tiny happy

Hello! I hope your week is going well. 

It's been a properly wintry one here, although the mornings are getting a little bit lighter every day. This morning I had to take a photo when I pulled the curtains open – look at how the mountains are edged so beautifully in light!

Last week I finished knitting a hat for a friend who is having a hard time with his health at the moment. I asked him to choose a pattern on Ravelry and a colour, and I thought possum-blend yarn would be a good bet for maximum warmth and softness.

The pattern is called Midas Hat (free on Rav) and I used Zealana yarns, which are produced locally. The cool thing about the pattern is that you cast on provisionally and then knit a brim that is then folded inside the hat like a lining. I used a silk-possum-merino blend for that part for extra warmth. Here are my notes in case they're helpful.

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The last photo you see above is a quick snap I took in the City Gallery over the weekend – my third visit to the Colin McCahon exhibition On Going Out with the Tide, which has just finished. This was my favourite piece in the exhibition – Ahipara, painted on 5 pieces of canvas in 1973. Grey skies, land-forms and the call of seabirds.

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There's not much flowering in the garden these days, but there is this shrub – I'm not sure what it is, maybe a kind of manuka, or Erica?

I spent a rainy afternoon recently embroidery small sprigs of this mystery plant onto linen, which was quite a pleasing activity. I usually like to listen to the radio or podcasts while I stitch, but recently I've discovered the lazy but fun habit of watching clips of various things on YouTube such as knitting podcasts and food shows. I came across this recipe for lemon pavlova while I was working on this embroidery, and now I can't stop thinking about it – I might have to give it a try this weekend! I really can't think of a more delicious pudding than lemony meringue.

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Here's a favourite song by the UK band Blur: Good Song. Enjoy the rest of your week!

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Hello friends, how are you?

I'm typing from the kitchen table with coffee nearby and winter sun momentarily beaming in, which is rather blissful. I haven't had much to write about lately, mostly because there's been limited light to take photos, school holidays, stormy weather and flu in the house. But anyway, onto better topics!  

All of the above create excellent conditions for knitting, so I've been slowly working on a couple of projects which I hope to finish soon.

Constança loaned me a stack of her favourite craft books (we did a 'craft book stack swap' – highly recommended!) and included was her copy of A Year Between Friends, by Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes.

It's a really beautiful book, with letters between the two bloggers that reflect on family life and friendship, love and loss. It also includes ideas for craft projects (I love the look of those sun-printed fabrics) and recipes through the seasons.

If you click on this link you can see some of the beautiful handmade projects they offer up instructions for, including hand-printed garments and lip balm coloured with beetroot. 

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It's also been perfect TV-watching weather… Tom and I have been making our way through The Handmaid's Tale (which I have many thoughts about) and the 2011 BBC adaptation of Great Expectations, which we're watching with the kids and having some good chats about Dickensian England. 

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And here is my favourite song this week: The Moon Lay Down. I couldn't find the lyrics online anywhere, but I think it's a beautiful three minutes of music.

I hope this finds you well!

Hello friends, how are you?

I'm typing from the kitchen table with coffee nearby and winter sun momentarily beaming in, which is rather blissful. I haven't had much to write about lately, mostly because there's been limited light to take photos, school holidays, stormy weather and flu in the house. But anyway, onto better topics!  

All of the above create excellent conditions for knitting, so I've been slowly working on a couple of projects which I hope to finish soon.

Constança loaned me a stack of her favourite craft books (we did a 'craft book stack swap' – highly recommended!) and included was her copy of A Year Between Friends, by Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes.

It's a really beautiful book, with letters between the two bloggers that reflect on family life and friendship, love and loss. It also includes ideas for craft projects (I love the look of those sun-printed fabrics) and recipes through the seasons.

If you click on this link you can see some of the beautiful handmade projects they offer up instructions for, including hand-printed garments and lip balm coloured with beetroot. 

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It's also been perfect TV-watching weather… Tom and I have been making our way through The Handmaid's Tale (which I have many thoughts about) and the 2011 BBC adaptation of Great Expectations, which we're watching with the kids and having some good chats about Dickensian England. 

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And here is my favourite song this week: The Moon Lay Down. I couldn't find the lyrics online anywhere, but I think it's a beautiful three minutes of music.

I hope this finds you well!

I finished knitting another small garment recently, this time for the new baby boy of some old friends. For this I used soft alpaca yarn in an oatmeal shade, and wooden buttons. I began with this pattern, but made some changes, namely, converting the whole cardigan into garter stitch. (More details here on my Ravelry page.)

To wrap up with the cardigan, I also sewed a pair of slippers in striped linen and a little hanging bird with dried lavender inside, just because.

There are so many things on my knit-wish-list at the moment, it's hard to know what to do next! I'd like to knit some hats for family members, a (me-size) cardigan and a jumper. What are you working on these days?

