tiny happy

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