Results tagged “knit” from Debi's Journal

Over the years, Canon has been the brand of choice for cameras in my family. I've owned two SD PowerShots, my dad had two or three A series, and my sister has her own PowerShot.

2004 was the year that the number of photographs I took exploded. In June of that year I bought a pocket-sized Canon PowerShot SD100, which made it so easy to take candid shots anywhere, anytime. That camera lasted until June of 2007, a decent three years, before something failed and my photos started coming out like this:I decided it was time for a new camera with more megapixels and cool functions, and I wanted to stay with Canon because I didn't want to have to figure out a whole new interface with a different brand. And thus, I became the new owner of a Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (IS = image stabilization! Woo hoo! No more incredibly shakey movies!) in July 2007. I even knitted a camera cozy for it, which really came in handy the day I lost the camera at Disneyland—I had my entrance ticket receipt inside with my name on it and everything, which made it easy for me to reclaim it at Lost & Found.This camera has been with me through many adventures. It was a great camera for my purposes.

Nine days ago, when I was ready to take some photos of a knitting project, I pulled the camera from the cozy. I pressed the ON/OFF button. The camera powered up, made a "click" sound, went "beep beep beep beep beep," and then an error message appeared on the screen: "Lens error, restart camera." The camera shut itself off.

Wah.

I repeated the above about a dozen more times, except the "click" sound was no longer happening.

My next step was to go online and Google "Canon SD850 IS lens error." Whoo boy. I was not happy to see that this is pretty much a common problem with Canon cameras, and that Canon has failed to address or admit to a lens design defect, and has continued with the same lens design for at least the past four years. A lens repair would be in the neighborhood of $150-$200. Not gonna happen. I decided this camera was a total loss.

Fast forward to last night. I Googled some more, and found a blurb on the My Biggest Complaint website that advocated "smacking the crap out of your camera" to fix the lens problem. I had nothing to lose, so I took the camera over to the kitchen counter and whacked it face down eight times in a row. I pressed the ON/OFF button.

Lens error, restart camera

I gave the camera another eight whacks. I pressed the ON/OFF button.

Click. The lens extended, and the camera powered up the same as before the lens problem. I took a few photos this morning, and the camera seems to be in normal working condition.

This experience is going to make me rethink ever buying a camera from Canon again.

During the Beijing 2008 Olympics, a popular knitting/crochet community called Ravelry held an event called the Ravelympics which basically gave people more of an excuse to knit or crochet stuff. A slew of events were organized, people formed teams, and then participants would cast on during the Olympics opening ceremonies and try to finish their project(s) before the closing ceremonies. People weren't necessarily racing each other, and the medals were for finishing the project in the 17-day window (no first place or second place or whatever). Everyone who finished something was awarded a "medal" and had their day on their event's podium.

I joined Team Japanese, tried to enter (via ravelympics tags) five projects because I was feeling optimistic, and like a good girl started the first project during the opening ceremonies. Well, I discovered I mis-tagged one project so only four were a go, but that didn't deter me. By the closing ceremonies, I had three projects finished and a fourth that I got so bored with I put it aside.

The Tomato Hat was actually the second project I started, but I was able to knit this in just a couple of hours. The event was Gift Knits Pentathlon. I used superwash wool. I made it for my nephew because he loves tomatoes. I don't think his mom likes the hat very much, though.
My medal:
I started the Fat-Bottom Bag for the Bag-n-Tote Backstroke first, and even though it's crochet (which is generally faster than knitting), it took me a few days to finish the stitching part, and then I had to buy handles and dig up some lining fabric for it. I'm quite happy with the way this turned out.My medal:
My final completed project was another hat, made with alpaca yarn, for the Hat Dash event. I made an identical purple hat earlier this year and I really like the rib pattern. I'm going to wear this one often once the weather chills out.
My medal:
The one project I didn't finish? It's an Everlasting Bagstopper (an open mesh shopping bag) made of hemp, and when I get around to finishing it I'll probably post a photo.

I forgot to renew my domain name, and didn't even notice for over a week that it had expired! Goes to show how well I keep up with things.

Since I'm here, I might as well share some photos of stuff I made recently.

First is "Chanson en Crochet," which is French for Song in Crochet. It doesn't make me think of "song" as much as "creeping floral vines," however. It's a capelet pattern published in 2005 by Interweave Press. It's pink. It was a birthday present for my niece Pinky, who turned 6 yesterday.
I had purchased some cotton yarn online for another project, expecting an extremely pale pink. This yarn turned out to be too pink for that project, so it found a new purpose in this project instead. It turned out okay.

Next up is another hat. I had gone over a month without knitting a hat, so I had to. Did you know I have many hats? Sometimes I give them away, too. I once made a hat by request, for a teacher who was about to vacation in Colorado and wanted something in purple. Here is that hat, modeled by the lovely Miss M, who will officially reach teen status next month.
I used variegated alpaca yarn. Alpaca is supposed to be a gazillion times warmer than wool. Or five times warmer. Okay, it is thermostatically superior to wool. There ya go. The teacher expressed much appreciation.

Here is the hat I was originally talking about before I went and sidetracked myself. It's more of a tam, actually. It's called "Sand and Sea Tam." Supposedly tams will be all the rage next winter. I don't know. That's me modeling it, though. I have bangs again! I think I went bangless for about a decade up until this past spring.
That's it for now. I'll report if my dog runs away again after the 4th of July, like she did last year. She hates fireworks -- the noise makes her go absolutely nuts. It doesn't help that illegal fireworks are a big thing in this part of town.

After two months of not blogging, I guess it's only fair to show you the finished hat.

Cotton is okay, but wool is a treat to knit. The Teenlet, however, can't wear even the softest, most buttery merino wool. "It itches." So, the blue cotton/acrylic Koolhaas was made for her. She loves it so much, she's worn it to school. I'm glad I have a higher tolerance for wool hats.

I started a second Koolhaas hat. I love the look of heathered yarns, and this one is no exception. “Amber Heather.” Sounds like a girl’s name.