Decisions..................

It's hard to believe that a fortnight has gone by since I posted last!!  Thank you so much to all who gave me such enthusiastic responses to my knitting.  I have been grappling with a decision lately.  My husband has told me he would like me to have a new camera, a 'better' camera than the little pocket one I currently use.  I would like one, but wonder about the practicality of the purchase.  He says I should purchase one of the DSLR models and just spoil myself, as I will celebrate my 60th birthday in the next few weeks.   A few months ago I took the photographs I'm sharing in this post.  These were taken on a warm sunny afternoon, with my little NIKON Coolpix.  The first three photographs you will see are just as the camera took them, but I've reduced the quality of them in Photoshop.

I really need to be able to take good close-up's, and I'd like the ability to take good, clear zoomed in shots.  This little camera certainly takes good macro shots, but it falls down in the zoom feature - they tend to be a tad grainy.  It is also quite slow to react, which often means a bird or animal has moved during the process............

These next three photos have been slightly enhanced in Photoshop, just a little sharpening, that is all.  You can see the pollen just that little clearer by doing this.

I hope readers will enjoy these.  The hardy old 'pigface' always puts on a good show, and it's such a pretty site in bloom.

I am still thinking.................  I doubt the kids will miss that money in their inheritance.............LOL....

Take care all, and I hope the weather where you are isn't as nasty as it is here at the moment - a hot northerly wind blowing, smoke haze yet again, and the mercury climbing every hour.  It's shaping up to be another hot afternoon!!!

Knitting with BLING

I'm back again with some more knitting, my kind of knitting, ie with BLING!!!  I really wanted to share this with readers, as it's so absolutely divine.  I can't explain how ethereal this is, not because of me, but because of the gorgeous yarn and the wonderful pattern, and of course the glistening beads!

The yarn used was one I purchased via a fellow Ravelry member who was de-stashing, but you can see it here.  In real life it reminds me of wisteria, a plant I've never been able to have.  My husband is so very anti anything that climbs, and would never build me a suitable trellis, so I've had to admire it from afar.  Here is a close up which I hope gives you an idea of the wonderful wistfulness of this shawl.  It's truly as light as a feather.

The pattern can be found here and if you've always wanted to make something glamorous, I can fully recommend any of the patterns provided by this lovely designer.  Bev is a friendly and helpful lady, and if you find yourself in a bit of bother understanding anything in the pattern/s [I added the plural because I'm sure you will be tempted more than once], a simple email will suffice.   And another shot for good measure!!  Can you see the lovely twirling cascading drape of the ends of the shawl??

Again, I wet blocked this but had to move to the living room floor, as it was simply too large for the bed.  I think I measured in the vicinity of 2.6 metres around the inner part of the crescent, and 54 cms deep in the centre.  It does spring back a little once the pins are lifted.







I know this is not a photograph showing the knitting, but I wanted to share it as well.  I took this close up in my friend's garden last year, and did a bit of filtering in Photoshop.  The colours in wisteria are simply glorious, and yet again I seem to have gravitated towards purple.  I do not know why, it's not a colour I would tell you I like if asked, go figure........  Anyway, last, but not least, altered wisteria.

Ahhh.....blooming marvellous

 

 

I hope I have inspired some of you to try this simple yet beautiful form of lace knitting - nothing difficult, a lot of WOW factor for something quite simple.