New Hobby?

I suppose you are wondering if I did or did not get that can of Raid in my stocking because all you have heard around here for a few weeks has been crickets. I attribute that to a few things. I have found that, more than ever, I thrive on routine. Long weekends and holidays that throw my rhythm out of whack always affect me more than I would like. Most of it is good when the time is spent with family and friends but I always hate that feeling of waking up not knowing what day it is because of an interruption in my routine.

We had a good Christmas with lots of good time spent with family and friends but it felt like there were a number of days that I had in my mind to get something done, a photo made, a post written or some other thing that has been sitting on my to do list for far too long. I had hoped to get it done when the additional free time was available during this break from routine. Unfortunately that interruption, numerous social engagements and other deviations from the normal, seemed to prevent a lot of that getting done because the available time slots were too short to really dig in and get those items done.

At any rate, with New Year's Day passed, I feel quite ready to get back into the routine that I am accustomed to and happy with. I finally made another photo for the project I am working on and the light at the end of this tunnel (I hope this project brings me through many more) is nearing and I am getting anxious to reveal it. This evening I decided to just shoot something for the fun of it and see what people thought.

The title of this post, New Hobby, is in relation to one of the gifts I purchased for a friend and myself for Christmas. Zippers present a challenge to people whose hands do not work properly and often key rings are a solution but a conspicuous one. A lot of backpacks and jackets come with zipper pulls made out of paracord with a snap at the end which creates a loop that a person can put a finger through. You can buy these at Mountain Equipment Co-op for far more than they are worth or you can buy them on eBay for three dollars for 50 including shipping. My good friend, Paul, had mentioned earlier in the year that he needed more of those, was unaware you could buy them on eBay and without a MEC in Saskatoon was not about find any anytime soon. The gift idea was stashed in my brain.

I ordered a batch of snaps and a few kinds of paracord for us to make zipper pulls out of but in my search came across some of the very interesting belts, bracelets, lanyards and other things that you can make out of paracord. My few years in Scouts came back to me along with my enjoyment of tying knots. I never thought that the paralyzed hands I spoke of previously would work as well as they do with this material but I have successfully tied a few lanyards now and am thinking about ordering a few more colors to see what I can create. Everything I have learned has been from the internet; nothing surprising about that. Seeing something come together one stitch at a time makes me understand how Angie enjoys knitting the way that she does.

One of the kinds of paracord that I ordered glows in the dark and with it I tied a lanyard for my keys. It turned out quite well and I made two photos of it, one purely of it glowing in the dark and the other with a flash accent.

For those interested both exposures were at f/8, 30 seconds, ISO 200. The second exposure simply had one SB-28 at 1/64 power from about 6 feet away to accent the one side. Before the timer on the camera opened the shutter I popped a full power flash from a strobe in my hand on the paracord where I wanted it to glow so that it was at full brightness while the exposure was being made.

Now I'm just waiting for someone to make a joke about the quadriplegic, with a spinal cord injury, manipulating paracord into some sort of a rib-like design to hold his keys since his hands cannot. My guess is that Stacey will come up with a good one in a day or two.