Things I've Been Up To

It's been a while since I posted, so here's some stuff that's happening!

Firstly, I'm going to Australia on Monday and I'll be there for 3 weeks! Very excited, but really not looking forward to 25 and 30 hour journeys. I do have a crochet project to do on the plane though, here's my progress so far:

If you like the look of this pattern, you can find it here for free on Ravelry. I'm planning on making it an adult-sized blanket rather than a baby one though.

I've also bought yet another old film camera, this was one a great find, it was £30 for the camera body plus 3 lenses, a flash thingy, a strap, some other little accessories and a big case to carry it all in. It weighs a tonne though! Here's my camera collection to date (not including digitals):

The whole front row, including that humungous lense, is what came with the new camera. It's a Praktica LTL3 if anyone has any idea what that is! I must admit I hardly know anything about cameras, but I'm learning fast with this lot. It was so difficult to decide which to take on holiday though, currently I'm going with the Canon SLR and the Praktica with one lense, along with my compact digital camera! I'm visiting a friend but she's got a job so I'll have a lot of time to spend on my own, so hopefully I can use some of that time to take amazing photos! I'm not really much of a photographer, but I really enjoy it and I generally end up with one or two nice photos, and I think it would be nice to get some blown up really big so I can frame them.

Of course I'm working hard dyeing wool whenever I can, but I want to put that all together in one post. I've got a post started on explaining how to dye with madder root, because I kept getting orange and not red and I found it a little frustrating! Now I know how to make a redder red, I'll be able to share it with you.

- Kate

Bootfair Finds

Last week I went to a fab bootfair about 10 minutes away from my house. I spent £8.50 and got all these lovely things. It's been so long since I went to a good bootfair! (Non-UK readers - A bootfair/boot sale is a like a yard sale, but in a big public space like a field or a car park). I've already been again, and since it's every Sunday I plan on going every week til I move back home for summer. 

Pretty plates - £1 for the pair

Director's chair - £5

Apron - 50p

Lacy net curtain - £1

Purple...thing - 50p

Pot holder - 50p

This is what I bought this Sunday:

Ilford Sportsman Camera (1969 ish) - £5

Unfortunately doesn't seem to work, the bit where you wind the film on only works when the back of the camera is open, obviously not very useful when using film! Still, it's a nice addition to my very small collection.

Minolta Hi-Matic S2 Camera (1979 ish) - £2

I'm not sure why this camera collecting has started, but I intend to post my developed films up once they're done (which could be a while because I don't want to waste it). It could be really interesting to see the results as I suspect they will be less than perfect! Fortunately, less than perfect makes for interesting viewing. 

I also got a pretty bracelet type watch for £1.50 which it turns out is broken, but perhaps still nice as an accessory, and a glass bottle for 25p. 

- Kate