Yarn stash

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).

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!

Stash Count and my new cast on

| Sonia Knits

Today, I wondered if it was time to do another ‘stash count’. It’s been a little over a year since the last count (December 2024 to be exact)

Back then it was a shocking 397,809 metres!

So you can imagine my surprise that when I downloaded my Stash excel spreadsheet from Ravelry today, and summed the total of the meterage column to find I have:

379,870 metres

Amazing! I’m amazed, that’s a reduction of 17,939 metres! Every other time I’ve done a stash count over the years, the number has always increased. I’m not exactly certain how this stash reduction has occurred. Perhaps I gifted more yarn than I thought in the past year? I have continued to purchase yarn (probably more than I’ve knit, 8,820 metres in 2025). Hopefully this is not an accounting error!

I don’t have any stash goals moving forward, except to not increase the stash count by too much! My stash storage is pretty much at capacity, so it would be good to turn the stash over, buy with intention, and knit a lot more socks (and not purchase anymore sock yarn!). Let’s make a date for 12 months time to see how I go.

This week I’ve cast on a new garment project. I’m knitting the Poisoned Apple Top by Lily Kate France. It has been in my queue for quite some time, and I even selected the yarn specially for it, with a gift voucher from my Melbourne siblings for my last birthday.

The yarn I’m using is La Bien Aimée Merino DK, and Kumo for the fluff.

I was very excited about casting on and have made fast progress. Then a couple of days ago, when looking at the pattern photo for the 1000th time, I realised I might need a new bra to be able to wear this knit, gah. Then I knit some more, and I realised that the Kumo (the translucent part) was not looking all that translucent. Kumo is an alpaca, silk blend. It looks denser than your regular silk/mohair blend.

I’m looking forward to finishing this and hopefully it will be everything I wanted, look at those puff sleeves! Even if the top section isn’t transparent, I think it will still be a lovely top, and who knows, perhaps I’ll make another one from yarn in my stash, I’m pretty sure I have options!

Bendigo 2025!

| Sonia Knits

It’s only 360-ish days until Bendigo 2026 as my husband cruelly tells me! What a weekend, and it was over much too fast.

As usual, we headed up early on the Wednesday. We had brunch at our favourite cafe, the one that serves tiny chocolate teddies with your coffee! I visited the Bendigo Woollen Mills, and bought a jumpers worth of yarn; Cumulo which is a limited edition NZ Perendale, non-superwash. I also bought their beautiful publication which was released last year about the history of the mill.

I thought that would be my one and only trip to the mill for the weekend, but I was very wrong. I also visited on Friday after the show, as they had just released a limited-edition Corriedale wool. I was very tempted, but walked away empty-handed. I also visited on Saturday after the show, to assist our friend Charlotte (it was manic, I’ve never been there whilst it’s that busy). Charlotte has never been to the mill, she bought a few balls and left very happy. Now I know why it’s smart to go early in the week before the hoards of crafters arrive in town.

Pictured above are the Penny gloves (mitts) by Petite Knit, that I finished knitting on Thursday afternoon. For the show, I also knitted a colour sample of a beanie for my friend Danni aka HalfBaked hand-dyed. And because this was a sample for the show, I knit another version of the Bendigo Beanie by Sanna & Co. for me. The weekend, turned out to not be too cold with lots of sunshine, which was wonderful. Which meant, I didn’t need to wear my mitts for much of the time; and when my friend Sharon (a second Sharon) turned up on Saturday wearing a store bought beanie, I immediately gifted her my Bendigo Beanie. It looked great on her!

On Friday the show began! In the morning, my knitting group took some group photos of us wearing our Wool & Honey knits and hexagon/bee hive inspired accessories. 10 of us then attended the Women of Wool luncheon, which was fabulous this year.

My excited face on Friday morning!

A little bit of shopping happened before and post lunch.

On Saturday, I did a spot of shopping and ate my first Bendigo Hot Jam Donut. Our non-crafty friends arrived (except for Charlotte, she’s a mad crocheter) plus Damian’s mum, and I spent the day looking at the sheep, shearing and sheep dog trials.

The Richmond Knitters also had a second photo shoot of Wool & Honey knits for the Saturday crew.

Saturday night was the knitting group’s Bendigo Dinner. We had some extra guests, designers & hand dyers which made for a fun and lively night.

Sunday I arrived home with quite a haul. It was an amazing weekend, with souvenirs to match.

I kind of diverted from my shopping list, purchasing sock yarn that wasn’t on the list! I’ve come home with enough for 11 pairs, gasp! And 3 sweaters worth of yarn for planned projects which were on the list, hooray for me. If you’d like to take a look at the details, check them out on Ravelry, I’m just ‘Sonia’ there.

I’ve got lots of knitting to do.

3 Sleeve Island

| Sonia Knits

It’s been a few busy weeks. I’ve been away for a romantic lunch and night in Red Hill:

I’ve been yarn shopping(!) I made it to Little Woollie’s yarn store on the way to Red Hill, then went to the Coburg yarn market the following day!

I’ve been sick again 😦 I’ve celebrated birthdays (there’s another one this afternoon)

and I’ve been knitting madly on my Bendigo Sheep Show sweater! I’m now further along since these photos from last weekend, I have half a sleeve to go!

I should have this version of Wool & Honey finished in the next couple of days before blocking and photos next weekend.

