Chapman Springs

Started spinning this Chapman Springs colorway from BMFA. This is by far my favorite colorway. I was going to try for a 2ply worsted, but I think the fiber has other ideas. I think it's going to end up being closer to a fingering weight.

Now, here's were I talk about how I will start a project, just to try out something new. I've read a few different places about Fractal spinning. I don't know if this is the correct term. I'm pretty sure that's what it's being called. Basically you split your roving in half. You then spin one half as is. The second half is split into thirds. Apparently it I will have 1 ply that has long color areas and a 1 ply that has short color areas. I thought this sounded pretty darn cool. So, we'll see what happens.

Needing Light

I’ve said it before. I don’t feel very proficient with my photography skills. I used to. I even had a Dark Room. Back in the days before digital, if that tells you anything. As a matter of fact, digital photography was in its infancy (for the average consumer/photographer) and I was of the opinion that digital photography would never prevail over traditional photography. How wrong I was. Anyway, I felt entirely in tune with my medium.

Fast forward 10 years. Oddly enough, knitting and dyeing yarn brought a desire for photography back into my life. I wanted to document my knitting progress. I needed to photography products for sale. And the urge for creative expression through photography has reemerged. I’ve been talking about this a lot with some friends, who concur that my current feeling of inadequacy is due to fear.

Why is fear a re-occurring theme in my creative life? They are totally right of course. Close friends usually are right when it comes to things you don’t want to admit about yourself.

So, how to overcome this fear? How do I move past this feeling of inadequacy? I just have to get out and shoot. And I’m starting today. I will start to carry my camera with me at all times. This might be a little difficult, as it is a larger camera. I’ll shoot anything I get impaired to shoot. Maybe I should say “photograph” not “shoot”. That just sounds horrible. Although it is a proper term.

I’m feeling incredibly energized about this. Very excited, and of course scared, but ready. Tonight I’m meeting a friend who is going to model for me so I can get some shots of sock knitting. And this weekend I’m going to build a prop area. This will be a place to setup and photography my yarns and rovings. I have an idea for the type of standard images I want to have for displaying these items. I’ll also be going out this weekend on a photo mission. I don’t know where or what I’ll take photos of, but I will find something.

Shop Update

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Changes...they are coming

You can blame this ebook.

In the meantime I've been making progress on the Magical Sweater. I'm done with the ribbing and I'm now figuring out where to place the cables.

Magical Sweater - Part 2

Decisions. Decisions. As you can see I've plied the first bobbin. Actually, since then I've completed 2 bobbins, and set the ply and knit a swatch. So everything is ready to start knitting.

I have made a couple of decisions. I've decided to knit completely in the round and then steek the center front and arm holes. I've also decided to knit the portion in between the cables in garter stitch. So, now the math. I so hate math.

And, I just made my first mistake in the calculation. At least I found it before casting on.

Etsy Update

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Woot

This is the yarn that I dyed in the tutorial. I've decided to knit it up into some Herringbone socks. One change, I'm going to knit toe-up. No biggie to change. I cast on last night and so far I like it alot. A little shameless self promotions.