finished! finished! finshed!

Yes - three finished items, which means its one of those manic posts where I say look at this, and this, and this, and this ... and you wonder if I even slept since the last post. Well, I did sleep, and I did go to work, and I even hosted Toby's 9th birthday party, so cleaned house, and yes, I knit some, and spin some and no - I am not on drugs, just a coffee or two a day.


The first of the finished items is Bears hat, Koolhaas by Jarad Flood. Erika warned me these were addictive, and she is right, I already feel the pull to knit up another smaller for me, in a paler creamy grey version of the same yarn. So from go to whoa a fast 4 days. And now Bear no longer has Elmer Fudd comments (if you are interested here is the before photo).

and the crown, now I do have to admit for some reason the pattern instructions didn't work out for me. I frogged the crown several times, but then just winged it and worked in decreases in pattern as I went and it finished out ok. I can't find anyone else who had this problem, so its probably just me.


And my mittens, all done, all twined and ends kitchenered closed and woven in and felted slightly and warm and light, and wonderful. Can you tell I am just so happy with these mittens. They were hard work, and at times seemed plain and quite unspectacular, but now - I'm in love with them. In real life the grey has touches of blue and pink and green, and is a lot warmer than this shows.

And spinning, last post I was off to ply, and ply I did, and the result is done. I mis-represented the fiber last post, it is in fact 400g of English Leister and Romney hand dyed in the lock by Margaret Ruck of Waikari Wools. I spun a ply from each 200g bag of fiber and plied these together, but interestingly ended up with one pale skein and one dark skein. Still they work well together, I've got 424m, so enough for a shimmery scarf. This week I am on leave, so will be able to spin on Wednesday morning at the guild spinning, I'm quite looking forward to that - I've got some special blend from Jenni that is white and shimmery to work on, its got silk in it.

This is not-my-Toby's blanket, I knit it for him before he was born, and before I knew he was going to be another Toby. I blogged the whole process, collaborating with his mum Gill, about the fair isle pattern, and the steeking and the boarder. Gill sent this with a note that her Toby was nearly out of his crib and the blanket had done Stirling duty. She gave me permission to share this image of the blanket with her Toby.


And finally, I warned you this post was a bit manic, here is the last FO, number 3 (the second twined mitten was number one, the skein of yarn number two making this number three - the blanket was finished ages ago so doesn't count). Its only one of a pair of mittens, but it is finished. So far this year Bear has a new hat and scarf, and from last year Toby has his lined mittens and his hat, and Poppy has her hat but has lost one of her mittens - since I'm still dithering around what lace or/and sock to knit and I procrastinated further with a Mystery sideways mitten by EZ from Knitting around. Knit on 4mm its to be a mitten for an adult, I knit mine on 3.25mm with some yarn that Poppy and I had dyed a year ago, with Sour Grape drink mix. Its pretty scratchy yarn but I feel obligated to use it given Poppy was involved. I doubled the yarn but the mitten ended up to large. I felted it to shrink it a little, and I'll knit another one, but its still to big. Perhaps a visiting girl child in need of mittens will need these, or they could live in Poppy's drawer for the next year.

So thats me, no further along in deciding what lace to knit, I suspect as I'm on holiday and trekking around for the next few weeks I'm reluctant to start something with a complicated chart till I feel settled. So perhaps I'll just continue to muck around with little fast projects for a bit longer. I've just downloaded Odessa by Grumperina because Ana was wearing such a nice one last Thursday.

Last day of work tomorrow, then 2 weeks of leave before I have to go back, can you tell I'm smiling already?
Take care - Stella

Sock yarn club!

Yes - New Zealand has a sock yarn club, and I'm in it. This week my inaugural sock yarn parcel arrived in brown paper and tied up with string, I knit a little more on my twined mitten and made use of a sock technique for adding the thumb stitches, I've also been spinning, and I went opp shopping and found knitterly books to add to my library.

But first the sock club, Vintage Purls has been selling on line for a few months now, and I have quite a few of her products, knitpics needles and hand dyed sock yarn. My first sock club parcel arrived complete with yummy yarn, chocolate fish, knitpic needle, custom pattern, and even a little skein of thread for the provisional cast on. In real life the read is so warm and fireballish that the socks have to be toasty warm. Now I'm faced with even more of the dilemma of which of the yummy yarns in my stash to knit up into socks next. Not a bad position for a sock knitter to be in, really.


