tiny happy

Must be a month of Sundays (or more?) since I last wrote here! What beautiful sun-days we've had over the past month. I'm feeling very grateful for a few weeks off from work, lots of good family adventures and hang-outs, books read, outdoor coffees had with summer knitting to hand.

I hope this finds you doing very well too, wherever you are in the world. The first photos I've posted above are collages from our summer holiday in Te Wai Pounamu – the South Island. We had some dreamy warm days, berries and icecream, sea swims, walks and I even managed to read a few books – heavenly.

I've also shared a few simple small gifts I made before Christmas. My son Arlo has recently become interested in painting and drawing, the first time since childhood I think! I bought him a small watercolour journal and brushes and made him up a custom set of watercolour paints from my collection of tubes. I wrote a bit about making my own set a while ago, in this post. It's been heartwarming to see him using his paints already.

I used up lots of cotton and linen yarn odds and ends by making a bunch of cleaning cloths. Every time I started to run out of a yarn, I held it with another one, and it created a  slightly messy-looking gradient effect that almost resembles little landscape paintings. And they're just for cleaning, so they don't have to be perfectly made! I pair these with a glass bottle of all-purpose cleaner which can be made like this:

= = = Into a 250ml bottle, place 1 teaspoon of dishwashing liquid, 1 tablespoon of white vinegar, a few drops of tea tree oil and a few drops of lavender oil. Top it up with water, put the lid on and gently shake to mix. = = = 

In the last photo above you can see a knitting project I was working on as we travelled around on our summer trip. It's just a simple sleeveless top and I used some Fibra Natura yarn called 'Papyrus' and a pattern called Kaisla by Finnish designer Veera Välimäki. The design is for a beautiful long dress, but I only had enough yarn (and patience, to be honest) for a top. I will show the finished piece in my next post – hopefully soon!

There's so much horror and pain in the world right now, it's unbelievable that I get to sit in the sun with my knitting while others are having their homes and families torn apart. I'm sending my heart straight to the Middle East, every day praying for an immediate ceasefire.

Sending love to you, friends,

M

Greetings to you on the longest day of the year! And the shortest, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere. This special time of the year has been one of poppies, roses, lots of eating and drinking with friends and family and… a lot of work as we near the end of 2023 and prepare for the summer break. It's also been a time of deep concern for people, especially children, in conflict zones around the world and my heart goes out to them and all those affected.

I wish you and your family, wherever you are, a very happy and restful festive season if you celebrate it. I look forward to being back in this space in the new year. Thank you as always for visiting me here and being part of this community.

X X X X X 

I embroidered this phrase as a motto – another world is possible. I haven't felt like sharing much on here, as the darkness of what is happening in so much of the world – in the Middle East – Gaza, especially, in other war zones. On a much smaller scale, here in Aotearoa our new government has just announced its plan to undo so much of the progress achieved here in the last few years.

This small meditation on avocado-dyed linen quotes from Arundhati Roy. The full phrase is: “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” 

= = == = = = = =

I've done a little making over the past month or so. It's been a busy time at work so I've not done as much as I would have liked! But imminent projects are simmering away in my mind and I think the summer break will be a good time to crack into some of them.

I made these little slippers for friends with a new baby girl. The yarn is a cotton-merino blend from Knitting for Olive and the pattern is the classic t-bar sandal from Debbie Bliss – I have an old copy of this book that I often turn to when baby knitting is in order.

And I finally finished that crochet blanket I've been blogging about since forever! I wrote more about process in this post, in case you're in the market to make something similar. I've already started another blanket because I really missed this project once it was done.

Ginger kisses! I remember having these, from the local bakery, as a special treat when we were kids. I recently made some to take to an event and they were delicious. Quite light with a gingery-cinnamon 'cream' (icing) inside. They're my new favourite thing to bake for a fancy afternoon tea or party. I used the recipe in Alexa Johnston's Ladies a Plate book – you can find this particular recipe here.

