Photography (and Photographer) Issues

I do have a good reason for not updating much lately - you may have read a post or two ago that somehow my digital camera broke en route to San Francisco. I did pick up another one when I got back - it's a Vivitar 3915 cheapie from Target. However, I only broke it out of its box and started to read the instructions last night. Then after doing some research on public opinion, went out and bought some high capacity rechargeable batteries to power the little machine. Amazing that it can suck through brand new batteries in less than an hour! The other issue, asthe title implies, is that Andrew thinks it is such a chore when I ask him to take a picture of me in my finished objects... and gets further annoyed that I want to set up the pic in a certain direction. (insert imaginary pic of me rolling my eyes)

I have finished the Knitty Sweetness sweater - I really like it - and when I took it into work I had so many compliments on the colour. It's made out of Lion Brand Homespun and was a pale aqua and mauve colourway - so the sweater is striped without me even trying. I need to wash the sweater, so I may not have a picture in here until the weekend.

Of course, finishing one project means I have to run headlong into another. I started working on a top-down raglan pullover for Willow in a red/orange/yellow/magenta varigated yarn. It's bright as hell, but she loves it.

Almost finished!

Well, I did finish *knitting* my Sweetness sweater last night... at, uh, sometime around midnight. I couldn't just put it down when I was just a round or two from binding off the neckline! So, tonight at my SnB all I have to do is weave in some ends and kitchener stitch up the open areas under the arms. Not that it will be cool enough anytime soon to wear it, though! While in the finishing stretch of knitting last night, I caught the extended weather forecast - and it isn't supposed to get under 80'F for the next 10 days. Autumn will come - I keep on telling myself that...

Now, I do have one conundrum about the sweater - I knit it from Lion Brand Homespun - and it seems the general consensus is that the yarn spreads after a while, creating a looser weave. I have no problem with that - but my concern is the neckline of the sweater. I decided to go with the boatneck rather than the mock turtleneck - and as it stands the neckline comes within two inches on each side of my shoulders. What is the best way to to close the neckline a bit to prevent it from becoming an unwanted Flash-dance style off-the-shoulder type sweater someday?

Where I have been this last week...

Is this a good hint?

I spent the last week in San Francisco, CA at a business conference. I had never been to the city before and I was amazed at all the walking that my coworkers and I did. One day alone I counted that I had walked 60 blocks... it really hit me how sedentary my life is in Delaware...

Here was the view from my hotel room:


Excuse my paltry photo-editing skills - my camera broke somehow in transit, so I can't change the settings, etc. The grey circle is just to cover up the flash so it doesn't distract you from the red rectangle. See what is in the rectangle - besides the annoyingly tall apartment building? Alacatraz! I didn't have the opportunity to see the island itself, but we did take a dinner cruise around it.

While in SF, I was able to meet up with my friend, Satomi - and came to the realization that Satomi and I have known each other for 10 years now - ever since Kumi introduced us to each other in Yokohama. We had dinner with my coworkers Teri and Lisa at the Cheesecake Factory on top of the Macy's building in Union Square.



I did finish my Clapotis before I left - once again, please excuse the big flash mark where my face should be. I was really worried about my camera lasting until the dinner cruise, so I took a picture by myself before we left. It's a little longer than your normal Clapotis because I did two more straight repeats to accomodate my size. I *love* the colour - it really looks strawberry red in person. I used Cascade Quattro for my Clapotis and it took about 3.25 skeins.



The camera did last until the cruise, at which Lisa took my picture - I am not as wide as this pic looks - I hope you realize my elbow is jutting out! With the pin holding the stole together in the front, it almost looks like a poncho.



These last few pics are from the conference room our meetings were held in at the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel. The room is called "The Room of The Dons" and the murals were absolutely breathtaking. They were painted in 1924. My camera couldn't capture the colour, detail or size - they were about 12 feet tall and went all the way around the room - maybe 340 feet around in all? I had asked the gift shop if they had a book or postcards of the murals - but unfortunately, they did not. The murals are supposed to represent the different groups that came to California.











I haven't done any knitting in a week now - and my fingers are really itching for it. I did get to a yarn store in San Francisco - Art Fibers - but I am afraid it was a bit too expensive my tastes - as lovely as it all was.

My Knitty SP5 Spoils Me!

From Knitty SP5

Look at all this cool stuff! Simply Knitting is a British knitting magazine and there are some cool kids' patterns in there as well as the lovely shawl on the cover. And then there is the *book*! It's a top town pattern book for kids - Willow will get sweaters after all! The goodies are a bit hard to make out in the picture, but there is a chocolate bar, a chocolate-covered caramel and my all-time fave (I don't even think I mentioned this anywhere, even!) milk chocolate-covered graham crackers from Starbucks! On the left there is some lovely green-toned stationary - I'm going to love writing on that... everything is topped off by a lovely book-themed postcard - SP - how did you know that is what my bedside shelf looks like?!?!

On another Knitty note, the fall issue is up! See http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/index.html to find out - there are already two things I want to make - Samus and Leaves in Relief...

Oh... and I finished knitting my Clapotis last night... at 1:30am. Shh... don't tell my husband. I still have to weave in ends, wash, and block - but the knitting is DONE!

Glued to the television

Last weekend, about this time, I was glued to the television for a different reason. I'm a Weather Channel junkie - I think this stems from the fact that as a child, the Weather Channel was the only channel we were allowed to watch in the house before we went to school. In any case, last Saturday I brought my knitting (and laundry, ahem...) over to my in-laws' house, plopped myself on the sofa, and watched the impending hurricane coverage for 3 or 4 hours.

I never expected what came.

I don't think you can.

They talked about worst case scenarios, potential structural damage, telling people to get out of the area - but you always think that the storm will lose strength, hit a relatively less-populated area... but it didn't. So, I have been glued to the TV, switching back and forth between all of the 24 hour news channels. I don't watch it when Willow is around - I'll let her play and watch her programs on Noggin - but while she does that I find myself slinking away to the computer to read what else is going on.

I'm sickened and sad - wondering why on bloody earth it took so long for help to arrive - why FEMA didn't even realize that there were people at the Convention Center. I lost it last night watching coverage of a man who had to leave his dog on a roof because his rescuers wouldn't let the dog in the boat. The camera panned back as the boat floated on, showing this Lab cross wagging his tail and watching his owner go. Jesus Christ - I'm crying now as I write this. I'm not even directly affected by the storm or its aftermath and I am finding myself depressed. I cannot fathom what these people - especially the children will have in their hearts and minds after that.

I can only hold onto my daughter and pray that she will never have to know anything like this.