tiny happy

no planet b

A few pictures from the past week:

A and K took part in Friday's School Strike 4 Climate, and they let me take a quick snap before they left for the bus. 

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I finished making the slippers I mentioned in last week's post - they are not the most beautiful things ever but have been worn every day since they came off the needles! They are made from the marled DK-weight yarn I showed in my previous post, and for the largest pair (Tom's) I held that together with odds and ends of sock yarn, to make them extra sturdy and long-lasting. He wore right through the last pair I made him!

I used this pattern (to find the instructions, follow the link in the comments section) but made a few changes which I've described here on my Ravelry page.

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In the last photo above you can see an embroidery I've been working on lately. The fabric is a soft natural linen, and I used rustic wool yarn instead of the usual cotton or silk thread to stitch the plants and patterns. 

This piece is part of my planning for the workshops I'll teach at Craft Camp, a new weekend retreat organised by Tash and Rachel of Holland Road Yarn, in mid-July. I'm really excited to be attending this special weekend, where there will be photography, weaving, embroidery workshops along with other talks and activities on offer. 

Craft Camp is aimed at knitters who want to try some new crafts, so i thought embroidering with wool yarn would be a good thing to offer in my classes. You can use any yarn for embroidery, but for this piece i used some lace-weight and fingering-weight yarns. It's the perfect way to use up small amounts of leftovers that wouldn't stretch very far in a knitted item.

I think there are still a few Craft Camp tickets left, including some day-passes (the standard ticket includes on-site accommodation). More details here.

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Books and music have been my loyal companions this week. I'm just finishing reading Normal People by Sally Rooney, having recently read and enjoyed her novel Conversations with Friends. I know both books, but especially Normal People, have been receiving a lot of attention lately and I must admit that I was curious to find out more. I found myself really sinking in to the world in both novels, which for me is always the mark of an excellent read.

Also on my bedside table: the latest issue of Making magazine (#7: Desert), thanks to the kids who bought it for me for Mother's Day a few weeks ago. Flicking through the pages has me dreaming of all the projects I want to start, including but not limited to gemoetric-inspired fine-knit shawls, linen dresses and printed leather tool cases.

I love the new album by the Brooklyn-based band Big Thief - it's a beauty. Especially this song.

I hope you have a good week! <3 

rock pools

Last weekend we went for a walk along the Wellington coastline, exploring the rock pools. When the children were little we used to spend a lot of time looking for crabs and starfish and collecting seaweed of different varieties. I still love rock pools and coastline walks and find them deeply peaceful and need to remember to visit that part of our city more often. 

I finished that green hat i was knitting a few posts back - it was a birthday gift for my brother-in-law. I used this pattern (free on Purl Soho) and some olive green Silver Lining DK which is one of my favourite local yarns. My pattern notes, etc are here on Ravelry.

I did enjoy making this hat but it seemed to take me forever to finish (in reality, it was probably a week of evenings) because the 1 x 1 rib is knitted at quite a tight gauge on size 3.25mm needles. The finished result is a dense, stretchy hat with a long foldover-brim which I hope will be cosy for cold South Island winter mornings.

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Also above: some embroidered daisies, just because. It's been a while since I opened my box of embroidery supplies. I think I needed a break after doing a lot of it last year. But it was fun to work some embroidery with a cup of coffee and the radio last Saturday morning.

Speaking of the radio, I listened to this programme this morning: Desert Island Disks, with Louis Theroux. If you're a D.I.D fan, or you know Louis Theroux's work, I think you'll like it! I do so enjoy that BBC podcast.

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I've also been knitting slippers. I made some for Tom a couple of autumns ago but the sole of that pair has almost completely worn through. Not a bad problem - I love that they're so well used! This time i'm using a fairly rustic marled yarn that i bought in the Woolyarns sale last year and I think it should hold up to a lot of wear. I'm using my own pattern, which is really just a variation on this excellent one. 

While the marled yarn feels quite scratchy on the cone and to knit with, after washing it softens up a lot. I think it has some spinning oil in it that washes out after knitting. Hopefully, in my next post I will be able to show you three pairs of finished slippers! 

oslo coat thoughts

I've been thinking about making myself a new winter coat for a while now. I still love wearing this one I made last year, but it's more of a spring/autumn layer because I used quite a lightweight wool to make it. And my proper winter coat is now in its fourth year of use and definitely a bit tired. 

Two weeks ago I bought and downloaded a PDF pattern, gathered my supplies, took a deep breath and got to work. I was lucky enough to have a good length of black cashmere wool coating waiting on my shelf. I found this for something like $30 a couple of years ago at Fabricabrac, which is a local secondhand fabric market. It's very beautiful and soft wool fabric, and I don't think I would have bought something so lovely new. I'm very grateful to the kind woman who sold it to me in 2017!

I chose the Oslo Coat pattern, by Tessuti Fabrics. The design has a deep shawl collar, nice big pockets, lining details such as neat finishing and an interior pleat and raglan sleeves. I'm glad I chose this pattern, and know I'll get a lot of wear out of this coat. The finished garment is slightly fitted around the shoulders and neck but loose and swingy at the bottom, and it's really comfortable to wear. 

