Shine a little light....

I build a lightbox last weekend. Part of it came from a genuine need for a proper photographic space and part of it came from a true desire to watch light bouncing around. The light around here has been overly October-y. Being of the almost transparent variety of skin tones, I am somewhat fond of overcast and cloudier skies. However, the skies have achieved a truly Dickensian level of "bleak". (Not great for photos but fabulously evocative in a vocabulary sense - when was the last time you pulled out the word "Dickensian"? Do it. Do it today. It's delicious.)

I have high hopes that the lightbox will help improve my photography (of objects smaller than 14inches). I have a willingness to experiment as soon as I can locate enough lamps! The interesting thing is how the artificially generated light reflects most often the truer colours of things in photographs than in those taken under natural light. Some colours have been trickier to nail down....

Purple is one of the most deceptive hue-beasts to photograph. Purple is the colour equivalent of a photoshopped celebrity when they would've looked better untouched. Purple usually defies natural light as well. Purple needs to be seen in person.

The lightbox helps the item to look it's best. Ironically, the box itself is not particularly attractive. It is, though, collapsible. So while I can revel in the resulting pictures, I do not need to suffer the ugly lightbox's company. Strangely enough, it spends most of its time in the dark. And I find that amusing, if not illuminating. :-) (Sorry.)

Lightbox was build by using an amalgam of tutorials: Cardboard box and Foamcore.

More Martha, More Carving...

We had a Soaps show on Friday night and as part of the theme, I was asked to resurrect my decade-old impersonation of Martha Stewart. (For the record, I don't think it's very good. But it was necessary. And it comes with a terrible [abominable? ridiculous? polyester?] wig. )

My friend J (Soapster and local newsperson) asked me that night to come carve pumpkins on the news as Martha..... (For some reason, he thinks it's funny...) Sigh. Sure, J. Whatever you need.

So tomorrow on the news, I will be massacring more members of the squash family. If you live in Saskatoon and watch CTV News at Noon, I'm sorry. :-)

I was supposed to use my werewolf as the "after" pumpkin but after ten days, it's not looking "show-worthy." It may even be growing legs, or things that will quickly evolve into other things having legs. So I carved another one. I've been eating sweet'n'spicy roasted seeds since...

Odd. For a person who's not-so-hallowe'eny, I've not only carved a pumpkin, I'll have carved three this year. Which is more than I've carved since I first did the Martha. That year... I carved an acorn squash.

Pulling the Rabbit - Giveaway Winner!!

There are technological devices designed to do pick a winner. I prefer the old-fashioned way...

Scribe a little number for each comment.

Throw them in a hat. (Secretly wish you had a top hat for such occasions but as it is, a newsboy cap works just as well and is far more flattering to my face...)

Pull out a rabbit, a jug of milk, or a mitten-loving winner!

Congratulations to Whitney of WhiskerGraphics! It seems fitting that the first giveaway would be won by the first commenter on the post... There's a delightful harmony to it, don't you think?

Thank you to everyone who entered! There were some great comments and guesses... and I appreciate them all.

My Pumpkin was the Werewolf. (Mother did the Punk Princess - yeah, I know....??, Father did Senor Mustache - we all agreed it resembled him, Sister did Obama - she laughed when she discovered it was an option and then just couldn't get it out of her head, and Brother carved the Zombie - he's our resident expert on all things zombie.)

He's sad. He didn't win.

Beach Weather

This is NOT what it looks like outside. But it is prettier.

There's an old saying in Saskatchewan (and probably most everywhere else) that if you aren't happy with the weather, wait fifteen minutes. Today, it's warm. The sun is shining, the grass is green and the trees.... well, they're confused. I'd take a picture but I wouldn't want to embarrass them. It's like someone cut the water while they were in the shower rinsing out their leaf dye - can't find a towel, burnt sienna is running in their eyes, and Sunshine Courier is trying to deliver a package....

Part of me is hoping autumn resumes its somewhat early schedule. The other part is wishing it stays warm just long enough for the neighbourhood kids to get some sugar! Hallowe'en costumes when I was a kid were designed to fit over a snowsuit. Or you were strongly encouraged to be something warm or insulated. You don't feel much like a princess with a tent of a dress pulled over your ski-pants and a toque underneath your tiara.

Oooh, pretty.

There was a magical year when I was ten that we packed a sweater in our pillowcases "just in case" it got cold. We walked freely without the fun-encroaching accoutrement of winter with our costumes displayed with all the glory they had in school that day. Eventually, we put on the sweaters - not due to cold, but to make more room in the pillowcases for candy. It was a bumper crop! My arms hurt the next day from hauling pounds of high-fructose corn syrup confections and not from trying to keep circulation in my extremities. Good times!

