2016 ALBUM: JUNE & JULY

You know, I was doing really well with keeping up with this project. Since I'm using photos from Instagram and printing everything at home, it's a pretty simple project. But then one day, when I was printing out some June photos of Oscar, I noticed my sweet, sweet boy was coming out blue! I had run out of ink! It took me a while before I managed to remember to get new ink cartages, and then I think it took me an even longer time before I managed to remember to install said ink cartages. In fact, it wasn't until I needed the printer to print out some boarding passes that I finally got around to it. But without any further ado, here's the chapters for June and July.

To no one's surprise, the June and July chapters of my 2016 album are full of photos of Oscar. I really want to fit the whole year in one mini album, so I'm actively trying to keep things short but it's very hard. We went to my parents' cabin both in June and July, so I included a few photos from that. The rest are pretty much all photos of Oscar, and a couple of everyday shots.

Sadly, I've run out of plastic pockets now, so still playing catchup! Hopefully it won't take me as long to get them as it did with the ink, as we're already almost in September! It totally feels like fall here already, with cooler temperatures and rain. Our apple tree is full of apples, and I've noticed the leaves have started to change color. But for once I'm actually looking a bit forward to the new season, with cozy cups of tea and knitting projects. I've already started lighting candles at home. What are your plans for September?

A DOUGLAS ADAMS INSPIRED BABY MOBILE

It has taken me way longer than it should have to finish off this mobile. And, if I'd have known it would help our Oscar sleep, I sure would have finished it a lot quicker! But it was just so hard to decide on what mobile to make him. You guys, there is SO many cute mobiles out there, so much amazing inspiration. I wanted something cute, and simple, and was really drawn to clouds for some reason. Or stars? Or geometric shapes? Or mountains, or woodland creatures, or sea creatures, or, or... Sometimes I find it really hard to narrow down my inspiration and decide exactly what project I want to spend my energy on. Actually, that's not sometimes, that's all the time.

Anyway, I went through various prototypes in various materials before eventually making something I was happy with, and as a result I also have a good stash of unused felt and jersey that I'm not sure what to do with. Eventually though, I crocheted some clouds that I liked, and while searching for raindrop patterns found a cute whale one. I thus decided to scrap my cloud-and-raindrop plans, crocheted the whale instead, and decided to add a bowl of petunias and turn it into a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy mobile. I reckon it goes pretty well with this banner that's also inspired by Douglas Adams and hangs on the opposite wall right by his changing table (as a bit of a reminder when we're changing the worst diapers, ha!).

To make the whale I used this pattern, and to make the clouds I used a variation of this pattern, as I wanted my clouds to not be completely uniform. The pattern for the bowl of petunias I just made up, and added a coin to the stuffing to weigh it down and balance with the whale (though you can see it's still not perfectly balanced). I then hung all the elements on an embroidery hoop, and covered the embroidery hoop with the same white yarn I used to crochet the clouds and hang the other elements with. And done!

"Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now."

- Douglas Adams, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

GREYSCALE BABY BLANKET

I became an aunt again last week! My sister gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, weighing in at 3970 g and measuring 50 cm long. I'm loving that Oscar will be growing up with a cousin so close in age.

As a small gift to the little one (who has not yet been named), I decided to knit a baby blanket similar to this one I knitted for Oscar. Oscar loves being swaddled, so we've gotten tons of use for it. I think I might even knit a second one! It's such a basic knit, so it's really quick to make. Unless of course, you are constantly being interrupted by a little bub who needs your attention. If it wasn't for naps, this thing would have never been finished!

Naturally, I got Oscar to model the blanket for me. As you can see, he's currently in the middle of losing his baby hair. Hope his new hair grows back soon, as right now he's sporting a hairstyle similar to his grandpa haha. And he's been smiling tons recently, a real goofball smile, but of course all he was willing to give me today was this little smirk. Still melts my heart though! And he seemed pretty happy with the blanket, so hopefully my little nephew will be too!

OLYMPUS OM10 / PRAGUE

I finally got some old film developed! And one of those rolls of film included these photos I took when we were in Prague last October. Our original honeymoon plans got put a bit on hold due to me getting a new job, so this was sort of a mini honeymoon for us instead. We had an awesome trip! Prague was so beautiful with all the autumn colors, and we ate so much good food. Unfortunately though, I wasn't able to try the beer as I was pregnant, so I'll definitely have to come back some time!

These photos were all shot on the Olympus OM10, using 35mm Kodak Portra 400 film. I love how crisp the colors come out, perfect to show off the contrast between those red roofs and blue skies. It's technically Graeme's camera, but I think I'll definitely be borrowing it again in the future!

2016 ALBUM: MAY

Another month is over! And boy, has it been a special one. It might have started out a bit slow, but it certainly got a bit busier when our little Oscar arrived. Now he rules the household and takes up majority of our time, which means that putting together these few couple of pages took way longer than normal haha. But I'm still up to date with this album, and I'm happy with that!

Its also dawning on me that there's a good chance I won't be able to fit the whole year into this tiny album, which is a bit annoying. I've tried to keep it short for each month, but I clearly need to make more of an effort there. Also, yes, it reads "waiiing game" on the above photo spread. I ran out of t's and only realized once I'd started putting down the other letters. D'oh! So the extra "i" is really just a placeholder until i get some more t's.

And now we're already in June! We were hoping to be heading to Manchester this weekend for a friend's wedding, but unfortunately Oscar's late arrival made it a bit difficult. So instead, Graeme's parents are taking the opportunity to come visit and meet their grandson. We haven't seen them in person since Christmas, so looking forward to that! What are your plans for June?