Ossianknits

PS: Earth; Instrument

Today is the first day of PS: Earth. Fire passed by so quickly! I knitting some red things, but it definitely wasn't the stashbusting excercise I had hoped for. I do, however, love the fiery Gustave, and the blazing Pomatomus socks. The 'fire' months were, of course, interrupted by Hat Attack, the iTardis, the arrival of wee Rowan, and my Grandma's birthday. Blues, rather than reds, seem to have been prevalent.

I tried though. And I think 'Earth', with its greens, browns and metallics, will be much more successful. Mosey is, of course, green, and there are some rather nice earthy yarns lurking in my stash.

Goodbye Fire! Hello Earth.

   

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'Instrument' is the word at HS/MS today. The instrument I use most often, in my space, is this lovely pen. I got it for Christmas a couple of years ago and have treasured it since. It writes beautifully, and I simply adore it.

However, I rarely use this pen for writing letters anymore. I got a large wooden writing box for Christmas this year, complete with 2 wooden pen, lots of nibs, a glass pen, small bottles of coloured ink, and some sealing wax and seals. It holds all of my other wax and my other seal as well, so I tend to use it for 'fun' writing, and the pen for 'serious' school writing. I thought I'd share the writing box with you as well...

Bubbles

'Bubble' is the cue over at HS/MS today. I had difficulties deciding what sort of bubble to depict: since living in St Andrews 'bubble' is the term that often comes to mind when thinking about our little town. It's the self-contained-ness of the place: the absence of good shops, a train station, 'the real world'. It's the beaches and the cathedral and the castle. It's the pubs and the Tescos, the posh students and the golfing tourists. Leaving St Ands, even just to go to Dundee, the next town along, is always a bit of an adventure and involves crossing a very long bridge.

I give you, therefore, two versions of bubble: one literal and figurative.

Chilly Pomatomusy Portrait Walk

One of DB's brother is with us at the moment. He has a new job on a boat about three quarters of an hour from where we live, and he didn't have anything to do this weekend, so a visit seemed in order. It was gray and foggy and miserable yesterday, but the sun came out in the afternoon and we went for a lovely walk. Down to the golfcourse, to a pub, to another pub, to another pub, to another pub for dinner, then home to meet friends and play boardgames.

I finished the Pomatomus early in the morning. I say early - just before noon is more like it, but it felt like morning. I'm very pleased with the socks: they came out marvellously. I wore them all day! They have started to slightly felt around the heel, which I think will make them stronger.

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The promt over at HS/MS yesterday was chill - as in cold or chill out. Now, our walk was chilly (mainly due to the freezing wind coming in from the open sea), but because it was sunny it looked warm in the pictures. And while we chilled out later on that night, we all look quite tense because we were eager to win the game (5 hours of Trivial Pursuit - we finished at around 2 in the morning). In one of the pubs, however, the perfect opportunity arose: we were relaxed - 'chilled' you might say - and the cider was chilly! So here is my 'chill':

Today's promt - as every Saturday's  - is SPS: Self/Someone else's Portrait Saturday. I took a few pictures of DB yesterday afternoon. He doesn't usually photograph well (nothing to do with the skill of the photographer, I hasten to add), and over the years I've only really taken 5 or so good pictures of him. One of the ones I took yesterday turned out decent. Still not as good as my favourite one, but decent. I'll give you both:

(This one was taken a couple of years ago on my old 35mm Canon SLR)

400D - My So Called Scarf

It arrived. It is pretty. It works. It is slighly heavier than my old EOS 3000v, and the grip bit left of the lens is also smaller. I find the menu a lot more confusing and less intuitive, but I guess it will get easier after a while. The lens fits tightly. Transferring photos from it onto my computer is really quick, and the 2GB CF card I bought holds a lot of photos.

I'm off to Glasgow for the next few days. With the new camera and the dragon scarf.