In music news, I recently bought some bluetooth headphones for walking home from work in the summer evenings. I've been enjoying listening to the new album by Sufjan Stevens – Javelin. This coming weekend, I'm excited to go to see The War on Drugs who are playing in Wellington. And then the next evening – Handel's Messiah by the NZ Symphony Orchestra. What is this lucky life?!

And finally, I wonder if you've noticed the new layout for this blog? I have been meaning to re-jig this page for ages and last week I finally did it. Mostly it just means larger photos and text – I hope you find it an improvement!

See you again soon friends and thank you as always for reading.

M x

For years I was convinced that I lacked the inherent skill to crochet. My patient mum, an accomplished crocheter, tried to teach me dozens of times. I stayed up late trying to learn from YouTube videos (even the ones that promised 'anyone can crochet – this video is for absolute beginners!') My sister tried to help, a few friends encouraged me, and I got books out from the library. I really wanted to make a granny square blanket and I knew that crochet would be a wonderful way to use up all yarn leftover from my knitting projects.

Eventually, it was an evening spent with my five-year-old niece that gave me the inspiration to try again. She was sitting on the floor, watching Netflix and casually crocheting a giant granny square from yarn scraps in a basket, almost absent-mindedly with her eyes on the movie. She said 'come on Aunty, look it's easy!' and her beautiful, colourful blanket-in-progress motivated me to try again, this time with more patience.

I started out with granny squares to use up my favourite 4-ply leftovers. Most of these were locally hand-dyed yarns in silk and merino that I had used in shawls and garments. Once I had a few squares, I realised they would make a beautiful blanket so I kept them, along with all my fingering-weight yarns, in a basket. This way I could carry them around easily and add to the blanket gradually over time.

I worked on these squares on buses, trains and planes, in my lunch break at work and even at the laundromat in the middle of winter.

Last month I finally finished this 2-year project. I am so happy with the completed blanket and it keeps us warm on the sofa. I hope my story of persistence encourages you to have another go at crochet, if, like me, it's something you've struggled to learn. I've described my process below. And yes, I already have another one on the go!

Materials

I decided on using fingering-weight (4-ply) yarn for this project consistently, in order to maintain a consistent gauge and drape. While I did use leftover yarn (merino, silk, alpaca, possum and blends of these) I was quite careful to 'colour-manage'. I tried to stick to a harmonious colour palette: greys, pinks, mustard and olive greens throughout.

I chose a charcoal-grey (nearly black) alpaca yarn to complete the final round of each square and join them at the end, for a consistent look.

I used a 3.5mm metal hook, and worked my clusters somewhat loosely, for a drapey, airy texture.

I also used a beautiful handmade wooden trug basket to keep my project together and easy to transport.

Method

I started out by learning how to crochet a classic granny square, using this photo tutorial.

I chose a new colour for each round of crochet and tried to balance light and darker tones. Altogether I made 16 squares.

I worked a total of 15 rounds for each square, then a final round in my unifying colour (dark grey yarn). Then I wove in all the ends, and soaked and blocked them so they each measured approximately 27cm square.

I knew I didn't want to sew the finished squares together, because I thought that would be tedious! I also wanted to avoid a stiff seam between each of the squares so I did some research into various joining methods. There are lots of options for both sewing and crocheting the squares together.

After the squares had dried, I laid them out into a 4 X 4 grid and joined them using the dark grey yarn again and 'the continuous method' explained in this great video.

I worked another round of granny clusters right around the edge of the whole blanket in dark grey, then few rounds of single crochet in pink and dark grey to finish.

Finally, I blocked the whole blanket outside in the sun. It measures just under 1.5 metres square.

I hope I've inspired you to give this a go if it's something you've always wanted to try! For a faster project, you could choose a chunkier yarn such as DK or worsted, and a bigger hook. You could also make one really big square, avoiding the need to join them up! That's what I did for this blanket.

You can see more pictures of my process here on Ravelry. Happy crocheting!

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.

= = = = = = =

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. 

= = = = = = =

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.

