I drew a winner for the Extra Curricular giveaway – and that person was Cécile – hooray! I'll be in touch with you soon, C. Thanks everyone for entering. We have some brand new poppies in our garden. They've been trying to open for weeks, and then this week they suddenly came out – looking…

The lovely little magazine Extra Curricular is coming to an end after 20 issues. My friend Ellie has been making Extra Curricular since the beginning, and every beautifully-designed issue has featured Antipodean artists and their work, as well as recipes, tutorials and interesting thoughts.  I was thrilled to contribute several times over the years – including…

I finally finished knitting Tom's socks. I really enjoyed making them, and I think that was due to the beautiful yarn ('Jetsam Sock') from Dark Harbour Yarns, and the pattern, which I think is a good basic one if you're starting out knitting socks. Because i wanted to make the largest size, I used a…

Thank you for your comments on my last post – it's fun to host a quick weekend giveaway! I drew three winners randomly – Lori, Kirsten, and Emily. I'll be in touch with you soon to find addresses, etc. + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +…

My brother-in-law Nick publishes a small quarterly journal called Watercoloured in which he collects together photography, poetry and writing about art and political ideas. You can read the journals on the website. I've contributed a few things in the past, but included in the most recent issue is an interview I did with a local textile artist, Annie Mackenzie, who…

I had a birthday recently and my friend Nikki gave me this beautiful shawl. You might know Nikki's beautiful hand-dyed yarn but she's also a very skilled knitter. I love my new shawl and have been wearing it often, even when it's been a bit too warm for wool. Luckily, Wellington offers wool-worthy weather year-round,…

Thank you for the messages and emails checking in after our earthquakes this week. It's amazing to have people thinking of us from all around the world.  We had quite a fright last Sunday with the arrival of a 7.8 magnitude quake at midnight, and aftershocks have continued since. The South Island town of Kaikoura has…

The world feels like a dark place at the moment. Beauty, making things, the domestic… all feel trivial, really. A friend posted this poem on social media and I thought it would be perfect to share here (thanks Clare!) Good bones  Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Life is short, and I’ve…

This garment sat in pieces on my worktable for half a year or so before I got around to putting it together – but it's now happily constructed and ready to wear for spring. I used some drapey, geometric-print cotton (origin forgotten) and the Scout Tee pattern which has become a firm favourite. It's rather a terrible…

Back in the middle of winter I found a small stash of mohair yarn in the op-shop next to my office. The best thing about it was its deep yellow colour, like honey. And the fact that I was on my coffee break and not expecting to come across such gold. 12 balls of it,…