The photo directly above is a bit of a boast. I found all these wonderful books in one recent visit to an op-shop. So lucky! I've started the Lorde collection, finished both the Carol Ann Duffy poetry books (which I adored) and had a go at knitting some of the stitch patterns. The novel by Witi Ihimaera, The Parihaka Woman, is on my bedside table ready to be read very soon. I'd love to know what you're ready these days?
Now it's late in October - how did that happen? I'm so enjoying the lighter mornings and evenings, even though there is still a bit of a chill to the Wellington air. Tom and I recently walked up a hill in our neighbourhood, and I picked a handful of wildflowers on the way home. You can see them in my first pic above. It was a surprise to find so many beauties, just growing along the side of the road. My favourites are those creamy little roses that grow along hedges.
Also inspired by spring growth, I made a pair of prints for our spare room, which we've been slowly renovating over this past year. I just need to find some frames for them now. I used my cyanotype printing set and pressed tansy and coriander plants picked at the height of last summer.
This month I knitted a vest for myself, using a skein of mohair-silk dyed by Nikki of Dark Harbour Yarn, held together with some Zealana fingering-weight possum/cotton/merino blend. It was a free pattern called the Sara Vest from Ewe Knit Toronto, and used exactly one skein of the mohair with just a tiny bit left - phew! I don't think I'd knitted a vest for myself before but I really like wearing it - it's been handy over dresses and when it's not cool enough for a proper sweater or cardigan. More details about this make can be found on my Ravelry page here.
Crazy hair photo courtesy of Keira and the Wellington wind!
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Another good thing from the past month or so is that I've joined our local chapter of Good Bitches Baking. With the overarching goal of 'making Aotearoa NZ the kindest place on earth,' the Good Bitches join a roster to bake for various organisations and charities around the city, such as homeless shelters, community drop-in centres and other programmes. GBB provides white cardboard boxes that we put our baking in for delivery, as well as a little notepad to write a message and ingredients on for the recipients.
It's a wonderful team to be part of, and I have really enjoyed baking and delivering treats over the past six weeks or so. I love to bake but with no more school lunches to prepare and trying not to eat quite so much sweet food myself, it's a great way to spread the sweetness around to our wider community.
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Other October sweetness has included a trip to the City Gallery to see the Joanna Margaret Paul retrospective exhibition, Imagined in the Context of a Room. I've loved Paul's paintings and poetry since I first encountered them about 15 years ago, so it was real joy to be able to see everything collected together in this way. If you're going to be in the capital before February, 6, I highly recommend you go and have a look.
October is also my birthday month, and this year I was lucky enough to hear some live music to celebrate. A group of friends and I went to hear soul/folk singer Frazey Ford and her band at San Fran. It was such a treat. Here's a song for you.
Take care,
Melissa X