Casting on a Loom

The other day Evan gave me a loom for knitting and I'm watching lots of videos learning a lot of techniques to knitting. So today's video is simply casting on with a loom.

YouTube:

diy Camera Strap

I have two camera straps that are both not the softest things in the world and since I'm close to going to Universal Studios I decided it was time to make a better one. I played with lots of ideas. Making a small pillow and attaching it. Making one from scratch with cushion. But my friend, Maddie, had the best idea by far. Turn a tie into a camera strap and in the process destroy one of my other ones. So here is how I did it.

Materials:

• Tie
• Old camera strap
• Sewing Machine

STEP ONE:

Cut out the pieces of the old strap (the two hooks and the belt loop)

STEP TWO:

First put the small end of the tie into one of the hooks and sew it together.

I wrapped it around twice so that it wouldn't wiggle around and it ended up looking really cute and like it was a tied tie.

And how I sewed it together.

STEP THREE:

Now place the big part of the tie through the belt loop and through the other hook.

STEP FOUR:

Now with the big pointy end of the tie push it through the center ring of the belt loop so it looks like this. And sew it.

STEP FIVE:

Go take lots of pictures comfortably!!

Design Capelet with Hood

So I'm pretty excited. I made this a couple days ago and it has turned out so well. I love it and am so excited to start wearing it as it gets colder and wetter. =D

Fudge

This is a fast and easy recipe. (http://ideasmag.co.za/food-entertaining/step-by-step-fudge/)

Sorry for not having pictures. Right now my computer is wigging out about not having space so I need to get a flash drive just for my pictures.

Ingredients:

• (125 ml or 8.5 tbs) Butter
• (15 ml or 1 tbs)Syrup
• (30 ml or 2 tbs)Milk
• (15 ml or 1 tbs)Water
• Saucepan
• (1 can)Condensed Milk
• (750 ml or 3 cups)Sugar
• (5 ml or 1 tsp)Vanilla Essence
• Pinch of Cream of Tartar

STEP ONE:

Melt the butter, syrup, milk and water together in a heavy based saucepan. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the sugar. Return to the heat and bring to boil. Boil for five minutes while constantly stirring.

STEP TWO:

Remove from the heat and leave the mixture to cool for a couple minutes (it should be a light caramel color). Pour the condensed milk into the mixture in a steady stream while stirring.

STEP THREE:

Return to heat and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes. Stir continuously to prevent the mixture catching fire.

STEP FOUR:

The mixture is ready when it is very firm. Stir the vanilla and cream of tartar into the mixture. Now pour the fudge into a greased pan (7X7 in) and leave till it sets. Cut into squares. Leave to set before removing. Store in and airtight container.

Ah the lovely rain

It's raining here in Edmond, OK so I took the time to go out and try and get some long exposure shots. They came out pretty well. Today has been a good day. I had Health class where I now have to figure out how well I eat (I can already tell you it isn't well, hopefully I'll be more conscious now though since I'm using the choosemyplate.gov) then Discrete Structures where we just went over the test we took Monday. And finally got to spend some relaxing picture taking time with my man. It was much needed after how busy this week has been. Then I went to my other class Programming II and when I got back to my car I found a note (below) and he gave me some flowers a little later. I'm so lucky and happy. I hope I sleep well tonight. How was your day? Good night.

YouTube video of the rain and thunder:

DSLR Camera Tutorial (Shutter Speed)

With Aperture (from last week) you figure out how to keep subjects in focus or out of focus. But with Shutter Speed you learn how to make blur or not. It regulates how fast the picture is taken. And if left open for long periods you can get really awesome photos. But with this you also need to control how much light is coming in. I don't have much else to say about it but to just go out and play with it a lot =D

Homework:
Take ten long exposures. Take fifteen fast exposures.

Last Weeks Homework (Aperture):

Knit Casting On

Here is a link to the YouTube video on how to cast on. Sorry for poor video. My computer needs more space so I need to buy a flash drive just for pictures and such.

Frozen Yogurt Blueberries

Ready to get messy? Well you can either get messy or spend a lot of time with toothpicks.

Ingredients:

• (thawed) Frozen Blueberries
• Yogurt (of your choice)
• Cookie Sheet
• Wax Paper

STEP ONE:

Thaw blueberries and place out. Put some yogurt in a bowl. Get out cookie sheet and cover with wax paper.

STEP TWO:

There are two options for this:

1. Roll the blueberry around in the bowl till well covered and place on cookie sheet till full or desired amount.
2. Take a toothpick and stab the blueberry. Roll it around bowl till well covered and place on cookie sheet till full or desired amount.

STEP THREE:

Place in freezer for two hours. Enjoy!

Next Week:
Fudge

DSLR Camera Tutorial (Aperture)

What we will be learning over the next couple weeks is the exposure triangle which is made up of ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed.

Some definitions to give you a basic understanding.