Well, I think I will grab a walk before the game (Go RIDERS!!) and wait for the change.

Is there such a thing as adult-onset attention deficit?

I can be easily distracted.

I discovered (realized) that I began several projects this week without really noticing. The good news is: I actually finished some.

This hat was for my brother (IL), adapted from this pattern from HelloYarn. I reduced the amount of skulls (which likely reduced the warmth a little) just to keep it subtle.

Fabulous project for learning new things - there was some fair-isle which led to continental knitting so I could keep my strands straight, a provisional cast-on which should not be done in anything fuzzy, and the belief that circular needles were invented by a demon who should be stabbed with my double-points. Repeatedly. :-)

I can remember the most bizarre and useless snippets of information that were gleaned during my formative years. Stephanie S's birthday is May 6th. I haven't seen her since high school. We weren't close. Emma Thompson guest-starred on Cheers and her character's phone number was 555-6792. And the names of obscure tv movies and the actors who starred in them. (That last one did actually prove useful when one of those actors walked into a restaurant where I worked. But nobody else knew him. They looked at me with does-elvis-talk-to-you eyebrow. So not THAT useful..) And YET, I spend hours looking for my car keys and need to read addresses and directions several times before they stick.

There was a focus that came with childhood that I wish I had retained to this day. OR that I'd had the interests I have now, then. The retention-ability bestowed on children but aimed at astrophysics or multiple languages.... ! (Insert audible sigh here) It almost seems like a waste.

What was I talking about?

I like candy. Wanna ride bikes?

Pumpkin Mayhem.... and Free Mittens (giveaway)!!

My brother (in-law) had a birthday yesterday. Family lunch took place today and we were told that there would be "mandatory activites." If you just raised an eyebrow, you did the same as I.

They showed up with these....

Brother is big into Hallowe'en. In fact, I gave him a book on creative carving last year. But he does do some research on his own which led him to this site. We each had to pick a stencil and go to town.

And, oh sweet lord, did we ever have fun! Waxing nostalgic, cracking every kind of joke, visiting away and sharing secrets, tools and techniques... Guts and pumpkin shavings were flying through the air! Sister had some in her hair but asked that the photo not appear here.... :-)

Every few seconds, she'd stop, raise her head and try to figure out where a particular piece of pumpkin flesh had landed... I got beaned in the eye a couple times (My enthusiasm sometimes gets the better of me...) There were also some interesting turns of phrase to express one's frustration when a pumpkin failed to cooperate. :-)

My niece-dog - quite accustomed to getting the bulk of attention - wanted to know exactly what about a pumpkin was more special than she, the giant puppy (31" high at the shoulder. Yeah. Don't let the picture fool you - she's HUGE!)

Hours later...

Here's how they turned out:

That's Barack, a Werewolf, A Punk Princess Skull, Senor Mustache, and a Zombie.

And here's where the free mittens come in: Leave me a comment letting me know which jack-o-lantern you believe to be mine by midnight PST on Saturday the 24th and I'll do a random draw next Sunday, the 25th. The winner will receive a hand-knit pair of mittens made by yours truly!

Hint: It's not the one you think it is. :-{

UPDATE: Giveaway is now closed - thank you to all who entered!

Next post - toque for the birthday brat.

Brought to you by borrowed batteries

Sometimes, batteries die. It can happen at an inopportune moment - like right before you wish to upload some photographs taken with your digital camera.

Sometime, you forget to buy batteries. It can happen on a day where you're not feeling all that well and don't go out on errands like you planned.

Sometimes, you buy batteries and then leave them on the counter. Apparently, my subconscious doesn't think I'm over the loss of the original batteries and won't allow me to move on.

Sometimes, it seems really silly to write about batteries that have passed into the great beyond (or the little jar on the utility shelf waiting for toxic recyclables day). Especially when the photo is not really important. It's just socks. I had one photo I needed to upload and it was just socks.

Here they are:

I have finished them and they are cozy, perfect for the season. Came from the same magazine as the last pair. Far fewer troubles with these ones and I plan to knit them again, now that I have the kinks worked out.

And perhaps, the next pair will be less anti-climactic.

My first camera didn't take batteries. It was a hand-me-down 110mm cartridge camera. It was taupe, about twice the length of my digital but the same thickness and had huge flash cubes more blinding than oncoming trains at midnight. You need a new flash cube after every four shots so you had to be very choosy about which pictures you decided to take and where you wanted to take them. Then you had to wait two or three weeks to see how they turned out.

Sometimes, realizing that you have the freedom to take as many pictures as you want, when you want, is worth forgetting two stupid little batteries on the counter.