Pie

There's been lots of pie in my life lately.  I made a chocolate pie last week that I'd planned to share with you on Friday, but some how, it got eaten before it was photographed.  Darn!  Guess I'll have to make it again.

And then there's been pi.

I have finally started binding off the pi shawl.  It may take me a week to finish.  Good grief, it's got a lot of stitches!  It also doesn't look like much there.  Lace never does look like much until it's been blocked, plus it's sort of in a heap because most of the shawl is still on the needles.

I can't wait to block it.  Actually, I can.  I'm not a big fan of blocking huge, giant lace circles.  But I am super excited to see it after the blocking process when the lace looks like lace instead of a bunch of non-uniform stitches.  I also can't wait to see how big it actually is.

I also wish I knew what I was going to do with it.  As much as I love to knit circular shawls, I'm not a fan of wearing them.  Normally, I'd list it in my Etsy shop but since the pattern isn't mine, that won't be happening.

Meanwhile, in non knitting news...  My daughter got invited to go to Florida for six weeks.  There was a lot of last minute shopping for shorts & sunscreen.  There was a lot of "I'm going to miss you" hugs to share and even more laundry to do.  They pulled out early Monday morning, in the pouring down rain.  A few hours later, we got a call that their transmission had "fallen out" & the car was being towed to a nearby repair shop.  Luckily it turned out to be only a loose hose & nothing too serious.  They were back on the road within a few hours.  I hope the rest of their trip is a little less dramatic.

And even more concerning than my daughter taking off for six weeks....  The bear is awake.  He/she/it came strolling by this morning.  I happened to be out sweeping the porch off when the dogs suddenly came rushing out & began barking.  That's when I looked up & saw it.  Naturally, it was gone before I could get the camera.  So, instead of taking bear photos, I took pictures of Minnie.

She needs to wash her face.

Squirrel!

Nap time.

Camera suggestions

I'm in need of your camera suggestions, thoughts & comments.  I am not happy with my tiny little camera at all. Granted, 99% of the problem is probably the human behind the lens, but I'm choosing to ignore that.  I want a new camera.  A real camera.  A camera with multiple lenses.  A camera with manual settings & that can be taken apart during a camera class at the local community college.  But it also needs to take awesome photos automatically because, well, let's face it, I will still be the human behind the lens.  And it's not just me that wants it.  My daughter has been begging for a Nikon 3200 for a few years now.  So, I'm thinking, I could buy one, we could share & one of us could take that photography class & teach the other one.  If it turns out we both like it & actually use it, then maybe we'll buy another one next year.  I'm sure there'll be an updated model.

But the point is, I'm thinking about buying the Nikon 3200.  It's really not in the budget, but I want it.  No, that's not exactly right.  I WANT it!  The want keeps me up at night sometimes. I literally can't sleep some nights because I can't calm the thoughts about how much better my life would be if I had a real camera.  The questions is, will I be able to use it?  Will learning to use it be such a pain in the rear I continue using my current, tiny, little hated camera?

If you have any input for or against the Nikon 3200, please, please, please, for the love of all things photogenic & my poor little bank account, please speak up.  I'm afraid I won't be able to resist the shopping urge much longer and I'm also afraid that breaking down & buying it might rank up there in my top 10 stupid moves.  So please, tell me what you think.  Do you have one?  Does your best friend have one?  Does your ex-boyfriend's sister's best friend's brother have one?  Do you/they like it?  Hate it?  Did it take years to learn to use the settings or is it as user friendly as the ads say?  Please, tell me what you think.

And no, there are no knitting update photos.  My tiny, little hated camera has decided to turn everything a lovely shade of orange.  I have no idea why.  Flash, or no flash.  Macro or normal setting, it doesn't matter.  The picture comes out orange.  It might just be that the battery needs charging but normally it just turns off & refuses to turn back on when that's the case.  Anyway, I didn't bother taking orange photos of my knitting.  Besides, I've only added a few more stripes to the fair isle cowl.  Been to busy dreaming about cameras to knit.