KNITTED BABY BLANKET

I was over at my parents' place, playing IT support for my dad when my mom came in, showing me a bunch of knitting patterns for baby clothes. My dad tried to shoo her out, but my mother replied with urgency that I only had just over three months before my sister was due, and as my sister doesn't knit it's important I knit something for the baby. Not that I wasn't thinking about knitting something anyway, I've just not done much knitting recently. My morganite cardigan has been at a standstill for months (this just happens to coincide with me hitting the complicated part of the pattern), and I haven't had any other projects on the go as I felt I should finish the cardigan before I start something else. I have too many UFOs as it is.

But you heard my mom! If I'm gonna knit something (and still have time to make Christmas presents!), I had to get started. So I started a baby blanket, and decided to go for Pickle's Little Star Baby Blanket in all yellow, using Drop's Baby Merino. It's so soft! It took me a couple of lines to really get the pattern, but now I'm on a bit of a roll and I'm about halfway through. I think the hardest and most time consuming part so far has actually been making the foundation stitches--somehow I really struggled to estimate enough yarn to count out 99 stitches and had to do this twice haha. Numbers have never been my strong point.

DIANA F+ / SOUTH KOREA

If you're a regular reader, you may know that I visited my sister in South Korea earlier this year. I took lots of photos with my SLR camera (which I really need to make a photobook out of—ASAP!), but I also took a couple of rolls of 120 film with my Diana F+. I had completely forgotten about them though, as they were hiding behind a couple Cadbury creme eggs in my fridge (that I sadly also forgot about and have now gone off. Fail!). So I was both excited and surprised when I got these back from the developer's. Even more so, when I realized that the other film I shot in Korea (also fisheye, of buildings on Geoje) appears to be hiding. I had a couple of really cool shots of the building my sister lived in on that film, so really hoping it turns up. But for now, here's a couple shots form my surprise film.

These were all shot on 120 film with the Diana F+. The ones shot with the Fisheye lens were from a cycling trip I took to the mountains on Geoje, while the others were shot at the beach in Busan.

KAYAK TRIP TO BUNNY ISLAND

So we went on a bit of a different photo adventure yesterday! I had borrowed the kayaks from work, so Graeme and I set out to explore a couple of the little islands in Gandsfjord, and we brought along my GoPro for the occasion. Whenever I've been kayaking before, the one thing that's always bothered me is how I've not been able to take any pictures. I've never wanted to risk taking an SLR or my phone with me, and somehow, none of mine and Graeme's 14 analog cameras are waterproof. A GoPro Hero3 White Edition on sale solved that problem (and oh my, we have SO many ideas of how to use this camera with Bo. yes, this is totally happening).

The first thing that happened on our little adventure, was that Graeme caught two mackerel. Yes, they're what's for dinner tonight. Next, we continued to this magical little island full of bunnies. I was first intrigued due to the weird structure in the picture below (room with a view, anyone?), and then as we got closer to the island I noticed some strangely shaped rocks... that turned out to be rabbits! I'm not entirely sure how they got there, as they looked like domesticated rabbits, but they seemed to be enjoying their little grassy island in the sun. We went ashore to explore, and on the other side of the island there was a small pebble beach where I went for a swim (my first swim in the sea in Norway this year, and it's in September...?), while Graeme paddled around and had his toes nibbled by the little fish.

BUTTON DOWN SKIRT

Hurrah, another sewing project! And this time, I made a skirt based on this tutorial from Tilly and the Buttons (which, by the way, is an awesome sewing blog, if you didn't already know about it!). I have a navy skirt similar to this one already, which has been a favorite for very many years (I actually wore it to mine and Graeme's first date eons ago, and I still love it! Ha!), so as soon as I saw Tilly's tutorial I knew I wanted to try making it.

I used a lovely cotton tartan (which gave me a bit of Scotland homesickness), and added black buttons down the front. It was my first time making a gathered skirt, making pockets and doing button holes, so I'm pretty impressed the buttons lined up with the holes. Which I had to do by hand by the way, as my very basic sewing machine doesn't do button holes. Plus, pocket no. 2 is way neater than pocket no. 1 haha. So I'm getting better, right? My novice sewing skills show a bit, but overall I'm really happy with the result, and I already want to make another one. Can't wait to wear this one as much as I've worn my navy one over the years!

BATIK PILLOW

I like a nice and simple DIY project. They don’t take up much time and add a nice personal touch. And other than the fact that this was actually my third attempt at this project, this batik pillow project super easy and quick. My first attempt looked perfect until someone put an iPad on it while the wax was drying. And then someone else sat on it, and sadly it was unsalvageable. And for my second attempt, my wax obviously ran empty and squirted everywhere like an almost-empty ketchup bottle. So in case you’re wondering, a 85 ml bottle of batik wax will be enough for about a pillow and a half, if you’re doing a pattern similar to this one.

Anyway, troubles aside, I’m happy with the results so thought I’d share. The process is super simple: I drew my pattern using batik wax, and then dyed it using Dylan fabric dye in Ocean Blue. I like how irregular my “hellos” are, and the ombre effect. Goes quite nicely with the blue flowers in the duvet in my guestroom, no?

Also, do I need to work on my ironing skills or what?

ADVENTURES IN SEWING: SHIFT DRESS

Lo and behold, I made a dress! This isn't actually the first time I sew a dress, but it's the first time I sew one from a pattern I made based on another dress. The original dress was a shift dress I bought a few years ago in Dublin at Forever 21. I loved it dearly, but as it was showing a bit of wear and tear I decided that it was time to let go.. at least almost. It seemed simple enough for me with my basic sewing skills to try to make my own version of it, so I grabbed my scissors, cut up the seams and made a pattern.

The original dress had ties for the back, but I decided to keep it simple and used a hook and eye clasp. I have so many other ideas now too, like maybe adding a scalloped hem at the bottom? Or changing the neck? Adding pockets? Or hello, peter pan collar? Ahh the possibilities are endless. Watch this space for more dresses!

Also, a special thanks to Graeme for taking the pictures haha. For someone who loves to take photos, I'm pretty camera-shy, and have really no idea how to even begin posing. I mean, what do you do with your face? Or all your limbs? Oh, the awkwardness. Either way, we had a good laugh taking these. And brace yourself--I finished off sewing a skirt yesterday too, so will probably do a post about that once I get organized enough to take a few awkward photos of that too!