Back to England, Back to Reality

So it has been a long time since I've posted anything! A lot has happened in the last 5 months. In my last post I told you about how I was learning how to knit and I kept up with it and also learnt how to crochet. My favourite thing I knitted was my hat in the photo below. I love the colour and I was pretty impressed with how it turned out as I made it up as I went along. Now that it's spring I am going to crochet some baskets and cushion covers rather than scarves and hats.

In one of my posts last year, I mentioned passing my theory test and wanting to do an intensive course. Well I did this, aaaaaaand I PASSED!! It took me so many attempts but I finally got there and it was the best feeling ever! 

This was taken straight after I heard the news as you can tell by the cheesy grin on my face! I had an excellent instructor who was so friendly and funny and just made me a lot more confident in my driving. Last week I actually bought my first car, a Renault Clio, So that's very exciting and I can't wait to go on lots of adventures!

But passing my driving test wasn't even the biggest thing that happened to me. In January I left for Sydney, Australia with my good friend from university. We made our way up the east coast to Cairns and saw some incredible places. We then flew to Alice Springs and went into the outback to see the Uluru which was my favourite part of Australia. 

We were lucky enough to see the Uluru during the day, at sunset and at sunrise. It was so beautiful and it really did change quite a lot in colour!

We then flew down to Melbourne and flew to Auckland, New Zealand from there. New Zealand was just amazing, everywhere you looked there were the most beautiful sceneries! I did some really exciting things like white water rafting, swimming with dolphins, walking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, climbing a glacier, visiting a maori village and visiting Hobbiton!  

 

Hobbiton

   

Tongariro Alpine Crossing (the best walk I have ever been on!)

I then flew to Bangkok, Thailand and we spent a few crazy days there buying lots of stuff from the markets! We then went up to Chiang Mai to volunteer at the Elephant Nature Park which is a great animal shelter for rescued and injured elephants that have been made to work for humans. It was a very special experience to be able to work so closely to such wonderful giants and it really made us think about how animals are treated. 

After an amazing but tiring week at the shelter, we then went down to the islands and had a relaxing last week sunbathing by the pool. I got back to England at the beginning of May. The whole experience was brilliant and feel like I have grown as a person and I am now ready for the real world! I am currently applying for jobs and will hopefully get something soon so I can start saving up money to move out. 

If you're thinking about going travelling then just do it!! You will not regret it and there is just so much you can see and do! 

I have put my macro photos back up for sale so check them out at www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KatherinePowellPhoto

I am also now on twitter so follow me @kpowellphotos

Hit a Brick Wall!

It's been a while since I've posted because since I put the photos up for sale I haven't actually taken many photos that I like and want to show people. I've sort of lost motivation now that the Etsy site is done which is really bad because I should be constantly putting photos up! I think part of it is that I'm now doubting whether my work is actually good enough to sell and whether people actually like it. After doing research about selling on Etsy, I know that it can take a long time to make you're first sale and you need to advertise it and work on publicity which I have been pretty bad with recently so I know that I need to start doing it again but I've lost the excitement of it.

I think because it's now getting colder outside and it's raining a lot, I just don't want to go outside and would prefer to stay in the warmth of my bed! It's getting to the point where I just need to man up and get on with it because I do love taking photos, I just need to get that motivation and creativity back!

Now that it's autumn, there's lots of new photo opportunities out there, with the leaves turning the beautiful shades of red and brown and all of the incredible fungi that pops up (I love taking photos of fungi!!) it really is an amazing time of year so there should be nothing stopping me from taking photos!

Since I haven't been taking many photos, I needed something else to fill the time because I have a LOT of free time! Last week I went into Hobby Craft to see if there was anything in there that could give me ideas of what I could do. I came across the knitting section and decided straight away that this is what I want to do! It might sound kind of lame and stereotypically be seen as something grandmas do, but I have always wanted to learn how to knit! My mum isn't very good at it and my Grandma lives too far away to teach me so I decided to learn from videos on-line. At the shop I didn't really know what I was getting, especially when it came to the needles as there were so many to choose from so I just went with some 5mm ones! I also chose some pretty wool. As soon as I got home I started straight away and instantly fell in love! It took me a while to get the hang of it but then I started doing different patterns and got more confidence. I am now knitting my first scarf! I'm so excited to finish it and actually be able to wear something that I made!

This is my scarf so far. I still have a long way to go with it but I'm pleased with how it's going. I really love the dark red colour and think it would be perfect for autumn! I'm using the moss/seed stitch which has a really good texture.

I love knitting so much already that I went back to the shop and bought another two pairs of needles (7.5mm and 10mm) and a lot more wool! I like the fact that I can just do it in front of the TV and it doesn't take too much brain power.

This is my collection of newly bought wool and needles. As you can see I have for quite autumnal colours and I love them!

If any of you are thinking about starting knitting then I highly recommend it. What could be better than making lots of scarves!! Plus they would make lovely Christmas presents!