tiny happy

seashell mitts

I was after a new pair of fingerless gloves for the autumn and winter months, and came up with my own design - this super-simple pair with a shell pattern running down the back of the hand.

I thought it would be fun to share my pattern, in case anyone else is keen to make a pair. I've popped it up on Ravelry (you can find the pattern page here), but I know some people are struggling to use the website since its re-design, so I wanted to share it here too.

Download seashell mitts pattern (pdf)

For the grey pair, I used a stray ball of Silver Lining Lumiere 4ply yarn I found in my stash - it's lovely yarn but has been discontinued. As you can probably tell, I ran out at the end of my project - and had to use another ball of the same yarn, but a different colour, for a 'contrast stripe' at the top of each mitt.

To test my pattern, I made another pair from some very beautiful yarn hand-dyed by Bonnie of Union Fibre. The colour is 'Limpet' and the base is her Merino-Linen Singles. 

One pair of these fingerless gloves takes about 40 grams of yarn. So you can definitely make two pairs from one 100gram skein and have enough leftover for a pair of baby booties.

This pattern would be simple enough to adjust if you need a larger or smaller pair of mitts - you could knit additional or fewer repeats of the shell pattern, and knit more or less of the ribbing at the top and bottom. 

I hope you enjoy making them if you decide to! Please let me know if I've made any mistakes, or there's any useful information missing.

With thanks to my lovely friend Lizzie, for requesting the pattern, which encouraged me to write it down :)

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autumnal colours

Blues, greys, rusty pinks and green. The colours of late autumn! I thought I'd pop in today to show you some of my recent projects. I think some of my recent makes have been inspired by two titles from the 1980s I found in a second-hand bookshop: Glorious Colour and Family Album, by Kaffe Fassett. 

My mum had both of these when I was a child and I loved to look through the pages and pretend I was one of the glamourous models. My favourite was always the poppy design - coloured circles on a black or blue background. I've never made one of these designs but I still love looking through the books, and am very pleased to have my own copies. The poppy is still my favourite - I might yet make one.

I could do with some new 'everyday clothes' (i.e. suitable for wearing to work) for autumn and winter, so I'm going to have a go at making a few things over the next week or two. I started with a top, made from some beautiful viscose-twill I scored at Fabricabrac a couple of weekends back. The pattern is the Pinnacle Top from Papercut. The option I made was 'variation 2', with a round neckline, finished in bias binding, with a back opening and tie. I was really impressed with this pattern and will definitely make more. I'm thinking perhaps a drapey black version for work and I might try the jersey/sweatshirt option for winter too.

I had a couple of metres of beautiful dark rose linen waiting for its moment, too, so I cut into it to make a new dress. I mostly just self-drafted this, using a mashup of shapes from other clothes I like wearing - i.e. the skirt width and length, and pocket pieces, etc. 

I do love this one but am not 100% sold on the bodice design - it's a bit too loose-fitting to be comfortable and work well with other garments. I'm thinking I might cut it off and add a waistband instead, so I can wear the skirt portion at least.

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I do love this time of year - the golden afternoon light and hazy evenings, the smell of woodsmoke and soup on the stove. I've been reading Vesper Flights, a book of essays by Helen Macdonald, and luxuriating in its rich descriptions and explanations of the natural world. So far, the chapter about the hidden world of fungi has been my favourite; it reminds me of searching for mushrooms on the farm with my grandad - basket, or more likely, plastic bucket in hand! 

And as always at this time of year, I've pulled out my old Kate Bush records (and Spotify playlists) to listen to on my walks around the Hataitai hills. I don't know why her music and autumn are a match for me, but they are. 

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I have been working on other projects - I have a winter coat cut out but am searching for the right lining fabric - and I've been knitting a fair bit lately, too. And the granny stripe/square blanket continues! (I'm afraid you might be hearing about that one for a long time - progress is slow...)

