tiny happy

I realised I hadn't yet blogged about a jumper I finished knitting in May so I've included some pictures of it here. One with the garment sitting neatly on the windowsill, and the other showing it worn, with the afternoon sun shining directly in my face.

To make this I used the Ranunculus pattern and held two strands of yarn together while knitting: some fine wool/cotton in a light grey colour, and some super-luxurious mohair/silk in a dark grey colour. The effect is a slighty-marled, super soft and warm dream of a thing to wear!  The beautiful mohair was a birthday gift from my friend Nikki – she hand-dyes very gorgeous yarns just up the road from where I live. Thank you Nikki, and thank you to the designer of this pattern, Midori Hirose. This was my second iteration of this design (you can see my first one here) I'm sure I will knit it again one day soon.

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I found this bouquet of beautiful autumnal-wintry branches and flowers at a grocery shop in town last week and since I was on my way to visit a friend I couldn't help buying them to bring along with me! Also couldn't resist taking a quick snap of the colours against concrete. 

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A small project worked on this week was a stack of hot water bottle covers. It's that time of the year all right although it hasn't been terribly cold yet. But enough to wear coats and fill up a hot water bottle for the bed.

A few years ago, I made lots of these but they needed replacing when I pulled them out of the cupboard last week. I love to recycle wool garments that have been moth-eaten or otherwise worn out. The kids handed over some jumpers they'd grown out of, complete with holey elbows. It's satisfying to make something useful from something past its usefulness!

I wrote up a super simple pattern/tutorial for these a few years ago – you can find it here, in case you're in the mood for a quick and easy upcycling project…

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With hot water bottle weather comes the delicious chance to spend more time in bed generally – earlier nights, longer (weekend) mornings, and the odd post-work-before-cooking-dinner lie down. I've been reading a collection of essays by Zadie Smith, Feel Free, which I really like. Also a book of poems about the Whanganui River, Flow, by Airini Beautrais and a collection of stories, Black Marks on the White Page, edited by Tina Makereti and Witi Ihimaera. All three of these volumes contain small pieces of writing – essays, poems, short stories, which are perfect for small snatched reading times.

And because I outed myself as a keen TV watcher in my last post, I wanted to add that I've watched the newest additions to the Black Mirror series and have just begun Fleabag. Both very good!

I hope you have a lovely week with lots of time to do the things you want to do. 

I braved the cold and did some gardening this weekend. Our poor little garden is mostly starved of attention at this time of year, mostly because of the weather, busy life reasons, and daylight hours (or lack thereof). But I should make the effort to dig in the dirt more often and weed around the plants more often. It really makes me happy! I planted some winter herbs and salad greens, silverbeet, spring onions, and sugar snap peas. I also uncovered a sweet white cyclamen that had been hiding out under some weeds. Isn't it beautiful?

Inspired by plants (spring flowers in particular – though it's much too early to be thinking about them), I made something new to wear to work. It's a camisole-top top, made from drapey black rayon-crepe fabric, and embroidered around the neckline with plants like lily-of-the-valley and leafy branches. To make the top, I used the Ogden Cami pattern, which I've used a few times, it's a good one! I'm hoping to wear this over long-sleeved tops for the office. I have a black and white striped merino top that I think will be a good match. 

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Another finished project from last month was this little hat that I knitted for my baby niece. She turned one and I wanted to include something handmade in her birthday gift. I used the Beloved Aran pattern (free on Ravelry) and held together a strand of grey angora rabbit yarn with pale pink Rowan Kidsilk Haze. The result was a super lightweight and soft fabric. The colour is a bit like the inside of a sea shell. I made the pom pom from some yarn I dyed with avocado in the summer. My Ravelry notes are here (and here – for when I made two hats from this pattern last winter).

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I have some ambitious making plans for this winter, but I'm not sure I'll be able to fit everything in! On my wish-list is a linen dress, a Birkin Sweater (I'm currently about 1/8th of the way through), some hot water bottle covers, slippers and some embroidered project bags. I also have half a punch-needle piece to complete. If only the days and nights were a little longer! 

