knitting neels

There hasn’t been an awful lot of knitting over the weekend, but I do have a sleeve to show you. Dratted sleeves.

Remember how I was swooning over the fact that I only needed 6 balls to complete this? Well, of course I was wrong! The sleeves are three-quarter length. Such sleeves are useless to me. Since it is 15 degrees or below about 9 months of the year, I need full length sleeves. Then I have the choice to pull them up if I need to. So, instead of knitting the cuffs and sewing them on at the end like the pattern said, and folding them up (why?), I just knit them as normal cuffs and let them add length to the sleeve. I still needed to knit on an extra 10cm for my washing-line-like arms. The result? Satisfactory sleeves, but an increasing likelihood of running out of wool.

But what better excuse to visit Yarn again! Especially since I will be in Galway next weekend for the Air Show!

Yesterday, I went to PhotoFest Ireland out in the Clarion Hotel in Liffey Valley. Note: if you want to go to Liffey Valley, do NOT get the 78A. Instead of just going straight out the motorway like any other sane bus route, it goes via Christchurch, Inchicore, Ballyfermot, Neilstown for goodness’ sake, and finally lands you somewhere near Liffey Valley (but relatively close to the Carion).

There were ‘free’ seminars – it was a tenner in – and there was a room full of vendors and displays. There were some student-types, but I am pretty certain I was the only girl my age there. The nerdiness was tangible! I have to say, I really enjoyed it. Berminghams were there with a Nikon expert and a selection of Nikon lenses to try out. My dad is really keen on getting a telephoto lens for taking pictures of birds (he is an avid ornithologist) and of sports (school games). They had some ridiculous telephoto lenses out. But they also had some small fun ones like a 10mm fisheye, a 105mm macro (very wow), and my favourite for all-round versitality, an 18-200mm DX. Having played about with Alb’s 50mm lens, I have been thinking about getting one myself. But this 18-200mm lens was very impressive. It was quite fast – about f 2 or f 2.8 I think, very light, good and wide with a good zoom too. It was something like e599 or e699 new. I looked up Jessops and they retail a Sigma equivalent for about e420 (incl vat and p&p).

I also got to meet Mr Hand from Hand Imaging. My dad has been sending his negatives, and now his CDs, for processing ever since I can remember. I bought the Irish Photography Federation Year Book and went to a seminar about Photoshop. It was really good, but today, I can only remember one thing that he showed. I wouldn’t mind but he spoke for quite a while about producing a good B&W print from Photoshop, and showed how to produce a convincing sepia print too. I’m sure if I mess around with it, it will come back to me.

Here is a little brooch that I made the other evening. I have yet to weave in the ends and sew on the brooch back, but I think it’s pretty. Dig the Aillwee Caves mug! Ah, happy memories. Time for tea, too, I think 😀