KNITTED RAGLAN SWEATER

Some friends and I have recently started meeting up for "strikk & drikk" evenings, where we basically meet up and sit around and chat and knit while having a couple of drinks ("strikk & drikk" is Norwegian for "knit & drink"). It's been really fun, and it's also put me on a bit of a knitting kick!

And while on this knitting kick, I went ahead and knitted my first sweater! Actually, I knitted two, this is the second one (I was going to do a post on the first one but never got around to it, cause, you know, life!). I've always been a bit put off by knitting sweaters as they seemed like such big projects, and I have a tendency to get distracted and bored if a knitting project is too time consuming. Admittedly, this project is still lying there unfinished in my knitting basket. But I was encouraged by one of the girls from my knitting group who has only been knitting for a couple of months now and she's already finished three sweaters (and several headbands made out of the leftover yarn). Besides, I needed a break from all the knitted baby blankets! (Although I also knitted another one of those for a friend who's expecting haha)

For the first sweater, I used this pattern, but I used Drops Brushed Alpaca Silk which meant I had to adjust the pattern a little to make up for the tension difference. I knitted the whole sweater in about two weeks, and was so happy with the result that I decided to knit another one and got started straight away.

For the second sweater though, I wanted to make a couple of adjustments. I wanted a bit of a tighter knit, so I decided to use 4mm needles (as opposed to 6mm as the original pattern called for). I made some adjustments to the length of the sweater, inverted the sleeves for a subtle contrast, and did a slight adjustment to the raglan construction.

And overall, I'm so happy with the result. I loved the first sweater and I've worn it a ton, but I think I like the second one even more! But while the first sweater took me about two weeks to knit, the second one took me over two months! This was partly because of the smaller needles that obviously take a longer time to work with, but I also got really demotivated halfway through because I was convinced I wasn't actually going to like the fit and that I was spending all this time knitting a sweater I'd have no use for. I even wrote down a shortlist of potential people I could gift it to in case it didn't fit me. So when I finally finished it and tried it on, imagine my relief that it not only fit, but fit exactly how I wanted it! And with the soft and cozy alpaca silk yarn mix, it makes for such a comfy sweater. Think I'm gonna have to knit about a dozen more of these!

Before I knit myself another sweater though, I'm planning on knitting one for Oscar. I'm thinking either this pattern or this one. What do you guys think?

MY 1SE VIDEO

If you've been reading for a while, you might remember that I started a SE1 video project on my 29th birthday last year. And guess what: today I am 30 and the SE1 video of the last year of my twenties is complete. It was definitely a challenge to remember to take a video every day (hence why quite a few of the videos ended up getting taken at night, right before bedtime haha), and the project ended up taking so much space on my phone that by the end of it I had to delete pretty much all my photos and hardly have any apps left, ha! I was holding my breath when I was mashing all the videos together, hoping my phone would make it! But it's been such a fun project, and I would definitely do it again. Not this year, but maybe in a few years to see how my life compares then?

Anyway, here it is:

PS. Graeme and I are also working on a 1SE project for Oscar's first year, which will be done in May. It's so cool seeing his development and watching the little clips makes my heart sing. :)

GOLDIE DOLL

My niece turned two a couple of weeks ago, and for her birthday I made her this awesome Goldie doll from See Kate Sew! Honestly, these dolls are the cutest. I'm pretty sure if Oscar had been a girl I would have made him all of them by now!

I chose to make her the Goldie doll as both Goldie and my niece have blonde hair. I gave her two striped bows in her hair, included a pink skirt, a mint skirt with a cat print, and the teddy bear and ice cream cone as accessories. My niece seemed mostly interested in the ice cream cone at first, but I'm hoping she'll end up loving this doll as much as I do!

OUR WEDDING ALBUM

So here's something that was on my to do list for a while: finish our wedding album. We got the photos from our wedding back pretty promptly, but honestly, there were just so many good ones that I found it really hard to narrow it down and just kept putting it off. I finally managed to complete it towards the end of last year though, and thought I'd share a couple photos of it here! So brace yourself for another picture heavy post...

Actually, bit of a funny story: for some reason my mom was convinced that she would be receiving our wedding album as her Christmas present last year (2015). She'd seen the rectangular, hard present under the tree and assumed it was our wedding album, and she'd even excitedly told her sister on the phone how excited she was to unwrap it. We were celebrating with Graeme's side of the family that year, so she called me the next day to tell me how disappointed she had been when she had unwrapped it and found that I had actually gifted her a cookbook haha. Obviously, I had to make up for it this Christmas, so both my parents and Graeme's parents were gifted a copy of our wedding album. Needless to say, my mother was very happy. 