And still my twined mitten lingers, but it grows. This is my main knitting project, I aim to knit on no other till its done. Last night after the knitting photo shoot, I knit a little more, so now the top narrows with the first of the decrease rounds being knit. But this is where I was at mid afternoon Saturday.


When I got to the end of the thumb gusset, like any cuff up mitten, there was the need to park some of the stitches ready to become the thumb, and cast on a few more before knitting the rest of the hand section. I remembered Judy's magic cast on, and used it to cast on the extra stitches and it worked a treat. I now have live stitches ready to knit up to the thumb, rather than a cast on edge from which to pick up stitches for the thumb. The advantage in working them this way there will be no odd ridge inside the mitten, just seamless knitting. Using the magic cast on was easy with the twined knitting because I already had two strands of yarn in use, but methinks I will try it for underarms and other places where I need to cast on, then pick up and knit from the cast on. I will have to add an extra stitch at the corners, but that seems to be standard practice for picking up around shaped openings.


And while I limit myself to finishing my mitten, have been distracting myself by doing a bit more spinning than usual. I'm about 75% of the way thru spinning this Romney Lincoln blend. The first 200g was spun from dyed multi-colour locks which I combed, the second 200g I have carded and am spinning from the sliver. I am hoping the ply spun from the locks will have dramatic colour changes, and the ply from the carded sliver will be more muted. Together that should made for a coherently coloured yarn. The staples are really long 10-15cm, so spinning this is unlike anything else I've spun so far - an interesting learning curve and the fiber is so lustrous.

And finally - look what I scored in a local second hand book shop? Sally Melviles 3rd book on colour, and Blankets and Throws to Knit, by
Debbie Abrahams. Now neither was particularly high on my need to have list, but at the price they were listed, it seemed right they come home to join my knit library. There is a lot of inspiration in the blanket and throw book, and I since I've knit 3 or more baby blankets in the last year and a bit, well a source of blanket squares might not go amiss.

I should have a new how to video next post, backwards loop increases as knit in my BSJ. I'm finally catching up to all the u-tube requests for more techniques. I'm off to shop for dinner (home made burgers, with salad), and tidy the house ready for the week ahead.

Take care - Stella

Grrrr

This week there has been a few battles and all of them I lost. My 'good citizen' involvement project turned sour with unreasonable demands from another person (messages sent at 6:22pm to my work email requesting things be sent that night), and at work I battled towards the summit of Mt Marking which included co-ordinating other staff and dealing with failed student(s), and there I felt like I lost as well. Now I'm not a difficult person, I'm pretty easy going, I communicate fairly clearly - but this week, there seemed a vast clouded valley of miscommunication between myself and some others - whats going on? I even offered to resign from one responsibility, but my offer was refused. I've got no idea what the others go home to but it can't be better than bear-hugs and knitting, so enough moaning about the world - on to the knitting.

So the knitting, I've twined some more, see? I'm probably half way up the thumb gusset and feeling quite proud of myself that the gusset is actually a reverse or mirror of the first mitten.

I was asked a few weeks ago via u-tube to provide a slower video of knitting crook or chain stitches continental style than the one I had posted. The requester said I knit beautifully and asked me to please not show off by knitting so fast, how could I refuse such a flattering request? With the broken Toby and other things it took a while, but finally here it is. I realise that I also need to post another video sometime soon showing how to twine with both yarns in the right hand whilst knitting crook stitches. To complete a twined surface pattern like the gusset line here - there is no way I'd switch the hand holding my yarns for only those three stitches.





And here is the BSJ bootie, from the Opinionated Knitter. The cast on edge is the top edge and the center back seam, and it has such a cute turned up pixie toe. The real effect of the clever miter shaping would be more clearly shown with stripes - and yes I'll do that once my BSJ is finished and I can use the left overs with no danger of running out of yarn. My BSJ is at the point I must put it aside and wait for the next class - 5 weeks away. There is a neckline modification and the hood to work as well, all of which are not in the original pattern.


