tiny happy

love is everywhere

I wanted to send a little handmade gift to a friend, so I made her a set of flower-collaged postcards so she can write to more friends! Snail mail forever. These pressed flowers are leftover from our late-winter garden and include hellebore, jasmine leaves and cyclamen. After arranging the pressed flowers, I covered each card in clear book seal and trimmed around the edges to neaten.

Tom and I took a mid-week break together last week which is a very rare occurrence! We went to Christchurch to listen to Zadie Smith in conversation about reading and essay-writing and generational understanding and so many other things. The trip was Tom's gift to me on my birthday last month and as well as a treat to hear Zadie speak, it was also lovely to escape 'normal life' for 24 hours. The next morning we went exploring around Christchurch and ventured as far as Lyttelton (which is my new favourite small NZ town) for coffee, a steep hill walk, some shopping and general old wooden house and garden admiration, before flying home again.

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Also pictured above: a new project I'm working on slowly in the hope of using up lots of leftover yarn from my stash. And creating a lovely squishy baby blanket in the process, of course! I got the idea from Stephen West's free pattern Garter Squish which is designed for 2 strands of worsted-weight yarn held double, to create a big blanket. My version will be more suitable for a baby, because i'm using one strand of DK weight possum/merino (from a cone I bought at the Woolyarns mill sale last year) held together with fingering-weight merino/silk yarns, of which I have many part-balls in my stash. When one ball of silk runs out, I just replace it with another colour and I really like the marled effect so far! The blanket has an i-cord edging along each side and I think it will be lovely and soft when finished.

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In the last photo, you can see my latest, extremely simple finished project: a new cushion cover. I made this to replace this one (with black swans) which I noticed had several holes where it had worn out! The new cover was made using a square of tree-print linen I found in a fabric market in Osaka when were in Japan earlier this year. So it has very good memories associated with it. You can't really see from this photo, but there are tiny gold buds on the ends of the branches of each tree. I used brown linen to create an envelope-style closure on the back of the cushion.

Have you heard Love is Everywhere? It's a newish song by Wilco that I first heard in a cafe last week. A new favourite that you might like too!

See you soon, lovely friends. 

shades of pink

Today's blog post is brought to you by the colour pink. Or shades of it, at least. 

I've been admiring pink a lot, these days, and found myself piecing together a second baby quilt (following on from this one) from leftover cuts of linen in grey, pink and cream. The finished quilt is a bit bigger than the previous one I made, and is backed in a pale pink linen. I have a baby in mind for this one, but have to wait for them to be born. I love making these small quilts and am already dreaming about the next one. And it feels great to use up some of my smaller pieces of fabrics, too.

One of life's (or at least, my life's) greatest joys is a new stack of library books brought home for an afternoon coffee and reading session. I thought I'd share a photo of last week's stack. Among them was a book about extracting colours from plants: The Wild Dyer, by Abigail Booth. I love this book and it's made me feel super inspired to try some natural dyeing of yarn, fabric and clothes this summer. I recommend it, if you're also interested in all things botanical dying. Abigail also keeps an inspiring Instagram page called Forest and Found - you can check it out here.

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Here's a new song I've been enjoying this week: The Kids Are Having None of It, by Frazey Ford. For me, FF's voice is the sound of summer. And this song and video in particular reminds me of my kids and their friends.

I haven't shared any recipes here in a long time. Probably because I try and get out of cooking whenever possible. But I have a new favourite dinner recipe - it's this lentil and coconut curry. Super easy to make and delicious too! And the leftovers are great for taking to work. I try and do some baking once a week because i think it's nice to always have biscuits in the house. These cookies (again with the coconut!) continue to be a strong favourite - they're very simple and comforting to have with a cup of tea. 

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Well I think that's all for this week. I hope you are well and finding time for the things you love to do, whether that's making things or eating biscuits, or making your way through a giant stack of library books. In my case, all three!

share the love

I managed to get those colourful socks finished after all, in time for this week's blog post. Just. I used a ball of the Regia self-striping sock yarn designed by the Norwegian knitters Arne and Carlos - it's called Regia Pairfect. The idea is that one ball makes two identically patterned socks. You'll see by looking at mine that I didn't manage that - typical! I'm still not sure what I did wrong as the leg part started off all right, but the stripes on the feet wanted to do their own thing. 

