Wednesday 31 August 2016

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?

Sunday 28 August 2016

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