= = = = = = =

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

It feels like winter is (slowly) easing away and I'm not sad about it. The past few days have been light and warm and even though it's quite the cliche, it feels like life is lightening up too. I do love this time of year. Once again, I've left it too long between posts, so writing about all these pictures seems like too great a task. I'll instead do some quick descriptions, with apologies for brevity.

a) a little set I made for my new baby niece. Because she was born right in the coldest part of winter, I thought it would be nice to use spring colours, so chose a light apple green and cream for her hat, booties and socks. All the patterns are free ones and you can find the links on my Ravelry page here. 

b) succulents in the winter dew + morning light

c) a baby blanket, also for my new niece. This was woven by Mum in a mix of possum and silk merino yarns. I simply ended it with a satin blanket binding. The woven fabric reminds some of paua shell.

d) Japanese treats with very aesthetically pleasing packaging, a gift from my friend Jess who lives in Yukushima at the moment.

e) Another set, hand-knitted for baby niece. For these pieces, I used a skein of O-Wool Balance, which is a blend of cotton and merino, and two patterns from a classic Erika Knight baby knits book. I love the finished pieces – they're chunky but still quite light, thanks to the cotton in the yarn. My Ravelry project page is here.

f) Something that made me very happy recently: a windowsill line up of orange marmalade. I use a classic recipe (from this incredibly old – yikes- blog post).

g) Tom requested a new hat. I made him one using a cone of possum Zealana yarn in black and the Brume design by Melody Hoffman. It's the exact same hat I knitted him last year, but he left it in a cafe. I started a matching scarf afterwards but there's no way I'll finish it before summer.

h) This is just a record of the beautiful orchid my friend A-L gave me and how beautiful it looked in the afternoon light last week.

I hope you are doing very well, wherever you are! See you again soon,
M X 

Midwinter, the perfect time to get the knitting needles out. When the days are short and they're mostly spent in the office in town, I find that knitting is my calming companion to offset the stresses of the day. I'm sure I'm not alone in that!

I finally finished Tom's Moby Sweater – hooray! It felt like a bit of a marathon knit, but he loves the finished piece and wears it often, so it was all worth it. The Moby Sweater is a pattern by Petite Knit knitted up in sport-weight yarn. It has all-over cabled and textured stitches, with dropped sleeves and a folded neckband and lots of nice details such as tubular bind-offs and short row shaping. I used a cone of possum-merino yarn from the Woolyarns factory near me – it used up about 3/4s of the cone (there were moments where I worried I wouldn't have enough – and no way to find more!) The yarn is a sort of grey-blue shade with tweedy flecks of other colours – it could be some sort of recycled wool maybe. It's a lovely weight – not too heavy, with a slight possum halo.

It was a great fit on Tom straight off the needles, but it has stretched slightly with wear, which isn't great. The sleeves are quite loose especially – I'm thinking that maybe I could risk a few minutes in the dryer to shrink it a bit? Please let me know if you have any opinions about that idea! My Ravelry notes for the project are here.

I've also included above a picture of a beautiful traditional wooden trug Tom gave me for Christmas last year. It held this sweater project while I was working on it, and now it's home to a crochet blanket in progress. Isn't it a beautiful object? It was made by this craftsperson in Golden Bay which is where we love to go in the summer. 

= = = = = = = = =

Future knitting plans:

– I would love to cast on one of these heirloom quilt cardigans! The seaming is not so appealing, but I love the style and can imagine it would be so nice to wear over a linen dress! 

– I've been thinking about wool embroidery lately, and probably baby cardigans would be a good place for some stitching. Also maybe some fingerless gloves, like these? I have a Pinterest board devoted to wool embroidery, if you're after some inspiration.

– A few years ago, I made this little bunny for one of my nieces. I would love to make more of these characters, and the designer of that bunny now has a book and many other patterns to choose from, all of them gorgeous.

– Let me know about your crafty plans – what are you wanting to make these days?

= = = = = = = = =

Since my last post, Arlo (my eldest child) turned 20! I guess he's not a child anymore. I was tidying up the linen cupboard when his beautiful baby blanket, spun and knitted by my Mum more than 20 years ago, fell out. It was a bit moth-eaten and felted but I hadn't seen it in years! I thought I might cut it up and sew it into a hot water bottle cover for him, but couldn't quite bring myself to do it. So I just mended the holes, washed it and popped it back in the cupboard.