I hope this finds you well and enjoying the slide into a new season, whether that's autumn or spring, depending on your hemisphere, and that you are finding time and space to work on your own projects. I also hope you are safe and in good spirits!

earthy rainbow

Hello from a late summer Wednesday evening. I hope you're doing well!

I don't have much to report this week. The mornings are getting darker here - though that means I can watch the beautiful pink sunrises with morning coffee in hand! I do love this turning time of year in Wellington.

We recently went on a weekend trip with friends to the Wairarapa coast. It was beautiful - expansive skies and sea everywhere we looked. I've included a couple of photos - the third was taken from the Cape Palliser lighthouse which was built in 1897. I believe the sturdy steps up to the lighthouse are a relatively recent addition!

The trip over there was good for knitting and crochet. I've started a new blanket - spurred on by the first crochet one I finished. This one is a giant granny square - I started in the centre and I'll keep going out until I have something queen-sized, all going well! I'm using some merino-possum yarn I bought on cones from a local yarn factory. The colours are a light charcoal and a peachy pink. I really enjoy working on it - it's really repetitive but weirdly addictive. It's like my brain can rest and play at the same time... not the best explanation of the joy of crochet, but hopefully you know what I mean?

We've just celebrated Keira's birthday - she turned 16 - and one of her gifts was a pair of fingerless mitts I knitted for her. I had started out making her some socks in some self-striping Regia yarn that I love for its ''earthy rainbow'' vibes.

She saw me knitting them and asked if they could be fingerless mittens instead. Of course! 

To make these, I used a method very similar to the Purl Soho 'Colorblock Handwarmers' that can be found here...

... but adjusted them a bit to K's specifications. I used about 35 grams of the 100g ball - so you might be able to get 3 pairs out of one ball, depending on their size and your gauge! Here's how I made them, in case you fancy casting a pair on:

Keira's fingerless mitts

1 ball 4-ply or fingering weight yarn (I used Regia Tweed Colour in the ''frost'' colourway, #07491 and used approx 35g of the ball)

2.25mm needles (either a set of DPNs or a long circular, to work magic loop)

Scissors + darning needle

Cast on 64 stitches using the German Twisted Cast On or another stretchy method. Place marker and join to knit in the round (I used a long circular and the Magic Loop method)

Knit 1 X 1 rib for around 4cms.

Knit in stocking stitch until work measures 13cms.

Now begin to work back and forth (not in the round) by working to marker, then turning back and purling until you reach the marker again. Work in this way (forming a split in the tube of knitting) until split portion measures 4.5cms.

Now continue in the round again, thereby closing up the spilt section. Knit 4 rows in stocking stitch.

Work 1 x 1 rib in the round for 4 cms (or until desired length).

Rejoin yarn to the right side of the mitten, at the base of the thumbhole. Working around the hole, pick up 30 stitches around (this might be easier to do with double-pointed needles).

Work 1 x 1 rib for three rows. Cast off in rib.

Weave in ends and make a second mitt in the same way. Block gently in warm water.

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Take care, friends! See you again soon.

XX M

 

late summer life

Kia ora, hello! It's been a while since I last wrote here. I hope you're doing well, wherever you are. 

I thought I'd pop in to share some scenes of late summer life as it is right here. Focusing in on some favourite bits, of course!

We are lucky enough to be expecting some new babies in our circle of friends and family soon. I have some serious baby knitting to do! Fresh off the needles is this little set made up in a Doespins merino/silk yarn hand-dyed dark grey. For the bonnet I used the Anker's Bonnet pattern by Petite Knit (link here) and this free pattern for the newborn socks. 

In other craft news, I finished Keira's crochet blanket. This was my first ever crochet project, and I really enjoyed it! I think I mentioned another time about my annoyance at not learning this craft sooner. For some reason, the skill evaded me for many years. How to hold the yarn and hook, the way the stitches were constructed and the way the patterns are written - all of it.

I'm not sure what changed, but my Mum helped me get the hang of it over the summer - she is a very patient teacher! And it was, after all, approximately the 50th time she had tried to teach me.

