OMG, she lives! And blogs!

Back in May I promised photos that never materialized. Let me tell you, a broken leg is no picnic. Especially in a multi-level house. For a little while I mostly felt sorry for myself and because of that I was pretty quiet. But then it got easier to get around, and I started going down to the kitchen again, and into the livingroom to sit and knit and read. I even ventured all the way down to the family room to watch television occasionally. But I still wasn’t feeling like dragging out the camera for photos and if I did, it was a quick point and shoot and be done with it.

And now (FINALLY), the cast is off and it’s full on summertime here. Our weather is lovely and the garden is blooming and we have vegetables! We planned a huge project for this Spring, complete with a greenhouse and replacing a fence that had blown down a couple of years ago in a crazy windstorm. Then when I broke my leg I really didn’t get to be part of the building and planting, and that really honestly bummed me out. I used to love to get out in the garden. A couple of days ago I ventured out to take photos, another thing I’ve not done in a long time, and it felt really good. I still have to watch how much walking around I do without at least one crutch, but it gets easier with every passing day.

The weird thing about bringing out the camera was that I felt I’d forgotten everything I’d ever learned about composition and exposure. Rather than let myself be discouraged and pack it in before I began, I just tried to have fun with it and play with the exposures and such without being too hard on myself. These photos are all in and around the backyard and the garden. There’s more over on flickr. I hope you’ll enjoy looking at these new photos. I’d really like to get back into it again.

As you can see, I haven’t lost my love of taking photos of insects or flowers. I’m trying to get more into taking photos of my knitting projects and perhaps now that I’m happier with my weight (a story for another day), you may even see me in photos instead of my favourite dress dummy! I did a lot of knitting during my “down” time. The biggest problem was that I couldn’t block anything since I was pretty immobile in the first months, which is why I just kept knitting and didn’t do much finishing. Now I’m faced with a really cute summer tote that needs to be sewn together and lined, as well as a gorgeous cabled sweater coat that is SO close to being done that I actually knit up during the winter Olympics! I’ve got several new projects on the go too, and will post a few pics in the days to come.

I knitted up a scarf just before I injured myself that I’ve not yet posted about and I am really happy with how this pretty little bit of mesh loveliness called Icing turned out! It was knit up with some gorgeous handpainted yarn from the very talented Melissa of Yarn Candy. You have to go see the new yarns she’s bringing out for Fall, the colours are wonderful. I see several projects in my future with her luxurious new colourways.

Enough rambling for one night, see you again soon!

(click for bigger pic)What can I say… I was looking for an interesting title! And I apologize for the colour conflicts with the gloves, I’m still learning white balance it would seem!

I made myself a pair of the fingerless Fetching gloves that so many knitters have knit before me. But sadly, the instant gratification factor disappeared when I realized I was short the required yarn to finish them. About 30 inches too short! (are you feeling my pain?)

I dug through my stash, but nothing close was to be found. I chided myself for already sewing in all the loose ends on the first glove. Somehow in my deluded mind I thought I would be able to spit splice all the little bits together if only I’d not woven them all in. I assure you there would have been more spit than spliced!

(click for bigger pic)In the end there was nothing left to do but suck it up and frog what I’d knit, find something that would work with the Debbie Bliss and begin again. A ball of superwash merino in an eggplant shade came to the rescue. The yarns bonded immediately and I knew the gloves would be warming my hands in short order.

It is so painful to tear apart something that fits, but won’t work without a mate. If I was a one-handed knitter I would be fine with one glove. Mind you, if I was a one-handed knitter, maybe there’d be no glove at all - anyway - there’s no photos of the carnage that followed as I snipped and clipped at the woven ends of the finished glove and wound all the lovely soft cashmerino back into little balls.

(click for bigger pic)Success was mine in short order! I had gloves and they were beautiful and warm and everything I thought they’d be.

I decided the perfect photo shoot would include me feeding our local squirrel population.

I’m not sure why, except I thought it might be more interesting than just shots of gloves on my hands.

(click for bigger pic)Have you ever tried to balance a pile of nuts in one hand while hanging on to your NEW CAMERA while trying to keep the cat in the house with your foot (and other body parts blocking the door) while trying to get low enough to take an interesting shot with no camera shake and ... well this was the result.

Which is why I ran it through an “artful” few filters in my graphics software.

This little guy was none too sure of the crazy woman with the peanuts, but he was determined to get the nuts. And he did.

(click for bigger pic)One last (blurry, he scared me) shot of the squirrel. I thought he’d left. I had placed a peanut on the edge of the step and was playing with camera settings for exposure, DOF and all that when suddenly he popped into view, snatched the nut and was gone!

As you can see, the nut was in focus, his paws were in focus but I don’t think his head ever stopped moving.

Gosh, my life is so exciting I can hardly stand it.

And I have a finished pair of gloves to top it all off!

But wait! There is more! (remember the title now ...)

(click for bigger pic)This is my lovely bejeweled scarf. I have been wearing it, and I LOVE IT.

It is soft and warm and looked lovely draped on this tree. When I am out of pajamas and someone is here that can take a nice photo of it around my neck, you’ll see it again. The colour is almost exactly like this photo. The most gorgeous shade of blue.

I am so glad that I have added a little more colour to my world these days. (those who know me understand)

(click for big pic)OH LOOK! It snowed.

Nothing like what Scout had - but I won’t complain!

On the down side, it’s already almost all melted (rained) away. It started snowing around 5 am and by noon it was just rain. But I managed to get my little friend here out for a photo op with my new camera.

I found the pattern for these little knitted guys (aka “Korknisse") too late to make any for Christmas ‘06, but I’m knitting them now for 2007! Talk about fast too - about 40 minutes from start to finish. He still needs a ribbon hanger thru his hat if he’s to be a Christmas ornament, but I was too lazy to dig in my craft boxes. I had the heat off down there, and ooh baby - it’s cold without the fireplace on! Oh, and I’m editing to add a link to Elliphantom Knits. I had seen the Korknisse on her site as well, and then couldn’t find it again. That’s where I got the idea for the little bells and using them for ornaments. The googly eyes were my own addition, just because I like googly eyes!

(click for big pic)Oh, and look here! A photo of actual knitted items. Yes, I really do still knit! These hats are destined for some special family members in Ontario.

From left to right, we have Heather Spellman’s Girl’s Lacy Rib hat in Lang Tosca Mohair. I added a pompom to make it a little more “winterish”. The blue hat is The Jester Hat from Elizabeth at the garterbelt.com and is knit in Caron Black Magic, not normally a yarn I would choose, but it was all I could find on short notice and I wanted to get this hat done. The last little hat is the Candy Cane hat from the Handknit Holidays book, knitted up in Paton’s Classic Merino. Now I need to get them in the mail.

I feel like a novice photographer all over again, trying to get used to this new camera. It’s my very first true digital SLR, and we are having a love-hate relationship. On the up side it is definitely making me fall in love with photography all over again.