learning to look

Photography isn't my thing. 

I mean, I LOVE Instagram with all my double-tapping heart, but light, lenses and fancy cameras? It's like a foreign language to me. So when I attended Kate of A Playful Day's blogging and photography sessions at A Yarn Story in Bath last month, it was pretty eye-opening stuff. 

I donned my most Instagrammable sock and shoe combo (naturally), met some lovely blogger ladies, learnt heaps and got all nostalgic about Bath (we don't live there anymore - sob!).

The day started off in a yarn store (as the best days do), where Kate lead us through a session on Telling Your Story Online. It was refreshing and challenging. The focus was really on inspiration and creating connection, rather than getting bogged down in the numbers side of things. I came away with a lot to think about. I'm still letting it all percolate and figuring out what I want to put in place or try. My view on blogging is a little different to some as I don't make money from this space and don't have a business tied to it. That doesn't mean I don't want this space to flourish, though. Food for thought. 

Later, we headed out on a photowalk. Yep. Armed with only our phones, it was an exercise in learning to look and getting the best of the light. When we headed out, the daylight was really fierce overhead and kinda yucky – and I totally wouldn't have known that before this session! Honestly, I had heard of golden hour (when IS it again?) and knew that natural light is best, but that was about it. 

We made our way to Owl in the Ivy, otherwise known as Bath's most Instagrammable shop, to snap away to our heart's content. I took all of these pics on my phone during the walk. While I'm not crazy about the quality of them and none of these things are my usual subject matter (I couldn't bring myself to photograph any succulents), it was good to give myself the freedom to just play with it.  

Things I learnt 

1. The phone on my camera takes pics that are fab for Instagram, but not a lot else! It doesn't have that all-important square view setting in the camera. BUT, having said that, it's not too bad. It's best for daytime, indoor images. I tend to use the iPad or digi camera for bigger blog pics anyway. 

2. Fantastic, thoughtful images are everywhere, you've just gotta capture them. This is best done by engaging your eyes and mind, looking out for lovely moments as you go about your business. A bit of lichen, flaky paint or fallen leaf, captured with your unique eye, can be beautiful. I mean, I'm still all about the yarn (let's be real), but if I see something that looks interesting, I will snap a pic now. 

3. Light. It can make or break a picture. Don't all the naturally lit, indoor pics here look much better than the glare-tastic outdoor ones? 

That moment when your sandals match the local flora.

Thanks to Kate for her wisdom and refreshing approach to blogging. I really did learn a lot. 

I'd love to know if you have any novice-appropriate photography tips, for phones or otherwise? Do snap away when you're out and about? How big a deal is light for you? 

Yarn snobbery and ugly ducklings

100% polyester novelty eyelash yarn. Is there anything more offensive to human sensibilities? 

When I saw that the prompt for this week's Playful Day Love Your Blog challenge was 'ugly', this remarkably foul yarn was the first thing that sprung to mind. It's certainly true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though. I for one am a huge fan of lots of yucky, kitschy things that could be considered ugly - Christmas jumpers, pugs, plastic flamingos, ridiculous socks, flying ducks, Hawaiian shirts, onesies and slankets, the list goes on (although I do draw the line at Crocs). But I couldn't tell you exactly why it is I like these things. Are they guilty pleasures? Are they so bad they're good, or are they just awful and I have terrible taste? Either way, one thing I was pretty certain of was that I found brown eyelash yarn absolutely abhorrent. Squeaky, unyielding, unnatural fibre, horrid plastic sheen and unbearable fluff. I could not see the appeal. 

That is until I discovered the perfect use for it. This is Mr Owl (below). I knitted him as a birthday gift for a dear friend (see this post, he's a great stashbuster, BTW) and it dawned on me that eyelash yarn was precisely what this project needed. And all was forgiven. 

