Month: May 2026

Secret Socks

| Sonia Knits

I may have been hinting at this a little for a couple of months. Today is the big reveal… (Because I do have one of my sister’s read my blog, hi Suzy! I kind of needed to keep it under wraps until now). I’m knitting socks for my siblings this year! Their birthdays are somewhat spaced out, so I feel as though this is an achievable goal.

My sock drawer is full, I’m drowning (in a good way) in sock yarn; and I love knitting socks. I thought this was a great solution to getting my sock yarn stash down, except I’m still buying sock yarn faster than I’m knitting socks. Nevermind that!

Today we’re catching up as a family for one of my sister’s birthdays, and also for my niece who has turned 19 this month. When I completed my sister’s socks, I thought, maybe I should do a quick pair of 8ply socks for my niece, her feet are probably not going to get any bigger!

So I knit Lily up a pair in Halfbaked hand-dyed yarn in DK rainbow. Who doesn’t love a rainbow on their feet? These are a basic pair of socks with a Partridge heel, super fancy. I hope she loves them.

I also knit 2 pairs for my youngest sister, not sure I’ll be able to knit 2 pairs for all of my siblings, but I felt that I needed to show my appreciation for all that she does.

The neon self-striping Vanilla socks are also in a 4ply yarn by Danni from Halfbaked hand dyed. The varigated socks are in a DK yarn by The Knitting Man Recommends, with the cuff and toe yarn also by Danni. These are the Hibernal Socks by Summer Lee. I think they turned out really pretty and are nice and chunky for the cold weather we’ve been having in Melbourne.

I can’t wait to cast on my next pair of socks, but that birthday is just 1 month away. The colourway I’ve selected, I think suitably matches that sister! So fun.

Fibrefest 2026

| Sonia Knits

Melbourne Fibrefest, formally known as The Coburg Market or the HandKnitters Guild Market, was on this weekend!

Now you know, I don’t need anymore yarn, but the Coburg market to me is like an amuse-bouche to the Sheep Show in Bendigo! All the best Melbourne Indy dyers attend and it starts the yarn purchasing juices flowing!

I like to get there early, in case Danni has some one-off self-striping balls of yarn. I was second in the queue… and Danni aka Half-baked hand dyed did not disapoint! She did move spots this year, so I dashed right past her at the start! Picture the Myer Boxing Day Sales of the 90’s 🙂

I also did lots of chatting to friends, and stall holders, it was rather difficult to buy yarn! I got some ideas and saw lots of beautiful yarn… but I’m saving myself for Bendigo.

And then a few of us from the Knitting Group went to lunch afterwards.

The skeins of sock yarn have been photographed and added to my Ravelry stash page. The yarn itself is sitting in the overflowing baskets of sock yarn in my living room. Sock yarn is moving out of my stash (just not at the rate it is coming in).

Oops I, did it again!

| Sonia Knits

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for the My Creative Garage Advent Calendar! I’m super excited about it, not only because it is Japanese themed (Vanessa, the hand-dyer behind My Creative Garage was inspired by the 2(!) trips she took to Japan in the last year) I’m also super excited because if you recall, I took a year off from Yarn Advent Calendars last year, and I really missed it! December 2025 was kind of sad, and then hectic and stressful (mum was in hospital).

So this December, I know is guaranteed to be great! (I know it’s not, but there’s no harm in hoping)

And then on Monday night at Knit Night, Chris mentioned the Skein Advent Calendar was launching this week. And… I guess I signed up for that one as well. What’s better than one Advent Calendar, two Advent Calendars of course. I’m just making sure I have a really happy end to 2026!

I think I already know what I’ll be knitting with both calendars as well, colourful knits are the best knits! I actually get a lot of wear out of the garments I’ve made with previous Advent Calendars. I doubt I’ll be casting on in December, but it is joyous to see the new colours each day, and dream and plan about what they may become.

The Celeste Knit-along with the Richmond Knitters is going pretty well, some people have already finished!

I’m up to the boring bit, but a bit of plain stocking stitch is quite relaxing when things have been super busy at work.

Here’s where I’m up to. I’ve been tapering the body in at the sides, so that it doesn’t end up so oversized. I think it’s looking great when I try it on. So long as I don’t make it too long, it’s going to be a good fit.

Other fun things, Damian bought a hundred Yuzus a couple of weeks ago, that is 100 Yuzus, so funny. He’s really getting into making foods at home. He made Yuzu jam, yuzu butter, yuzu brandy and yuzu salt! No yuzu went to waste! This past weekend he also made Strawberry Jam. I’m supporting him in these fruitful endeavours as much as possible.

I also purchased this very cool Sock Knitting brooch from Erstwilder, and we got Carol (my MIL) the box of pencils, she loves it!

I’ve finished some socks (more on that and pictures next time), and I’ve just cast these ones on. I really hope to finish them in a couple of weeks, as they are a little gift. It’s part of my year of making socks for others.

Sheepy Gifts and Knitting Adventures

| Sonia Knits

The funnest month of the year, went by pretty fast. I received some lovely gifts from Damian and my family, all of them sheepy and knitting related.

One of Damian’s gifts made me shed tears! He’s a bugger!!

I’m looking forward to this birthday present… especially since I just watched The Sheep Detectives in an advanced screening today. Baby lambs are just so cute.

Also today, this morning, very early, I went out to the Yarra Valley yarn market. It’s the first time I’ve been to this market, but it has already been running for a few years. The bad weather did not dampen my spirits, and in the 1 hour I had to browse, I got around to most stalls twice.

I pretty much just gave all my money to Danni from Halfbaked Hand dyed. I also bought a special birthday gift for our friend’s daughter who is a crocheter (not pictured, just in case).

A little knitting was done in April, but not enough, it’s never enough!

I’m almost at the end of the colour work portion of my Celeste Sweater for Bendigo. With two and a half months to go before the Sheep show, is it too much to be able to finish this and knit another garment?! And knit another 4 pairs of socks? yeah probably!