Something new

I took out the squares we crocheted last spring, when the grandmothers were visiting.  Last year I started to crochet them together, and it took so long that I stopped.  This weekend I tried to simply sew some of the blocks together using a whip stitch.  It took almost one tenth of the time, completely justifying undoing the previous attempt to make them into a blanket and re-doing it.

In the end there will be ten rows of  seven squares each. I have now completed seven rows.  In other words, 49 down, 21 to go.  When I have joined all 70 squares, I will crochet a neutral border around them to make the blanket a little bigger. Then I will phone my mother and and mother in law, to let them know that it is finally done.  They have been asking, and I did promise to finish it.

The book is from the library.  I love crochet, but many of the things people crochet should not be displayed in public.  Granny square blankets are safe, granny square coats/jackets/vests are hideous.  (My amigurumi nativity is pushing the boundaries.)  This book's projects are mostly safe, and some of them I love and would love to make.  But I do not crochet half as well as I knit, so I will return the book, finish the blanket, and move on to my next new obsession:

iPhone photography.

I don't know how I should feel about iPhone pictures, or sharing them.  A part of me thinks - that is strange, taking pictures and sharing them.  On the other hand, they look far more like the pictures I have in my head of what I saw than the pictures I take with my camera, if that makes any sense.  My iPhone makes it possible for me to take photos and share them immediately. Or after a little tweaking.  I love it, it is addictive.

This picture above was taken with my iPhone, using the Hipstamatic App.  People often apologize for phone pictures on blogs, but I think you can take fine pictures if you use the right shortcuts.  I bought two books: iPhone Photography, and iPhone Photography: 35 Apps for Great Pictures.  Together they have improved the quality of the snapshots I have taken with my new iPhone, well, I don't know, significantly.  (I also bought a tiny tripod for my iPhone, which is perhaps taking it a bit too far.)  I have scanned the books, will have to go back and read them more carefully, but I must confess - I never thought I would like an iPhone, but this is my best new toy ever.  And I do not even use it to phone anyone.

Apart from all this, I am still reading Jesus of Nazareth.  I have just completed the discussion of the Lord's Prayer, and am now reading about the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Joining Ginny once again for Yarn Along. I finally moved the button to my sidebar - hurrah!

(Whatever Martinus had last week was contagious, and Christian did, as I feared he would, follow in his brother's footsteps. Thankfully they are both much better now, and just a little thinner.)