Aperture is what lets so much light into your camera.
Shutter Speed controls the amount of time the shutter is open.
ISO is the amount of sensitivity to light.

Lower aperture is more light. Look at this weeks homework on next weeks post for some examples.

Homework:
Take pictures of the same thing with different aperture and see how the picture changes. Record these changes. Don't look for very pretty picture composition (we will learn about composition later) just learn what the aperture does for the photo not caring about ISO and Shutter Speed just yet.

Next Week: 
Shutter Speed

Homework from last week:

Selective Color

Effects: High Key

Manual

Macro

Manual

Manual

Macro

Auto

Manual

Effects: Night Vision

Auto

Manual

diy Peppermint Mocha Creamer

9-18

Today I decided to make my own Peppermint Mocha Creamer since I went through my store bought bottle very very quickly. I haven't quite perfected it yet but I think I am close and when I'm done I will put actual measurements for you. Here is what I did today.

Ingredients:

• Half and Half
• Milk (I used Skim)
• Sugar
• Chocolate Syrup
• Peppermint Extract
• Dropper

STEP ONE:

Poor the Half and Half into the container like below.

STEP TWO:

Add chocolate syrup. And a drop of peppermint extract.

STEP THREE:

Mix together.

Pour into glass. It wasn't as good as I wanted so I added two drops peppermint. Add a spoonfull of sugar. And a splash of milk and it was better. I'll work on a final recipe in a couple days once I run out of this mixture.

9-19

IT HAS BEEN COMPLETED!!!

I finally figured out how to make it (it probably is easier just to go buy it but I wanted to make it and it's really good).

Ingredients:

• (1/2 cup) Half and Half
• (1 cup) Milk (I used Skim)
• (1 tbs) Sugar
• (3 tbs) Cocoa Powder
• (40 drops) Peppermint Extract

STEP ONE:

Pour in the milk and half and half.

STEP TWO:

Add cocoa, sugar and peppermint.

STEP THREE:

Mix together.

STEP FOUR:

Enjoy!

Guys I'm a dork...

This must be watched. It is kinda really awesome.

Knit Bracelets

Here are four super easy knit bracelet patterns. I made one for myself yesterday and it is so cute. Here is the pattern.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B53Qt4tPM1ouTlJKNjliUXdpcFk/edit

If you have any questions on how to do them just comment and I will post a video =D

Next week:
Knit Casting On

I love Fall

Fall is my favorite season for many reason. My birthday, cool weather, pumpkin carving and jumping in the leaves. I love being able to go outside and not sweat and then to be able to make art with pumpkins. This weekend I have so much homework but I really really want to draw. I love doing photography but I want to use my charcoals to make awesome art. I just felt like letting out emotions of how happy I am. =D

Things I've been doing recently.

I've been taking lots of photos with all my mode settings (As you all should be doing too if you are following my Camera Tutorial Homework), watching Season 3 of Avatar (I'm so hooked), knitting all kinds of fun things, and reading the Harry Potter series. Right now I'm on book 4. I've also been doing a whole lot of school work (I'm in college studying Computer Science with a minor in Art) but I was very happy when i did my second programming assignment really quick so now I have more free time than expected.

The state fair is here in Oklahoma this week and me and my boy are going to go and have some fun. I've never been so I'm pretty excited even though everyone I've talked to says it's boring. I have high hopes.

I've been trying to think of an easy way to make a book shelf cause I'm in desperate need of one. Any ideas?

Knit Ghost Toy

This is a day early cause I already put the video up on YouTube and am making a Knit bracelet for tomorrows blog.

Today I'm going to give you the necessary stitches to make a knit ghost toy. The stitches are knit, purl, knit front and back, and knit two together along with the abbreviation for st-st. The pattern is free and you don't have to sign up for anything. Here is the link to the pattern and the movie I put together is below to show you how to do these stitches. (I had to go through youtube cause it was having problems putting it here).
Pattern:
http://www.allfreeknitting.com/Halloween-Knits/spooky-knit-ghost-toy/ml/1

YouTube:

YouTube for icord:

Tie Bottom T-shirt redo

Here is a tutorial of how to make a tied bottom t-shirt. I got this idea from (http://thecraftcaboodle.blogspot.ca/2012/07/tie-bottom-top-from-old-t-shirt.html) and I added my own flare to it.

Materials:

• T-shirt (can be bigger than you or fitted)
• Scissors

STEP ONE:

Lay your t-shirt out nice and flat. Cut off the sleeves and the collar.

STEP TWO:

Find how long you want the shirt to be and cut a straight line in the back and two inches into the front then cut a huge triangle to the bottom and cut down the center of the triangle.

 Tie the bottom and you get this.

Now to add my own flare I decided to cut slits into the side to make it bigger and more flowy and just to make it look cool.

STEP THREE:

Lay the edge of the shirt nice and flat.

Cut slits about a finger wide. Then stretch them out nice and tight.

Then you end up with something like this.

Enjoy =D