarra Valley. I had booked in for it in mid 2020 when I saw Kris had booked and then it was rescheduled and  rescheduled, and then it happened! It was a delightful weekend. The house was situated on a hill, with views over fields and a tiny wood. There was even a small flock of sheep! The food was delightful, as was the gin tasting and matched wines. (It was not an ascetic retreat!)  The other women there were interesting and fun and lovely - I already knew Kris, of course, but the group was just perfect. I went for a little run on Friday morning, which was the first run I've been on by myself in as long  as I can remember.  I was running through fields - that is the only wallaby I saw all weekend.  W e did sunrise yoga in a room overlooking the hills (the sun currently  rises at 7.30, but getting up at dawn sounds so hardcore!)  We went for a bushwalk. But mainly, i...

I've had a better week with the reading than I did last week! After finished a rather good who-dun-it (the second in the Charlie Berlin Series) I'm casually reading the Object Lesson Glitter by Nicole Seymour. It's hectic and disorganised, but quite interesting. Last week I had just started the audio Our Wild Farming Life. I'm about half way through and it's an interesting, if not extremely exciting listen.The idea of actually following your dreams, rather than just sitting in an inner-city office and dreaming of owning a sheep farm, is very refreshing. These are both NetGalley review books. one of the things I enjoy about being a reviewer is sometimes I request books I wouldn't otherwise see (or buy), and then I get to broaden my horizons. Swancho knits on, calmly and restfully: I've got 4 more colourwork rows, then an inch until I spilt for the body / sleeves. The split is at elbow length, so not far to go really. I'm going away for the weekend, so ...

This set was a saga, because I started with raw unwashed fleece and went from there. Washing, carding, spinning took months, before the knitting which was over in a flash.  I started the mitts on Tuesday 22 February and finished the scarf on Friday 4th of March. I wanted to knit until I ran out of yarn to use up every precious gram of handspun but the scarf was getting rather long, so I felt like I should cast off. There is 70 grams left over. It's been pretty warm here, so I brought the set with us on our weekend away . I asked Skip, my official photographer  to do a photo shoot, and he did a wonderful job. The set came out really well. All patterns are by Tin Can Knits . Although I'm not sure about making a white set, particularly the gloves. We'll see how they wear. Overall though, this was a very satisfying project and I hope Leon gets a lot of joy from it, out in the world this winter.

The knitting is going, and going well.  Swancho  has many stitches, but very simple colourwork, so it is soothing and nice. Although colourwork in 8-ply might end up very, very warm.  The reading is a bit bumpier. I finished Knitlandia  by Clara Parks, and in the end I did not love it. It was shallow, name-droppy and dated. I have not yet started by next audio-book, which is a NetGalley review copy of Our Wild Farming Life , the story of a couple who move to the Scottish highlands. I'm looking forward to it. I've started and abandoned a review copy  Love and Other Puzzles   by Kimberly Allsopp. It's meant to be a romantic comedy, but I hated the main character so much I hoped the book would end with her dead in a ditch. I quit at 40 %, and I'm still ranting about what a rude, heartless, selfish person she was. Cute cover though. And that's my week in reading and knitting. To read my all my book reviews, and to see everything I knit, you can ...

We went to Warburton for  a running festival this weekend, although I was not running. On Saturday morning Leon set off for a 27km run, and Skip and Bee came from where they were staying (Healesville) and we had breakfast and drove around and caught up with the runners in the eerie redwood forest.  We also walked to a waterfall and saw some black-faced seep. It was all around delightful. Then we wandered around town. we popped into the op-shops and scored some ties for Bad Tie Mondays . I also found 10 balls of Cascade 220! It's so rare to find large quantities of actual wool, and this was 2 kilometres for $15! From the way it was packed I suspect someone mail ordered it and then when it came decided the colour was a bit much. Understandable. I might overdye it, or carry-along a mohair strand, or charity knit sickly sweet pink baby jumpers.  Sunday was for relaxing. We went for a little run, but it turned quite steep and challenging. I haven't run for a month due to injur...

I have been planning to make the Ninilchick Swancho by Boyland knitworks for a while. The yarn I had picked out was Bendigo Woollen Mills in "li mited edition" tweed. I was putting off actually buying it, because I'm trying to buy as I go, rather than stash. there was also a chance that I would find a yarn that would have less left-overs, since Bendigo yarn comes in 200 gram balls. Although that option would still end up costing more, because Bendigo yarn is both good and cheap.  The other night (after the pub) I happened to notice that some of the colours, including the natural shade I was planning to use for the main colour had sold out. So I panic bought the colours I wanted and substituted this grey for the background. I've divided all the contrast colour balls into two so I'm not carrying around a completely ridiculous amount of yarn. Now it's just a matter of finishing the sock I'm working on and I can cast on this unusually shaped garment.