Anyway, I'm happy with my super basic blanket and I think K likes it too. It's just the right size for her bed. I used all sorts of scrap yarns, mostly possum, merino, alpaca and mohair. I held the yarns double throughout and changed one at a time so it has quite a faded, marled vibe.

It was really satisfying to work my way through the basket of leftover yarns with not a scrap left at the end! And I'm dreaming of my next crochet project now. Will keep you posted on that.

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Also pictured above: some late-summer hydrangeas. It's probably obvious these came from a shop and not my garden, what with their long elegant stems. But they're cheering up the kitchen bench regardless.

I've also been trying to keep up my goal of reading more this year and one of my recent books has been The Details: On Love, Death and Reading by Tegan Bennett Daylight. It's the Australian author and teacher's reflections on a life of reading and what books mean to her. She's a wonderful writer and I think my favourite bit remains her admission that she pays her teenaged kids to read certain classic books! My first reaction was ''no way...'' but then I realised it was actually quite smart and was tempted to do the same.

I'm sharing the books I read over on Instagram in my stories. 

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Lots of love to you, dear reader! See you again soon.

M X

projects past, present + future

Kia ora, hello! I hope your week is going well.

I realised it had been a couple since I last called in here. And that I'd completely forgotten to share a dress I'd made last year, so that's what you see in the first two images above.

It's a grey linen dress with a wrap-front design. The pattern is called Meridian Dress and it's from Papercut Patterns. It was fun and interesting to make, and to wear, too - except that I don't think I chose quite the right size because the bodice doesn't fit as well as it could. But regardless, I love the design and still wear the dress quite a bit, especially when the weather's a bit cooler.

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The crochet blanket project I showed last time is still keeping me busy but I'm now adding a border around the edge to neaten it up. Because I used lots of different scrap yarns held together, the thickness and weight of the yarn differs throughout the piece. Nt idea, but I seem to have sorted it out with a good block, prior to the border being added.

We've just observed Waitangi Day and I spent a good morning listening to the commemorations on the radio, working on the blanket, and reading my latest book The Dark is Light Enough: Ralph Hotere, by Vincent O'Sullivan - a biography of one of my favourite NZ painters.

And finally - a brand new project. Arlo asked me to make him an Icelandic yoked sweater - well actually, he asked a couple of years ago - and I'm finally getting around to it now. My goal is to have it finished for his birthday which - thankfully - is not until June. He's around 6 foot tall now so there's a lot of knitting to do!

For this project, I'm using the classic Riddari pattern by Védís Jónsdóttir and the recommended Lettlopi yarn (found at Holland Road Yarn Co). I can't wait to get to the colourwork yoke - I have some other greys and a dark red for that.

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But what about future projects? I have so many plans (as always). Keira needs a winter sweater too and I was thinking about something from Petite Knit for her. I have a nice piece of dark rose-coloured linen to make a work dress, just as soon as I settle on a pattern for that.

I'm hoping to do a knit-along with my friend Lizzie (we love the same sort of designs but it's hard to choose something), and get started on some embroidery projects I've had planned for a while.

Also, baby knits! There are three expected babies within my circle of friends/family so I'd better get started. Ah, the happiness of project-dreaming.

Hope you are doing very well friends, 
Melissa XX

 

 

fading hydrangeas

Just a few snaps from the second half of January. What a beautiful, bright month it's been. I'm trying to soak up all the light and warmth I can because it always seems a long while before high summer comes back again. I hope you are doing very well, whether you're in summer or not!

Perhaps inspired by the grey coastline, or the hydrangeas in the garden (they're just starting to crisp up and fade from bright blue and pink to mauve with brown marks) I started a crochet blanket project. For this I'm using all the small quantities of yarn I can find in the boxes under my bed. Most are leftovers from past knitting projects in 4ply wool, mohair/silk or alpaca. I decided to choose only grey or mauve/pinks but lots of different textures and fibres. I'm marling these yarns together and only changing one strand at a time, as it runs out.

