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Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Something Different 3KCBWDAY5

I was feeling some poetry for today.

The first two are haikus, the second is something… else.

PURSUITS

Your hobbies are nice

Trains and stamps, beads and scrapbooks

But mine is warmer.

COMMISSION

Sure I’ll make you one!

Pay me for yarn and knitting.

I’ll see you next year.

ODE TO BLOCKING

Every stitch perfect

As though I did not make it

But I was the one

Who blocked it.

Star Wars Baby Shower

Warning: picture-heavy post ahead! (It has a little to do with knitting, I promise. Hang in there.)

I threw a baby shower for my best friend yesterday. She’s a Star Wars mega-fan from way back, so we came up with the idea of having a Star Wars theme! I couldn’t resist the opportunity to put my new camera of awesomeness to good use.

I made Yoda Soda by mixing lemon-lime soda with lime sherbet:

The favors were lightsabers (pretzel rods dipped in melted candy coating and sprinkles):

The gorgeous mama-to-be:

We played games, decorated onesies, and watched her open presents:

Recognize this? It went over really well with everyone! All of the non-knitters were impressed that both sides looked good, which I thought was pretty awesome :-)

The shower took a lot of planning, but everyone seemed to have a great time. The mama-to-be was very happy. So it was all worth it :-)

My favorite picture of Kari and me

FO Friday: Grandmother’s baby bootie

Today I have a finished object to show you…

…but it doesn’t happen to be one of mine. It’s my grandmother’s.

I never met my paternal grandmother. She lived in another country, many thousands of miles away. She died when I was ten years old. A few years ago, I was looking for something entirely different in my dad’s closet and found this single, delicate, hand-knit bootie.

My current foot size, for scale

When I asked my dad about it, he said she knit a pair of booties for me when I was born. When I outgrew them (probably in a week or two–it’s teeny-tiny!), he put them away in a drawer and had forgotten all about them until that moment. In the 25-plus years that intervened, one went missing.

When I picked up knitting needles eight years ago, my dad didn’t mention that his mother had been a knitter. Like so many women of her era, she probably knit to keep the family in warm clothes and accessories. He likely wouldn’t have marked her handcrafting as anything odd or different (unlike today, when people gape at me when I knit in public and will often interrupt me to ask incredulously, “Are you knitting?” I’m always tempted to say something snarky like, “No, I’m swimming laps, actually”).

Dad said I could keep this little bootie, and I’m glad. Maybe I had nothing else in common with my grandmother–but at least we both understood the language of knitting and the feel of yarn sliding through our fingers. Maybe she enjoyed making delicate pieces on tiny needles–or maybe she cursed the whole way through the project and longed for a good worsted wool, like I would have. Either way, it makes me feel closer to the grandmother I never knew.

Look at that pretty seam–puts mine to shame!

I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want…

(And yes, I’m perfectly aware that title dates me.)

I’ve decided I really want a digital SLR camera. I’ve been doing all my pattern and project photography with a fairly nice Sony point-and-shoot. It has very limited manual settings, though, so I have to be super-careful about lighting.

Bright, sunny days are nice and all, but when you have them 99% of the time, photography can be a nightmare. I’ve taken a bunch of my pattern pictures at the beach (as you might notice), because it’s one of the only places in the greater LA area that usually has cloud cover.

Why am I so happy in this picture? Because it's the first time I had seen clouds in three months.

Another issue is that contrary to popular opinion, there are places in LA that are far from the beach. I happen to live in one of them. It takes about forty-five minutes to get there when there’s no traffic (which is never). If I have three or four samples to photograph, the trip is worth it, but otherwise it’s a giant pain in the behind.

Over Christmas, I ~~stupidly~~ intelligently decided to try out my mother-in-law’s Canon Rebel T3.

I am deeply, madly in love with this camera. Using just the kit lens, I wandered around their house and yard taking pictures of everything, and THEY ALL CAME OUT GREAT.

Proof I’m not lying:

Are these not the tastiest-looking jellybeans you’ve ever seen?

This next picture is, I think, the best one I’ve ever taken. And it’s of CILANTRO.

Can you imagine what this camera could do with, say, a Madelinetosh sweater?

So the bottom line is, I want a DSLR. Desperately. But it’s not in the budget right now, so I’ll have to be content with my ~~POS~~ P&S until I make enough money by selling my designs to purchase one.

And if anyone has recommendations for entry-level DSLRs or places to buy them, I’d love to hear about it!

2nd Anniversary

Two years ago yesterday, I was in Italy getting married to my best friend.

When we got engaged, he promised me an Italian wedding (I had always wanted to go, but had never been). Boy did he deliver! Our closest family and friends joined us outside Rome for the ceremony, and then we honeymooned in Florence and Venice:

The Duomo, Florence

One of the many stunning bridges in Florence

St. Peter's Square, Venice

Venice: probably my favorite picture of the entire trip

Fast forward two years, and I couldn’t be happier. I have truly found my perfect match. He’s kind and thoughtful and funny and supportive and all-around wonderful.

Happy anniversary, honey. I love you!