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!