My plan is to make a single-bed-sized blanket for Keira's birthday which is in a month or so. It's a very simple but soothing project to work on in the evenings! Once I've used up all my yarn, I'll choose another skein to crochet a border around the edges (which are really quite wonky, due to my lack of crochet skill and experience!)

Tom and I have been watching the 3rd series of True Detective together - it's pretty dark but also quite compelling. And on the weekend we watched The Dig - a British film about the Sutton Hoo excavation of 1939. I thought it was a beautiful film - especially the thread about the mother and her son - and the 30s/40s clothes of course.

What about you - have you watched anything interesting lately? I'd love to hear what you're working on.

XX M

 

books + magic

Hello friends!

I mentioned last week that I'd recently read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, and that I would talk about it some more. I know I'm late to the party with this book (it was published in 2015) but I think it was sent to me at the right time and place. I found a copy at the op shop on the last day of the summer holiday and bought it for $1. I had been thinking deeply about my creative life and how to better slot it into other parts of my life this year and wanting to do things a little differently in 2021 - namely, work on some projects I have been too afraid to begin. A strong theme in Big Magic is (paraphrased by me) 'feel the fear and do it anyway.' That might be a rather obvious take but it was actually the message I needed to hear. 

Elizabeth Gilbert's voice is friendly, encouraging, and generous: it's an unpretentious guide to creative living. It encourages me to be more generous, freer, and start now! I recommend it if you're after a pep talk of a similar nature.

Another goal I have for this year is to read more. I do read a fair bit at work, and of course, like the rest of us, on my phone, but what I'm after is that feeling of being deeply immersed in a story and not wanting to put it down, which was such a strong element in my childhood and teen years.

I thought it would be fun, and hopefully helpful, to document the books I finish over on my Instagram page. My goal is to share books in my 'stories' and then save those slides in a highlight section at the top of my account (which is here - not that I've actually started the stories properly yet! I will soon, though.)

Let me know if you fancy following along, or doing the same with your own reading this year! In particular, I want to read a wider variety of perspectives and voices than I might have in previous years. I want to read more widely in general. I'm excited to get started!

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I've been doing a bit more crochet and am working on a blanket to use up all my leftover yarn. In the photo above I've captured a beautiful skein of yarn handspun by my Mum a while back. I plan to cake it up tonight to add to the blanket. It's just simple single crochet but I will need to learn another type of stitch to make an edging, I think! (Mostly because my edges are a bit wonky, shh!)

In the second-to-last photo above you can see some black and white photos. Last week, my dear friend Kylie handed me a package of photos she took when visiting me in 2003! I had just had Arlo. There are photos of baby A wrapped in his first (handspun of course) blanket, the washing on the line, the old-fashioned kitchen we had with louvre windows, and some of Arlo's grandparents too. It was so special to receive these pictures unexpectedly, 17 years later. Beautiful windows to another, equally wonderful, life. 

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See you again next week! I hope you are very well and keeping safe. XX

fresh + bright

Kia ora, Happy New Year to you! I hope you've enjoyed some sort of end-of-year break, whether you're in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. We've just returned home from a very warm and relaxing summer break, and while I'm back at work now, I feel as though I'm still carrying it around with me. The full moon on the new year, the solstice moon on the sea, the berries and beaches and books in the sun! It was all wonderful and I'm so grateful we had that time with family and friends. 

I brought a few crafty projects with me but didn't get much done in the end. I did knit a linen top which looked better on my sister than me so that was a good result! I used the Ranunculus pattern (I've made it before here and here) but instead of wool I used some Erika Knight Studio Linen yarn in a light brown/coffee shade. My Ravelry notes are here). 

Tamsin has been wearing it over summer dresses, or with a button-up skirt and it looks so nice! I do love that versatile pattern and the summer version was so quick to knit up! I also cast on some socks (just a basic pattern but with colourful self-striping yarn) and (and this is the most exciting thing of all) learned to crochet!

