tiny happy

baby blanket + white poppies

My sister-in-law will have her first baby quite soon, and last week I was able to give her the baby blanket I knitted for my soon-to-arrive niece or nephew.

In choosing the pattern and yarn, I was thinking about the family and trying to choose something they'd like and would find useful. The result is a very simple and soft garter stitch blanket knitted on the bias. I used a NZ yarn called Orb Merino in a pale grey colour. Specific yarn details and a pattern link, etc, are on my Ravelry page.

I enjoyed knitting the blanket but I must admit there were times when it seemed to go on forever. It was the perfect TV accompaniment though, and I am happy with the finished piece and think it should be useful tucked into a pram, cot or car seat!

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It's Anzac Day here, so I made a few poppy pins from wool felt, such as the one you can see above. If you want to make one too, click here for the pattern + template (and further explanation about white poppies).

This morning we attended our local Anzac dawn service, which also happens to be the national event. Something that made it really beautiful was young Wellington poet Tayi Tibble reading her poem: Hoki Mai.

I couldn't hear it clearly from where I was standing, but was so thrilled to find it online when I got home. You can read it in full here.

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sparkly days and toddler knits

Hello! 

We've been enjoying some beautifully clear autumn days here this week - I captured that sparkly waterfront view on Sunday. Wellington is well known for its less-than-calm weather, so I feel like days like that need to be documented!

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I have two nieces who turned a year old recently, so I knitted them a wee hat each. I've had cute photos from their mums showing that the hats fit and look very sweet, so I'm keen to make some more from this pattern. It's a free one on Ravelry called 'Beloved Aran' and you can use any type of aran-weight yarn to make a hat in either baby, child or adult size. I was after something very lightweight so I used two strands of fingering-weight alpaca held together to make these. More yarn details, etc here on my Rav page.

I have a few other projects on the go, as always, including a pair of socks using this beautiful yarn I showed a while back... hand-dyed by my friend Nikki. The colourway is called 'rare and exotic beast.'

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Also this week I got some new postcards printed with an embroidery I did in the summer. I have some sets of these cards in my etsy shop but also hope to send some snail mail to friends during the winter. A pop of summertime yellow is always cheering in the letterbox.

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Via Holland Road Yarn's FB page, I came across this interesting podcast: This is Your Brain, This is Knitting which is an interview with psychologist Dr. Art Markman about about our brains on knitting, as well as multitasking and process vs. project knitters. Thought you might be interested too. (Podcasts make great knitting + cup of tea accompaniments but you probably already knew that).

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embroidery designs and hat weather

I was really honoured last year to be asked to design something for Making magazine. It's my favourite! I designed an embroidery pattern for colourful wildflowers for the COLOR issue which should be in shops this week. I can't wait to see my copy.

Making has a really lovely Instagram feed (so much inspiration!) and an interesting blog and podcast featuring makers and ideas from all over the world. 

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Our days have been quite a bit chillier this week, which has led to a frenzy of hat-knitting on my part. So far, I've made one for Arlo, two for my nieces, have started one for Tom, and am halfway through my own. The basket of knits has gone back in the porch for people to grab on their way out of the house each morning.

To make my hat, I'm using some beautiful dark green Zealana yarn (a locally-made possum-merino blend) and my favourite hat pattern, Jul.

I'm also thinking about all the other things I'd love to knit right now - if only it didn't take me so long! I have in mind some fingerless gloves (also in Zealana yarn I think - maybe a bit like these?) and I recently fell in love with this shawl pattern - do I dare cast it on even though it might take me a year to complete?

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In the last photo above you can see some patchwork pouches I made for a custom order - they're now off to Paris. To make these, I used up small leftover cuttings from other projects - mostly linen and cotton, and some Liberty prints. The pouches close with metallic zips and measure about 4 x 5", which would be a great size for knitting notions, I reckon.

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In my last post, I wrote about the Dutch Label Shop and the labels they'd sent me to try. You can see them, and read my review here. The people at DLS have offered my readers a 15% discount in case you'd like to try them too. Use the code tinyhappy15 (all lower case) when you get to the checkout stage.

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Thank you for visiting, as always! Hope you have a lovely week ahead.

a little knitting and new labels

Hello there! Hope you're having a good week. I have a couple of projects to share here today - one finished and one perhaps a quarter of the way through... I'm trying to tell myself that it's all about the process when it comes to English paper piecing.

You can see in the second photo above that I'm still working away on my hexagon quilt. I started it back here and the piece is now about half the size of a queen-sized bed. I'm hoping to make a good-sized quilt eventually. All the fabrics are recycled or leftover from other projects or existing garments - there are a few of Tom's shirts in there!

I really love working on this project. I don't find hand sewing to be at all laborious, and with the paper template method, I've found that I don't need to be as exacting as I once imagined EPP to be.

This week I also finished knitting a hat for my eldest. I think it's the fourth such hat I've made in a couple of years - he's not very good at looking after things, our Arlo. The pattern is called 'Roku' and there are some details about the yarn, links, etc here on Ravelry.

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I was offered some new labels to try from the company Dutch Label Shop, on the proviso I let them know what I thought once they arrived. I really like them. The labels are very finely woven (as opposed to embroidered or printed) and the edges don't fray, so they could be sewn directly onto a garment without having to be folded over. 

I got the 'handmade with love' labels you see in the last photo for my Mum who might like to sew them onto some of her projects. She makes lots of things for her grandkids, and I can just imagine one of these on the back corner of a quilt, or hidden inside a small cardy.

I also ordered some 'swing tags' made from cardstock to sample, and I'm happy with those too. The best thing about the DLS website is that it's very easy to customise labels to your own style - there are lots of fonts and colours to choose from, or you can send through your own logo or image to be woven.

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In book news, I've just started reading Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi, and have almost finished A History of Silence by Lloyd Jones. Both books feel far away and close at the same time. Are you reading anything interesting at the moment?

I hope this finds you well, dear reader! Until next time.

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