Pleased solstice – summer time or winter! And mānawatia a Matariki! This publish is coming to you from a comfy spot by the hearth near the shortest day of the yr. It was darkish by 5pm at this time, and chilly, too, however I like this time of yr. All the things outdoors is recent and damp, and the odor of rain and wooden smoke is in all places.

With the shorter days and a usually busier schedule than normal, I’ve not discovered as a lot time for my normal favourites like knitting and stitching. I’ve began taking a little bit of crochet with me on the bus and it is wonderful how a lot I can get in little increments – ready for the bus, sitting on the bus, zooming residence after work. I am making a granny sq. blanket from 4ply leftovers – extra information in my Ravelry undertaking web page right here. I feel that is going to be a particularly long-term undertaking for apparent causes! I do get pleasure from utilizing up my leftover yarns and selecting the colors for every spherical of every sq..

In my final publish i wrote about solar prints and the way I’ve had a good few ‘failures’ alongside the best way. I’ve began to make use of watercolours on a few of the lower than crisp prints and it is such an pleasant course of, to sit down down and hand-colour the prints to make playing cards and different issues. I’ve included an image above – the vegetation used right here had been (clockwise from prime left) kōwhai and clover, hellebore leaf, kawakawa and pink hibiscus.

It is made me take into consideration how I would manipulate the cyanotype course of additional with a purpose to mix different mediums in these items. To date, watercolour has labored finest and it is particularly pleasing as a result of I take advantage of watercolour paper to make the prints.

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I realised I by no means shared right here my fluffy pink sweater! I knitting this within the autumn and held collectively a strand of possum-merino DK yarn on a cone that I’ve had for a very long time, and a strand of cream mohair/silk yarn. The design is named ‘Magnolia Bloom’ by Camilla Vad. You’ll be able to click on right here to see my Ravelry undertaking web page for more information, together with an image of me sporting it!

It is a beautiful chunky garment- very heat and smooth as you may think! We’re undoubtedly coming into sweater season now, so I am grateful to have it.

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I’ve simply completed studying To date, for now, which is a group of memoir essays by an writer native to me, Fiona Kidman. She’s one in all my favorite NZ authors, and I actually loved these lovely essays, which contact on plenty of completely different points of her life, from childhood, her father, the loss of life of her beloved husband, and their political activism and group work. 

By means of the headphones, I have been having fun with so many new-to-me songs recently – together with some by Thundercat, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Som, Aldous Harding and Khruangbin.

This is a track that’s particularly pricey to me this winter: Holding Arms, by Magic Lantern.

A lot like to you, wherever you is likely to be,

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