and lastly - Feijoas! I spent my early childhood in Auckland, a far more sub-tropical place than Dunedin. In Auckland these (and all citrus) fruits grow everywhere, and I do mean every where. The bushes are used as hedges and drop fruit that is often left to rot on the ground - such is the abundance of supply. As a child we ate feijoa fresh, had stewed feijoa at breakfast, candied feijoa, fejoa cake, feijoa muffins, feijoa crumble, feijoa jelly and oh-my-gosh - the house and suburb would smell of Feijoa the whole season. Feijoa have a strong perfume, yes really - they do smell like perfume. In Dunedin - Feijoa are exotic imported fruits, with a price tag to match. When we moved here we were told Feijoa would not grow here, and we believed it, then I found a feijoa tree once years ago at a garden nursery. I bought it and found they do grow here. We have a single tree, we ignore it, we don't water or feed it, it lives in a corner of our back yard, hard up against a wooden fence, and it fruits every year. Not with the abandon of an Auckland tree, and the fruit may be a little more tart without the extra sun and warmth to sweeten it, but my tree fruits. This week we harvested the bulk of our Feijoa - and I'm loving it, they taste great and the house smells wonderfully fragrant.

Anyway - hope your week was more enjoyable than mine, and that there was something that made you smile the way feijoa's made me smile this week.
Stella

Finished !

Yes, two more socks done and blocked and put away awaiting a new owner. Salto is finished, the birthday girl is now 6 and continuing to annoy her big brother to bits, and I've finally made a start on my 2nd twined mitten. Today was a public holiday in New Zealand, Queens birthday weekend. Two interesting facts, its not her birthday, but apparently her fathers (or grandmothers - I forget exactly which), and they don't have that holiday in England - odd. no?


So Salto socks, all done, now these are a very pretty sock and while needing a certain amount of attention whilst knitting to get the cables all equally spaced, the socks themselves are actually quite straightforward. One warning - the sock pattern is for a quite small foot, and the numerous cables 'eat' yarn. Because of this, and my stubborn-ness in accidentally knitting the very frugal 1"rib at the top of the sock a generous 0.5" to long, I ran out of yarn, and I refused to frog. With hand dyed yarn this causes problems. So there was some juggling and some helping out and some fudging and even a little frogging around to get these two beauties to match perfectly at the toe. So because they are done, and turned out better than OK, nearly perfect in every way at the end, you get two celebratory photos of my finished Saltos. And no - they are not for me .... its a mystery who's foot they will grace in a month or twos time.

Sock Stats:
Started March 20th 2008,
Finished May 29th May 2008.
Needles dpns, 2.25mm,
Yarn = Sock by Vintage Purls, St Clements (plus a extra grams of a special blend -thanks :-D).


Now with Salto finished, I've dug back into the UFO pile and so I've been twining away again, working the 2nd of the twined mittens. The days draw in, the nights are colder and we have had at least one icy frost. I have mittens, but there is something about 'new' mittens. The second time around - I'm discovering that I didn't note down all the details as I knit the first, but since I have it here, I can work out what to do, and I'm amending the pattern, with a view to posting it here.

and news, I'm all exited, I'm off to the nearest bigger smoke at the end of July, a girls spin trip. Three of us, to an Anne Feild workshop "refine your spinning". We have our places confirmed, our accommodation booked, and our flights all organised. All I need to do is find a suitcase or box my smallest wheel fits into - and I'm good to go. they will lend us wheels, but .... once you have your own wheel tweaked, and running perfect, and the thought of a spare unloved guild wheel .... is not enticing. I've also got another knitting based road trip coming up early July - for which plans are falling into place. More about that at the time. And a conference in August - I am going to have to give Bear a bit of child free time, once all my tripping around New Zealand is done.

Take care - Stell

pssst I did start a new project today. For Pops, in Pink, but with night falling at 5pm, you will have to wait a few days before I can make a photo to show you.

half way there ...

mmmm yes, a mitten, half a pair, so half way there. Today there was near darkness as I went to work at 8:15 am, and darkness as I bussed home at 5:30 pm, so very limited opportunities for quality photos. I forget to pack the knitting to photograph in daylight at work. I've worked a little more on my alpaca cardigan, and spun a little more. I realise today I have both process and product knitting, usually my work is far more on the process, I know I can knit some ugly things just because they involve an interesting or challenging technique. At least I know that about my knitting.


So .... my mitten is done, finished early last night and worn and admired. I loooove this twined fabric, firm, thick, squishy in a firm way, elastic by again firm. I'm not so sure I love the actual knitting - but like any new technique it takes time to become proficient and for it to be easy.

