Monthly Archives: December 2015

Inspiration: Sick Day

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I love my day job, I really do!  Teaching kids is amazing.  My students are hilarious, scary smart, and always surprising.

Unfortunately, they are also always teeming with disease.

Which means that I am also always sick.  It’s the worst!  I’ve had this cold (complete with a lung-dislodging cough) for almost three weeks!  (Don’t worry Mom, I’ve been to the doctor and she said I just need to take it easy and drink lots of fluids.  I promise I’m taking care of myself!)

When I’m feeling crummy, all I want to do is sit on the couch, snuggle with my dog, and wear comfy, warm, over-sized knits.

Luckily, there are lots of gorgeous patterns for sick-day appropriate wear.

I’m pretty sure I need to make these ridiculous slipper socks.  They’re huge!  And look so comfy and slouchy!

Slipper Socks by Erika Knight

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And I think I might need this hat.  Actually, I might need this hat even on non-sick days.

Simple Slouch Hat by Robyn Devineaura_grey_4_medium[1]

And I’m pretty sure this shrug/sweater thing is the closest I could get to literally wearing a blanket around the house.  So, that’ll have to happen.

Granny cocoon shrug by Maria Valles

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Anyway, I’m off to go make another cup of Sleepytime tea and take some more Mucinex.  Wish me luck!

What do you want to wear when you’re feeling under the weather?

Picture Picture on the Wall

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I was going through my backlog of projects that needed to be photographed for Ravelry today.  (You know- the projects that you forget to get a picture of until they’ve already been worn or given away.  They just sit there in your Ravelry queue with their big blank photos taunting you.  Drives me nuts.  It’s not just me, right?  Right?)

Anyway, it struck me that I’ve never shared my highly-technical photography setup.

And by highly-technical, I mean not technical at all.

I use a simple little point-and-click camera (I think it’s actually more than 5 years old, and its battery only holds a charge for about a half hour at a time, but it still works!) It’s an Olympus FE-360, if anyone cares.91eCSgUhEcS._SL1500_I really like it because it’s simple to use (and I know next to nothing about cameras).  And, I like it for taking pictures of knitting, because it has a macro and a super-macro feature for taking closeups.

Macro is used for taking pictures less than 4 feet away:OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd super-macro is used for taking close ups from less than a foot away:OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s not fancy, but it works for me!

The other part of taking decent knitting pictures is the light.  I always use natural light, and try to avoid any light that’s too bright or direct (luckily, in Seattle, that’s not usually a problem).  If you use a flash, or overhead lights, or try photographing your project in bright, direct sunlight, the colors go all funny, and everything gets weird and shadow-y.  (Like I said, technical.)

To get indirect natural light, I set up a big piece of foam core on a little rolling shelf, set up next to a window.  I can roll the shelf around to get the right amount of light (if it’s a gray day, like today, I’ll set up right next to the window.  If it’s brighter, I’ll move further away).

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And then I take my pictures!

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And that’s basically it! It’s not a fancy setup, and I’m not a professionally trained photographer by any means, but this is what I’ve figured out works for me.

I hope this helps with your photographs!

Do you have any tips or tricks you like for your photographs?  I’m always looking for something new!

Portuguese Knitting

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The other day, at Knit Fit, I took a class from Lisa Ellis (if you live in the PNW and get a chance to take one of her classes- do it!).  And in it, I learned two things:

  1.  How to spell Portuguese.  (Did you know it has two u’s in it?)
  2.  How to knit in the Portuguese style.

Have you ever seen someone knit like this before?  It’s crazy!  I’ll try to explain it, but I can’t promise it’ll make sense:

You have your ball of yarn on your right side, and kind of weave the yarn through the fingers of your right hand, then wrap the yarn over your neck or through a pin (like this one) attached to the front of your shirt. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Then, instead of throwing the yarn like you would while knitting continental, you kind of… flick the yarn with your left hand.

It blows my mind.

Here’s a video (if you want to teach yourself, this YouTube-er has some pretty good videos, but they’re not all in English):

The craziest thing about this style of knitting is that you end up knitting inside out!  Since your yarn is basically tied to the front of your shirt, it’s hard to get it behind your knitting (for the knit stitch).  So, since it’s so much easier to purl, when you’re working in the round, you just purl all the time!  I started making a hat, and it’s inside-out!

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Then, when it’s finished, I’ll turn it inside-out!

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And, bonus, knitting stranded color work inside-out like this means that you don’t have to worry about your floats making the fabric all pucker-y.  Don’t ask me how- it just works!

Magic!

Have you ever done Portuguese knitting?  What style do you like to knit?