tiny happy

There have been some long breaks between blog posts over here! I would really like to work out a way to post more regularly, if for no other reason than to keep it somewhat current! 

That seems to be the way life is these days, but I apologise if you visit this site regularly. Now that the days are getting longer, I will try to post shorter pieces, more often. That could be the secret.

In this post, I've included some pictures from a trip Tom and I took to Dunedin in late winter to visit Arlo who is in his second year at university there. In true Dunedin fashion, the wind was icy! Didn't stop Tom from surfing at St Claire though (luckily there was a beautiful little cafe at the beach where I could knit and drink coffee while I waited.) I was glad I had brought some handknits along, and enjoyed wearing my Birkin sweater again.

I was knitting a scarf which is now finished – it was such an enjoyable project! The pattern, designed by Julia Wilkens, is called 'Paula' and it's the first in a great book called 52 Weeks of Easy Knits (Laine Publishing) which I recommend even if you can knit things that aren't 'easy'! For the scarf, I held together a strand of silk mohair with a strand of silk merino, in two different colours. It's worked in seed stitch, but the way you use the two colours creates a beautiful woven effect. There are some more details over on my Ravelry project page here.

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The past month has been a good one for projects – I finally finished my granny square blanket and some other things. I've had a few questions about the blanket-making process over on Insta, so I will dedicate a whole blog post to that shortly.

A fun (but much quicker) project was a little toolbelt I sewed for a sweet pre-schooler nephew who loves equipment and helping his Dad in the workshop. For this, I cut up some of Tom's old jeans and added a strap from webbing and an adjuster clip. The final step was filling it up with little, proper tools, including a retractable tape measure, a level and some little leather gloves. 

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I am fond of re-purposing textiles (as I'm sure you know if you're a reader of this blog!) Another October make was a boxy top I made from a long silk scarf found in an op shop. It had a beautiful shibori style print but a few holes and tears, so I had cut around those carefully! I've made a few tops like these and usually base them on existing garments I own. If you wanted to make one but prefer to use a pattern, the Lou Box Top would be a good place to start.

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More October goodness:

– I've been quite busy with my Good Bitches Baking duties lately, and have found a new favourite cookie recipe – it's the 'Governer General's brown butter chocolate-chip biscuit' recipe in the official GBB recipe book. If you don't have that book, this recipe is nearly the same. Caramelly, buttery, soft, chewy, delicious!

– I discovered this (appropriately named) song by La Force. Then I heard (and got a bit obsessed with) the entire album, XO SKELETON. It's very beautiful in my opinion.

– I read Pip Adam's new novel Audition and loved it. Pip continues to push boundaries in NZ literature and I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.

– The first photo in this post was taken walking along Oriental Parade on the Wellington waterfront, just as the sun started to go down. I will never get tired of those colours