Yarn Along - QUACK!

"And who's been sitting on my knitting bag" boomed mama bear
"Not me, I just ate the porridge" replied Goldilocks, "think it might have been Tino!"

Oh no, my lovely knitpro's!

No panic.  One of the advantages of having a s.i.l, (who knits), as a neighbor is that a replacement 3.5 mm circular needle can be found in an instant.  Can't reveal much more of this project as it is a gift for someone special.
We will be spending Easter weekend at yet another ice-hockey tournament with Rémi, so I'm going to need a few things up my sleeve to entertain Tino, who's not in the slightest bit interested in watching or playing hockey.  I saw this wonderful little project last week and it's just the ticket, Tino really likes 'duckies'

attention: crochet 'ponds' are not always what they seem...

... they are also clever little bags for carrying these...

as illustrated by pen in cute duckie butt, these are in fact finger puppets.

Five little ducks went swimming one day

Over the pond and far away

Mummy duck said

"Quack Quack Quack Quack"

And only four little ducks came back

And so on an so forth until all the duckies go far away.  Don't worry one big QUACK QUACK from mother brings them all swimming right back!  Just need to make 3 more before this weekend.

Been doing a little sewing also, we're going to go into full production this afternoon to make these Heirloom Easter Eggs for teachers gifts.  With almost 100 kids in the school we figured the teachers will be receiving quite enough chocolate.

Still going through a 'dry' period on the reading front.  And still haven't decided on which camera to buy.  Got a bit carried away, and kept telling myself that if I just add 100€ more, 100€ more...I could get an even better model!  But that's the beauty of  the internet, you can brows (dream) without some salesperson breathing down your neck.  Anyway, I brought myself back to reality and I'm now down to two choices - Nikon d3200 or Canon 1100d.

Linking up with Ginny and Tami today.

Yarn Along & Stash Bustin

Linking up with both Ginny and Tricia this week

Two very quick, stash bustin projects, have recently come off the needles.  

Firstly I made myself this monday's cowl with the left over yarn from Rémi's hot water bottle cozy.  The twisted purl pattern gives a lovely 'basket like' texture.  It's knit in one long rectangular piece and then folded over and held in place with a button - slipped on and off over the head.  The hardest part was finding a button!  Despite rummaging through my s.i.l's extensive collection I didn't find anything I liked and so ended up buying this 'clip', bit of a shame really as it takes away from the 'stash only' element of things.

Secondly, I made this oddment:-

A nose warmer, kindly modeled by Bolt the dog.  It was requested by a friend for her mother's 80th birthday!!! I suggested she might prefer a day at the spa or even some talc, but she had her mind set on this!

In fact it was a great hit here (will let you know what the birthday girl though when I get some feed back) Richard (who never want's anything knit) and the boys have put in order for pig, mice and elephant models!! Might have started something here, who 'nose'!

So instant gratification projects aside for a moment, an on to my ripple.  I anticipated 30 balls for this blanket and still have 25+ left!! taking it nice and s-l-o-w-l-y, but as they say 'it's the journey not the destination'.     Whilst each completed ripple procures quite a sense of gratification, it definitely is  an exersise in endurance. 

Look, no ends!! I'm being very disciplined and sewing them every few rows!

My mind is a little preoccupied with plans for the new chicken coop and the veggie garden at the moment so I'm not in the 'reading-a-whole-book' kinda mood, but luckily I've received my copy of Taproot with it's wonderful collection of dream themed articles.  Throughly enjoying it as usual.
No doubt after todays yarn along I'll have a big long list of book ideas (and knitting projects) to tempt me.
Looks like the weather man was wrong and we are getting sunshine instead of snow here today -YAY!

Happy Wednesday all.

Yarn Along & Camera Advice please!

Finished Tino's second sock, got a big 'feet up' of approval from him, but we are experiencing a slight saggy sock problem.  After a few hours of wearing they tend get all loose and won't stay up, which he doesn't like!
I think maybe I should have done the entire leg section in rib, might have made them tighter.

Knitted up this cowl super quick, with the remaining Noro yarn from my Shalom, as a wee  gift for a friend. Whilst I was making my Shalom, she commented that the yarn was her colour, so I was jolly happy when I'd finished it and realized that I bought one whole skein to much. I knew just what to do with it.

 I'm happy to say it was well received.

Bit off a little more that I could chew here, when I cast on these socks from Marigold's Loft.  The pattern is easy to follow and Natalie has included an excellent photo tutorial, but I'd just forgotten how long 'man sized' socks take to make.  These were intended as a birthday present for this coming weekend but there's no way they will be finished in time, so plan B gift has been bought and these will be put away for christmas.

Now if you don't mind me asking, I'd like a spot of camera advice. At the moment I have a little compact Olympus, which I'm very happy with but I'd like to get myself and SLR.  I'v been looking at the Nikon d3000/d3100 which are about my budget (400€) but would welcome any other suggestions.
Years ago in uni I had this Nikon FG.  It's broken now but the 'problem' with it was that it was all manual.  This worked fine for me at the time, as the pictures I need to take were 'still life' type but now I'm needing it as a family camera - autofocus- as kids and 'still' don't go too well.

As a word in it's defense, I think it is far more attractive than what seems to be on the market these days.  I like the metal and heavy duty plastic and the big knobs!  Everything now seem so flimsy, 100% plastic and stream lined. Sort of  like cars!  I love the old white walls with curves and chrome.

Elba Island, Italy, where everyone had one of these two seater, 3 wheel  beauties.
Built for comfort not speed!

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along this week.