It makes me cringe a bit when I think of all the times I gave up learning this craft. I'm now 40 years old and know with certainty that I'm not a patient learner; I get easily frustrated with myself and don't trust that I will ever 'get' the new skill. It's not something I like about myself but I really want to work on improving that this year. I have a list of new things I'd like to try!

Anyway, it's great to be able to work some basic crochet stitches now and I have plans for blankets. I'd like to make a big granny stripe blanket from my knitting leftovers (like this lovely one) and maybe a few smaller blankets if I can! Big dreams, as always.

Another lovely thing about the holidays was that I had a little more time to read for fun. My brother and sister-in-law gave me A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar for Christmas which I loved. It brings together memories of a Dad now missing and ancient Italian art and thoughts about places. 

I also read a book based on a local TV series I love: Life as a Casketeer by Kaiora and Francis Tipene. It was such an enjoyable read and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in Māori culture, how we think about death and grieving, and of course, anyone who loves the show.

On the last day of the holiday, I found a brand new copy of Elizabeth Gilbert's book Big Magic in the op-shop. I needed something to read on the ferry trip so I bought it for a dollar. I think good fortune and fate might have placed that book in my path, because it felt like the perfect thing to read as I started back at work this week and even though in many ways it's a straight-forward book, the messages in it will stay with me always. I hope to write more about that in my next post.

Sending warm wishes to you for a happy and safe new year.

M

 

 

upon the summer solstice

Here are some pictures from around the summer solstice: preparations for Christmas and our upcoming summer holiday, a few handmade gifts and of course the obligatory fruit mince pies.

I hope you and your family have a very happy year's end: whether you celebrate Christmas or not, and wherever you might be in this world.

I'm signing off for a few weeks and will look forward to posting again next year.

Lots of love,

Melissa XX

 

gifts + memories

Hello! I hope you are well, dear reader, as we enter the last month of this calendar year. I must admit I'm keen for the kids to decorate the Christmas tree (it's always 'their' job) and make some fruit mince pies and start the preparations for the holidays. We're nearly there...

I received some really beautiful gifts for my birthday last month. One was a shawl knitted for me by a friend, dear Lizzie. She used a blend of alpaca, silk and wool yarns in blue, brown and cream and the Stay Soft pattern. I love it and have worn it quite a bit despite it supposedly being spring and summer since it arrived! I think shawls are wearable year-round here in Wellington. It's a pretty special thing to have a piece like this knitted especially for you. I couldn't believe my eyes when I unwrapped it!

I've been enjoying reading more lately. I find I go in phases with this - sometimes I have the energy to dive properly into one book at a time and other times I skim-read my way through a range without taking them in deeply. Anyway, last month I read This Pākehā Life by Alison Jones and found it to be an excellent read: one that takes an honest look at what it means to be a white person in Aotearoa, with all the uncertainty and uncomfortableness that comes with that. I would recommend this book to my fellow Pākehā friends.

The books on my bedside table threaten to topple over and join me in bed sometimes, so I hope to have a few more finished soon and look forward to reading time over the summer holidays.

And speaking of those, I've been slowly making a few things to give to family and friends at Christmas, including some socks for my Dad (I think I wrote about these in my last post - now they're finally finished!) For these, I used a basic 3 x 1 ribbed pattern and some self-striping Regia sock yarn. The details of both pattern and yarn can be found here on my Ravelry page. 

I had thought I didn't want to knit socks again for a good while. But then I found this beautiful new pattern - it's part of the latest Knitty magazine which is free and online-only. There are lots of other issues of Knitty to explore too if you haven't already!

I've also been making some washcloths from cotton and linen yarn in my stash. For these, I've tried to work a different stitch pattern each time and it's been fun to learn a few new ones! I think my favourite is the Chinese Wave pattern (the loopy one you see on the top of the stack). The pattern I used for that can be found here.

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And lastly, here is a song introduced to me by my son Arlo. It has a beautiful melody, though perhaps a dark meaning. I hope you enjoy it too: Overlord by Dirty Projectors.

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Take care, friends. See you again soon! 
M