Of Family and Photographs

My grandmother passed away. And I am sad. In moments, it feels like it happened just a few seconds ago, and in others, it feels like it has been years. Really, it has been three weeks. Part of me isn't sure how the whole world didn't crack the moment it happened. I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that that I will never hear one of her stories again. So I find solace in my knitting, and try to think of what must come next in life.

I am still playing with my camera. I was trying to find the right time of day to catch the fall colors I wanted to. After a couple of cloudy days, I think I caught it.







Last weekend, a friend and I went into Old Town Alexandria expressly with the purpose of visiting the yarn store, fibre space. My expectations were very high, and rarely does a place actually ever meet those expectations, but this place did. Not only did it carry my favorite brands, the atmosphere was everything you expect out of a well-run store. Friendly, knowledgeable staff and a great selection of patterns. I am very much looking forward to going again. While in Old Town, we also grabbed lunch at a nice Italian restaurant and an antique store (B&W Art, Antiques & Jewelry), which specialized in vintage jewelry.

One of my finds at the stores was a skein of Malabrigo Rasta in Arco Iris. I did a twisted drop stitch scarf, unsurprisingly called Instant Gratification.





I have knit two more since this one...each only takes about an hour of dedicated knitting, which makes for an easy Christmas gift. I am not as happy with the pictures I took of this scarf. I am still having trouble with my angles and lighting inside. Maybe once I move and have a little bit more space to operate in that might change. Still no luck finding an apartment though; I didn't realize it would be so difficult to find a decent place. I will be setting out again this week to visit some apartment communities. Huzzah. I am going to do my best to resist early pessimism and withhold any judgment until I actually see the places.

Wish me luck..

Not really here...

I haven't been much of a blogger recently....mostly because I haven't been much of a talker recently. There is a good reason, but not one I am interested in talking about.

Since I last posted, I have gone to Otakon in Baltimore. It was a lot of fun, and I was in good company. However, a fire alarm at the convention center and the subsequent evacuation kind of pushed me to the edge on the stress level. After some sleep though, I was happy.

I also went to see Mary Poppins at the Kennedy Center, which was fantastic in a thousand different ways. And again, I was in good company, which made it even better. (The only disappointment is that I will never EVER win a game of Yellow Car.)

I have been apartment hunting. The search could be going better, but I will find something eventually.

I am still knitting along, and playing with my new camera.

Pictures with the new camera:







I still need to work on figuring out the lighting and all of the camera features...

Here are some pictures of recently finished knitting projects (photos taken with the old camera). Links are to Ravelry (no membership required to view).

Kerchief started at Otakon.


A hat using some leftover yarns.


Another hat with some interesting construction.


I also managed to practice some of my crochet skills with flowers. I still need a lot of practice, but I can at least do more than chain now.

Flowers for Grandma.