Last week Tuesday, November 10, was my 46th birthday. It was a wonderful day thanks to M especially and all my friends and family! It was an odd birthday, in that it is the only one I can remember in which I didn’t receive a single book (parents are retired literature teachers). I made up for this by ordering The Knitter’s Book of Wool by Clara Parkes that evening. But I did get some sock yarn for presents. I also got a 50 mm lens for our new camera that I can use at f/1.4 if I need to. I thought Santa Claus was going to bring that lens, but M worked it out with Santa so I wouldn’t have to wait. They’re both great guys in my book. But lets look at the yarn photographed with my new lens.

From my friend ELC, I got two skeins of sock yarn:

Berroco Sox in a purple-pink-grey stripey combo. I am so in the mood for stripey socks!
And to match a spring sweater I own that is bright green, she gave me a skein of Tofutsies, as she knows I like it for warmer weather socks. I am thinking of knitting the Insidious socks by limedragon with this yarn (Rav link).

When my SIL, Teresa, asked what I would like, I suggested a skein of STR lightweight in whichever multicolor wave colorway she chose. That way I’d get a skein of STR lightweight, which I haven’t had (crazy, I know!), but the color would be a surprise. She chose Sea Mar which has some lovely, soft colors.

Now I’ve told myself that if I knit for 30 min on some Christmas gift socks for M’s grandmother, I can then cast on the Berroco stripey socks. It will mean that some single socks may wait a little longer for a mate, but the stipes can’t wait!

After about six months of discussion and dithering, M and I bought a digital SLR camera last week. Long ago I’d had a film SLR camera, and I missed what it could do that even my fancy point-and-shoot couldn’t. So we are now owners of a Canon Rebel T1i, and we are enjoying it immensely and learning how to make it do what we want.

Sunday we took it on a walk along the American River in Sacramento on the Jedidiah Smith Loop Trail.

The Trail
Since it was a loop trail and the American River is long, we had to cross the river on a bridge. As a general rule, I am not fond of crossing bridges, but I was brave.

I wasn’t supposed to block the sun with the bridge beam’s shadow, however. M had to do some Aperture magic to make me have any face at all. But the view from the Guy West Pedestrian Bridge was lovely.

At home, I even managed to get a photo, albeit blurry, of our shy neighbor, Oliver.

“I am not here. You cannot see me. I am a plant not an orange kitty.” Oliver.
Before I could get another shot, he was over the fence.

And then, the camera seems to take lovely shots of yarn.

Handmaiden Casbah in Seashore