Newest Toy

During my recent imprisonment (in the brace), when I was very depressed and absurdly bored, I found myself one day my favorite local thrift store. I wandered around a bit, but I'm not in the market for furniture or mismatched dishes (anymore), so I hadn't found anything of interest. (I am still trying to figure out who buys half used candles, and not even nice ones, but what's life without some mystery.)

As I was leaving the store I passed one of the locked cases and glanced inside. And saw antique cameras. There were a couple of not quite antique SLRs, but hidden within were a Kodak Brownie Reflex and, what I have since learned, a Kodak Baby Brownie (I'm kicking myself for leaving that one behind).

I was in a weakened state. I had $5 in my pocket. I'm a sucker for black bakelite with chrome accents.

Welcome Home

I brought it home.

This is officially my oldest camera, beating the Duaflex II by nearly a decade. It's older than both my mom and dad. And I think it hadn't been cleaned since it came out of the box back in the early 1940s.

Despite my infirmity, I got out my camera cleaning kit.

It's not a very fancy kit, but it's remarkably effective. Not shown is the lens cleaner and cloth that I pilfered from my desk, which is the best for cleaning the optics (cause if it's good enough for my $600 glasses, it's good enough for a $5 camera).






I started dismantling the camera, paying careful attention to how things came apart so that later I could forget it all and have to puzzle out how to put it back together. I'm so glad I took photos or I'd have a box of camera parts rather than a camera.

The viewing lens was FILTHY.

I fixed that, though it took 3 goes with the cleaners to cut through all the grime.

I couldn't get at the front lens from the inside, like I did in the Duaflex II, so I had to content myself with cleaning it from the outside. It, too, was a travesty of gunk.

I did try to get at the inside, but it is underneath the shutter mechanism. I thought about taking that apart, but decided that in my state of decreased dexterity, it might be better to leave it alone.

So then, using these very photos as a guide, I managed to piece my camera back together, without getting smeary fingerprints all over the lovely clean optics.

I can buy 127mm film, and even get it developed. I just need to find an extra $40 lying around. Maybe it'll be a New Year treat.

2013 County Fair

According to my to-do list, I meant to do this post on August 9th. I didn't get the photos taken, and then on the 12th I landed in an immobilization brace on my right wrist and thumb. I was in that thing for 5 full weeks, and it made doing everything difficult, with working on the computer being one of the most difficult. What little computer stamina I had went towards completing work so that I could get paid.

I've been out of the brace for a few weeks now, but not out of pain or danger of relapse. Working on the computer is unappealing because it invariably leads to an increase in my pain level unless I'm very, very careful of hand placement.

The only thing that consistently did not and does not cause pain is knitting. Go figure. In the brace I could work on large gauge simple projects, now I'm back to working on anything I want. I'll post about my knitting progress later. For now, I'm going to catch up on what happened this summer.

I entered 9 fiber items in the 2013 county fair: 1 crochet, 2 spinning, and the balance knitting. Everything placed, (though some things not as well as I'd have liked), and for once there were judges notes on every tag, which I'm going to include with the photos.

Category: Spinning Scarf/Cowl

Yarn: BFL Dicentra 2ply

Pattern: Looped Loop

"Love the colors! Nice workmanship."

Category: Hand Knitting Hats

Yarn: Handspun BohoKnitterChic Smoothy Batt 2ply (yarn 1st place in previous fair)

Pattern: Toorie

"Beautiful yarn ~ interesting design"

Category: Hand Knitting Gloves/Mittens

Yarn: Abstract Fibers SuperSock in Koi Pond

Pattern: Foxtrot Gloves

"That diagonal stitching and the fingers are just beautiful! So nice."

Category: Hand Knitting Women's Sweater Plain

Yarn: Anzula Wash My Lace in Madam

Pattern: Haussman

"Very nice. Beautiful colors and the ribbon attachment are impressive."

Category: Hand Knitting Shawls

Yarn: 100% BFL Dicentra Navajo-3ply (yarn 1st place in previous fair)

Pattern: Ishebel

"Great yarns and colors. Nice work!"

Category: Spinning Blended Fibers, Plied, Dyed

85/15 Polworth/Silk, 320 yards, 8 oz., Aran Navajo-3ply

"Nice colors!"

Category: Spinning Art Yarn

Mixed Mystery Fibers, 53 yards, 1 oz., 2-ply (spindle spun)

"Nice colors."

Category: Crochet Toy

Yarn: Knit Picks Shine and Comfy Sport

Pattern: Zork the Alien

"Cute! Love his eyes."

Category: Hand Knitting Women's Sweater

Yarn: Cozette

Pattern: Eva's Blouse

"Beautiful job - you might want to check button placement."

(My button placement is perfect.)

I also submitted 4 photographs this year, which I usually don't. One of them was a last minute addition that I stumbled across while printing the others at Kinko's. It was a shot that I took at the Pacific Science Center when I was in Seattle. I was walking around the outdoor sculpture "garden" when I looked up and was struck by the architectural details of the ceiling of the outdoor porticos.

Category: Photography Pattern/Texture

I never thought I'd ever be an award winning photographer :-).