Now, I'm by no means admitting that me and eyelash yarn became the best of pals and rode off into the sunset together, oh no. I still maintain that the yarn is hideous. But used in the right way, it can be pretty awesome. That yarn above, it could make a really adorable bear or a cute fur collar (seriously considering that one). I guess what I'm saying is, all yarn has its place. The more you work with and learn about beautiful fibres, the easier it is to fall prey to yarn snobbery. But there's more to beauty than mere aesthetics, isn't there? Function, meaning, memory and experience all have their parts to play. And don't we all, at the very bottom of our stashes, have a ball or two of squeaky acrylic or novelty yarn that was given to us in our earliest crafting days, or that we were chuffed with buying as it was SUCH a bargain? 

one yarny weekend

Not last weekend but the one one before, I packed my little red backpack and headed off to London. Who else went to the Knitting and Stitching show at Olympia? I helped out with some yarny workshops again, but did manage a quick dash round as well. Here's what I spied. 

What were your highlights? Did you pick up any treats? More importantly, did you see those felted mermaid merkins? (PLEASE tell me I did not imagine those). If I hadn't been working, I think I would have hung out in the Wilderness area with the magical spinning rainbow yarn wheel and the yarn bombed chairs.

My real weekend treat was that I got to spend the rest of the weekend with my gorgeous sis who lives in London. We spent a gloriously sunny Sunday popping to church and eating Lebanese food. Awesome.  Plus, she had a big ol' bag of yummy yarn for me. We went halvsies on it - I nabbed some sunset-coloured sock yarn and pretty pinks for the blanket, and she picked her favourites. I've promised to teach her to knit next time we're together.

Most exciting news - I've finally finished the back of the orange jumper! Hope you've been having splendidly sunny and yarny weekends.

the summer of making: knit words & comic book confetti

It's the Mr Men socks that make it, I think.

Hello all!

I thought I'd share a couple of things I've been working on. Aside from crocheting like a mad woman and spending every spare moment reading The Chap's essays (he's not quite escaped studentdom yet), I've been preparing other crafty bits for the wedding. Pom poms aside, I think these two simple ideas might be my favourites so far - knitted wire words and comic book confetti.  

Back when I was in the throes of my romance with i-cord (remember this post?), I knitted up this little treasure. It looks really effective, but was so easy to do! With some DK yarn and two double-pointed needles, I just knitted an i-cord until it was long enough to spell out L-O-V-E (other words and phrases also rock). Then, I cut a piece of galvanised gardening wire (from a hardware store near you) a little longer than the cord, carefully threaded it through, bending back the sharp points on either end. Then I bent the wire to 'write' the word. I copied my own handwriting, so it looks like I wrote in yarn!

Meredith at One Sheepish Girl recently made a super-cool i-cord ampersand and shared a tutorial for it - check it out!  

When punching is the right thing to do.

Words are my thing and he loves comic books (ahem, graphic novels) so this one was a bit of a no-brainer, really. All we needed were some old books and comics that we could bear to part with and a wee heart hole punch. Love it. The punching continues. . .

gosh, darn it!

My debut darning attempts

In May I got my Make Do and Mend on and went along to Scrapiana's brilliant 'Strictly Come Darning' workshop. Read all about it on the Simply Knitting blog. I certainly learnt a thing or two, and have since found that pretty much all of my socks and tights could do with a strengthening darn on the heel. I may have my work cut out! Do you dare to darn?

kool enough

A couple of weeks ago Lizzie at work was moving desks and unearthed a Kool-Aid kit. We found some undyed skeins.  The upshot of it was that we dyed the yarn in the bathroom with the rather out of date and 'fragrant' Kool-Aid. Seriously, if it does this yarn, what does it do to your insides?  

And you know what? I kind of love the insane day-glo colours! Sweet, hyper-saturated bubblegum brights. The dyeing was actually super-quick and easy to do. No boiling and bubbling was required, although we did zap the yarn in the microwave to help set the colour. I found a fab tutorial for Kool-Aid dyeing here on Knitty.  Although Kool-Aid isn't really available here in the UK, you can totally get it online. Hooray!

Now the question is, what to make? The yarn seems to be some kind of silk blend, around about a 4ply weight. Maybe a pair of loud and extremely decadent socks? I've never made socks before, but I have just conquered knitting in the round (watch this space for more knit updates) so this could be the perfect opportunity. Any ideas?

j'ai fini

Yay!

Prepare yourselves loveliest readers, last week I achieved the unthinkable; I actually finished something!  The booties were completed, as were the knitted cupcakes, at long last.  Phew.  I'm really chuffed with the booties in particular, there's just something about tiny things.  The bootie pattern is from Ravelry.  