In a lovely cycle, 20 years later, we're expecting a new baby niece or nephew sometime soon so I've been working on a few tiny garments! Above you can see some small booties I made recently for said baby-in-progress, made using my favourite pattern which is this one. I'll have a few more baby knits to share in my next post!

= = = = = = = = =

And lastly, I have included a few snaps of our winter skies from the past few weeks. I do love this luminous time of year.
I hope you are doing very well, and keeping warm if you're a fellow Southern Hemisphere-dweller. See you next time, friends,
Melissa

This post is morning-themed, in that I snapped all these pictures first thing in the day. I actually love this time in early winter (rather than early mornings, which I've never liked to be perfectly honest), when everything feels light and crisp and it's still simply cosy to light the fire and wear coats and boots. (Later in winter I tire of the firewood and heavy layers!)

Anyway, I hope you are very well, wherever you happen to be, whether it's early winter or you're entering warmer times. I'm still ticking along on my Moby Sweater knitting project. I'm making this for Tom and it's been a couple of months of evening knitting so far. You can see my Ravelry notes here. A lot of the sweater is knitted in Irish moss stitch and I've opted to work the sleeves entirely in that stitch, rather than the cable design stated in the pattern. It occurred to me that I was wearing sleeves knitted in that pattern while knitting the same type of sleeves the other day! I actually love Irish moss stitch and I think the sleeves look great without the cables.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

The first photo was taken just as the sun came up the other day. I was sitting in bed with my cup of coffee, just admiring the changing colours in the sky when I realised I really should get up and capture it on my phone. One of the nice things about living up lots of steps is that you have a great view of your suburb! I love seeing everything coming to life – lights switching on in all the windows, buses and cars moving along the streets and planes overhead.

I've also included some pictures of a very short-lived, but wonderful 'project space' I set up for myself in what used to be Keira's room. I had such a nice time digging out saved birthday cards and paintings and other favourite images saved from magazines. Some are Keira's paintings, some are my own watercolour experiments and some are artworks by friends. My project space is sadly no longer – we are doing some d-i-y on those walls, but it was great while it lasted!

I've also included a picture of some small makes from a couple of months ago. I realised I never shared them here, but they represent a very enjoyable afternoon of up-cycling. I found the hand-painted silk scarf in an op-shop and had to buy it – it was only $1 but it had a few holes and marks. I washed it then sewed up the silk into a few little gifts for pals: lavender sachets, scrunchies and pouches. I'm now on the lookout for more handpainted silk!

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

I'm still enjoying being part of the Wellington chapter of Good Bitches Bake even though it means getting up extra early to make treats before work! It's so worth it though, I never regret starting my day like that. I made a batch of cheese scones this week and remembered that I had written about these on my blog a few years ago. Here's my favourite-ever cheese scone recipe. My family request these all the time, especially on a cold Saturday morning to have with lots of butter and coffee on the side. Leftover scones are just nice the next day, sliced in half and popped in the toaster.

Well that's it from me this afternoon, dear blog friends. Thank you for stopping in!
M X

Some May projects and places!

Autumn is fading into winter now, but we are still having some beautiful crisp and bright mornings. I was at an early-morning meeting by the water last week and the world was so bright and true! I had to take these pictures from my walk there. The quote is from a poem by Lauris Edmond, who died in the year 2000. She lived on a Wellington hillside, and lots of her writing was firmly placed in this city. 

Despite setting up a little designated space at home (complete with some of my favourite pictures on wall) I haven't done much sewing lately, but I did manage to make a new top to wear to work (shown in the top photo above). For this, I used a piece of grey silk crepe fabric found at Fabricabrac the day before, and the Papercut Patterns 'Pinnacle Top' design. It's sheer and loose and a nice thing to layer over a camisole or dress.

I've also included photos from my current knitting project, in two stages. The first was after a week of evenings' work (!) and comprises just the back yoke of Tom's new jumper. I kept making mistakes and having to start again. I have the hang of it now (I hope!) so in the second photo you can see I'm getting there. Because I only have a bit of knitting time in the evenings after work, my progress is slow. I really hope to finish the body this week though and will report back soon!