And, obviously, I'm pretty happy too. I'm so happy with how it turned out, and looking through it brings back so many happy memories. I used the same website I've used for my other photo books, only this time I went for a A4 portrait format and a grey cover. Since this is a bit of a special album, I wanted to make it stand out from the rest. I'm actually still waiting for our copy of the book (it's currently waiting for me in Glasgow!), and can't wait to have it sitting on our shelves in the living room!

I also just realized I never really shared any details about our wedding on this blog! So, in short: we got married in August 2015, on a veteran ship in Norway. The ceremony took place in the middle of Lysefjord, underneath the pulpit rock. This is obviously just a few of the pages, but I thought it necessary to highlight the following pages that make me laugh: the photos of Graeme struggling with his kilt in the wind, and the black and white spread of Graeme and I killing ourselves with laughter as our parents are kissing. It's a bit of a difficult one to explain, but basically, there's a Norwegian wedding tradition where the guests make noise (like stomp their feet under the table) and the couple or the couple's parents are supposed to kiss, either standing up or underneath the table, depending on which noise the guests make. Neither my parents or Graeme's parents knew about this before the wedding, so panic and hilarity ensured when they were put on the spot! I don't even know which of them got it right in the photo, but there was much confusion and I'm pretty sure both our mothers banged their heads in the process haha. This is why you make photo albums right, to remember stuff like that?

2016 ALBUM: OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, DECEMBER!

Can I just say I'm a little impressed with myself for completing my 2016 album a week into 2017? High five to me. This is a bit of a picture heavy post, but it also kinda has to be since it's covering three months and I didn't really want to break it up into more than one blog post. I also haven't done the journaling yet in these photos (I prefer adding that after sharing my album with everyone and their dog), so that's why you'll see a couple journaling cards thrown around that look a bit blank and unfinished. Oh, and if you'd like to see the whole album, you can do that here.

So! October was pretty outdoorsy, with walks in the woods, a hike to the Pulpit Rock and trips to the cabin. We also went to Berlin for Graeme's 30th, a surprise gift from me to him, and we celebrated Oscar's first halloween which included pumpkin carving and him dressed as an ewok.

November didn't have the greatest weather, so it was all about being cozy indoors. It included lots of knitting (I knitted my first ever sweater! Which I'm actually currently wearing as I type!), and in general just enjoying my maternity leave and hanging out with Oscar.

The past couple of years I've made whole albums just about December (you can see the first one here and the second one here), but since I was already making this album I felt it wasn't really necessary. We decorated our tree, made a gingerbread house village, and spend as much time as we possibly could just enjoying the holidays. For some reason though, I basically didn't take any photos during our actual Christmas celebration! D'oh!

I feel like I say this in every post, but this has been such a smooth project to finish. Since I was using instagram photos and a mini album with square pockets, all I really had to do was print out my photos and add whatever embellishments I wanted. But am I making a 2017 album like this one? Yes and no. I am making a 2017 album (I've already kinda started it!), but it will be a photo book rather than a scrap book. I do however have a ton of scrapbooking supplies right now, so no doubt I'll start another project soon!

I really want to focus on having more people in my album though, as this album basically just consists of me, Graeme and Oscar. I'm terrible at remembering to take photos when I'm hanging out with friends and family, so hoping to improve on that for 2017!

BEST OF 2016 POSTS

Hey there 2017! Anyone else feel like 2016 has just zoomed past? I honestly don't know where it's gone. I swear just the other day I was sitting there, wondering what 2016 would have in store. Here's a look at my favorite and most read posts this past year.

Pretty much all of these blog posts were DIY ones, starting off with the simple ombre baby blanket I made for Oscar back in January. It's been used tons, puked on and peed on, and washed about a million times. But it's still looking like new and still getting used pretty much on a daily basis!


























This DIY stuffed whale toy has also been a favorite. It was so much fun to make, and I'm so happy with the result.



























The cheater's quilt has also gotten tons of use! It basically serves as Oscar's play blanket and is pretty much permanently out in our living room floor. I've also been using it as a background when taking these month-by-month pictures of Oscar.






This Douglas Adams inspired baby mobile is also a favorite, and Oscar's a huge fan. It's been hanging over his crib in his room, and he loves lying there and looking at it spin.


Finally and obviously, there's Oscar's birth announcement. This guy has been the highlight of my 2016 for sure.

Hope you guys have all had an awesome 2016 as well (certain political events aside)! I've had a bit of a break from blogging the past month to just enjoy the holidays and my last month of maternity leave with my little family, but I have a few projects to share in 2017 so you'll probably hear from me soon! Stay tuned! :)