The Woes of Photography and Cardigan Progress

I’ve had an amateur interest in photography for awhile now. I started with taking pictures of food; give me good natural light, a decent camera and I can take some pretty tasty photographs.

Tofu Florentine

Cinnamon Roll

For some reason though, photographing knitting is something I still struggle with. I think with food it’s possible to get a good close-up shot that still features the entire plate, but with my knitting it seems like I’m always having to choose between a close up and capturing the entire piece. Sometimes I’ll take up to 50 photos and not like a single one, even after extensive photoshopping.

On that note, here’s a close-up photo of the completed back of my Who Me? Cardigan. I can’t get over how good the hand dyed yarn looks! The back neck stitches are going to be picked back up later and used to make the sailor collar.

This week I’m back in Austin visiting my family for Thanksgiving. If you need me I’ll be relaxing, cooking, eating, watching all the Harry Potter movies, and making some progress on my cardigan!

Kitties and Cardigans

I’m not going to lie, I haven’t been knitting much the last few weeks. It’s been oppressively hot and the idea of doing anything besides napping is incredibly unappealing.

I am about halfway through the back of the Who Me? Cardigan. It’s knitting up quickly, and maybe when it cools down, or my landlord benevolently installs air conditioning in the apartment, I’ll pick it up again.

Who Me? Cardigan Back

I’ve also been a little distracted by this little lady:

Basil

Meet Basil, the newest addition to the TreeWool family. She’s about 3 months old and was adopted last week from San Francisco Animal Care and Control. She and Cooper already get along splendidly and can sometimes be spotted snuggling together when they’re not playing, which is just about all the time.

My First Hand Dying Adventure

Today is my last official day of summer. Tomorrow I start my online classes, Saturday I have my first on campus knitwear design class and Tuesday I go back to work.  I’m using today to wrap up some projects I started over my break, clean, organize and of course, knit.

Here’s one project I finally finished today. A couple of months ago a yarn shop in my area went out of business and had a huge sale. I grabbed about 9 skeins of this:

Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton

And because it was on sale for about half off the sticker price, I convinced myself I really liked it. I mean, how could I not? I could make  an entire sweater, plus maybe a hat, or mittens for so cheap. But then I got home, swatched it up using a few different stitch patterns and of course I absolutely hated it. It was just too…beige and white? I’m sure it could be great for something, but definitely not a garment. Sorry, Blue Sky Alpacas, you know I still love you.

So I bought some blue dye and went to town on it.

Now, I’ve never dyed anything before in my entire life. Not even tye-dye. Not even easter eggs. I was really just making things up as I went along. Next time I know to dye on the table and not the floor (back ache!) and the wear gloves that go up to the elbow (I had a very blue index finger for a few days). I had fun though! I enjoyed myself and as soon as I find out exactly what the protocol is for rinsing hand dyed yarn (I was in the bathtub for hours wringing out the yarn) I want to do it again, and maybe even give hand painting a try!

The results?

My first hand dying project

I like it! I didn’t expect the brown to still show through after dying since it’s just naturally grown to be that color, but oh well. I think it swatches up quite nice.

Who Me? Cardigan Swatch

I’ve already cast on for the Who Me? Cardigan from the latest issue of Knitscene. I want a go-to cardigan I can wear year round, but still have some interesting details. I think the yarn will help it stand out and match the grey jeans I wear all the time.

The tank top I’m working on is going swimmingly —that is until I decided I wanted an entirely different hem and ripped the whole thing out. Like I said, things are always subject to change with me, I’m definitely a perfectionist when it comes to design (and absolutely nothing else). I’d rather do more work than be unhappy with the finished product. Hopefully I can catch up on it soon.

Knitscene Fall 2010

I must say, I am quite impressed with the latest issue of Knitscene. It’s been my favorite of the  fall issues thus far. I picked it up today and I’m already swatching for the Aryn Tunic Cardigan.

Aryn Tunic Cardigan

San Francisco summers don’t come until about September or October (side note: I wore a hat and scarf today!) and I think this cute cardigan worked up in some of that Blue Sky Alpaca’s cotton I’ve had in my stash forever will be perfect.

Here are a few other projects I’m adding to my Ravelry queue

Carrot Cardigan

Honestly this is something that looks like it’s pretty boring to knit but I would wear it all the time, so it’s probably worth it!

Gwynedd Hat

I don’t even know what to say about this. It’s just too cute.

Who Me? Cardigan

Another piece I could see being a wardrobe staple. It has pockets!!

What do you think you’ll make from this issue?