Anyway. I like the cheeriness of the finished socks and they were fun to knit. 

Keira and I went to see some art on the weekend, including Janet Lilo's Top16 exhibition at Te Papa. It was a large-scale look at our online profiles and social media identities - I thought it was great. SHARE THE LOVE is from that. Also at Te Papa, we loved Indra's Bow artwork by Tiffany Singh - a rainbow of ribbons holding small glass vials with natural materials in every variation of every colour of the rainbow. It's a beautiful piece and I never get tired of looking at it.

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In an effort to do more local adventuring, we headed up to Fort Ballance today to properly explore the former artillery battery that was built in the 1880s amid fears of an impending war with Russia. Now the concrete tunnels and rooms are likely the location of many parties and graffiti sessions. I've been up there a few times over the years, and the artwork has looked completely different each time. It's quite an amazing site, this stark concrete structure completely adorned with bright paint, set among wildflowers and broom. 

I picked some things: fennel, mallow, clover and wild rocket. It's a bit eerie up there, but weeds and wildflowers soften everything.

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Lastly this week, I wanted to show you this new top I made. It took a little less than one and half metres of linen and the design is from this free pattern from Peppermint Magazine. It's proved to be quite useful already - a simple but light and breezy garment to wear to work. I'm sure it will be really useful as the weather warms up too, in place of a jacket or cardigan. I recommend it, if you're in the mood for a spot of sewing!

X X X X X  See you soon and thank you as always for visiting here.  X X X X X 

patched together

I think I mentioned a few posts back that i was planning on making some baby quilts using up some of the (very many) fabric pieces collected over the last few years. So I thought I'd share the first finished quilt, pieced together from mostly linen and cotton fabrics in shades of green, grey, brown and natural.

As you can see, the piecing was pretty random, as I wanted to use up as much of the fabric pieces as possible, and also because I wanted to achieve a kind of loose, free-form loo (as opposed to the rotary-cut geometric designs that I love but feel just aren't quite ''me.'')

I backed the quilt in some super-soft cotton with narrow grey and cream stripes and used a brown cotton lawn to make binding which I hand-sewed down. The finished quilt is a bit bigger than cot-sized, and will hopefully be useful for spreading on the floor with toys and/or in the pram. I was so happy to wrap it up and give it to my friends who are expecting their baby boy soon!

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Are you reading anything good at the moment? I recently finished Novel About My Wife, by Emily Perkins. I found it to be one of those novels that sits with you while you're separated from the actual pages - it was a compelling read and one that has followed me around since I returned it to the bookshelf. I found a copy of another Perkins novel, The Forrests, straight afterwards, so that's what I'm reading at the moment (along with a stack of non-fiction, including the latest Laine magazine which i love).

Also above: a new favourite picture from my phone. We went for a family walk up a nearby hill and I snapped this picture of Arlo. We don't go out walking, or for picnics, enough! I would love to carve out more time for things like that. While the kids are still at home. Can you tell I'm feeling my age (and theirs) a bit, these days?

And in the last picture: a portrait of a sock-in-progress (actually this pair has been on the needles for maybe a year now), sitting on a wonderful vintage skirt I found second-hand recently. It was a very grey and cold day, and I cheered it up with some lunch-break knitting. Rather pleasing all round. And hopefully I can show you the finished socks next week, with any luck.

I hope you're enjoying October, wherever you are in the world, dear reader.

M X

keeping warm and bright as the seasons change

Spring's in full swing here in Wellington, which means, rather delightfully, some wild winds and bright warm days mixed in with Antarctic southerlies. So there's still plenty of need for handknits! 

I finished a hot water bottle cover a couple of weeks ago - it's made using the ''Haworth'' pattern (free on Ravelry here) and some beautiful Manos del Uruguay yarn in mottled green/blue shades. The yarn was a gift from my friend Lizzie, who showed me a picture of the hottie cover she was making, and i had to do one too! I'm quite suggestible like that.

I enjoyed knitting the cover - it was good to practice my cables and bobbles, which I hardly ever employ in my knitting - and the finished piece is very cosy. I think it would make a great gift, especially if you had a friend whose birthday was in autumn or winter. 

Also in gift-knitting news, I made the tiniest pair of socks for a new baby in our circle, which I sent along with a pink possum-yarn cot blanket (purchased, not knitted!) For these I used this pattern and some sock yarn leftovers. For more details about both the smallest-ever socks and the hot water bottle cover, you can click here to see my Ravelry notes.