I always post my videos on u-tube, and some one responded to the twined knitting video with the simple but puzzled query - 'why do you do twined knitting'. How on earth do you answer that? Its not as simple as 'because I can', but perhaps more along the lines of 'because I read about it and it sounded interesting'. Ok, we all know that puts me firmly in the world of the knitting geek. I freely admit to being a technique focussed knitter, and when shown a new technique - well I just want to give it a try, and possibly add it to my technique tool box.

But back to talking about the mitten, I decreased the end of the mitten and grafted the top, picked up the waiting thumb stitches and knit the thumb. I used a decrease for the thumb that matched that of the top of the mitten, decreased at the edges and grafted closed. Odd, as usually patterns I've used have a more round thumb decrease, but this works nicely.

So this is what the mitten looks like, all it needs now is a mate. We have had one slight frost so far, but no real sign of winter. The mornings are chilly, a message that winter is coming, and so I will knit another mitten to complete the pair, just so I can wear them.

and a closer view of the twined knitted fabric, see how the stitches lift a little on the left side? I think that is the result of the twisting pulling the right side of the stitch down snug. I can see how those who take such things seriously could feel stranding is not the same as twining.

and finally - some progress on my tangled yoke cardigan, slow progress as I'm knitting in finner yarn that that specified. Look - nearly 16 cm, of the 19 cm required! Nearly there, and then ..... stocking stitch ... flat! This is a real product knit, where it is the cardigan I want and the process is to be endured.

Our local knitters night has found itself a name - Take back the knit. Do you like it? Thats tomorrow night, and I've got the local guild monthly meeting Saturday, so time to knit a few more cm's on my rib. I do need to cast on for the second mitten - but that requires focused time, and is not a social activity.

Tvåändsstickning - holding those twisty yarns

Today - a quick short post, a video showing the more efficient hold for twined knitting. I developed this method based on a few photos in an article in an Threads book, Knitting around the world. The article is 'Swedish two-stranded knitting' by Linda D Y Sokalski. I inter-loaned a copy through my local library - then found several of my knitting group had copies.




and thanks for nice messages last post, its been a sad few days, and I expect there will be more sadness to come. My colleague is some one I first co-taught papers with 8 years ago, and who I watched as she completed her masters. She is some one with whom I have had many many process vs product discussions centered on student work. She has an arts background and I a science one, together we found that the same things were important in our students work.

Take care - I'm still twining away on my mittens, and I promise progress images next time.
Stella

Nope - dark chocolate can't fix this,

Some small things, and an incredibly sad thing. I'm back at work, after having a few days at home to rest and get better. No point coughing all over the students and fellow staff is there? And - yes I'm sad, some one is moving into a hospice, and its sad, no other word for it, to describe knowing a life ends soon. Sad. No its not family, but a colleague who I admire and who has such a healthy respectful human attitude to students and peers that I'll miss her already. Please excuse me while I feel a little dark and blue about the whole thing - Friday there is a small function (at her request) to say goodbye - and just between you me and a big box of tissues --- frankly, I'm gonna be a mess. There are a few things in this world I've found to my dismay that even the darkest of dark chocolate can't fix, and this my friends, appears to be one of them.

So I'll avoid the issue for now by talking about the knitting, my Salto sock project continues, I've worked the heel on sock two, and un-worked, or frogged the toe on sock one. Sock one is now just sitting and waiting for me to knit sock two to the same length, and then I'll finish the two together. Remember sock 1 ended up being a little to long and needed trimming? And there might be an issue of not enough yarn - but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.



And my twined mitt? Well I've knit up to the thumb and even managed to add a line of crook stitches to delineate the thumb/palm line. I was so proud of myself, early in the line if you look really close you can see where I messed up, before I learned to read the twine chain and predict if the row should be k1 p1 k1 or p1 k1 p1.



And the increases? Well twined increases are a doddle, is that a word unique to New Zealand or is it in common use world wide. Here is means easy-as, or not-difficult. So to increase in twined knitting, one knits into the stitch first with one strand, and then twists the other strand over and knits into the same stitch - an easy increase, 2 stitches where once there were one. I chose to work this mitten with all the increases on one side of the thumb gusset, why? Because I'd never seen that done before and it was one of the 4 thumb shaping options in the book. I like the result, especially the way the stitches angle away from the body of the mitten so sharply.


