mirith

A few weeks ago, I got a Helios 44 lens, which happened to be attached to a Kalimar SR200/Zenit E camera.  The seller wasn't sure the camera worked, but mechanically, it seemed to function.  The light meter even seemed to work!   The first roll I shot in the camera came out totally blank.  Which was disappointing.  I think the issue is the film holder is very fiddly, either from wear or age.  But I'm happy to report that the second roll was totally fine!  I got 32 photos, despite the back being opened once accidentally during rewinding...

 I overlooked a couple things when testing that vintage telephoto lens from my last post.   1) The included extension tubes!   2) My micro four thirds camera!  

 I got a new (to me) lens!   And a bonus film camera.  (and two bonus vintage telephoto lenses!)

 Finished product first, of course.      

I took a lot of photos, actually.  I have selected a few from the very, very many I took.   I think this is my favorite one. 

Last year (?) I picked up needle and shuttle tatting.  I decided to stick with shuttle tatting for the long-term, but was having some issues with ergonomics and reading patterns and tension.  Somehow, taking a break from tatting entirely has resolved those issues entirely.   Here's my first piece from after my break Solstice (scroll to the bottom for the free pattern) by Tatting by the Bay:     

I recently switched to only doing unflipped chains when I tat.  This is not my idea -- I got it from this YouTube video by Sparrow Spite.   There are going to be quite a few words in this post.  Enjoy!   Why would we want to not flip our chains? Seems kinda weird.   Unflipped chains basically mean you stay on the front side of the tatting the entire time you're tatting (unless you're working a two-shuttle pattern).  And you can tat faster.  Unflipped chains mean you don't have to reverse work nearly as often, or adjust the thread coming off the shuttle as often when switching from rings to chains or back, since you're reversing the shuttle that is used for the stitch thread.