Richmond Knitters

Cables for days

| Sonia Knits

Here in Melbourne, we have a long weekend due to the public holiday today. I also took yesterday (Monday) off work, with the main goal of getting as much knitting done as possible on this 4-day break. The weather has been pitiful this weekend, so there is nothing drawing me outside and I’m not mad about that.

As I briefly mentioned last time, I have a few projects I want to finish up before the end of the year. My Botanist cardigan has been dragging on for a little too long, so it has been my focus this weekend.

It’s the kind of project that if you don’t keep working on it, you get the feeling it will never be finished.

Luckily, I have a very understanding brother, as his socks were not finished in time for his birthday, and he’s happy to wait for them. His vanilla socks are perfect Knit Night knitting, or for week nights when I’m tired from work. I’m hoping they’ll be finished before the end of November.

It has also been Halloween this past weekend and we were a little last minute about it this year. We had just a couple of decorations placed at the front fence (to indicate there was chocolate inside!). But I think the weather deterred a lot of trick or treaters this year, and now we have quite a bit of chocolate, oops. The pumpkin decorations below were someone else’s in the neighbourhood that I thought were pretty classy for Halloween. Ours were not.

I’ve also done a little spinning, I spun up the sister skein to the beehive yarn. I was thinking about using this yarn for a cowl, but I’m not sure I’d wear these colours around my neck… so it will either need to be a gift, or I need to think of something else to make.

Back to knitting those cables.

Sienna’s socks

| Sonia Knits

We had an early birthday celebration for my niece who turns 18 (!) this week. Sienna’s socks were completed with time to spare, phew!

They were very well received! Someone commented she looked even more excited receiving them than her other gifts. You’ll have to imagine a gorgeous girl looking very happy, because Sienna’s not keen on having her photo taken let alone having it splashed over the internet. I can completely understand that.

Now there’s just one more pair to go for the year (maybe 2, I know, I know). But the next pair are going to be late. A 78-stitch sock takes a lot longer than 64 stitches. They are plain socks once again, so great for Knit Night knitting with the Richmond Knitters.

As the end of the year is fast approaching, I’m looking at my WIP pile and wanting… hoping to get some long languishing projects finished so I can start the new year with a clean slate. I’m also wondering when to put up the tree… the year is ending so quickly at this rate.

Australian Sheep and Wool Show 2026

| Sonia Knits

Well, that was an absolutely insane weekend! Luckily, I have today off to recuperate, catch up on life, and recover from all the excitement.

Damian and I headed up to Bendigo a few days before the Australian Sheep and Wool Show officially kicked off on Friday. Arriving early gave me the perfect opportunity to visit Bendigo Woollen Mills before it was flooded with knitters. On the drive into Bendigo, I received a very exciting email from the mill announcing that the final limited release of Wollemi had just launched, featuring seven brand-new shades. I’d been looking forward to this release for ages!

Damian very kindly dropped me off at the mill before heading to our accommodation. The Factory Shop, as it was once known, has been beautifully renovated and expanded, with plenty more space to browse, squish yarn, and shop.

Then Friday rolled around, and the show began!

One of the highlights of the weekend was seeing so many of the Richmond Knitters wearing their Celeste Sweaters. We’d chosen the pattern as our knit-along for this year’s show, and it was wonderful to gather everyone together for 2 group photos. If you have a keen eye, you might even spot my sister, who is visiting from Perth this week.

Some of us also attended the Women of Wool Lunch, which was another fantastic event. It was lovely to catch up with everyone, enjoy a delicious meal, and celebrate our shared love of wool and fibre crafts.

Of course, no Sheep and Wool Show would be complete without a little (or perhaps a lot of!) yarn shopping. This year’s haul includes purchases from my Wednesday visit to Bendigo Woollen Mills, along with plenty more from Friday and Saturday at the show. It’s certainly a substantial stash addition, but I’m absolutely thrilled with everything I brought home, and I’m fairly confident I didn’t leave anything behind!

Saturday was another wonderful day. I got to pat some beautiful sheep, spend time admiring the incredible Woolcraft Competition entries, and catch up with all of my sisters. Two of them made the trip just for the day, and we were also joined by Damian’s mum and some of our friends.

We couldn’t resist taking a few more Celeste photos on Saturday.

On Saturday evening, we gathered for our annual Bendigo dinner. As always, it was a fantastic night filled with good food, wonderful company, and plenty of laughter.

It was an amazing weekend, as it is every year. Now I’m looking forward to settling back into my regular routine, sorting through my new yarn, and deciding which projects to cast on first.

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.

Easter Weekend catch-up

| Sonia Knits

Yikes, it’s been a while. Things have been a little busy and distracting lately, but I’m here today to show off my recently finished Poisoned Apple Top by Lily Kate France. I managed to get some photos in yesterday before I lost the sunlight completely.

