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Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Photography Challenge

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long KCBW banner

Day 2: Photography Challenge

Swatch color wheel (note all the green):

Swatch color wheel

Leftovers color wheel (lots more reds, blues, and whites in this one):

Leftovers color wheel

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Color Lovers

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KCBW banner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s topic asks bloggers to talk about their love or confusion of color. It’s funny–only a few years ago, I would have said that I always, always gravitated toward rich jewel tones, especially blue, purple, and green, and rarely knit with anything else. A quick look through my Ravelry projects proves it:

project collage

I figured this trend would continue when I started designing last year. After all, I’m the one who gets to pick the colors I want to knit with, right? Oddly enough, though, I’ve found myself using more neutrals and dark, muted tones than before. Having to think about the styling and wearability of the piece changes things.

Here’s a snapshot of some of my designs that proves it:

Designs in neutrals

Of course, I also have these, so maybe I haven’t gone as far from blue and green jewel tones as I could have, heh:

green-blue designs

A look through my yarn cabinet also shows a weakness for impulse yarn purchases in blue, green, and purple:

yarn cabinet 1

yarn cabinet 2

WIP basket

My WIP basket

 

swatch pile

The current swatch pile

I’m going to continue attempting to branch out, color-wise, but I’m not sure how much luck I’ll have with all this yumminess calling to me. I think if I could only knit from Madelinetosh jewel-tones for the rest of my life, I’d be perfectly happy.

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week 2012

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Starting Monday, I’m participating in the 3rd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, hosted by the lovely Mimi of Eskimimi Makes.

KCBW banner

I’m excited about the challenge of blogging seven days in a row. The prompts are great–very thought-provoking. I highly recommend checking them out if you haven’t already.

Hope to see you on Monday!

Math, math, and more math

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Gosh, I feel like I haven’t shown much of anything here for a while (posting my husband’s hat last week was intended to distract from this fact–did it work?).

There’s a good reason. Here’s what I’ve been doing instead of knitting:

Math

Yes, I draw little mad faces on my pages when things don't work out the way they should.

I’m working on sizing a sweater design for a yarn company. This is called “grading” among the pattern-writing community. It’s HARD. Especially when you’ve designed a cardigan with large cables and 3X3 ribbing (even on the sleeves) that must be maintained for each size.

I have about ten more pages in my design notebook that look pretty much like this one. Many designers prefer to grade patterns in Excel or another spreadsheet program… but to be honest, I like working everything out on paper better. Plus I never really learned how to use Excel to its fullest potential, and the amount of time it would take to learn seems somewhat prohibitive at this point.

Plus, this way I get to use my iPhone, an incredibly powerful hand-held computer, the same way I’d use a $2.99 calculator, which entertains me for some reason.

But as I’ve said before, I actually really do like math, which helps the whole process a lot. And figuring out how to maintain the overall look of a sweater while upsizing/downsizing parts the right amount appeals to the part of me that likes puzzle-solving.

I did get buttons for the green sweater this weekend. It was surprisingly difficult to find 4 large (1.5″) brown buttons, but the fifth store I went to had some that will work. This means blocking can commence! Hopefully I’ll have pictures for FO Friday this week…

So Proud I Could Burst

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See this nifty hat, modeled by my husband?

Gavin Hat 1

Nice, eh? (And the model’s not bad either, if I do say so myself. Look at those soulful brown eyes….)

But here’s a secret–I didn’t knit the hat. He did!

After a few years of watching me knit (and start designing), he decided he wanted to learn. As he put it, at least then he could understand me when I started swearing at my knitting. Heh.

He started with a knit-purl square. In one of those jokes of the universe, he was a total natural. Very even tension from the get-go, and he figured out right away the best way to hold his yarn so he’s fast. My first projects looked like utter crap, but his first square is good enough that we actually use it as a coaster around the house.

This hat is his second project. His first time following a pattern, knitting in the round, using DPNs, cabling, etc. etc. etc.

Look at those sexy decreases:

Sexy decreases

He picked out the yarn at The Twisted Stitch in Monterey. It’s Imperial Yarn Columbia in (I think) Indigo Heather, and it’s DELICIOUS. Squishy and bouncy, and just the right amount of rustic-ness while still being soft. The color depth is fabulous. I want a sweater out of this yarn really, really badly.

The pattern he used is the Irish Hiking Hat (Ravelry link). He deliberately made it a little longer so it’s a bit slouchy:

Slouchy!

I’m actually really jealous of this hat. Maybe I’ll get him to knit me one next….

Fabulous!

He obviously knows how fabulous he is.

 

Happy Easter!

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Chocolate and knitting

The Doctor is in!

I’m having a very good day :-)

FO Friday: Secrets

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I’ve been knitting my brains out for the past few weeks… but unfortunately I can’t show you any of it. Three commissioned designs, three patterns to submit to Knitty, more swatches than I can keep track of.