This weekend I've been working, reading, embroidering and wearing big snuggly socks.  Hope your weekend has been fab.  What did you get up to?    

sometimes . . .

I get weirdly excited about leftovers (instant dinner!) and broken jewellery.  Getting excited about inane things is probably what I'm best at. 

I feel overwhelmed with gratitude when things start making sense and I know I'm being provided for in unimaginable ways. 

I can't stop thinking about those little stars of black mould taking over the house. 

I just want to eat anything I can get my hands on. 

I'm kinda a bad person and am writing this instead of those looming 10,000 words. 

I wish I could dye my hair ginger and pile it high like Marie Antoinette.  I'd wrap pearls around my impressive barnet, and use it as storage space or a quirky boutique hotel for sparrows. 

I just don't understand the allure of yorkshire puddings.  Sorry Britain. 

I can't believe how close I am to graduating.  Just the little matters of a degree show and dissertation to deal with first. 

I strongly consider spending a lot of money on delicious designer yarn and knitting my way through third year, oblivious to deadlines.  I'd hide out in my duvet fort, churning out yards of mittens and socks, then immerge in time for summer with a miraculous first.  Sigh. 

This is a link with/response to Sam's fab sometimes post!  Check it out and get tip tapping.

where the woolly things are

above images from/whole shoot here

Image from barbarakeal.com

This is artist and feltmaker Barbara Keal. 

She makes scrumptious felt animal hats.  Keal uses 100% pure wool only in natural colours.  This gives the pieces an authenticity and distinct raw quality.  They look like they've sprung from the earth, or been discarded by some wild thing in a deep dark forest. 

Her work was on show at Origin in September, and stood like a meadow sanctuary amid the bird jewellery and neat ceramics.  I asked Barbara why she'd starting making the hats. She said simply "I wanted to be a sheep!  The hats made people happy, so I carried on making them".   She wasn't wrong.  I tried on one of the wispy, woollen creations and immediately began to grin from ear to ear. I felt like Max in Where the Wild Things Are, and had to fight the urge to scamper off into the nearest hedgerow.  There is something earthy and quite magical about them.

I spied her work on the cover and inside the Telegraph's Christmas Food and Drink magazine.  Raid the recycling.  If you find a copy, salvage it!  It's a really beautiful spread; not only Keal's work, but pyjamas, Hunter wellies, snug socks by Toast and delicious Fairisle.  I can't think of a nicer way to keep warm. 

A scribble from my sketchbook straight after Origin. 

knit that bridge when we come to it (or, Becca drops stitches)

Me and Lily stumbled across this knitted wonder on campus yesterday. It wasn't credited to anyone so I would have liked to believe that it simply grew there, but I guessed it was part of the Migration exhibition. What a fab installation!

It was a beautiful but freezing purple day. A brogues and mittens day. Seeing as it was getting dark we headed busward, but I can't wait until it warms up so I can have a proper wander around the lake. Our campus is pretty win.


In knit news, I have had to admit my fraudulence. No, I cannot help you to knit socks. I have no idea either. The beret is growing, albeit very slowly. I took my knitting to work, and some of the stitches decided to make a break for it. They slid off the needle and capered about in my handbag. Not acceptable behaviour. Any idea how I could avoid this in the future?

All work and free yarn . . .

makes one happy becca!

There is much knit news to report. Most excitingly of all, some of the free yarn samples I requested for my summer project arrived this morning. I was expecting meagre offcuts and a shade card. What I actually recieved was a package containing seventeen balls of beautiful designer yarns! :) Oh yes, Debbie Bliss, Louisa Harding and Noro. Bring on second year textiles I say.

I've been working hard in the shop, becoming more familiar than I would care to be with the steamer. In between I've been attempting this pattern using the mohair disaster remnants. I'm about halfway through now, but it's coming up a little small. With any luck the long long train journey to Fron's will be the perfect knitting opportunity.

• Knitting in/at/on: The humble 2a bus. Had a nice knitting chat with a jolly purple shod lady. She told me about how her Nan had tried to teach her, and the year everyone got crocheted blankets for Christmas.
  
• Spotted: A Mother-of-the-bride knitting adorable rainbow socks with four tiny wooden needles.
  
• Listening to: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - HOME