tiny happy

Hello! I hope you've had a good week, whatever you happened to be doing.

Mine started well, because I bought a big bunch of daphne from my favourite shop and it's been filling the house with its beauty ever since. I love the scent, and for me it's a sign that the coldest and darkest part of winter is over. Before buying the daphne, I had been to the dentist and the mechanic, so it was perfectly timed for maximum cheering effect.

I've also been working on a new knitting project, helped along by Bonnie who kindly shared some of her beautiful possum yarn and pattern tips with me – and a decent afternoon knit session yesterday allowed me to do most of the raglan neck shaping on my in-progress jumper. I really hope this knit won't take me too long – I'd love to be able to wear it before summer arrives. (I'm a very slow knitter).

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Through my workplace, I was given some tickets to see the NZ Symphony Orchestra last night – violinist Karen Gomyo played the first Bruch violin concerto and it was pretty divine. Even the kids, who brought their books along to the concert, promptly shut them once she started playing. This is another performance of the same piece – by Janine Jansen.

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And one more thing – if you have Netflix you might like the Norwegian 'slow TV' programmes that are available on there – some are about the art of firewood, some are scenic travel trips, and one is about knitting. I only watched some of it but will definitely go back and see more… I really loved it. Topics explored include: a yarn store in the Far North run by a motorbike-loving knitter, old Norwegian hand-knits and how they have been mended, knitting techniques/tutorials, the stories behind the different traditional colourwork sweaters and trying to set a world record in knitting a jumper from pre-shearing to the finished piece, to name only a few.

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