Time's Been Flying Again

I just checked to see when I blogged last and was surprised to realize it's been almost two weeks! I guess it's about time I got back here, isn't it?

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, emotional upheaval and work. We drove to Vancouver to deal with Tony's remains, visited my mother, visited with children and grandchildren, drove back, and have been dealing with Tony's affairs since. Suffice it to say that it has been an unpleasant task, with John becoming more and more angry at his father. We had planned on driving back to the coast at Easter for a memorial service and to spread Tony's ashes, but that has been cancelled, indefinitely postponed. I won't go into further detail, other than to say that John is extremely disappointed in his father (furious is more like it).

I've been busy with other things, too. Last weekend, I asked John to help me build my light tent (I've been calling it a light box, but it is, technically, a light tent). He very graciously cut the pvc pipe to the sizes I'd specified and was generous with advice when I encountered unforeseen problems (like some of the fittings being too big/loose). Duct tape is a wonderful thing!

Here's what the finished light tent looks like...

I bought three different colours of posterboard: black, white and blue. Below is the light tent with a white tablecloth draped over it; the only thing missing are the lamps that would be used to light the tent from the top and the sides. They will come at some point. For now, I'll just use the ambient light here in the apartment. For my purposes, it's probably sufficient since I usually take pictures in the daytime anyway. But the lights will come!

I did a bit of playing around with taking pictures using the light tent and I think it will work quite nicely. Below is a little angel that was given to me when I left Kamloops; she sits on a shelf in my living room. I've tried taking pictures of her before, but they never turned out well; this time, I'm pleased with the picture.

This beaded rose is another favourite item; it was also a gift from a woman who worked with me (she did some amazing beadwork!). Again, this is something I've tried to photograph before, but just couldn't get a satisfactory picture; this time, with a white background in the light tent, I did.

The main reason for making the light tent, though, was for taking pictures of my knitting. As you can see, I HAVE been doing some knitting. Finally. Until this week, this month has been seriously lacking in knitting progress.

These are, of course, La Joie du Printemps (The Joy of Spring) mittens, designed by Heather Desserud. It's my goal to finish the second mitten this weekend. It's a goal, but not a hard and fast one; there are a few things that John and I need to do this weekend, Tony-related, and that may cut into my knitting time. But at least I'm knitting again! I've even worked on the Shetland Christening Dress!

By the way, if you want to make a light tent for yourself, here's the link to the tutorial I used. I didn't make it exactly like the one in the tutorial, but a tutorial is nothing but a guide.