tiny happy

late summer things

Here are some images captured by my phone over the last few weeks. Except the first one, with rose shadows. That was taken this time last year, but it beautifully sums up the slightly cooler, darker mornings creeping in.

I've been working on my punch needle frame, getting a few pieces underway for an event coming up later this year (more details soon!) Above you can see a small finished project: a wee mat/pot holder type of thing. There are so many people making beautiful graphic work with punch needles these days. What I'm going for with my work is a slightly softer, muted look, almost inspired by watercolour paintings, rather than crisp and bold outlines (as much as I love that style, especially the work by Arounna Khounnoraj and Rose Pearlman). I'm still learning and playing with this craft, and enjoying mixing up my mediums.

If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know that I have two teenage kids, but lately our home has been humming with more teenagers. We have a friend of Arlo's living with us for a bit, and their friends are often visiting too. I love having them in the house: their strong and thoughtful opinions, their different perspectives on the world, and the way they wolf down any food I make (though this is, admittedly, a mixed blessing). A couple of weeks ago, Keira and her friend stayed up really late to make the cherry pie you see above. I had already gone to bed when it came out of the oven, but had a piece for breakfast with coffee and knitting on the side. So good!

The knitting you see to the side there is a project I'll show in my next post. I hope I'll have made a bit of progress on it by then! I'm knitting a very simple pullover top that I hope will be perfect for autumn. The yarn is some that my mum and I hand-dyed over the summer holiday, and is incidentally quite reminiscent of cherry juice.

We're in the middle of our national arts festival here, and I've been lucky enough to go to some wonderful events, and have more lined up (helped by my day-job in the arts sector). On Monday, Tom and I went to see Kate Tempest perform and it was a really special one. I recommend listening to her, if you haven't already! Here is a song from her latest album.

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autumn ready

Even typing the word 'autumn' feels a bit sad, but its imminent arrival is the only way I can explain my motivation for knitting on a big grey blanket, possibly the warmest thing I've ever knitted, and certainly the largest.

I finished it a couple of weeks ago, and finally managed to get a couple of photos of the whole thing. It's a good size for a queen bed and comprised of 9 panels, which are each made up of 4 squares, knit in alternating stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch. So, it couldn't be easier! I wrote a bit more about it here, and you can find more details on my Ravelry project page. The project was one started by my Mum nearly 20 years ago, from a pattern in an old Erika Knight homewares knitting book. The grey Rowan yarn was discontinued a while back, and I realised I wouldn't have enough to finish it. A very kind Ravelry user from California let me buy 3 balls from her stash! After knitting the 9 panels, I began the long task of blocking each square to the same shape, weaving in the ends (there were many, many ends) and mattress stitching everything together as neatly as possible (don't look too closely - it's really not that neat).

The blanket edging was a bit rough looking, so I picked up around each side and knit 6 rows in garter stitch, using a different yarn. I'm quite happy with how it looks now it's all finished, and I know it's going to be an Extremely Nice Thing to have on the bed when it gets a bit colder. It almost makes me look forward to winter! Though I know I'll get over that nearly straight away... 

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I took the last two photos on a recent weekend away to visit friends at their place in the country. It was really beautiful: dry and hot, with a soundtrack of cicadas. We swam in the river and picked many wild blackberries. I had to take a photo of the small cabin we slept in, which was furnished with an excellent collection of vintage bedspreads, pillows and curtains. A dream!

I hope you're well, dear reader.

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