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 de ..read more

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 bee ..read more

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 ..read more

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 per ..read more

Hello! This Saturday morning post is brought to you by strong coffee, autumnal morning light streaming in the window and a vague sense of guilt that it's been ages since I last wrote here. I hope you are very well and have found time for the things you love lately. Here are a few snaps from my February and March life, the season of dried hydrangea petals - aren't they beautiful? I started a new job at the end of January, and it's been taking up nearly all my energy and thoughts - even dreams! But it's wonderful to have a new challenge and I'm getting to know some excellent and intere ..read more

Kia ora friends, I hope you're keeping well! And if you live on Te Ika-a-Maui (our North Island) you're staying warm and dry in this cyclone. Here are a few of the things I've been making and doing lately. First up: my finished Tegna top knitted over the course of the summer. I'm so glad to be finished with it and I love the end result - it's a nice and comfortable piece to wear! I used the Tegna pattern by Caitlin Hunter and some DMC 'Natura Linen' yarn in a muted green shade. I made a few adjustments to this pattern, including picking up extra stitches around the armholes (I hate t ..read more

So many pictures of flowers in the sun! But when I got home from my summer holiday, that was pretty much all I had on my phone, because I had tried to capture ALL the flowers. The first photo is to show you a small midsummer display I collected on the solstice. Little shells (we used to call these witches' hats when I was a kid), pebbles from the beach, honeysuckle, alstroemeria and hydrangea petals. There's something so lush and bright about the top of the South Island in January. Everything was blooming and buzzing and beautiful. I hope you have had a happy summer (or wintry) Christm ..read more

Kia ora, hello! How are you doing through these busy December days? I've been trying to wrap things up - finishing up various bits of work and other tasks, packing to visit family over the summer break, and literally wrapping things too, of course, in the form of Christmas gifts. I thought I'd share a few things I've been making along the way. I had grand plans (like I do every year) but only made a few things in the end.  A fun project was knitting up some mushroom ornaments, inspired by my friend Lizzie who sent me the link to the pattern for the wee 'charming mushroom ornament (th ..read more

Here we are in mid-December! I had good intentions to write more blog posts this year, but the months have really whizzed by this year. Something to aim for in 2023, perhaps?  I hope this finds you well and enjoying the end of the calendar year, however you celebrate it where you are. As always, our December has been filled up with end-of-year concerts and gatherings, as well as much work to be finished up before the summer break. It's been a happy time though, with Keira finishing her high school exams, and Arlo coming home for the university break. Both will spend time washing di ..read more

This is a tutorial I've been meaning to share for a long while. I'm often asked for my pattern or instructions for these bags that I've made (and shared online) over the years. I'm finally doing it! This Christmas I have an idea to use some fabric scraps and make little pouches for my nieces, each personalised with their initial. I intend to put some sweets, card games, or lip balm inside each, depending on the age of the child. The larger bags might even fit a small chapter book. I'm lucky enough to have 13 nieces! So I might not complete all of them this year. In any case, it's a fun proje ..read more