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Are you after a little treat to accompany you on your weekend activities? Let me recommend a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, baked as one big luscious slice. My sister Sarah has a baking blog and she shares her recipe here. I decided I needed to make them late last night - and they're pretty good. So much easier and faster than rolling the mixture into separate cookies. You just spread it into a tray and then cut into squares while it's still hot and a little soft - the result is a bit like a brownie but with big chunks of chocolate. 

The plan is to take them on a walk up a hill today, along with a thermos of coffee.

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Music-wise, I've been re-visiting an old favourite album: this one by The Good, The Bad And The Queen, along with the same band's most recent album, a response to 2018 Britain, Brexit, and all that entails. It's wonderfully lush and poignant, to my ears, and I realise I've been listening to Damon Albarn's music in some form since I was a teenager with Blur albums on my disc-man. After Blur, it was Mali Music on the car stereo when my kids were preschoolers, then this solo album which I thrashed for what was probably several years after its release. My kids' first love of electronic pop came in the form of a Gorillaz CD played in their bedroom at volume, and now they are learning 90's Blur songs to play with their rock bands at school.

All of this Damon Albarn-related music comes highly recommended by me if you don't know it already. If you are after just one beautiful song, can I recommend this one. I love it.

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I hope you are doing well, wherever you are, and keeping warm too. See you again soon and thank you for reading my occasional musings!

plant-coloured

Two projects and some plants that I think might have subliminally inspired them.

I'm working on a new jumper - the design is the No Frills Sweater by Danish designer Petite Knit. It's a very simple raglan-style with minimal shaping, kind of designed to be loose-fitting and fitted around the wrists and hem. The special thing about this garment will be the yarn - I'm using some dark green merino hand-dyed by my friend Nikki. She gave me three skeins of it for my birthday last year and I fell in love with its dark fern green vibes immediately. I wasn't sure what to make for a long while, and then I realised it would be perfect fro this pattern, if i had some mohair in a similar colour. So I commissioned Nikki to dye some to match, and I think that must be one of her specialties, because she did an amazing job. The mohair skeins are slightly different shade, but the two work beautifully together to create a really deep colour. It's like knitting with silky ferns! I absolutely love it and know it will be a very special thing to wear.

Another project, though one recently finished, was a skirt made in a brownish-mauve - definitely the same colour family as the hellebores above, picked from the garden! They are so beautiful right now. (For the rest of the year they're mostly all leaves). For the skirt, I used the Estuary Skirt pattern by Sew Liberated designs. It was easy to make over a couple of evenings. I used to try and race through sewing projects and get stress myself out a bit in the process. These days I try to take a bit longer in the hope of a better result. I allowed one evening just for the buttonholes on this skirt and I can report that they are all evenly placed! 

I bought the PDF pattern and am glad I did as I'm sure I'll use it several more times. I think it would look great in a wool fabric for winter, or even a lightweight something for a dressy summer occasion? My favourite part of the design is the comfy elasticated panel at the back of the skirt, but smooth waistband at the front. Clever!

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Working on my projects lately, I've been enjoying catching up on podcasts and the odd bit of new music. Something that combines both is Radio NZ's Mixtape series - have you heard it? It's a bit like another favourite of mine, the BBC's Desert Island Disks, but obviously with a NZ flavour. Last weekend I listened to the Mixtape with musician Hinewehi Mohi and loved the hour spent with her. I recommend having a listen if you're a fan too.

I hope you're enjoying this early spring season, and finding time to do things you love. See you again very soon. 

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birkin sweater + early spring

Kia ora,

Today's blog is coming to you from a stormy eve in early spring. I hope it finds you well, dear reader.

I finished a knitting project last month and realised I hadn't yet shared it here on the blog. It's a jumper, made from Caitlin Hunter's ''Birkin'' design that I first saw in an early issue of Laine magazine and knew I had to knit it. 

For this garment, I used a range of fingering-weight yarns, mostly from Holst Garn and some from Jamieson's of Shetland. I also adjusted the pattern a little so the yoke was less deep - for fit reasons. I'm so happy with my finished jumper and have been wearing it a lot! I'm almost tempted to make another - I was thinking in black with colourful flowers, or perhaps in grey, with white flowers. In the meantime I'm really enjoying this version, and have been wearing it over my favourite linen dress mostly.