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I've been enjoying listening to this song from the album All Things Must Pass by George Harrison (although the whole album is great). It's from 1970 but (I think) still pretty fresh. 

For various reasons, I was so happy to see the past week come to an end! When I woke up this morning I found these tiny little primula had flowered in the garden. Spring will be here soon. Wishing you a happy weekend.

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Thank you for your thoughtful messages after my last post. I so appreciate them!

It feels as though the days are slowly, slightly, getting longer and lighter. It's still dark when we get home from work but it helps to know that technically spring is a bit closer.

I don't have much to show this week, partly due to the aforementioned darkness. But here are two textile pieces that I am enjoying this week. The first is a grey wool top I bought a while ago to wear to the office, but it felt a bit boring, even by my standards…!

I added a bit of wool embroidery – kind of like a permanent brooch I suppose – which brings a bit of spring to a grey thing.

The other is an amazing silk scarf that Helen sent to me a number of years ago. It's quite big and features an intricate print of Australian native plants (possibly pincushion hakea and waxflowers? Just a guess..)

I've always wanted to get this framed for the wall, so I might see if I arrange that this week.

And speaking of flowers, this is a beautiful little illustration/animation that I found via a friend on Facebook. Directed by Azuma Makoto, it's designed for children to demonstrate the life cycle of flowers, and this introduction seemed apt:

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Many different flowers are growing beautifully and strongly in this world. Taking their roots in the earth, sprouting, blooming, pollinated by birds and insects, living on in spite of rain, wind and storms. They pass on the baton of life, rebirth and decay. Everything in a continuous, endless cycle.

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It was so hard, but we had to say goodbye to my grandmother last week. 

She was quite unwell in the second half of her life but she faced it directly with humour and courage and never complained. She had a special talent for finding something worthwhile and fun in every situation, even when she couldn't get around at all and was completely reliant on others. 

My grandmother was an amazing knitter, specialising in colour work jumpers knitted in the round. The last time we talked she was giving me tips on knitting men's socks and ties and describing all the different things she knitted for my grandfather when they were younger.

It was lovely to be surrounded by family and friends in farewelling Nana in the winter sunshine.

Here's a piece of music she really loved: The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams. She also loved quite a lot of cheesy music such as the Beegees and the hits from Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. 

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I hope your week has been a good one.

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Happy Matariki - Māori New Year to you!

It's the shortest day here today, and the sun has been shining on regardless. We celebrated our winter solstice baby's birthday – Arlo turned 14 the other day (not such a baby anymore), and apart from that, I don't have much to report from these parts.

I made a set of linen napkins for a big family dinner party we held on the weekend, but then got caught up in the party and forgot to put them out for the guests. I used some pieces of beautiful blue linen that my friend Nikki gave me a while ago and I'm sure they'll be put to use soon enough (Tom loves to cook so we have friends around for dinner quite often).

In the last photo above you can see a pile of little tags/cards I made with pressed flowers. I like to have a supply of these on hand for wrapping up gifts and etsy orders. Most of these cards were made using pressed cosmos petals from the summer, leaves and borage flowers. This little contraption has been put to good use!

Other projects I've been working on include some baby-garment knitting for gifts, mending and a bit of embroidery (will show that soon).

I hope you're finding time to work on your projects or do other things you love, these days.

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Hello and Happy Wednesday to you.

Thank you for entering the book giveaway from my last post, for a copy of Helen Lehndorf's new book Write to the Centre. I drew a winner randomly and that was number 10… Sally! Congratulations Sally, I will email you shortly.

I found it really interesting to read the comments about whether or not you keep a journal, and why.

Some people don't, for fear of it being found, while others are keen documenters of their own lives. Quite a few comments mentioned feeling curious about the journaling process and how it might help us process and remember different stages of our lives.

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Do you know the musician Sam Amidon? On his album All is Well, he features a selection of mostly Appalachian folk songs and adapts them. My favourite is this one: Saro. The music video is really beautiful too, and uses vintage film footage.

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It's been mostly a grey and busy week here so far, but I bought a red cyclamen plant for the kitchen table and that has cheered things up a lot. Hope you are well.

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Hello! I hope you're having a nice weekend. Mine has been filled with cosy activities so far – a family movie night, coffee with friends, Fabricabrac and a day spent drinking tea and chatting by the fire with Constança. Couldn't ask for a nicer weekend, really!

I also have a giveaway, thanks to Helen Lehndorf, poet and author.

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Write to the Centre is an inspiring book about keeping a journal and how this can enrich our creative lives. It's beautifully illustrated, thoughtful and encouraging and will have you buying a blank notebook, pen and fresh glue-stick immediately.

You can read more about this special book, along with a recent interview I did with Helen here.

Helen has kindly offered up a copy to send to one of my readers. I'll wrap it up with a few extra journal-related treats and post it to a randomly-selected winner anywhere in the world.

To enter, please leave a comment below, explaining whether you keep a journal/diary/scrapbook or not, and why.

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