I did experience a few dramas though, as is typical for me when sewing. I thought I'd jot down some of my thoughts about the pattern while they're still fresh in my mind. Please feel free to scroll on past if you're not likely to sew this coat yourself!

• The pattern comes in two different size brackets, 6-10 or 12-16. I thought this was a shame, as many people would fall somewhere in between 10-12 (myself included), and the way the pattern is drafted allowed for a lot of extra space around the pattern pieces (enough for, I suspect, ten different sizes or more). In the end I chose the smaller bracket in case Keira would like me to make her an Oslo Coat at some point, and she would fit a size 6.
   
• I would have much preferred to order a printed pattern from Tessuti than pay for the PDF download. But because I couldn't be sure the smaller size bracket was the best one for me, I thought the cheaper option was better. (Also, even though Tessuti is in Australia, shipping to NZ was listed as $30 - which is nearly the same as the pattern price).
  
  
• When I realised the PDF consisted of more than 100 pages, I took the files on a memory stick down to my local print shop. But they ran out of A0 paper that day (of course!) and then had a problem with the machine the next day, and eventually printed my pattern on card-stock, which of course is not ideal for sewing! I had to trace the pattern pieces onto lighter paper before cutting them out. In order to save some paper, I didn't print out the instructions but rather read from my computer as I worked.
  
  
• I made the size 10, and lengthened it just a little bit. I'm happy with the fit (I'm usually somewhere around a 'medium' in shop-bought clothes) and it should be roomy enough to wear warm knits underneath in the coldest days of winter.
  
  
• When cutting out my lining, I was just the slightest bit short (I had hoped to use this vintage hand-painted silk Mum gave me) so that delayed the process again. I used some fine cotton lawn with narrow grey and cream stripes. I was concerned that I should have chosen something silkier (to help slip the coat on and off more easily) but it turned out fine.
  
  
• The coat has a raglan sleeve and neckline design, but I didn't realise until cutting the pattern that the sleeves have a seam running from the top of the shoulder to the wrist. This allows a sloped shape, but I'm not convinced that raglan sleeves need an upper seam and in a heavier weight coating, this could look bulky and awkward, especially considering the lining has the same seam.
  
  
• On the whole, I found the pattern instructions to be clear and easy to follow. There were a few small things that might be confusing though, such as giving the instructions for 'sleeve' (singular) but not mentioning to repeat with the second sleeve. This might be obvious, but there were times when the pattern called for attention to only one side or sleeve (such as leaving a gap for turning, etc). Also, there were no mentions of clipping corners or curved seams, so new sewers might not have known to do that for a better finish.
  
  
• I added a piece of velvet ribbon between the back and neck facing, so the coat can be more easily hung up.
  
  The coat only needs two buttons: one on the front and one underneath to anchor it. I chose some beautiful old vintage plastic buttons I also found at Fabricabrac - I love their slightly art deco vibe. I worked the buttonholes by hand (and learned a lot from this little video by a professional tailor - please note, my buttonholes are not nearly as good, but maybe I will practice them).
  
  I don't think I'll need to wear this garment for maybe a month or so, as it's very warm and we're enjoying a pretty settled autumn so far here in Wellington. (early morning suburb shot above is to illustrate). There something very comforting about having it waiting in the wardrobe, though. I do love it!
  
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  This new album has been a favourite this week: Designer, by Aldous Harding. This is the song that drew me to the album in the first place - it was playing on the radio in the car as I was coming back from the supermarket, and somewhat elevated the experience.
  
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small joys

Some small joys from the past couple few weeks have included the kinds of things you're used to seeing around here, like projects, books and sea-views. This blog is rather predictable, isn't it! From the photos above:

++ I knitted this little hat and cowl for my wee niece for her birthday last month. It's the 'Lottie Set' by Carrie Bostick Hoge and you can find the pattern and yarn details here on my Ravelry page. I loved knitting this but it turned out much too big for my niece! I'll make her another one (and actually get her measurements and swatch, next time).

= = This is a sweet vintage book given to me by a friend and it features folksy illustrations of common herbs. I love the colours on the cover: that early-80's cream + brown combo, pale blue, mustard yellow and a rosy red. Captured here for future inspiration!

+ + You might remember a few posts back when I wrote about fabric I was lucky enough to bring home from Japan. Well one of the Nani Iro pieces was sitting on my desk, asking every day to be made into something. I decided to make some pillowcases for my bed so I can look at those watercolour wildflowers all the time. I only had one metre of the wildflower fabric, so I backed them with matching cotton I had on the shelf. I used this super easy pattern to make them.

:: :: A walk in nearby Petone with the kids during the school holidays. While the beach there is such a beauty I must confess we mostly mooched around cafes, bookshops and a record store. It's not often the kids want to hang out with me often these days. I strongly remember the magnetic pull of my friends when I was teenager too, so I don't mind too much.

Other small joys: I've started sewing a coat (it's called the Oslo Coat, by Tessuti Patterns) and will share that here soon. All going well, that is! I've been reading the stories in Black Marks on a White Page by Witi Ihimaera and Tina Makereti and listening to the new album by Anderson .Paak, Ventura. So much goodness.

How has your week been? What are you enjoying these days? I hope this finds you well.