tiny happy

Meet Imogen Olive. She's my new niece and was born last week in Brooklyn, New York. Isn't she divine?

My brother took some pictures for us and I asked if I could share this one on my blog, because, well, I love it so much.

Imogen is wearing a little top I made for her last year when I first heard about her. And the shawl was made by my Mum in the spring. I don't know the name of the pattern or the yarn she used, but I'll find out.

I've also been investigating flights to New York.

edited to add:

Pattern is 'Quill' by Jared Flood, and the wool is 4 ply from Touch Yarns.

HANDMADE 2015: A Festival of Making is happening here in Wellington in June. I'll be teaching three workshops: 

– Hand-carved stamps and hand-printing (I made the silk top above with fabric printed in last year's class)

– Bear or rabbit (soft toy making)

– Elementary embroidery (perfect for beginners!)

There will also be lots of other really great classes, lectures, workshops and handmade stuff. All set in our lovely capital city (just bring your warm coat + handknits, enjoy the galleries, music and cafes when you're not at workshops.)

I hope you can join us! I'd love to see you at a workshop.

Find out more about the Festival of Making here.

One of my best friends from school has just had her first baby – and I wanted to knit a little cardigan or blanket but they live in a very warm part of the world, and after a little online research, I realised they'd seldom need winter woolies.

I decided instead to make some small and friendly animals for baby Sam's bedroom: a rabbit, a cat and a bear. I used odds and ends of handspun yarn for the animal bodies and embroidery thread for the faces. The idea came from this Ravelry link: 'Anything Animals', by Rachel Borello Carroll – you can find the versatile pattern itself here. 

I think it would make a great pattern for children who are learning to knit, because it's easily adaptable and quick.

Last weekend the kids and I made chocolate lamingtons for the first time. They were really delicious, the children were so proud of themselves, and the activity took up a good part of a rainy morning. And I'm so pleased that Arlo can now turn out a proper Kiwi sponge cake from scratch. I'm looking forward to exploiting this skill in the near future. 😉

I finished a new hat in a shade of Wellington-harbour-blue: it's the 'Jul Hat' by Jenny Gordy (of Wiksten) – you can find the pattern here. I love the simple stitch pattern and the fit is just right – if not a little slouchy, but that's fine. I even got Arlo to snap a photo of it with my phone camera so you can see it in action.

It was a lovely thing to knit, because I used a special skein of yarn I'd been saving for such a project: some Dark Harbour Yarn, hand-dyed by my friend Nikki (you can find her etsy shop here, and she says more DHY will appear in this local store throughout May in case you're looking for it.) The skein colourway is 'tentacle' – isn't that a great description?

Over the weekend I was gifted a new book of poems by my brother and sister-in-law: Otherwise, by John Dennison. I'm enjoying reading each slowly, smelling and hearing the ideas described – from wild fennel plant (flowchart rampant!) to the whistling of a blackbird (a gorse-gold beak) or a walled garden at dusk.

I had a length of black silk velvet tucked away in a suitcase for a long time. Years, probably.

I finally cut into it and sewed it up into this wintry dress – and its already been worn to two parties. I used the same pattern as this I did for this dress, and employed leftover fabric from that same project to create bias trim around the sleeves and neckline.

I also sewed an interior casing and threaded more of the contrast fabric through, so it can be worn loose or pulled tight. It's fun to have an idea of something to wear, then to recreate it from bits and pieces I already have lying around – though of course that's also justification for my endless cache of craft supplies.

Not sure if I'd boldly make a similar garment again, because the difficulty of photographing the dress was matched only by the difficulty of sewing the slippery fabric together…

Seasonally-appropriate: a quick and cosy knit (two nights in front of Scandinavian tv drama) to wear with the rest of my black office clothes: a drop-stitch cowl. I made one of these last year for my sister – fun, quick and easy, and importantly, warm and cosy. Autumnal win… (although, please excuse the weed-rich bricks outside our front steps – clearly I spend more time knitting than doing path maintenance.)

Not so seasonally-appropriate: these freesias, brought home from work by Tom the other day for the kitchen table. Their citrus scent and creamy petals; I love them anytime of year. 

Keira was sceptical of the new hat I was knitting for her, but now that it's finished, she likes it and hasn't taken it off since. And it should keep this little football player's ears warm on the sidelines for the wintry mornings coming up.

I used this pattern, with a finer yarn and smaller needles to downsize it a bit to fit K. The yarn is Jo Sharp 'alpaca kid lustre' in a greyish-purple. We re-purposed a pompom from this project for the top of the hat: and now we have (many) more in waiting for future hats. Or, maybe we could make one of these!

We have some beautiful cosmos flowers in the garden – still being visited by bees each day. Please stay a little longer, summer plants and insects…

– A new Wiksten top, because I wear the last one I made so often. This time I used bright floral fabric from this shop. A bit of bright happiness for the wardrobe.

– With every school holiday comes the request, 'Can we make cupcakes today, pleeease Mama?' And so we made these very simple little cakes. Really, the kids made them, I just had to help retrieve the baking powder box which was out of their reach.

LITTLE LEMON CAKES

125 g butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1 cup plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup milk

2 lemons

Cream butter and sugar together, then beat eggs one by one. Add the lemon zest, sift in the flour and baking powder and mix with the milk until you have a light batter. You might need to add a little more milk.

Spoon into paper cases and set these inside the holes of a small muffin/patty tin. Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 15 minutes. When cool, spoon over lemony glaze (the juice of the 2 lemons, mixed with a little icing sugar until a smooth, glaze-y consistency). Add edible flowers or mint leaves just before serving.

This cardboard 'silk tidy' was given to me by Helen – isn't it lovely? It already had some colourful threads attached, but I filled it up with some others that were tangled up in my thread tin.

Helen also sent a great old needlework booklet from the 1950s, with stitch diagrams and an essay entitled 'Advice to aspiring embroideresses.' The first tip: a good needlewoman never wastes a single thread.' So, I will try and heed this sage advice.

I mentioned The Craft Sessions retreat the other day, but I forgot to add that this year will be my last teaching embroidery. The programme changes every year, with new and fresh disciplines being added each time. So if you're thinking about joining in to do some embroidery with me, this is your year. I hope I'll see you there!

Felicia is running a giveaway over on TCS blog, where you can win some beautiful Quince & Co yarn. All you need to do is leave a comment here about which particular classes take your fancy, before 9pm Monday eve, EST. 

I made a simple work dress from some drapey silk crepe type material in greyish-purple, cream and black. It's not really what I would usually choose. But I felt like something different for autumn. It's already proved quite a useful garment: I just throw it over a plain black slip dress, tights and boots. I like the loose airyness of it.

The pattern is 'D' from 'Stylish Dress Book 2', a Japanese sewing book, bought a few years back. It's also the pattern on the cover of the book, though I made it without the extra sleeve length. I hadn't looked at this book in ages, hooray for useful rediscoveries.

In the past I made a few garments from it, but was inspired to try this particular pattern when I saw a similar dress (except with buses on it!) made by Fiona on her Instagram feed. 

Wishing you a happy weekend. Keep warm, wherever you are.