Saturday 31 May 2014

Challenge Update - May 2014

My 2014 challenges are:-

1) Knit one hat each week for The Innocent Big Knit.

2) Do something nice for me.

3) Choose a non fiction book from the library.

This month, I've knit the Innocent Big Knit Garlic again by Juliet Bernard which can be found on Ravelry. I've used this pattern before but I previously knit the hats in cream so that they resembled garlic, but this month, I've knit them in bright colours.


My nice thing for May was spending some time at Fairburn Ings RSPB reserve to get to know my camera a little better. I got my DSLR camera last year but I'm still getting to grips with it. I enjoyed taking lots of different photos, here are a few of them.







We've booked to go to Cornwall again for our holidays this year so I thought the Country Living Guide To Rural England - The West Country would be a good non fiction book to choose for May. It contains lots of information about various places in Cornwall, as well as other counties in The West Country. We're staying about five miles away from Bude so we're not all that far from the border with Devon, which we sometimes cross on days out while we're on holiday, so it's good to have information on places in Devon too.


Eleanor hasn't had any exams this week with it being the school holidays so we've had a bit of a lazy week. Just as well really with me just getting over my bad cold. She's still been revising but has taken a bit of time out for a couple of sleepovers at friend's houses as well as trips out with friends. Just two more weeks to go and her GCSEs will be finished. I hope all the studying she's done will be worth it.

18 comments:

  1. I love the little hats, they always come out so nicely. Your photos are great! It looks like you've learned a lot about using your camera already. :)

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    1. There's two little hat patterns which I really enjoy knitting and this is one of them. There's so much to learn about photography, I don't even know the basics, but it's fun trying different settings and seeing what comes out.

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  2. A most enjoyable post and lovely pictures. Flighty xx

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    1. Thank you. I'm still learning all the different settings on the camera, there's just so many that I don't think I'll ever learn them all, but it keeps it all fresh.

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  3. Love love love the hats! They remind me of the tops of St Basil's in Moscow. xx

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    1. Ha ha, I can see what you mean about St Basil's. The hats are actually much brighter than shown in the photo but the camera just wouldn't pick it up.

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  4. I love the bright colours for your little hats. I think maybe you should give me some hints about your camera. I've just bought a new larger lens for long distance and have a post to finish about it. Tea got in the way, so hopefully I'll finish it a bit later tonight on my PC. I'm doing this on my laptop.
    Hope your weekend is going well and I too like Cornwall, as my long term penfriend lives there. Take care.

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    1. I don't know about giving camera hints, I don't know what I'm doing with mine most of the time. These photos were taken with a longer lens, though I could really do with an even longer one when taking photos of birds some distance away. I love Cornwall, we've taken our holidays there for the last few years.

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  5. I love Cornwall we have many happy memories of holidays when the kids were little. These days they all fly off abroad for their hols. Oh to be young free and single and be able to jaunt off where the fancy takes you. You're doing so well with your camera it really is the only way to learn getting out and playing with it . At least with digital cameras you can delete the no so good ones where as when it was the old 35m films you could waste most of it on blurred and out of focus shots.

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    1. We always used to go abroad on holiday but in 2009 I fancied a change and we had a week in Cornwall followed by a week in Devon. It was the first time I'd been to either county but we've been back to either Cornwall or Deven every year since. Digital cameras are brilliant for learning how to use a camera, as you say, there's no wastage. I used to dread picking up my photos from the chemist when we'd had films developed, there was always a huge percentage which were no good.

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  6. Hi there. I've just caught up with all your posts from the past couple of weeks. I love the photos you have taken with your new camera, especially the one with the bird perched on the branch, it's fab. What a good book you chose for your May challenge, has it given you lots of ideas for new days out? Didn't you do really well with the reduced salad foods in Tesco?! I made sure I looked yesterday and the best I got was baby carrots for 21p!
    I love the cosy new socks you've done, the colours are cosy too. I think charming is the perfect word to describe the Edith Holden books, her death was such a tragic accident.
    What a fabulous idea Eleanor's teacher had of getting the pupils to write to their future selves. I did giggle at the inside of the envelope, I expect Matthew will always hold a special memory for her if he was her first boyfriend, how sweet!
    Glad you all enjoyed the Evita performance, it sounds as though it was a really special evening out.
    I'm not sure I've heard of Selby, but it proved to be a good destination for a day out and I'm sure Archie agreed when you gave him his treat. He does look funny with the scrunchie in but I'm sure he doesn't give a hoot about it whilst he's munching away.
    Lisa x

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    1. Blimey, you've had a lot to catch up with there. I love the photo of the bird on the branch, there was a similar one with two birds perched on the same branch, but one had its back to the camera so I went with this one. I love reading about the area we visit in Cornwall, there's a few new places I've read about which we may visit when we go, we'll just have to wait and see. I laughed when I saw what Eleanor had written inside the envelope. Matthew's such a lovely lad and we know his parents well. That will be something to embarrass Eleanor with at a later date. Thank you for catching up with all my posts, there was quite a lot to read there.

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  7. your "garlic" hats are very colourful....I'm very impressed with your photography.

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    1. The hats are much brighter than it shows in the photos. I have problems getting my camera to pick up the true colour of things sometimes.

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  8. The wee hats are fab, Jo. Your photos are amazing. :o)

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    1. I still have so much to learn about photography, and my photos could be much better than they are, but I'm enjoying learning and getting to know my camera a little better.

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  9. Cute little hats, and your pictures look great! We are heading down Cornwall way too this summer, really looking forward to it! :)

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    1. I'm counting down the days until we head off to Cornwall, not too long to wait now. We know the area where we're staying quite well now after visiting the same region four times previously.

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