As well as knitting and sitting by the fire, this time of year is perfect for watching something good on TV, don't you think? Tom, the kids and I have just finished watching the newish mini-series of Les Miserables together. So sad but quite excellent, I thought! We also saw the James Acaster Netflix special together, which we found to be brilliant, and now often-quoted in our house. ('Too good for a free banana' is a particular favourite.) I also watched the NZ show The Casketeers while doing some late-knitting over a week or so. I absolutely loved it.

A few pictures from the past week:

A and K took part in Friday's School Strike 4 Climate, and they let me take a quick snap before they left for the bus. 

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I finished making the slippers I mentioned in last week's post – they are not the most beautiful things ever but have been worn every day since they came off the needles! They are made from the marled DK-weight yarn I showed in my previous post, and for the largest pair (Tom's) I held that together with odds and ends of sock yarn, to make them extra sturdy and long-lasting. He wore right through the last pair I made him!

I used this pattern (to find the instructions, follow the link in the comments section) but made a few changes which I've described here on my Ravelry page.

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In the last photo above you can see an embroidery I've been working on lately. The fabric is a soft natural linen, and I used rustic wool yarn instead of the usual cotton or silk thread to stitch the plants and patterns. 

This piece is part of my planning for the workshops I'll teach at Craft Camp, a new weekend retreat organised by Tash and Rachel of Holland Road Yarn, in mid-July. I'm really excited to be attending this special weekend, where there will be photography, weaving, embroidery workshops along with other talks and activities on offer. 

Craft Camp is aimed at knitters who want to try some new crafts, so i thought embroidering with wool yarn would be a good thing to offer in my classes. You can use any yarn for embroidery, but for this piece i used some lace-weight and fingering-weight yarns. It's the perfect way to use up small amounts of leftovers that wouldn't stretch very far in a knitted item.

I think there are still a few Craft Camp tickets left, including some day-passes (the standard ticket includes on-site accommodation). More details here.

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Books and music have been my loyal companions this week. I'm just finishing reading Normal People by Sally Rooney, having recently read and enjoyed her novel Conversations with Friends. I know both books, but especially Normal People, have been receiving a lot of attention lately and I must admit that I was curious to find out more. I found myself really sinking in to the world in both novels, which for me is always the mark of an excellent read.

Also on my bedside table: the latest issue of Making magazine (#7: Desert), thanks to the kids who bought it for me for Mother's Day a few weeks ago. Flicking through the pages has me dreaming of all the projects I want to start, including but not limited to gemoetric-inspired fine-knit shawls, linen dresses and printed leather tool cases.

I love the new album by the Brooklyn-based band Big Thief – it's a beauty. Especially this song.

I hope you have a good week! <3 

Last weekend we went for a walk along the Wellington coastline, exploring the rock pools. When the children were little we used to spend a lot of time looking for crabs and starfish and collecting seaweed of different varieties. I still love rock pools and coastline walks and find them deeply peaceful and need to remember to visit that part of our city more often. 

I finished that green hat i was knitting a few posts back – it was a birthday gift for my brother-in-law. I used this pattern (free on Purl Soho) and some olive green Silver Lining DK which is one of my favourite local yarns. My pattern notes, etc are here on Ravelry.

I did enjoy making this hat but it seemed to take me forever to finish (in reality, it was probably a week of evenings) because the 1 x 1 rib is knitted at quite a tight gauge on size 3.25mm needles. The finished result is a dense, stretchy hat with a long foldover-brim which I hope will be cosy for cold South Island winter mornings.

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Also above: some embroidered daisies, just because. It's been a while since I opened my box of embroidery supplies. I think I needed a break after doing a lot of it last year. But it was fun to work some embroidery with a cup of coffee and the radio last Saturday morning.

Speaking of the radio, I listened to this programme this morning: Desert Island Disks, with Louis Theroux. If you're a D.I.D fan, or you know Louis Theroux's work, I think you'll like it! I do so enjoy that BBC podcast.

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I've also been knitting slippers. I made some for Tom a couple of autumns ago but the sole of that pair has almost completely worn through. Not a bad problem – I love that they're so well used! This time i'm using a fairly rustic marled yarn that i bought in the Woolyarns sale last year and I think it should hold up to a lot of wear. I'm using my own pattern, which is really just a variation on this excellent one. 