You can find more details, including links to the pattern and yarn, here on my Ravelry page.

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In my last post, I mentioned a book I had found that showcases antique quilts from the state of Nebraska, and that I'd include a picture of my favourite quilt for its pages. That's the last photo you see displayed above - isn't it a beauty? It looks like each panel is made from a piece of cloth in various shades of pink, green, grey or blue, then heavily embroidered and appliqued with plants and animals. I find it endlessly inspiring and would love to try to make something inspired by it one day.

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Last weekend we packed the car up with kids and books and escaped the city for a quick break. I've included a photo of the gorgeous wee seaside house (a classic art deco bach) we rented for one night. While at Foxton Beach we ate quite a lot of ice-cream, did some knitting, read some books, walked along the beach twice, sat under cabbage trees in the sun and watched a pair of horses ride through the waves. It was wonderful!

Non-crafty life has been rather full lately, and I feel as though I don't have as much to report here as I'd like! I do have some projects on the go and hope to make more as the weather warms up and the days get a little longer. What are you working on at the moment?

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I've been reading Novel About my Wife by Emily Perkins which I'm definitely into - the writing is beautiful, although the story is quite dark. And I've discovered the latest season of the British show Mum - I absolutely loved the first two, so am looking forward to making my way through that.

See you soon!
M

quilts + cats

Hello!

It's still hand-knit sock season here. I haven't felt like knitting any lately, but I have been wearing them, even to the office! I snapped the third photo above on my lunch break the other day. I realised I was wearing wool at every level - these socks, woolen trousers, hand-knit sweater, shawl and hat! Everything was knitted when I was feeling excited about the winter ahead, the way you do sometimes towards the end of summer. But now I'm very ready for the cold to fade away. 

A very small project I completed this week was the little cat you can see at the top of this page. I made it for Tom's cousin Becky who had a birthday recently. She liked this wee cat I made last year, and so I made a note to make her one. I used the same pattern - ''Fern the Cat'' by Erika Barrett, in Making Magazine (Issue 4: Lines)

Other projects on the go include the baby quilts i mentioned in my previous post - I'm not quite ready to show those yet, but they are in progress! I'm also knitting a hot water bottle cover, which seems to be taking longer than I thought it would, and a sweater in dark green merino and mohair - one strand of each, held together. That's another one making slow progress. I don't really mind though.

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Last weekend Keira and I headed to a big annual second-hand book fair in the city and had a great time digging through the boxes of sheet music, vinyl, magazines and poetry, especially. In the ''lifestyle'' section, I found a brand new copy of a hardcover book called Nebraska Quilts and Quiltmakers by Patricia Cox Crews and Ronald Clinton Naugle.

I'm thrilled to have this in my collection- it's a beauty. A selection of antique handmade quilts are featured, along with an essay about the person who made it, and their family background in the state of Nebraska. My favourite is a hand-embroidered and appliqued piece made from different wool fabrics in 1864 by a Mrs Schacht from Westphalia, Germany, and brough to Cook, Otoe County in the 1870s. The wool panels feature different birds, animals and plants in greens, pinks and browns. I also love the ''Lone Star Variation'' design you can see above. 

I couldn't find a picture of the German quilt online, so I'll include a photo in my next blog post.

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In other book news, I've been helping to organise an author event happening this week (this one, if you're in Wellington, and feel like joining us!) and so have been reading through the Telesā series of books by Samoan writer Lani Wendt Young. I haven't read much romance, but these books are sometimes described as ''a Pasifika Twilight'' and I've been enjoying them! 

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Through the headphones: I've been listening to the new album by Bon Iver, called i,i. Perfect for the bus journey home from work on a cold dark night. Here's just one of the songs, in case you're after a small taste.

I hope you have a lovely week. See you very soon.

lately

Hello! I hope this dispatch finds you well, wherever you are.

I've been feeling slightly lazy about writing here... so I thought I'd just upload some pictures instead, while I wait for my words to come back. Here are a few things I've been doing lately, from top to bottom:

= = Tom brought me back this copy of Hounds of Love on vinyl after a trip away recently. It's probably my favourite Kate Bush album, so a bit of a treat to add to my collection. (And I had to pose with it in the wintry rainy garden, in my favourite wildflowers dress, for full effect ;)

+ + This is a bit of embroidery I started in a class at Craft Camp (I wrote more about that in my previous post) and finished when I got home. It's quite satisfying to stitch in wool yarn! Here I used some leftovers from a knitting project (I'll show you the finished jumper in my next post) on a medium-weight grey/mauve linen. Not sure what I'll do with it yet.