The Moby Sweater is a pattern by Petite Knit and I'm making this for Tom from a cone of possum/merino sport-weight yarn from Woolyarns. My Ravelry project page is here.

+ + + + + + + +

Other lovely things from this past month include:

Heading to Featherston Booktown with my friend Juliet. We listened to artist Robin White speak with curator Courtney Johnston and a group of historians and writers remembering the injustice of Parihaka.

Reading The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell – what an intricate world it describes.

Listening to Tiny Ruin's gorgeous voice and sweet songs in a little country hall. I recommend this album wholeheartedly…

Wishing you all the May happiness,

X X X X X X 

Kia ora dear reader.

This blog post is brought to you by plants! Autumn is my favourite season, and around here it's marked by walnuts and feijoas from our family orchard, marigolds in the garden and neighbourhood walks to forage blackberries and bits and pieces for the table. Last weekend was Easter, and we had three little nieces staying for the short holiday. They helped me collect various cuttings from the garden for our Easter lunch table, including dried toitoi, kawakawa leaves, ferns, tiny daisies and bits of tansy and rosemary. I had to take a photo for the blog!

It was the perfect time of year to read Helen Lehndorf's new memoir, A Forager's Life. I adored it and found myself rationing pages to make it last longer! If you're interested in medicinal plants, gardening and gathering, I think you will enjoy it. As well as being a personal story about Helen's life as a daughter and mother, there are recipes and activities to expand your plant knowledge and experience. I found it was like reading a letter from a friend and I suppose it was! Helen and I were pen-friends for years while our kids were small. Helen also mentions a book called Street Flowers by Richard Mabey which I realised I already owned. When I opened up my copy, I found a five-year-old letter from Helen, explaining that she'd found it in a book sale but already had a copy, but thought I'd like it. I do – it's beautiful!

I wanted to mark my 40th birthday literally with a tattoo and it took me a couple of years to actually do it (due to Covid lockdowns and various other things) – I"m now 42! I settled on a marigold design because they've always been one of my favourite flowers – as a kid I had a little book of birthstones and flowers and marigolds were October's. These flowers have become a kind of symbol of my childhood in my mind, representing long afternoons spent outside playing and collecting seeds. The smell of the seeds and flowers instantly transports me to early childhood.

I was scrolling on Instagram one afternoon when I saw that Caera of Perpetua Studio was starting out with marigold tattoos and the next day, a friend visited and brought with him the huge bunch of orange marigolds you see above. So I felt that it was my time to book in and get my permanent marigold. Caera did an excellent job (the photo above is also by her) – I highly recommend her work and she also specialises in botanical silk printing which is very beautiful. Look at these pillowcases, for example!

+ + + + + + +

I've not made tons of time for sewing and knitting lately. I have lots of plans though, so watch this space! I have included at the top of this post some pictures of a dress I sewed up a few weeks ago. I made this to wear to work and based it entirely on a dress I saw someone wearing on the bus. I had 2 metres of a beautiful soft green linen-hemp from The Fabric Store and had to play around with the bodice shape a bit before I was happy with it. I must admit, it did remind me that I prefer the ease of sewing with a pattern. But the finished dress fits me well and I've already had a lot of wear from it – I like it with a plain black top underneath, pinafore-style.

+ + + + + + +

Other very good things from this past month have been:

Making this super simple, lemony loaf for friends and family. I reduce the sugar a bit but make extra hot lemon syrup to pour over the top as soon as it comes out of the oven. So good with a cup of tea!

This beautiful Laura Marling album. I love this song the best.

This entire collection of Nancybird clothes, using artwork by my friend Lizzie. I'm still deciding which piece I'll buy!

Seeing Kurt Vile live here in Wellington with Tom! I love Kurt Vile. That is all.

Eating fresh feijoas every day and dreaming of winter knitting projects.

+ + + + + + + 

I hope you are finding time for the projects you have in mind. I wish you a very happy April and will see you again here soon.

Love,

Melissa