I hope everyone is having a nice holiday season without being too stressed out. Christmas is over and now we are looking ahead to 2011. I'm not sure what made me decide to buy another camera a few weeks ago but I did. Now mind you with me being the frugal person I am I read up on different cameras and searched for deals and finally found the perfect little camera. I have two really nice cameras but they are both too big to put in my pocket and go. This is what I wanted: a small compact camera BUT one that gave me the same quality as my two nicer cameras.
It seems like every time I buy a new camera I remember how much joy photography brings me. I get excited about taking pictures again. I tend to look at objects, buildings, nature, everything differently. I like taking extreme close-up shots, that way it's a mystery as to what it is. I also like to play with different angles. Most people take pictures straight on. Not me. I will lie on my back to get a different view of something.
I have been a member of the Flickr Community for a few years now. Flickr is a website that lets you download your pictures, organize them, share them with other people and join groups if you would like other people to see your work. There are literally thousands of groups you can download your photos into. You name it, they got a group for it. Some of the groups I'm in are What's Your Angle Buddy?, License Plates, Sharpie Artists, Amish, Chicks With Cameras, the list goes on and on. I think I'm in about 55+ groups as of today. When I first joined Flickr I wanted to get my pictures out there so I could see what other people thought of my work... I don't care so much about that anymore.
I know there are other people out there, like me, that just enjoy looking at photographs. I believe every photograph tells a story and this is why I decided to join this group on Flickr called 365: the 2011 edition. It is just what it's name implies. I will take a picture a day for the entire year. I have a few Flickr friends that have done this before and I had such a good time following their journey. Now it's my turn.
You can find me at http://flickr.com/photos/photographybykim/
It's the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you "Be of good cheer"
It's the most wonderful time of the year
It's the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call
It's the hap- happiest season of all
There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago
It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistltoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When love ones are near
It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago
It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistltoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When love ones are near
It's the most wonderful time
It's the most wonderful time
It's the most wonderful time
It's the most wonderful time of the year
written in 1963 by Eddie Pola and George Wyle
9 days until Christmas!
It's coming along just fine, thank you. A few days ago I told you that I had cleaned out my old stash of yarn in order to upgrade and I found a few UFO's in my bin so I'm trying to get these done before I continue on with my socks. I will probably finish this scarf tonight (YIPPEE!)
I couldn't tell you what kind of yarn or what weight it is. It's probably a bulky weight as I'm using size 8 needles and it is rather thick feeling which I love.
I said I wasn't going to post a picture of my socks until I finished both of them. Well since I started these "other" half finished projects I'm dying to show the world my first pair of socks (1/2 finished)
I am starting to add SOCK knitting to my collection of knitting books but the one that I've found most helpful is a leaflet by Leisure Arts called I Can't Believe I'm Knitting Socks by Cindy Guggemos. My green socks, which I've named Frolicking In The Grass on Ravelry, is just the basic sock pattern. But I was so excited about these pair of socks I started another pair... just a little more difficult. This pattern is called the Syncopated Rib Socks and I picked out bold colors for this.
And here's a closer picture to show the detail of the leg. The pattern is fairly easy, you just have to keep track of what row you're on.
I have already picked out yarn for my third pair of socks but I will not, I repeat I will not, start these until either my first or second pair of socks is complete.
Happy knitting everyone!
I had decided that I would post a Christmas photo every day counting down the days til Christmas. I love photography and I consider it my first hobby. I have oodles of pictures that I'd like to share and I thought if I did a Friday Photo every week it would keep me on track. But the more I sifted through them I decided that there were just too many to limit myself to ONE a week.
So (back to my story) I picked my 13 photos for the countdown to Christmas and started editing them. I forgot how much fun photoshopping is! (Is photoshopping a word?) Now mind you I don't have any type of fancy-schmancy programs but the one I do have is simple and works for me.
This is my original photo:
I painted these ornaments a few years ago and hung them from our chandelier in our dining room. I was very pleased with how each one of them turned out. Because our walls are white it gives the photo a simple elegant feel. Little did I know that these white walls would lend themselves to fun times when altering them:
For each of these pictures I only adjusted the hue. I did not adjust for saturation, brightness or contrast.
12 days until Christmas!
Sock, socks and more socks! I am now obsessed with knitting socks. I have finished one in the pair of my first socks ever and I LOVE the way it turned out and I love the way it fits my foot...perfect! So I have cast on for the second sock in this pair (because I can't show them off unless I have both socks). But got bored with the solid green color so I started another pair of socks in crazy, wild variegated colors and love them too! The first pair of socks are light green with striped heels and toes in greens, blues and yellows. I will eventually post a picture when they are both finished.
Now that I've started listening to a lot of knitting podcasts I've decided to go through my stash of yarn and get rid of the acrylic stuff and upgrade to nicer stuff. I donated a whole trash bag full to the Wednesday morning knitting group at my church!
As I was going through my stash I found a lot of UFO's (UnFinished Objects) that I'd like to finish. So along with my two pairs of socks I am also finishing up two scarves that I started about two years ago.
I joined Ravelry about a month ago and just today took some pictures that I hope to eventually post here and on Ravelry. They are nothing spectacular so don't get too excited (just scarves) but I can't wait to take pictures of my socks!
Happy knitting everyone!
I just love Thanksgiving. I love when family gets together and visits and reminisces about holidays past.
As a child my parents and brother and I would go over to my grandparents house, a little over an hour away, for Thanksgiving. I can remember the smell my grandfather's pipe and watching the balloons in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on tv. I can hear my mom and grandmother putting all the delicious food on the table and I can't wait to dig my fork into grandma's SPINACH CASSEROLE!
But my grandfather died in 1989 and my grandmother moved into a retirement community. My grandmother was a spunky lady. She was fun and energetic and she lived to be 100 years old. Sadly she passed away three years ago. But her and my grandfather's memory lives on. Not only through the times we've shared but through her SPINACH CASSEROLE.
Now that I'm married and have children of my own we have Thanksgiving at our house and I make my grandmother's SPINACH CASSEROLE. Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago and my husband's cousin asked everyone at the table if we would like to share any holiday traditions that our families had. I was able to share the story behind the spinach casserole they each had on their plates and I told them that I would forever make it in remembrance of my grandmother.
Susan then asked my dad if he remembered having this spinach casserole as a child. He said "Oh yeah!" He also added that they had it on other occasions too, not just Thanksgiving.
I do not have the recipe as it's in my head. My mom has it and she keeps telling me that if I want it she can give it to me but I'd just as soon make it as I remember it. It consists of chopped spinach, cream of mushroom soup, hard boiled eggs, cheddar cheese and bread crumbs layered about 2-3 times and the put in the oven for about 45 minutes.
Happy Thanksgiving (a little late) everyone!