Pile O Knits

Pile 'o indeterminate knits

Swatch city

Swatch city

The green sweater (which I’m planning to self-publish) is finished, but it needs blocking and buttons. I have a strict don’t-show-before-it’s-blocked policy, so that one’s gonna have to wait too.

I’ve also been rediscovering my addiction to 90’s sci-fi TV shows. Am I the only one who thinks shows used to be much more fun 15-20 years ago?

Foldable/Collapsible Lightbox Tutorial

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As promised, here are the instructions for the collapsible lightbox! Disclaimer: my wonderful husband put the thing together, I just took all the pictures.

finished box

Please note that this takes a while to put together. Give yourself at least three or four hours.

Step 1: Assemble the following materials:

-Large cardboard box (this one is 24x18x18)

-Roll of tracing paper

-Roll of double-sided Velcro tape

-Clear packing tape

-utility knife/box cutter

-Scissors

-Ruler

-Pencil

-A large white piece of stiff paper, at least as wide as your box

-(optional) Additional pieces of stiff paper in other colors, if you’d like to have a few different backdrops

supplies

Supplies

We got everything from an artists’ supply store except the box, which we got from the local hardware store. Total cost for everything was about $30.

box

Our box: made with the sun!

Step 2: If your box isn’t pre-assembled, tape down the bottom flaps. Using the utility knife, cut the box open along the sides.

cut open

Step 3: Measure one and a half to two inches from the edge on three of the panels and mark rectangles with the pencil and ruler. Using the utility knife again, cut out the panels (it’s a good idea to put something underneath so you don’t cut into the floor).

cutting panels

Step 4: Cut short strips of Velcro tape and affix to the corners of each panel so the sides are held together.

applying velcro

all velcroed

All Velcro'ed up

velcro unfolded

Velcro'ed and unfolded

 Step 5: Cut pieces of tracing paper to fit over the cutouts in the panels. Trim tracing paper to size and use packing tape to secure.

applying tracing paper

paper taped down

Step 5 completed

Step 6: At this point, we determined that the sides were a bit floppy because our box wasn’t the sturdiest one around. If you have this problem, you can do what we did: cut narrow support pieces out of waste cardboard and tape in place.

side reinforcement

Step 7: Cut the heavy white piece of paper so it just fits the width of the box. Cut to desired length and affix pieces of Velcro tape to the paper and to the inside of the box to hold the backdrop in place. Repeat with any other backdrops, making sure they fit properly inside the box.

velcro paper

inside velcro

how paper sits

Step 8: (optional) If you find it difficult to pull the Velcro tabs apart quickly (we did), cut small bits of cardboard to use as pull tabs and tape in place. You can also put small pieces of tracing paper over the back of the Velcro strips, although this is mostly just for aesthetic value.

tabs

The lightbox is now completed!

finished box green

Finished box with green backdrop

We determined the best way to fold it up was to fold the side panels in, then fold the bottom up over it, leaving the top flat. It still takes up some room, but it’s easy to stick the flat box in the back of a closet.

done and unfolded

Finished box, unfolded

all folded up

Finished box, folded up

Lights can be set up so they shine through the tracing paper and give nice, even lighting to your subject. Here are a few shots of the box in action:

green picture

white picture

If you make a box using this tutorial, I’d love to hear how it goes!

FO Friday: Collapsible Lightbox

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No knitting FOs to show off today (the green sweater’s coming along, but it still needs another sleeve). I have something else that’s almost as good, though–the husband made me a collapsible lightbox!

Big lightbox

I had been using one that he made a while back which worked (all the yarn photos I’ve posted here were taken in it), but suffered from one fatal flaw: it was really too small for my purposes.

I ended up with a lot of shots like this that needed to be cropped down (swatch is of my Kari Baby Blanket):

too small shot

Also, shots of white yarn tended to get washed out pretty severely (swatch of my Bevin Pullover):

White swatch on white background

We had trouble storing the box in our little apartment, too. We ended up having to devote a whole shelf to it in our linen closet. So when hubby offered to make me a bigger, collapsible lightbox, I jumped at the chance.

Not only does the new one use a clever placement of Velcro tabs to fold down so it can be stored at the back of a closet, but it has removable, different-colored backdrops!

Now I can get shots of white yarn that look like this:

White on green background

Much better, no? And I have SO much more room to take shots. It’s awesome.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the old and the new lightboxes:

comparison shot

I took lots of pictures as hubby was making the box, so I’ll be posting a photo tutorial here in the next few days for anyone who’s interested in making their own. Stay tuned!

New Pattern: Hipster Stripe!

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Here’s the “official” announcement of my newest sweater pattern, Hipster Stripe!

Hipster Stripe

The pattern went live on Knit Picks’ website a few days ago, and now it’s up on this website and on Ravelry.

All the specs can be found here: Hipster Stripe Cardigan.

Really excited about this one!

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