Reading

Pinch Punch 1st of the month

| Sonia Knits

I’m a little tardy in beginning my February Sweater, it’s so hard to squeeze in such exciting things during the work week. But I have now indeed cast on for my February Sweater which is to be Stephen West’s Painting Bricks Sweater.

I’m using the 8ply minis from my My Creative Garage advent calendar for the contrast colours, with the main colour dyed by my friend Danni of Halfbaked Hand-dyed. Since this cast-on photo, which shows the folded neckband, I have completed the short rows for the neck shaping and I’m now about the commence the exciting colour work part!

I’m still working on January’s sweater (The Paul Klee Sweater), finishing up the hem on the body (it is 8.5 inches long!) and with just the sleeves to go, I’m hoping to finish this up very soon, eek.

If I followed my own (regular) rules, I wouldn’t have dreamed of casting on for a new sweater project with one not finished. So with the new rules (!) I’ve set for myself this year, casting on a jumper a month (for at least 6 months, wouldn’t it be great if I did 12!), is so freeing and fun. February being a short month, perhaps a vest would have been a better choice!

I’ve also done a little spinning this month. This beautiful fibre by IxChel was purchased at the Coburb market last year. I only bought 100gms in total, so rather than plying each colour by itself, I’ve done a barber pole ply to make the most of the little yardage I have. It still might be a little cosy cowl.

In reading, I’ve finished listening to Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton. It was enjoyable to listen to, a great story with believable characters… gritty characters, scary characters. I liked how the book was based in Brisbane CBD, as I’ve been there a few times in the last couple of years, and I’ve wandered around some of the places mentioned, I haven’t come across Moon St though, does it even exist? I must open my eyes next time. I’m not sure I liked the ending, but I mostly don’t like how endings happen, all neat and tidy; so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Back to knitting…

RAINCHECK

| Sonia Knits

So after my brilliant record for walking consecutive days in a row (and getting a lot of reading/listening done); it rained a lot last week (and it continues to do so). Nevertheless I still got a few walks in and listened to The Comfort Book by Matt Haig.

I read/listened to one of Haig’s fiction novels earlier this year (was it earlier this year?!) titled, The Midnight Library. I think everyone has read this, so I don’t need to tell you it’s good, but it’s good. Then listening to The Comfort Book this week, which is more of a ‘self-help’ book, which I wouldn’t normally gravitate towards let alone admit to reading, was also not bad. Some of it is repetitive, and some of it is jumbled, which the author freely admits to upfront. I certainly can see the correlation between this book and The Midnight Library. It is read by Matt himself, which in itself was comforting. I found some really strong messages in it, but I’ll leave you to read it, to find out for yourself.

Last Sunday week, I attended my second-last class for the Spinning certificate. It was a Creative Yarns class with Janet Day. Janet’s a wonderful teacher and it was a joyful day learning from her. We begun with ‘Beehives’ probably the hardest spin for the day, chosen to be practised first, because our concentration was at it’s best at the start of the session.

Beehives
Coiled and Beehive yarn
Super coils
Janet’s sample of Beehive yarn
Janet’s sample of Beehive yarn knitted
Janet’s sample of coiled yarn

Then we moved onto ‘coiled’ yarns, ‘super coils’, and ‘auto-wrap’ yarns. Finally we witnessed Janet make ‘Wolf Yarn’, which is a core-less core-spun yarn, named by Judith Mackenzie because it kept the wolf from the door. Janet explained, once mastered it is fairly quick and looks impressive so sells well, hence keeping the wolf from the door.

I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow, I’m listening to a new book.

Consistency is Key

| Sonia Knits

It’s funny how when you sort out your priorities, things get done, or get closer to being done.

Whilst walking this week, I needed a shorter book to follow last week’s epic 16 hour listen (not done in one week!). I chose to listen to After Dark by my favourite Japanese author Haruki Murakami. It’s a five hour listen, which is pretty short for Murakami.

It delves into the sub-culture of Tokyo city After Dark, the time when the trains stop running, and before they begin again in the morning. Having been to Tokyo and being kind of familiar with the area spoken about, I found it interesting and a bit of an eye-opener. It is of course, a work of fiction, but the events could all be very real. As with all of Murakami’s stories, there’s always 2 or more stories going on and the dialogue is wonderful. The second story was weird, in Murakami fashion but tied in (at the end) with the main tale. I’m not sure I would recommend this book unless you are a Murakami fan, or are interested in the night life of seedy Tokyo.

Sticking with Murakami, I finally listened to Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love.

Yes, Murakami is massive into T-Shirts (and vinyl albums), and has quite a collection to write about. I really enjoyed listening to his first written in the 1st person book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. I also enjoyed listening to his take on his T-Shirt collection, he has a great sense of humour. Surprisingly, Australia (and Melbourne specifically) was mentioned on couple of occasions, which was fun; imagine running into Murakami here! He had good things to say about our second-hand record stores. The duration is less than 2 hours and it was a fun listen. Coincidently on some of my walks, I’ve been breaking out my ‘Murakami’ T-Shirts purchased from Uniqlo a couple of years ago… he would totally avoid me if he saw me. He likes to keep a low profile.

Murakami’s latest 1st person story book, Novelist as a Vocation, has just been released, but I’m going to save that one for a little while at least.

I’ve been knitting on my mum’s socks this week. Amazingly, there is progress:

The patterned sock is an older design by Cookie A, called Tulip Socks. I think I’ve knit these once before. A great pattern by Cookie, as always, the easy lace stitches makes it look fancy, when it’s really not difficult to knit.

This week, I’ve started the process of setting out my Spinning Folio, I have quite a bit of work ahead of me, but I’ve got a plan or at least the process in place. Who know’s how I’m going to get it all done?

This week

| Sonia Knits

I finished listening to Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton. It was pretty damn good, probably one of my favourite reads/listens. I would highly recommend it. It took me a while to get through the 16 plus hour listen, but with a new walking/listening regime in place I polished off the book in no time.

This week, I also worked on my ‘Colour’ spinning homework. This was a class I missed because I was in Brisbane with Damian. Luckily, I know a thing or two about colour. The homework is still a drag though, despite how pretty it is.

And I’ve reprioritised my projects once again. With Christmas just around the corner, I want to make sure I do actually finish my mum’s 2 pairs of socks in time. Of which, I’m only on the 1st sock of each.

My Stephen West MKAL shawl has taken a back-seat, along with my Nimue crochet blanket. I love all of these projects and I look forward to getting back to them early next year.