Meanwhile this week, the extra yarn from Louie & Lola has arrived for my Fragmentation Cardigan. I have just 2 half sleeves on this to go. It’s going to be very satisfying finishing these 2 sweaters at about the same time. A new sweater cast-on beckons in July.

Intermission

| Sonia Knits

It’s been an interesting week. I’ve got a cold, it began as a regular (not too bad, garden-variety cold) and slowly turned into a horrible coughing-green-slime-kind-of-a-cold. At this point I threw in the towel and called my doctor. Aren’t antibiotics wonderful? I try to avoid taking them if I can, I think it’s been years. I am on the mend, but I’m not there yet.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my sisters whose birthday is coming up, asked if I could knit her a pair of fingerless mitts. Wow, I don’t often get requests from family members to knit them anything. It doesn’t take a birthday for me to make for anyone, especially family. So I went to my stash. I gave her some yarn options, from which she made a selection, then I gave her a few more options (based on her first choice) but she still stuck with her original choice. The yarn is deep stash, Colinette Jitterbug. Gosh, it’s such a good yarn which sadly has been discontinued for many years now. The colourway is Forest.

I’m knitting up a pair of Penny Gloves by Petite Knit. It is a super simple pattern, but it fits well. There is only one size in the pattern, so I hope it fits my sister as well as they fit me. I should have time to finish the second mitt and give them a good soak and block in time for next weekend.

I’ve also finished plying the singles (Cat & Sparrow, 100% merino) that have been on my wheel for an embarrassingly long time. I look forward to winding it off and giving it a bath to measure the yarn weight and meterage. I have a loose idea of a Sophie shawl by Petite Knit but we’ll see.

May is for catching up

| Sonia Knits

My knitting progress has felt slow this month, probably because there has been much less time to knit. Because of this, and the fact that I have 2 sweater projects already on the needles, I’ve decided not to cast on a new sweater this month, but to try to ‘catch-up’ instead. I haven’t touched my Wool & Honey sweater, but I’ve made good progress on my Fragmentation Cardigan by Stephen West.

I’m on the ribbing now, then the sleeves, then the button bands, then the matching hood… still so much more to do. I have really enjoyed knitting this though. The modular aspect is so fun. Interestingly, looking ahead to the sleeves, the pattern calls for it to be in stocking stitch. But I think I’m going to do, what a few other knitters on Ravelry have done, and do the sleeves in garter stitch to match the rest of the garment. It’s weird that Stephen West made them in stocking stitch, it kind of bloats the top of the sleeve.

This month we took a quick trip to Kyneton, we haven’t been in more than a year. We’d been missing our favourite French rural restaurant, and there was a yarn show the following day. Of course this weekend was orchestrated by me.

Danni of Half-baked Hand dyed was at the market, and I visited her first! I might have gone a bit bananas at her stall. She does great self-striping sock yarn, and I’ve grown quite fond of 8ply socks, so I purchased both 4 & 8ply gobstopper balls.

I’ve also done a little spinning, and cast-on some DK socks since last time. I just need to ply up this gorgeous pink fibre from Cat & Sparrow, perhaps tonight. The sock yarn is also by Danni, in her special Bendigo Show colourway, Hot Jam Donuts! I’m holding a strand of fluff in the white and red sections, for some extra coziness. Only 2 months to Bendigo, squee!

Birthday Month!

| Sonia Knits

The happiest month of the year, should be your birthday month am I right? Or at least equal with July (for the Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show) or December for Christmas of course. Thankfully these months are well-spaced, so there’s always something to look forward to.

How are my monthly sweaters getting on?

I’ve put a good dent in my ‘March’ sweater, Wool & Honey by Andrea Mowry. The yarn is named Vivacious by Fyberspates. It is a really gorgeous colour and much deeper in real life. I’m hoping and expecting the slipped stitches which make up the hexagons to settle down a bit after blocking. They look a little springy and spider web like at the moment.

When April came around, I wasn’t mentally ready to cast on my ‘April’ sweater until I got to dividing the sleeves from the body. But now that’s done and it’s easy knitting from here on in… I’ve cast on for Stephen West’s Fragmentation Cardigan. I’m using my Louie & Lola Advent calendar from 2024. I selected the DK weight version, and it is my most favourite yarn calendar yet. I spent a few joyous days arranging and rearranging my colour sequence for the modular panels in the yoke.

I love knitting with colour so much! I will get back to knitting a one colour project in June perhaps! Spoiler alert, the ‘May’ sweater is also going to be super fun.

Louie & Lola have just released their pre-order for this years calendar; but sadly it’s a 12 days of Christmas calendar, 4ply 50gm mini skeins. I really enjoy opening an advent everyday in December, not to mention working with lots of colour, so I’m passing on this calendar this year. Who knows, maybe I won’t purchase a calendar, but make up my own from stash? I won’t make any rash decisions just yet.

At this rate (and because I’ve taken this week off work), I should be finished with the yoke colourwork part today. 8ply is so much faster than 4ply. And because it’s a cardigan, it’s just knitting all the way.

I’ve just picked up a copy of Laine’s newest book 52 Weeks of Scrap Yarn from Sunspun (as well as some delicious Birthday yarn). It’s like this book was made for me, seriously! There’s some really great projects in here, and I know it will be a great source of inspiration for future scrappy projects.