While the marled yarn feels quite scratchy on the cone and to knit with, after washing it softens up a lot. I think it has some spinning oil in it that washes out after knitting. Hopefully, in my next post I will be able to show you three pairs of finished slippers! 

I've been thinking about making myself a new winter coat for a while now. I still love wearing this one I made last year, but it's more of a spring/autumn layer because I used quite a lightweight wool to make it. And my proper winter coat is now in its fourth year of use and definitely a bit tired. 

Two weeks ago I bought and downloaded a PDF pattern, gathered my supplies, took a deep breath and got to work. I was lucky enough to have a good length of black cashmere wool coating waiting on my shelf. I found this for something like $30 a couple of years ago at Fabricabrac, which is a local secondhand fabric market. It's very beautiful and soft wool fabric, and I don't think I would have bought something so lovely new. I'm very grateful to the kind woman who sold it to me in 2017!

I chose the Oslo Coat pattern, by Tessuti Fabrics. The design has a deep shawl collar, nice big pockets, lining details such as neat finishing and an interior pleat and raglan sleeves. I'm glad I chose this pattern, and know I'll get a lot of wear out of this coat. The finished garment is slightly fitted around the shoulders and neck but loose and swingy at the bottom, and it's really comfortable to wear. 

I did experience a few dramas though, as is typical for me when sewing. I thought I'd jot down some of my thoughts about the pattern while they're still fresh in my mind. Please feel free to scroll on past if you're not likely to sew this coat yourself!

• The pattern comes in two different size brackets, 6-10 or 12-16. I thought this was a shame, as many people would fall somewhere in between 10-12 (myself included), and the way the pattern is drafted allowed for a lot of extra space around the pattern pieces (enough for, I suspect, ten different sizes or more). In the end I chose the smaller bracket in case Keira would like me to make her an Oslo Coat at some point, and she would fit a size 6.
   
• I would have much preferred to order a printed pattern from Tessuti than pay for the PDF download. But because I couldn't be sure the smaller size bracket was the best one for me, I thought the cheaper option was better. (Also, even though Tessuti is in Australia, shipping to NZ was listed as $30 – which is nearly the same as the pattern price).
• When I realised the PDF consisted of more than 100 pages, I took the files on a memory stick down to my local print shop. But they ran out of A0 paper that day (of course!) and then had a problem with the machine the next day, and eventually printed my pattern on card-stock, which of course is not ideal for sewing! I had to trace the pattern pieces onto lighter paper before cutting them out. In order to save some paper, I didn't print out the instructions but rather read from my computer as I worked.
• I made the size 10, and lengthened it just a little bit. I'm happy with the fit (I'm usually somewhere around a 'medium' in shop-bought clothes) and it should be roomy enough to wear warm knits underneath in the coldest days of winter.
• When cutting out my lining, I was just the slightest bit short (I had hoped to use this vintage hand-painted silk Mum gave me) so that delayed the process again. I used some fine cotton lawn with narrow grey and cream stripes. I was concerned that I should have chosen something silkier (to help slip the coat on and off more easily) but it turned out fine.
• The coat has a raglan sleeve and neckline design, but I didn't realise until cutting the pattern that the sleeves have a seam running from the top of the shoulder to the wrist. This allows a sloped shape, but I'm not convinced that raglan sleeves need an upper seam and in a heavier weight coating, this could look bulky and awkward, especially considering the lining has the same seam.
• On the whole, I found the pattern instructions to be clear and easy to follow. There were a few small things that might be confusing though, such as giving the instructions for 'sleeve' (singular) but not mentioning to repeat with the second sleeve. This might be obvious, but there were times when the pattern called for attention to only one side or sleeve (such as leaving a gap for turning, etc). Also, there were no mentions of clipping corners or curved seams, so new sewers might not have known to do that for a better finish.
• I added a piece of velvet ribbon between the back and neck facing, so the coat can be more easily hung up.