- - - It's midwinter and we've had a good dose of rain lately. But all in all, it's been a mild season, and the jasmine outside our kitchen seems to be quite happy.

= = This is a beautiful little dish made by my friend Lizzie. She sent it to me recently and it's the perfect thing for my everyday earrings. (Lizzie's exhibition ''Nature Table'' has just opened in Sydney!)

+ + Here's a bit of recent work done on my slowest project of all time - the hand-stitched hexagon quilt. I'm making this from old clothes and bedding cotton. I don't often get it out (because I resent having to put it away again) but I do hope to make some more progress on it soon. 

In other news, Tom and I have been watching the final season of Orange is The New Black, very slowly, in order to make it last longer. I've found this series a rather moving and important one over the years. I'll miss it! Also, the second season of Australian show The Let Down which takes me back to those early parenting days.

- - - Did you see this article on the Guardian, A stitch in time: how craftivists found their voice? If not, you should have a read. My favourite quote, from Sarah Corbett of the Craftivist Collective, whose work is featured:

“Punk means different bands to different people in the same way craftivism does,” explains Corbett. “And my approach is not aggressive or loud, it’s gentle protest – and I mean that in a non-fluffy sense. It’s not impassive or weak. It’s bloody hard to be gentle in your approach as an activist, to have self-control when you’re angry. It’s about being tough of mind and kind in heart.”

It's given me lots to think about.

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As for books, I've been reading Wild Honey, which is a beautiful new book about NZ women's poetry. And thinking a lot about patchwork, for some reason! Could be that the lid on my box of fabric off-cuts can no longer be closed, so I need to do something with 200 small pieces of fabric. At the same time, there are some new babies-in-progress in my family and friend-circle, who might just be in the market for a cot quilt one day soon. I'll keep you posted.

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winter comforts

Hello! I hope this finds you and keeping warm if you're in the wintry Antipodes, like me. It's equally likely you're in the middle of a heatwave, which is impossible to imagine from here at my desk where i'm wrapped in a knitted shawl! 

The last time I wrote on here, I was getting ready to head to Craft Camp. I can report that it was a fabulous weekend! I was lucky enough to make some new friends and get super inspired by the talks, teachers, and crafty projects we were immersed in for three days. Tash (also director of Holland Road Yarn) and her hardworking team did an amazing job of creating a welcoming, calm and interesting space. I especially enjoyed listening to the presentations by weaver Verenoa Hetet, writer Nadine Hura and lace knitter Margaret Stove about their work.

My only regret is not taking some classes myself - on offer were yarn dyeing, photography, mindfulness and loom weaving. I believe there will be another Craft Camp next year - it comes highly recommended by me.

I thought I'd share some of my recent projects here. This winter I've knitted two new things for Tom (but not a jumper, despite him requesting one with a colourwork yoke! I'm still thinking about that). I made him a pair of socks using beautiful yarn by Bonnie of Union Fibre in the Loch colourway. Contrary to my terrible photo above, this yarn is quite complex and rich to look at, and it's even hard to describe - it's somewhere between a grey and blue with flecks of brown and yellow. I used leftover bits and bobs from other socks to knit the heels, toes and cuffs of this pair. And this pattern, as always (with the addition of a 1X1 ribbed cuff).

Tom also needed a new hat, so I made him one in some black DK yarn I bought a while ago at the Woolyarn sale (I used the same yarn for this jumper of mine - I'm not sure of the composition.) For this super basic ribbed hat i used this free pattern from the Purl Soho site.

And lastly, you'll see the wee cushion I sewed up from a piece of needle punching I showed in a previous post. With a woolen front, striped linen back and wool stuffing it's rather pleasing, despite its small size. I recently ordered myself a copy of the beautiful Arounna Khounnoraj book on the craft and it's inspired me to make a bigger frame and try more things with my needle punch tool. 

Here's a song I'm loving at the moment, and saw described as ''George Harrison meets Karen Carpenter'' - Andromeda, by Weyes Blood.

See  you next week! X X X