We had a white Christmas Eve!!!
I had to send my favorite lens to Nikon last month for repairs. It's old, like me. It started wiggling a little bit on the camera mount, which is never a good sign, about a year ago. The more I used it, the more difficult it became for the lens to communicate with the camera. Eventually, they stopped speaking the same language. (My humorous way of saying it stopped working altogether.)
We'd taken the lens to the local camera repair shop, but they instructed us to send it directly to Nikon because that's all they could do with it, and it would be faster, cheaper and save us at least a couple of weeks by not going through a middleman.
That would have been helpful because I had scheduled some Hanukkah family portraits, and I'd need my portrait/macro lens.
The lens arrived back the day before my portrait shoot! I was SO excited! It felt like Christmas without the wrapping paper!
Unfortunately, the cute little note inside the package was not a Christmas card. Although I should consider it somewhat of a gift. The $185 service fee required just to look at the lens was waived.
My sad little lens is too old for surgery! Tears!!!
At least the bubble wrap in the package will be a GREAT Christmas present for my bubble-popping granddaughter! (with supervision, of course)
I have other lenses I can use, but that was my only macro lens, which means I can't do super power close-ups anymore until I get a new lens. I will have to save up for the replacement.
My macro lens is (or I guess, WAS) 60mm, which means I could get right up next to a flower or a snowflake for a close-up photo. The replacement lens is 135mm, which means the praying mantises, ladybugs and butterflies will have some breathing room between them and the big black barrel that might as well be a tank, from their point of view. It might also be pretty handy for sneaking up on shy little kids who don't want their picture taken.
That $185 fee, plus everything I made at this year's craft fair (which primarily was the sale of snowflakes, ironically), is being banked toward the new and improved macro lens. Meanwhile, I get to experiment using my regular, non-macro (which means no close-up) lens on the big, puffy, beautiful snowflakes that inspire my crochet. I equipped the lens with my extension tubes during this gorgeous storm, and I was delightfully surprised to get a few really good shots. Extremely blown-up, but inspirational just the same.
Today's pattern is inspired by one of those big, frosty flakes that halfway melted before I manually focused the lens. I'll share more of my Christmas Eve surprise snowflakes Wordlessly on Wednesday! Because, yes, I got enough good shots to fill a blog post!
You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and Merry Christmas!
Finished Size: 5.5 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 7 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line
Christmas Eve Snowflake Instructions
Make magic ring.
Round 1: Ch 5 (counts as 1 dc and ch 3), *1 dc in ring, ch 3; repeat from * 4 times for a total of 6 spikes; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 5. Pull magic circle tight.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.
Round 2: * 3 sc in next ch 3 sp, ch 6, 1 dc in 4th ch from hook, 1 hdc in next ch, 1 sc in next ch; repeat from * around 5 times for a total of 6 spokes; sl st in starting sc.
NOTE: Binding off here makes a pretty cute and super simple little snowflake.
Round 3: * Ch 5, sk next sc, sl st in next sc, working up next spoke sk next sc, sl st in bottom of hdc, 1 sc in bottom of dc, 2 dc in 1st ch of ch 3 tip, ch 10, 1 dc in 10th ch from hook, ch 9, 1 hdc in 9th ch from hook, ch 7, 1 sc in 7th ch from hook, ch 5, 1 dc in 5th ch from hook, ch 7, 1 dc in same ch as previous dc, ch 5, sl st in same ch as previous dc, working back down spoke ch 7, 1 sc in 7th ch from hook, 1 hdc in top of hdc on opposite side of spoke, ch 9, 1 hdc in 9th ch from hook, 1 dc in top of dc on opposite side of spoke, ch 10, 1 dc in 10th ch from hook, sk next ch of Round 2 ch 3 tip, 2 dc in next ch, 1 sc in next dc, sl st in next hdc, sk next sc, sl st in next sc; repeat from * around 5 times; bind off. Weave in ends.
Finish: Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.
If using glue, mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture or desired stiffener. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.
Having the fee wave is nice indeed, stinks that the lens is too ancient to fix. Hopefully you'll save away and have it in no time.
ReplyDelete