In racking my brain to come up with one last blog post for NaBloPoMo, I totally missed the obvious. The camera. Okay, so a few people also gave me a reminder :)

The old was a gifted Kodak EasyShare to replace my much loved Canon G3 that went MIA. It was nothing in comparison, but it was a wonderful, thoughtful gift :) My love for that old camera made me really want to want to get the G9, but it has some crazy reviews in regards to pixelation and screen discoloration so I keep passing it up. The G7 (which has great reviews) was unavailable during the sale which made it a higher priced option all around. Although I came very close to getting a DSLR I held off, and what I ended up with was the Nikon P5100.

The Nikon does not have all the features I was looking for, but for me, it was the best compromise. In the fact that it still gives me some manual control and has a few lens options even though it is a point and shoot. What I really, really, really want is a DSLR, and the Olympia Evolt series was not doing it for me. It’s one of the few (non-professional priced) cameras that has a LCD screen that you can actually use to take pictures with. I eventually will get a Nikon, and I was all settled on the D40 until today when I got to play a bit with a friends D300 and now I’m in love. Oh, that one will be awhile :)

Also, until today I really thought I needed a LCD screen as a view finder, no more. The same kind friend that let me play with his camera also taught me a few exercises.

The one item that was holding me back is that I can longer focus through a view finder. I received an eye injury that left a scar on my right cornea and even though I see just fine with both eyes it’s all a blur when I’m only trying to use the one right eye. Using an LCD screen for so many years was easy but also made me very lazy. I learned some exercises today and have been practicing, and already there have been a couple of times when I’ve gone directly from the mirror (freaking out the kids because they think I’m winking at myself)to the view finder and was able to focus just fine with my left. The problem seems to be, that when I close my right eye I tend to squint my left at the same time. Well this squint action makes it hard to see anything but lash (eye lash that is) and for what ever reason only happens when I’m trying to use the view finder. So what I learned today is to look in the mirror first with my right eye shut and my left wide open, attempt to keep that same relaxed feeling while moving to the view finder. Easy. Well not quite yet but I’m working on it, and will once again be able to use what ever camera.

I think I have now answered my previous teasers, and in keeping with the same old/new theme I have some pictures :)

Now that there is finally a real chill in the air, the winter box has been opened, and knitted items are finally being used. Missy has been wearing a scarf all week that I made for her in 2005. It was a Christmas gift that I guess I never took pictures of, or at least there were none that I could find on this here machine, so today it was photographed for Ralvery’s sake :)

The old scarf:

And the new:

It was trying to snow while I was taking this picture but it quickly turned to sleet :(

Posted in Knitting, Scarfs, Shopping on Dec 3rd, 2007