Nest in Crouch End, Glasto... and my New Camera

Purely by accident I just came across Amy from Nest's responses to my recent crafty Q&A and here they are! I'm with you on Glasto Amy, but it's not returning until 2013 so that's plenty of time to buy some new wellies and a tent in preparation!

Still in my final year of school, I first made my way across the country to the legendary Glastonbury music festival 21 years ago. In January, I decided I was due another visit so have decided to try for tickets again for next year. I sincerely hope the magic's still there, as a young teenager, visiting Glastonbury was the highlight of my summer and I was in my element there, enjoying my favourite bands performing live on an outside stage and meandering through the fields gazing at the exotic food and second-hand clothing stalls and watching the circus of colourful characters who passed before me.  I am definitely regressing to my teenhood these days, I don't want to get any older than I am now, just gradually younger instead!

Tonight, with tape measure in hand, I will be sizing up my reclaimed black footstool to establish just how much fabric I'll need to re-cover it. As Amy reliably informs me, the Nest team will shortly be ordering a bijou collection of lovely fabrics for their Crouch End knitting shop. I'm sure that they will not disappoint! I'll also be playing around with my new Nikon Coolpix camera. Thanks to Anna and Josephine who kindly suggested some other quality point and shoots but I decided to stick with the Coolpix. So far I've been impressed with the visual quality of the video feature but haven't established whether I can adjust the volume on it or whether it's fixed at one level. The picture quality is ok, I'm not bowled over, but as I've only taken about 10 snaps, the jury is still out on that one. Will keep you posted!

Afghan Hound

To my surprise, for the Commuter Crochet Challenge I completed two granny squares going to from work on a packed commuter train this week. It is not something I plan to repeat as it's a struggle to even get a seat on the train and even if you do, you barely have any elbow room for 'hooking'.

This afternoon I frogged the granny squares as I've decided that rather than make lots of itty bitty squares, I will instead just keep spiralling round to make a huge multi coloured rainbow blanket/ afghan. The plan is to change colours on each row and blend the colours from light in the centre, to dark around the edge. I'm calling this post Afghan Hound as I think this project will take me a while!

So what else has been happening? Well, spring has most definitely sprung now so yesterday hubby and I enjoyed a lovely evening in Brighton. If you've never had the pleasure of visiting Brighton yourself it's arguably the UK's most fashionable seaside town and has a kind of arty bohemian vibe. It's also a melting pot of youth sub cultures and was a popular haunt for Mods on Vespa scooters in the 1960s. If you're visiting the UK from overseas any time soon I recommend you visit Brighton, it's less than an hour from London and is very cool. True to form, Amazon promptly delivered my new Nikon point and shoot within two days and I managed to pap this crimson vision - the sun setting behind the Victorian pier that once was.

For the record, the other pier (not pictured but located behind me when I took this photo) remains a big attraction in Brighton; a hive of activity, it was teaming with visitors on Saturday.

What's the Best Camera for Bloggers?

Lights. Camera. Action! As part of my ongoing bid to improve my blog, I've been saving up for a new camera. I've had a Rebel 2000 Canon SLR for many years, which served me well but getting hold of films these days is so difficult I've decided it's time to make the switch to digital. As I already have my SLR for 'proper photography', I basically need an inexpensive and competent point and shoot that's light enough to carry around in my handbag.

Although I take any customer review with a pinch of salt, I do read Amazon reviews a lot and these played a big part in my decision to purchase the Nikon Coolpix S8200 Digital Camera. Check it out!

It looks quite plain but apparently takes good pictures and even has a video function - perfect if I decide to film my own free knitting tutorials or do some vlogging (video blogging). Joy!

I haven't made the purchase yet but pay day is fast approaching so if anyone has tried this camera or knows of another one suitable for bloggers that they'd like to recommend, do leave a comment.  

Truly scrumptious

My PC is driving me mad today, I really need to take everything off it and get it serviced. Anyway, technical details aside, here is my finished baby hat and mittens set. The recipient still hasn't been born but I'm sure he will look totally scrumptious and toasty in said items. For those of you from exotic shores, it's getting really dark in the UK now which plays havoc with my blog photography as I can't take any decent pictures in natural light after about 15.30  (a real pain). 

After consulting the translated Pickles 'Small & Clever' patterns and feeling puzzled for quite some time, I decided to totally bastardise the original patterns (!) to make it easier and worked the mittens flat rather than using four needles and knitting them in the round. The end results are pretty similar and I may have a go at the super cute booties another day. I am once again extremely grateful to the Pickles and the sublime Ravelry social networking site for providing these eye-catching free patterns, oh and also to stitch sleuth Anna for tipping me off about them on her own blog.