But Is It Cheating?

I have not yet fully embraced the digital age, at least where photography is concerned. Admittedly, digital photography is cheaper and I am more apt to take five digital shots for every one film shot I would have taken. But therein lies the problem. I used to spend quite a bit of time composing that perfect shot. Now I take twenty and pick the one I like best. Or crop it in Photoshop. Or adjust the color and contrast. Or edit out a minor imperfection. Or even a major one.
So is it cheating? I finally bought a polarizing filter for the Nikon D60. Not that there is a lack of polarizing filters in this house, just none that fit the digital camera. And on a beautiful summer's day, in need of a photo opportunity, I set out to take a perfect picture.

A perfect picture, composed in the camera, with no need of Photoshop intervention. I took some time to compose each shot and slowly rediscovered what I once liked so much about photography: becoming absorbed in the detail.

I am happy with the results. And why did I wait so long to get a polarizing filter? Who knows, maybe I thought THAT would be cheating.

Peter Goes To College (This Bird Has Flown)

The eldest child is off to college and the house is so quiet you'd think we were empty nesters. Not quite, though. The youngest is still here, just hasn't figured out that he can now talk uninterrupted. Though Craig and I had both planned to accompany the child to SLO, our Grandma-sitting plans fell through so Craig made the sacrifice to stay at home and allow me to hone my road-warrior skills. Craig's parting advice to Peter was sweet:

1. Use your superpowers only for good.
2. Be kind to the Hu-Mons (pronouced Ferengi-style).
3. I'm here for you ... you can call me anytime.

Acceptance into the Honors Program entitled Peter to apartment-style living instead of the typical dorm experience. The Cerro Vista Apartments are built on a hill and Peter's apartment is at the very top of the stairs. Each apartment has four single bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and two bathrooms.

His bedroom is at the back of the apartment and his window looks out into the hills above.

The living room is basic, but welcoming with lots of good light.

The kitchen is modern and spacious with a huge pantry. The table really called for some fresh flowers; however, I resisted. Four boys are going to live here, after all.

The view from the kitchen window, which is at the front of the apartment, is of the campus below and the surrounding hills. A nice view for washing dishes.

After moving in Peter's stuff, I made the bed and helped him "unpack" a bit. Which means we piled lots of stuff on the bed. By then it was around 5 pm and I had to hit the road to get in a few hours of driving. Peter was quite cheerful to show me the way out.

I offered some last minute advice, but he was having none of it. This bird was more than ready to leave the nest.

I called Peter from the parking lot and assured him it was perfectly alright if he wanted to change his mind and return home with me. "Ah, no" was the response. So I called Craig and told him that it felt very surreal to leave Peter behind and return home without him. Craig then shared that it had felt very surreal to him that we were expected to take Peter home with us when we left the hospital almost 19 years ago. I guess we all have these moments.

Almost Fair Isle

Or not. I love the look of Fair Isle knitting but have never attempted anything using the technique. I'd have to take a class. I wanted to try the self-patterning yarns to see if the same effect could be achieved and found the answer: No. At least not in sweaters. Socks, great, sweaters, no. I still like this sweater, which was started ages ago when I learned that Bailey was expecting a sister. I planned two matching sweaters, one for the three year old Bailey and one for the new sister. I'll make the six-month old size, I thought, just in case I don't finish in time. The new sister, Chloe, had celebrated her second birthday by the time I pulled this out of the cupboard and decided to finish up the picot edging. The knitting was done and I had anticipated having difficulty sewing the picot edging down. I didn't. Easy peasy. So easy, in fact, I wonder why I haven't used this technique more often, it makes such a nice finished edge.

And now it belongs to Ellie, who is so tiny that we'll be well into winter before she will wear it. Perfect timing. And enough yarn to knit another in the event that Ellie ever has a sister.

More Pink

At the family Christmas gathering, Paul expressed his somewhat negative opinion about the color pink. I ignored him. I would have ignored him even if I hadn't been halfway done with Ellie's blankie. But when I finally turned over the finished product to Paul a few weeks ago, he admitted that he had come to terms with the over abundance of pink and had actually grown quite fond of the color. Good thing. Because, with two boys, I jump at the chance to make something---anything--in pink. Although, I have to admit, I was ready to be done with this pink blankie about three quarters of the way through. The pattern was very simple: six rows of stockinette and four rows of K2 together, YO. But, done in fingering yarn, it went on f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

I improvised a bit on the scalloped edging. I'm not a crocheter (although I can execute basic stitches and follow directions moderately well), but the directions for the scalloped edging started with one set of instructions for scalloping across the top of the blankie and then changed the pattern of stitches for the scalloping down the side. Consequently, the edging did not look the same from one side to the next. Weird. I think the change was trying to account for the difference in picking up stitches along the cast-on/cast off edges and the less defined end-of-row edges, but still. I found basic scalloping instructions via a quick internet search and liked the results much better.

Ellie

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to keep up with blogging ... so much for New Year's Resolutions. I haven't lost any weight, either. But many projects have been completed and there is lots to share. Miss Ellie was born in February and the Ellie dress and slip were finished in time for the baby shower. The jacket took just a bit longer and will show up in a separate post. I've had a bee in my bonnet to embroider a baby something ever since Alicia's book was published. If you are looking for inspiration, this book will provide it!


In the olden days, we used iron on transfers, but it seems that modern day patterns are not equipped with those handy tools. I used transfer paper, traced the designs from the pattern, and crossed my fingers that it would come out in the wash. It did. In the second wash, with a bit of Spray & Wash coaching.

I worried that the facing on the slip would not lay nicely and used a running stitch around the neck and arm rather than tacking the facing to the body of the slip. I think it adds a sweet detail.

Finally ... A Finished Project

It's been a fairly long while since I've actually finished a project. I've started many. The deadline was looming on this one, however ... the baby is due January 3rd and the baby shower was Tuesday. The sewing part of this quilt was VERY fun and went very quickly. The hand quilting was, however, tedious and time consuming. I could have knitted a blankie in the time it took me to hand quilt this one. Perhaps it would have been quicker had I actually known what I was doing. Balancing the laptop and watching youtube videos on hand quilting while trying to master the technique was a bit challenging. By the time I finished this quilt, I think I had pretty much mastered the theory of the technique, although I can't say that the stitches are exactly uniform. And uniformity, I believe, is the desired outcome.

Still, this blankie was very fun to make and I find myself contemplating the next quilting project. I plan, however, to check out machine quilting services for the bigger projects and save the hand quilting for table runners and other smallish items.

Catalog Love

The Garnet Hill Christmas Catalog just arrived and is filled with so much happiness I can hardly stand it. This catalog is my all-time favorite ... and I get lots of catalogs. How can you not love this felted wool Christmas tree skirt?

Wouldn't that be a fabulous winter knitting project? It reminds me of all of the felted items I saw at the Münchner-Freitheit Christmas market last year. And as long as we're talking about felted treasures, how cute is this game?


Wouldn't that be fun to make for a special little someone? These elf Advent calendars are also very sweet, with little pockets to hold the day's treasure:

And wouldn't you just love to wake up Christmas morning snuggled under these fluffy sheep?

Love Love Love