  The coat only needs two buttons: one on the front and one underneath to anchor it. I chose some beautiful old vintage plastic buttons I also found at Fabricabrac – I love their slightly art deco vibe. I worked the buttonholes by hand (and learned a lot from this little video by a professional tailor – please note, my buttonholes are not nearly as good, but maybe I will practice them).

  I don't think I'll need to wear this garment for maybe a month or so, as it's very warm and we're enjoying a pretty settled autumn so far here in Wellington. (early morning suburb shot above is to illustrate). There something very comforting about having it waiting in the wardrobe, though. I do love it!

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  This new album has been a favourite this week: Designer, by Aldous Harding. This is the song that drew me to the album in the first place – it was playing on the radio in the car as I was coming back from the supermarket, and somewhat elevated the experience.

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Some small joys from the past couple few weeks have included the kinds of things you're used to seeing around here, like projects, books and sea-views. This blog is rather predictable, isn't it! From the photos above:

++ I knitted this little hat and cowl for my wee niece for her birthday last month. It's the 'Lottie Set' by Carrie Bostick Hoge and you can find the pattern and yarn details here on my Ravelry page. I loved knitting this but it turned out much too big for my niece! I'll make her another one (and actually get her measurements and swatch, next time).

= = This is a sweet vintage book given to me by a friend and it features folksy illustrations of common herbs. I love the colours on the cover: that early-80's cream + brown combo, pale blue, mustard yellow and a rosy red. Captured here for future inspiration!

+ + You might remember a few posts back when I wrote about fabric I was lucky enough to bring home from Japan. Well one of the Nani Iro pieces was sitting on my desk, asking every day to be made into something. I decided to make some pillowcases for my bed so I can look at those watercolour wildflowers all the time. I only had one metre of the wildflower fabric, so I backed them with matching cotton I had on the shelf. I used this super easy pattern to make them.

:: :: A walk in nearby Petone with the kids during the school holidays. While the beach there is such a beauty I must confess we mostly mooched around cafes, bookshops and a record store. It's not often the kids want to hang out with me often these days. I strongly remember the magnetic pull of my friends when I was teenager too, so I don't mind too much.

Other small joys: I've started sewing a coat (it's called the Oslo Coat, by Tessuti Patterns) and will share that here soon. All going well, that is! I've been reading the stories in Black Marks on a White Page by Witi Ihimaera and Tina Makereti and listening to the new album by Anderson .Paak, Ventura. So much goodness.

How has your week been? What are you enjoying these days? I hope this finds you well. 

I can't stop thinking about Tokyo since our time there last month, and so I've started to investigate books I can read this winter to explore it further. First up: Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima which has just arrived in my letterbox. I'm hoping to start it this weekend. 

It's about the experiences of a single mother in 1970s Tokyo, and has been translated into English by a New Zealand author, Geraldine Harcourt, which is how I first discovered it. In the photo above you can see it alongside one of my current craft projects: a ribbed hat (this free pattern) in lovely dark green DK. It's a slow knit, that one! Should be nice when it's done though.

Do you enjoy video podcasts about crafts? I've recently discovered The Crimson Stitchery podcast, where Anushka shows her projects and talks about mending, vintage clothes, her PhD studies, and more. It's a lovely watch if (like me) you share these interests. In her latest video, Anushka reads the poem 'The Woman in the Moon' by Carol Ann Duffy, which reminded me how much I love that poem. You can read it here.

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I snapped a quick photo of Keira on her way to last week's Extinction Rebellion march here in Wellington. I'm so proud of her and her friends, and it's inspiring to watch them grow in awareness, commitment and action for this world that will soon be theirs.

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Last week I wrote about muesli my sister Tamsin had made, but would you believe the batch she made has been finished already? It's not surprising really, because Arlo eats it several times a day. So I've made a second lot, trying to remember exactly how she made it because it was delicious! Also: here's a tip if you have hungry teenagers like mine: place a jar of cornflakes or other cereal alongside the muesli jar, so the muesli stretches a little further.

Anyway, I thought I'd share our recipe in case you are in the mood for muesli-making too. And of course 'recipe' is rather a formal word for what follows – it's more of a guideline. 

