Death Of A Camera

I was about to take some finishing shots for a blog post I've been preparing when my camera wouldn't turn on. Again. I've had my trusty Canon G6 Powershot for over five years now. I used it so heavily that it wore out before the warranty ran out and I had it repaired. But now the rechargeable battery won't keep a charge and the autofocus has severe difficulty in low light as well as close-up situations.

This means I am now in the market for a new camera. This time around I'd like to have a camera that I can manually focus if need be. I'm looking for something versatile enough to do anything from landscapes to decent macro shots. With the gobs of money I have (haha... I wish) I'd love to get a canon ef 24-70mm lens.

But I'm undecided on what my dream camera body should be. Any suggestions?

Mr. Tumnus Chose My University Degree

Scooter is back home with my parents. Turns out he is an expert escape artist in the country. He also loves to play tag. He is never "it".

The Mr. Tumnus scarf is finally finished. I've dreamed about making it since The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe came out. That movie helped me to decide on my university degree. (Design)

I used two ends of Touch Yarns Brushed Solids. Co 15 sts. [K2, P2] K2, P1 until you have your desired length.

Too bad Scooter wasn't a better behaved boy. He missed out on another excellent evening.

Winemaking 101: Part 2

Winemaking 101: Part 1 can be found here.

So you've got grape juice fermenting in a cooler. It's been about two weeks, so you should start checking to see how much longer the juice needs to ferment.

Materials List for checking the juice: Hydrometer, graduated cylinder

Put some of the juice into the graduated cylinder. You want to make sure there is no grape skins or seeds in the cylinder, so cover the top and slowly let the juice through your fingers and into the cylinder. Put the hydrometer in. Make sure it isn't touching the sides of the cylinder when you read it.

Once it reads zero, you are ready for the next step.

Materials list for transferring containers: A large pot or two, a colander, a funnel, carboys, airlocks, stops big enough for the carboy tops with a hole in it for the air lock, oak chips.

First start straining out the seeds and skins.

If you like, squeeze the skins to get every drop of juice.

Discard skins and seeds.

Pour the juice into the carboy until the juice reaches where the bottle starts to slope in. You need to make sure there is some room for the oak chips.


Take your oak chips and pour them into the carboy. You want there to be at least a quarter inch to half inch layer in the bottle. Make sure that there is very little extra space in the carboy. If there is too much oxygen in the bottle, the wine will become vinegar.

Place the stopper and airlock into the top of the carboy. I breath into the bottle a little to get rid of some of the oxygen.

Once the oak chips settle, we'll move onto the next step.

Winemaking 101: Part 1

Winemaking 101: Part 3

EZ Longies

I finally finished off my Longies. (raveled) It took me exactly one month to make them! I've already got plans to make a second pair. The pattern was from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac. Super E-Z to make. (Haha - Elizabeth Zimmermann joke)

I found out that the yarn I thought I misplace in Chris' car in New Zealand never actually made it into my bag when I left the store. Luckily the nice people at Knit World Wellington kept it for two whole weeks. It was labeled, "The American Family." Chris picked it up for me and sent it. The color way is Ocean.

After visiting my parents I headed back home to the mill. It was a beautiful day. Unfortunately there was a power outage. Guess what runs on electricity. The pump for the well. Guess who had no water...

It wasn't too bad though. Scooter and I went to A.J.'s house where I ate pizza and Scooter begged while we all watched Top Gear.

I Was A Teenaged Kitten

The kittens have been slacking. They missed a mouse in one of the buildings. (Warning: the next picture is going to be a bit graphic)

This is what happens when a mouse gets carded. The kittens have been eating many mice, so it hasn't happened in awhile. But apparently they have become teenage kittens and enjoy snoozing.

We also have a foxtail problem around the mill. So far we have found foxtails in a lamb's eye, one of the kitten's eyes, and now this poor guy. At least he still has one eye left. After Marcail pulled out the foxtail, he refused to leave her hand.

I've been knitting a bunch too. I finally found some yarn for my Mr. Tumnus scarf. I've been dreaming about making a scarf like Mr. Tumnus' from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe movie for some time now. The yarn is by Touch. It is called Alpine on the label, but it also referred to as Brushed.

I also have started my very first sweater. The pattern is called Iceland from Rowan 42. The yarn is Tui by Zealana.

It's been a busy week, but I still managed to meet up with Brennan. He had a surprise for me. I've been told it does something cool when the mug is hot.

Burning Lamb

The Yolo Wool Mill's annual mill in was on October 30th. I got up nice and early to help the vendors out.

We had animals on display. This pair of alpacas was brought by one of the vendor's mum. They are around a year old. Not quite full grown.

Jane gave tours. (I set up the machine though)

Spinners (I think from El Dorado County) did a sheep to shawl demonstration for us. This involved carding the fiber, spinning it, and weaving in one go.

There were shearing demonstrations

Everyone wanted to know if the sheep was cold. The answer, not really. I've heard that sheep start to develop a fat layer within an hour of being shorn. But she still got to go to the barn in the evening.

We had a bunch of vendors. The Meridian Jacobs booth brought Jacobs Sheep.

The Crawdads came out to play around noon.

The vendors were very happy with all the help I provided. Especially Twisted Sunshine and Faerie Mountain Fiber. Twisted Sunshine gave me the little green roving for free. Hurray! The braids came from Twisted Sunshine and the batts came from Faerie Mountain Fibers. Crafts A Go-Go also gave me an ounce of mildly matted Angora for free. I have a project that will be just perfect for it.

After all the visitors left, we waited for it to get dark. Then a couple of us went out and burned the lamb effigy.

Kitten Trouble

Baloo has decided that he wants attention All The Time. He climbed in between my hands while I was tying skeins.

Baloo: Where are you going?

Baloo: Wait for me! I want to come too.

Baloo; You always make getting a chin scratch so difficult.

Baloo and Bagheera have also taken to napping in the wool that is drying. They have pretty good taste. They always manage to find the Merino wool whenever we have any out.