Here are so FO shots from My So Called Scarf

Also, of course, a whole-length shot of the scarf. It wraps around my neck twice, which is how the recipient requested it.

Camera Joy

I have finally decided to buy a new camera. I have had a Canon SLR for years but have not used it much recently, partly because developing pictures is so expensive and partly because I want to put them online, not have them as actual photos. I decided to go for a Canon 400D because I always liked my other one, and because the lens from the other one should work with this one. Amazon is guaranteeing delivery before 5pm on Tuesday, which means I'll probably spend most of Tuesday afternoon and evening playing with it. I will also get to take it to Munich in February, which is very exciting and will hopefully result in some pretty pictures.

I went to a film evening at a friend's house last night. While everyone else enjoyed the films I knitted a skein's worth of My So Called Scarf (I enjoyed the films too, but I think I preferred the VKN [valuable knitting time]).

 

   

 

I em enjoying My So Called Scarf. It is still a bit wonky, but not nearly as bad as it was last time round. It should not take too much longer to fnish it, especially as DBF is going to be away for the next ten days. Once it is done I can finally engage in some stashbusting and knit with some of that PS-coloured yarn. I have been thinking about making an afghan for a while now. A knitted one, made up from squares. This would make an excellent PS excersise - knit different-coloured squares in the different element months.

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PS 'Fire' Photo for today:

My Queen tea cozy. A birthday present from DBF, bought on my birthday last year at the National Gallery of Scotland. The vibrant pink of her hair, and the colder pink of her skin create a fiery contrast with the yellow of her jewellery.

Project Spectrum

Lolly has started this year's Project Spectrum today.

                                                                        

I did not participate last year but am quite eager to take part this year. This first two months, February and March, are themed 'Fire' - pinks, reds and oranges. I don't usually go for these. I like pinks well enough, but am not overly fond of reds and oranges. However, I found quite a few when I looked through my photos just now, which I will try to turn into a giant collage later on. I am going to try to post something 'Fire'-related everyday, and possibly use up all the pinks and reds in my stash after I finish My So Called Scarf.

So today I am wearing a red jumper instead of my usual greens and blues. It is quite a pretty jumper, with little buttons down the front where the raglan-type sleeves come in, but I do not really wear it that much because it is a very bright shade of red.

For now: a picture that immediately came to mind when I thought of the PS topic, 'Elements'. Taken last summer from near the pier, after a glorious sunny day that involved a BBQ on the beach, it catches the last rays of the sun before it sets behind the ruin of the castle.

 

It combines all four elements:
'Earth' - the green hill, the grey cliffs, the darkish seaweed on the rocks
'Air' - the clouds, the breeze visible in the grass
'Water' - the sea, the pools of water in the rocks
'Fire' - the sun in all its shades - yellow, red, pink

 

Bookbinding

I have been wanting to learn how to bind books for ever. I have, in the past, put different covers on books I already owned by wrapping them in different kinds of paper, but I have never entirely rebound a book (or turned a paperback into a hardcover). I have a few paperbacks that are falling to pieces, as well as a number of photocopied texts that could do with being bound together.

The internet is, of course, your friend in all things crafty and DIY, and I found this nifty tutorial. So I bought some pretty paper, glue, brushes and linen thread. I still need to find thick cardboard for the covers and spine, as well as some mull tape, but that should not be too difficult.

My copy of Stitch'n'Bitch Nation has had pages falling out for a while now so I decided to rebind it. I took off the covers and spine, sorted the pages into multiples of 4 (mostly 32, one 16) and glued them together to create a signature. I now have one signature, all folded and ready to be stitched!

Not bad for an afternoon, huh?

I also experimented with creating a photobox  by propping the objects that I wanted to photograph onto a folder  in front of my macbook. I still need a better light source - the desk lamp I used did not work that well. I think my camera is about to die on me - it has stopped working in all modes but one, which is quite annoying as I can no longer change the aperture, time, etc.