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TOASTED MUESLI

Into a deep baking tray (I used an enamel roasting dish) place 500 grams of wholegrain oats and 500 grams of rolled oats, a large handful of sunflower or pumpkin seeds and the same quantity of chopped nuts (I used walnuts and almonds, because that's what I had in the cupboard.) At this point i also threw in a handful of chia seeds and another of LSA mix (linseed, sunflower seeds and almond).

Toast slowly in the oven on a low heat such as 100 degrees Celsius, for around 45 minutes or so, but take it out every 15 minutes to stir and check that the ingredients are being toasted evenly.

in a small saucepan, melt together 1/3 cup vegetable oil and a good drizzle of maple syrup (or a couple of spoonfuls of honey) until liquid and combined. Then stir this mixture through the toasted grains until they are all coated and there are no big clumps of muesli present. Return to the oven for another half an hour, stirring and checking regularly.

Cool the muesli then stir through some chopped dried fruit if you like – I added 250 grams of chopped dried apricots to mine.
Because of the oat blend and addition of chia seeds, this muesli is best when it's been allowed to soak in milk or water for a little while before eating with yoghurt and stewed fruit. In my opinion, at least!

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The season of golden light is here properly now, and I'm trying to remember to find a patch of the syrupy sun to sit in each day while it lasts. How is it where you are? I hope you've had a good week. 

On the weekend my sister Tamsin and niece came to stay with us. It was a cold weekend and we filled in the days mooching around town, drinking coffee, sitting around the fire knitting, cooking and baking. T makes excellent muesli, and she made a big batch for our pantry and it's delicious. We also went for a walk where she picked an autumnal bouquet of leaves, berries and seed-heads. A dried-out leftover of summer.

I finished a project that had been on the needles for a while: a pair of socks for me. I started these on the plane on the way home from Japan. I had brought some some balls of leftover sock yarn for just this purpose, knowing it would take my mind off the long flight. As it happened I only knit about a quarter of one sock, despite the hours on the plane. But they've been good company in the evenings since. 

I love using up odds and ends to make something new! For these I used scraps from socks I've knitted over the past few years. The pattern is a free one you can find online: Wise Hilda's Basic Ribbed Socks. I use this pattern nearly every time – it always fits perfectly and is easy to customise if you feel inspired to do so. Sometimes I use a different heel or stitch pattern than that given, and for this pair, did a bit of 1×1 ribbing at the top of each sock. You can find more details about this project here on Ravelry.

Also pictured: the book I'm reading right now, Blue Self-Portrait, by Noémi Lefebvre, which is translated from the original French and about music, specifically, the work of composer Arnold Schoenberg and is clever and interesting.

And also in music news: the highlight of my week was buying a gift for myself: PJ Harvey's album Let England Shake on vinyl. I'm afraid of playing it too often, and being banned by my family to put it on the turntable so will save it for whenever they go out. I do love this album deeply, and it feels timely right now: (autumn, Brexit, Anzac Day, Cyclone Idai, climate change, everything…) This one is my favourite song from it.

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In April I get inspired to do things like bottling and baking, and cast on knitted hats.

The first of these came off the needles while we were travelling in Japan. I amused myself on the plane by knitting on a grey Roku hat for Arlo, albeit slightly clumsily due to the wooden double-pointed needles (I'm usually more of a magic loop knitter). I do love the Roku pattern – it has a nice crown decrease and works up quickly in aran-weight yarn. You can find a link to the pattern and other details here on my Ravelry page.

(Also on the plane I watched the film The Favourite, which I found quite interesting – have you seen it?)

Marmalade is one of my favourite foods (or at least, toast-spreads) and last week I found myself with a bowl of ageing oranges, bought from the Newtown market the week before with delusions of establishing an orange-for-breakfast habit. That didn't happen. But I can still have them each morning, just on my toast instead. To make this marmalade, I used a formula much like this one, except I didn't mash the fruit after cooking. There's something comforting about a late-night marmalade session, especially when you see the jars of gleaming jam on the windowsill the next morning.

The other thing about April in the kitchen is the tradition of making Anzac biscuits. You can read a bit about the history of them here.

