From my camera

Warm and sunny spring days means

I have my camera whenever I go out.

Here are a few recent shots.

(Click images to see a larger view.)

Rooftops in the setting sun, downtown Albany, NY.

Budding lilacs.

Our neighbors' hens and chicks.

Off my hook

I've been busy making small items with my hooks and yarn.

So satisfying to finish a piece within minutes instead of hours.

I just end up making many multiples of the same things.
All are perfect for using up last little bits of yarn.

First, it was many colors of baby booties.
 I once tried to make them from a pattern that
worked in the round but this one made of straight rows
and then folded in half was so much faster.
And just as cute!

I've always loved these full and round rosettes
but never knew how they were created.
All you have to do is crochet 3 relatively simple rows
and then roll and sew to hold them in place.
They look great on hats or headbands
or anything you want to give a feminine touch.

With a nod to spring, I used some pretty cottons

to create textured scrubbies in granny square stitches.

They can be used to wash your face or your dishes.
I like them best to scrub vegetables, then toss in the laundry.

My Etsy bookshelf

I've recently expanded the offerings
in the Red Hen Studios bookshelf.

Beautiful covers, children's classics plus a bit of history

ready for you to purchase for your own home library.

Aunt Sophy's Boys and Girls

German Fables for Children

Baby Book from Better Homes & Gardens

This Fabulous Century series from Time Life Books

20th Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism books

Pair from the Bronte Sisters

Set of 4 books by Louisa May Alcott

Getting creative with the camera

I haven't blogged much in the past month,

but I have been learning more about my new camera.

My Canon EOS Rebel T3 has a setting called "Creative Auto."

You can change from the standard auto setting to options like

vivid, soft, warm, intense, cool, brighter, darker and monochrome.

I recently discovered that the "darker" setting was great

at preventing the bright stage lights from washing out faces

at my kids' pipe band concert in early March.
I always edit photos a bit in Photoshop Elements,

mostly minor cropping, sharpening and brightening,

but if I am able to do it in the camera, it saves me time later.

I like using the "brighter" option when outside in the shade.

Without it, I wouldn't have gotten the shot above.

The left version is straight out of the camera.

The right is after only minor editing, like mentioned above,

plus some extra sharpening of my boy's beautiful eyes and lips.
(Click the image for a larger view.)

I'm going to keep reading the manual and playing with the settings.

Who knows what I can come up with next.

A camera is only as good as the eyes (and brain) behind it.