And for all of you who think my knitting is well nigh perfect, well its not and here is some of the proof, I have not mastered twining over the gap of the dpn needles. And some where in the muddle I think I goofed the aligning of the knits and purls, something is not right here, and its not the begining of the round so I can't blame that. Wanna know the worst part - its the center back of the mitten, and I could have shifted the gusset around to hide this on the palm - but I didn't think of that till afterwards. Still I'm thinking of this as my 'learning' mitten.



And I'll leave you with my progress so far. I'm trying something new, I've got the thumb stitches strung on a waste yarn just waiting. But this time I strung the 2 stitches either side of the stitches on hold as well - maybe it will stop those on the waste yarn pulling a little hole in my work? Of course with the twining - its so dense it probably won't form a hole anyway. Notice this knitting stands on its own!

Stella

My head is full of wool

Cotton wool, the kind that comes with a head cold, and snuffles, and husky voice. Now you would think a head full of wool would be ideal for a knitter and newbie spinner - but no, it isn't. and here it is winter, complete with hail, and snow, and ice and sleet. That all began Friday, and we were lucky to get out of Dunedin, two of the knitting campers didn't make it, they left late on Friday and were advised not to travel on the northern motorway due to ice-y conditions. But we left earlier in the day, and so Friday I went to knitting camp, with my box of tissues and knitting basket not knowing this was a real cold not just a case of the sniffles. Once I knew I tried my best not to contaminate any one. Don't worry, I was careful and didn't handle any body's food (I cleared plates into the dishwasher after they ate, I'm working on the principle the hot water and harsh chemical detergent kills all in its path), and I wasn't coughing at camp, that started after I returned home. And best of all, apparently I didn't snore (a great relief when room sharing - I don't think I snore, but with the cold and all - it is always a worry). Spouses can't always be relied on to answer that one truthfully.

So by end of day one, I had this little pile to show. First up was the orange and green swatch, 2mm needles - and I don't know how many stitches, but cast on number 1. White swatch, again 2mm needles and cast on number 2, a really cute little chain on the right side of the work. The larger grey swatch was my gauge swatch, as I worked out how many stitches for a mitten. I cast on 60, nope not gonna fit. This twining is not difficult, but is tricky and not as easy as ordinary knitting, so I wasn't intending to knit mittens that didn't fit and end up as gifts for someone who didn't recognise the amount of effort a twined mitten or two take. I switched ot 2.25mm needles, nope still not big enough, so I increased to 72 stitches and twined some more. About right - the Goldilocks principle, not to big, not to small. Some of these even measure 2.5 inches across!


Start of day two I cast on my mitten, and work the twined chain bands and the colour work section, latter that night at home I finished the colour work and today between coughing fits worked a little more on my mitten. This twining is slow knitting. It is knit with two yarns, usually the two ends from a center pull ball, and every stitch the yarn is twisted. The result is a smooth, elastic, firm, and quite squoooshy knit fabric that is very very dense. We discussed the reasons for twining, one book says it is more elastic than pure stranding, we also thought it was more cushion-y and would wear better. Any holes wouldn't ravel, with the yarns held firm with all the twining. We also discussed how in some European cultures brides had to knit many gloves and mittens as gifts for their in-laws. What an excuse not to say yes to a man you didn't like, "I can't marry you, I've not finished knitting my mittens yet" so much more polite than "I just don't fancy you", twining is time consuming - perhaps it was invented to delay the prospects of marriage?


And this is the inner side of my mitten, showing the twining. The reverse of the knitting really does look different. I started off twining the colour-work, but soon reverted to plain old stranding.

So I'm off to knit some more, maybe, and rest a little and have an early night. You take care.
Stella

Added after posting so a post script : my twining videos are here, here, and here, and I've worked out a smoother hold for the yarns so I'll do an update as soon as my camera bear allows, and a photo tutorial or two here.

Swatching swatching, but what will I knit?

I did this last year, knit 'lots-a-little-things' because I couldn't decide what to knit. I'm not sure if that is the time of the year, with my holiday drawing to a close, or the end of large projects and the lull that follows - but I'm in that 'what do I do next' space, yes I am. Still there is knit stuff to show and tell today, a video of that cute little chain decoration, two lots of swatches, the sweater grows, ...... oh, oh, oh, a finished object, and new camera. How could I forget things like that?