The combination of oats, coconut and golden syrup has always been synonymous with autumn for me, but they are also just a useful thing to keep in the cake tin to have with a cup of tea or pop in the kids' school lunchboxes.

Lately I've been making Anzac bars instead of the traditional cookies. You can see them in the first photo above. The mixture is basically the same, but it's a bit quicker and simpler to make, because you just press it into a shallow tin to bake for 10 minutes or so. Here is my recipe. You can add in other things if you like, such as sunflower seeds or dried fruit – anything you have, really. I like to throw in a handful of pumpkin seeds and some currants because they always seem to be waiting there in the cupboard.

ANZAC BARS

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup rolled outs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or other nuts
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Mix these ingredients together in a big bowl. Then, in a saucepan, melt together:

100 grams butter
2 Tbs golden syrup

until combined and starting to simmer. Then stir in 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. The mixture will froth (and smell delicious).

Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Bake in a shallow slice tin lined with baking paper for around 15 minutes or until golden. Let the slice cool completely (it will become more firm after half an hour or so) before removing from the tin and cutting into bars.

I wanted to share some of my textile-hunting adventures in Japan, which were probably more wide-ranging than these photos suggest. I found that sometimes I got so excited by what I was doing and seeing on my travels that I forgot to document with my camera! But that doesn't matter at all, really.

I've admired the work of Naomi Ito (Nani Iro) ever since coming across it online perhaps twelve years ago now. It wasn't until i was in Osaka, and wearing one of my tops made from her fabric, that I realised I might seek out her studio. Travel is so much easier now we have Google Maps and all manner of online resources, and I even found these detailed directions to help me. In the end I went a different way, but was thrilled to find her studio on my own without too many problems. 

It's a special place because not only are the most recent Nani Iro fabrics on display and for sale, but you can also find lots of fabrics from past seasons for sale, both by the metre and in pre-cut pieces. I bought a few pieces (you can see my purchases in the second photo above) that I absolutely adore, and of course I rather wish I'd bought more, now. But I was trying not to be too acquisitive and I knew I'd have to carry them around in my small suitcase for the rest of the trip! I also bought a special book with sewing patterns for a range of clothes using Nani Iro fabric.

The women at the shop were very kind and gave me another book, with poems written by Naomi and accompanying photographs that inspired the most recent textile collection.

Nani Iro fabrics have a beautiful artistic vibe, and the designs are painted with watercolour before they are printed. I like this quote from the artist herself (taken from an interview) 

I paint to spin a tale that portrays a kind of comfort, that makes people happy when they feel it on their skin. I paint in the hope that each textile will be like a single poem, a single letter.

You can buy Nani Iro fabrics online, and read a rare interview with Naomi Ito here.

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As well as some exhibitions, galleries with handmade items, a flea market and other stores, I also visited WALNUT, a sweet little knitting shop in Tokyo. There's also a store in Kyoto, but it was closed when we were there. It reminded me a lot of our own local beauty Holland Road Yarns, with many of the same products for sale. WALNUT is where the magazine Amirisu is produced and they also produce their own hand-dyed yarn which is called Parade. I had to buy two skeins in that glorious dusky pink shade, which I entirely blame on the blossom season outside the window.

Japan is well known for its craft and dressmaking fabrics. I managed to visit one fabric store while I was in Osaka: Toraya, in Shinsaibashi.
There are several floors of sample fabrics on display, and if you want to buy something you tell an attendant who takes your order. After a ten minute wait, you can collect your order at the counter. So much better than lugging around giant rolls of fabric, like we do here!

At Toraya I ordered a few pieces of cotton and linen (my plan for these is knitting project bags for my etsy shop… hopefully soon!), and also bought a length of chirimen fabric (you can see that above, alongside the yarn). I wanted to get something authentically Japanese. Chirimen is a silky crepe fabric with a lot of drape, often used to make kimono and furoshiki wrapping. With this I hope to make a simple top or jacket for work. 

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I feel so lucky to have been able to explore this beautiful country, even if just for a couple of weeks. I'm dreaming of going back for a longer trip one day. In the meantime, I have plenty of making and remembering to do.

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