I think the top is ‘darling’ and I couldn’t be happier with how it’s turned out. I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of puff sleeves. The yarn was purchased with a gift voucher from my Melbourne siblings for last year’s birthday. It is La Bien Aimee’s DK and Kumo. The Kumo is an alpaca/silk blend. I thought the alpaca would make it less itchy than the usual mohair/silk blends going around, but I have my suspicions that it is not. It hasn’t had a proper wear test yet, I’m a little afraid.

Not a ton of knitting has been done lately, but I have started swatching for the Celeste jumper my knitting group is making for the Sheep Show this year. I wasn’t going to do a colour swatch, but my friend Nikhil inspired me.

And now I think I need to swap out one of the colours… I’ve placed another order for an alternative colour for one of the pinks. Hopefully I’ll receive the yarn by next weekend for more swatching.

December catch up

| Sonia Knits

Apologies for leaving you hanging with the reveal of my Christmas ornament. December has been a lot. It’s like all of the crappy things that could happen in a year jammed into a month, namely our 3 parents being in hospital for unrelated things. For the record January to November were pretty good. But some good things also happened in December.

Beginning with my Knitting group’s Christmas party. I made this little fellow for our Ornament swap:

The pattern is called Scrap yarn Hedgehog by Midori Hirose. It looks tricky, but wasn’t, my kind of knitting. I liked not having to attach things, it was pretty much a all-in-one knit. I hoped to make one for our tree and my niece, but as I mentioned December has been busy.

I went to Daylesford with friends for 2 nights. It felt like a different retreat this time, I wish I could have been more present. That’s okay we get to do it again in just a few months time.

Fast forward to Christmas eve and we were celebrating with our friends at their place. Our usual traditions are KK, 2 competitive activities and lunch. It is always very enjoyable and we look forward to it every year since it has become a tradition.

Here is Damian modelling our completed balloon wreath. We won, but only because Damian bribed the judge, outrageous!

Christmas Day this year was at one of my sister’s homes. It was a wonderful celebration to have everyone there. Except for Suzy (my eldest sister) who was missed.

With less than 5 days left for the year, I’m taking stock of my UFO’s for which there are quite a few, more than usual anyway.

3 pairs of socks, my EXP sweater, and my crochet blanket. I will be able to complete my Christmas socks (8ply), but I’m not sure about the rest! And I really wanted to finished my Nimue blanket this year, gah!

I will say, I am really enjoying knitting the EXP, but it’s quite slow with the half fisherman’s rib stitches. My 4 friends who are also making this with me are further along!

‘Tis the season of fiddly knitting

| Sonia Knits

I love adorable handmade Christmas ornaments, but I don’t like finicky knitting. Here is my predicament. I have cast-on for my Knitting group’s Christmas Ornament swap, and I’m hoping it won’t take more than a few night’s worth of knitting hours. No spoilers here 🙂

If it’s super cute, I’d like to make one for me, and maybe one for my knitting niece… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, I might absolutely hate knitting the next part, or I might love it. We shall see.

This weekend we celebrated my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday. We took her to Kyneton and spoilt her with fancy food. She loved it, and it was great fun.

Before I cast-on for my Christmas ornament, I cast on and began knitting my EXP sweater (by Sanna & co.) with a group of friends. Now that my Vintage Flannel is finished I can focus on this and try to catch up to the others.

I purchased a Louie and Lola kit from the Bendigo Sheep show a few years ago; so I was really happy when my new knitting friends (old friends who have suddenly become knitters) decided they all wanted to knit it. The light colour will fade into 4 colours in total. I am becoming obsessed with this stitch pattern. And it’s not Brioche!

I hope December treats you well, I’m doing my best not to be overwhelmed.

A very special 18th Birthday

| Sonia Knits

The Richmond Knitters, the Knitting group I began 18 years ago has celebrated it’s birthday this past weekend! Whilst there isn’t an exact ‘birthdate’ as such, it was fun to mark this milestone with a bit of a party.

There were party favours, cake/s and an enormous pass-the-parcel, the hallmarks of any good birthday party.

It was so lovely for everyone to come together to celebrate.

It all went swimmingly well I think!

It’s hard to believe the group has been going for so long, it does ‘age’ me quite a bit, haha. But I still feel like a young person (totally), and being amongst such fun people helps.

The Knitting group began, because I wanted to attend a Knitting Group that met on Monday nights, every Monday night. None exisited in Melbourne at the time, so I had to start the Richmond Knitters. I’ve learnt so much from everyone over the years and it has made me a better knitter. I love the knowledge shared and the ‘enabling’ that occurs on Monday nights. I also love having so many knitting friends, many have become life-long friends.

Just this week, I’ve done my very first Italian bind-off ::gasp:: it’s been around for years, but it seems everyone is talking about it now. So when my pattern called for an Italian bind-off, and newer knitters were already doing it; I felt as though I needed to do it as well. After a few false starts (and feeling pretty dumb(!) about it) I finally found a great video tutorial and matching written instructions that clicked for me. I highly recommend this one by Brooklyn Tweed.

How pretty is this? I’m afraid I’m going to need to do this (very time-consuming) bind-off for everything I knit in 1×1 rib from now on, it looks so good. Now onto the sleeves 🙂