Video - more twined knitting, this time how to make what the official authors call 'crook' stitches, but what I think of as little chains. Knitting chains is a lot like knitting double layer fabric, except you want the purls to be on show not hidden, and you want the two yarns to cross over and twist together, so the layers are stuck together. Theresa Vinson Stenersen has a good intro to Twined knitting on Knitty, and there was a little on Knitting with color way back in 2004. Let me know if you find or know of other online resources. The video has instructions for the 2nd row - right at the end,
Note added 18 Jan 2008 The video seems to hitch up at the 8 second mark, just drag the slider on a little and it will resume play. I've uploaded it twice, and re-edited as a quick-time movie again - but the problem still exists (I'm blaming blogger - it plays just fine at home and on u-tube).





Blue merino, do you remember that I was spinning up some 22 micron merino fiber, well it is now all spun, into a 3 ply, at about 19-20 wpi, and totals 750m. I spent some time yesterday dying it blue, and plan to knit a shrug for Poppy and embroider it with colourful daisies using left over yarn from the Ccatta hat. It is to match some cute shoes she is about to grow into. Thats the plan - lets see if it happens or if I get distracted. Now I can make a start on my 'spinning home-work', and spin much thicker and lighter stuff.


Finished sock alert, my 'not' merino lace socks are finished, and with only a little yarn left over. Not merino, because I didn't knit them with merino yarn obviously. With the lace involving lots of k2tog and ssk, the socks have a thickness and warmth that is very nice, but seems entirely inappropriate when we are in the midst of a very summer patch of weather. I washed and dried these on my home made sock blockers, and it has opened up the lace and now the socks present very professionally. I like the effect, very much. These were knit on 2 circs, two at a time, which seemed slow during but it was nice to finish both together. 2 Circs is a great way to knit lace, but I do like my wood or bamboo dpns - for now I think I will swing between the methods depending on what I'm knitting.


Swatch for new project, this is planning for a new sock, in great yarn. Bambewe fingering, Zen String Hopi, from Austin Texas (thanks Suzanne!). This yarn has Merino, Bamboo and nylon and feels like silk but should wear like iron with both bamboo and nylon. My gauge swatch is in the round with sections of both stocking stitch and slip stitch patterning - I love the little v patterning with the slip stitch rows, I've never really felt the appeal for stripy sock yarns - but with slip stitches, a whole new appreciation has opened up for me. This is for Cat Bordhi's Bartholomews Tantalising socks, for me. I am thinking sock swatches should become little jewelery or stitch marker gift bags, perhaps?

Usually my sock projects are take out knitting and my sweaters are at-home concentrate knitting, but this time I think there will have to be more focus on the knitting these socks that my current sweater project. For xtra Brownie points, I hand wound the yarn into the ball using my new home made re-appropriated nostepinne. I recognised the shape of my $1-$2-$3 shop cheap and cheerful pizza dough rolling pin was tapered enough to be a good Nostepinne. Yesterday I sanded it smooth and cut a little yarn notch in one end. We do have 3 other rolling pins - so will still get home made pizza, don't worry. I was so exited about the re-appropriation I wound all my little sock left overs into neat balls awaiting making into fish. FYI - winding using a hand operated winder is much much faster.


And I've spent a night swatching, yes I too have been lured into the We call them pirates craze, except I haven't. I've had this hat on my to knit list since last June (Winter for us in NZ), for Toby. With my not merino lace socks finished, I pulled out my 4 ply fingering bone and black alpaca in stash and worked a swatch - but - I think the moment might have passed, both for the knitting of and the wearing of. I'd rather knit socks right now, or something else. Still the hat and yarn will keep for another day, or year or pattern.


The possum merino sweater grows, I'm stuck in the stocking stitch wastelands of a mid torso, but given Toby is only 8, and skinny, I should be onto sleeves in a week or so. Depending of course on how tantalizing and how much pull Bartholomew's socks really have....

New camera, we are still in the process of applying for insurance. We will get it but they need the documentation that the old camera can't be repaired. Given Minolta's are no longer imported into NZ, so there is no agent, its a given repairs are not possible - but we need an official report. However I plunged and bought a new Panasonic DMC-FZ8 in silver. The Panasonic has the same bright lens specs as the Minolta (f 1:2.8-3.3) and a fab Leica lens, so I'm happy. I 'should' have bought a digital SLR Nikon to take advantage of the 20+ Nikon lenses Bear has for his F5, that would have been the sensible buy, but I didn't want to have to ask to borrow a lens, I wanted my camera to be my camera, just call me independent.

Stella