Baby Surprise Surprise

My husband, Michael, put my Handspun Surprise on Edward (my younger son) to take him to get some emergency groceries this morning.

[Emergency groceries = eggs, bananas, eggnog. Clearly, the eggnog.]

When they returned, Michael sent Edward running into the bedroom to wake me up. It was, as always, the cutest thing.

He's wearing the Baby Surprise Jacket (a classic Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern for those of you who are new to the pattern) over his footsie pajamas. So, I got out of bed and chased him around with the camera.

I knit this particular jacket for Adrian (my older son) a few years ago out of some icelandic wool that I washed/dyed/carded/spun. Clearly, I was still pregnant at the time, because no woman with an infant would have had time for that. I used a store-bought, off-white worsted-weight wool as a contrasting color. (Michael couldn't be bothered to button up every little button I sewed on the sweater. O, the humanity.)

You almost can see, as Edward darts across the house (I need my high-end sports camera to catch this kid in action), where the shoulder seams meet the front. If you haven't tried this "magical" pattern before, it's way worth it.

Well, hello there, Edward. Merry Christmas.

- Katie Rose

Studio Tools

My family and I relocated from Durham to Chapel Hill (10 miles that feels like 1000). More on that later, but for now I wanted to share a serendipity that occurred when I was unpacking my studio:

My husband is still outfitting his workshop, and so I permitted him to store two saws on the floor of my studio. I just unpacked my spinning wheel and drum carder and set them on the floor to break down the boxes.

When I returned to the room, the sun poured through the window, illuminating the table saw and mitre saw, and my tools as well. It seemed such a nice meeting of old-fashioned and modern. Of two different ways of working with your hands.

On another note: Much love and sadness and condolences for the families who lost children and other loved ones in Connecticut today.

- Katie Rose

Photographing Knits

Hello readers!

I received a message via Ravelry.com about photographing knits. With the writer's permission, I'm reposting the message here:

Hello,
i read your article about photographing knits on your blog and wanted to ask you a question.
i am thinking of starting a blog soon and want to take better pictures of my work. problem is i have never really liked posing for photographs and don't wish to subject others to the same, hence no camera.
i was wondering if my phone would work? it has a 5 MP camera with resolution of 2592x1944 pixels.
Thank you

The knitter poses a few important questions. I'll rephrase them here so I can answer them all.

(1) First, she talks about a common concern that many knitters share--modeling their own knits on the internet. For a variety of reasons, folks just don't want images of themselves online. 

(2) Second, this would-be blogger doesn't own a fancy camera, which might pose a challenge as well.

(3) Third, she would like to know how to use the phone on her camera to take good pictures for her blog. 

Okay! We can handle all of these challenges. Let's get to it.

(1) Modeling Knits

I totally understand that you might not want to model your own knits on the internet. I can also understand that you might not want to ask other people to model them for you. So what do you do?

Here are some ideas:

• My favorite: Buy a dress-form in your size. A dress-form is a great thing for a knitter to have anyways, not just for modeling knits. You can use it for blocking, for construction, for measuring, etc. etc. But you can also use it to display your knits when you want to photograph them. Find a vintage one at a thrift shop or buy a new one from a sewing shop (but these can be pricey).
• Ask your friends to model, even if you think they might say no--you'll be surprised! Some people love having their pictures taken. My little sister modeled my knits for me when I was pregnant. She loved doing it! I was completely surprised because she's not a knitter and wasn't a part of the knit-blog community in any way--but she was happy to help me out. Here she is modeling my Liliane sweater coat, for example. 

(2) What Kind of Camera?

I wrote an earlier post in which I discussed the best type of camera for taking pictures of knits. If you want to learn more about the technical aspects of cameras and photographing knits, hop over to that post.

(3) Using the Cell Phone Camera

These days, cell phones come with great cameras. Here are a couple ideas to keep in mind when taking pictures using your cell phone camera.

• Angles are your friend. Shoot your knits up-close and at steep angles to maximize your cell phone camera's lens. Below is a photograph of Chopin that I took at a steep angle to show you what I'm talking about. 

• Use a filter app. Instagram is my favorite--it's an app that allows you to apply fun filters to your photographs to enhance images. Plain-Jane photographs can become super-fun when taken with Instagram. Below one I just took of my son wearing a hat I knit for him. I used Instagram to blur the background and to enhance the contrast of the photo. Instagram also added the black border.

And that's my advice on photographing knits for today. I'm sure I'll think of more. If you have other questions, feel free to message me on Ravelry and I'll answer your questions here. 

- Katie Rose

Pets Love Knitting

The life of a Knitty Professor wouldn't be complete without pets. I've recently acquired two new friends. And they both love knitting!

Like any good kitty, Leo (our Siberian Forest Cat) can't resist playing with a ball of yarn:

And Cooper (our minitaure poodle) just likes to snuggle up to some warm and cozy knitting:

Of course, it is hard to get any actual knitting done with two energetic pets... who happen to be hyper just around the time I usually sit down to knit in the evening. But the cuteness is worth it.

DIY Neon Bracelet

These DIY bracelets have been all over Pinterest, and I decided to make one to complete my CCCC conference wardrobe.

I used this tutorial, which worked well once I figured it out. Since I'm obsessed with all things neon this spring, I took Katie's suggestion and purchased this ultra-cheap masonry twine and some chain from the hardware store. A great source for craft supplies!

It turned out pretyy good overall, although the twine is a bit slippery to work with, and it ended up a bit too big.

Next, I'm going to try knitting with it.

Knitting News

Katie and I are in St. Louis at a conference, but these two items came up on my Facebook news feed today and I thought I'd share.

1) Get Spun--a spinning/knitting exhibit at the Ridge House Museum, near my home town of Chatham, Ontario. I'm sorry I'll miss this!

2) In other news, male congressmen are being inundated with handknit vaginas and uteruses (uteri?). You can join the Snatchel Project to make your own contributions. The ideas is that if they have their own, they will keep their hands (and rules) off of ours.

Find knitting patterns here.

Exciting News Here in Knitty Professor Land

I got an email on Thursday from Jordynn. The subject line said "Guess what?"

And this was all there was in the message:



Congratulations JJ! He's such a nice--and lucky--guy.

(Her nail polish matches the cowl in her most recent post.)

--Katie Rose