Yesterday's knitting was relearning ribbing--not a hard thing, but something I hadn't done since at least 1971 and more likely '69 or 70. I wanted pictures of this yarn (worsted weight, recommended needle size 7) made up into 2x2 ribbing on size 10 needles (the size 10 needles making it easy to check my stitches while working and making a "looser" knit. I could see and feel the ribs forming, but the first pictures came out like this:
I had the swatch positioned near the window to get some shadows, but also had the top room light on. It's cloudy outside. Even though the image was clear--and even in closer-in images--it was hard to see the ribs as the flash washed out the shadows between them. I turned off the flash and the texture showed much more clearly in this one:
As with any other subject, there are tricks to getting the photograph you want, for the purpose you want.
The yarn is Berroco's "Blackstone Tweed" color 2608. Not the kind of color I normally choose, but I want a wool vest to wear when out on the land in dank weather, and it shouldn't show dirt too easily. Not for this winter (I'm slow) but maybe by next winter. I actually kind of like it done on the size 10s. We rarely get the kind of cold where I need dense knitted things, and the looser knit would give better air circulation if I wore a light jacket over it. I'll do a swatch on the size 8s, just to see which I prefer. I know the 8s would show the ribbing more "sharply" but here the point isn't looks but utility for my (not average) uses. Clearly, I've relearned how to do ribbing (though there's a mistake in this swatch...lucky it's just a swatch. I can keep using this yarn for trying out other things where I might use a different color...of course if I use this ball up I'll have to go get another one (oh, pity, pity, pity...)
The nice people at the friendly yarn shop told me more than one thing I didn't know, one of them being that lace knitting isn't necessarily done with teeny-tiny needles and thin-as-spiderweb yarn, but with needles that are larger for the yarn's diameter. That any yarn (though the mind boggles at doing it with a super-bulky) can be made into "lace"; it just makes bigger patterns. I had sworn never to try lace because both hands and eyes rebel at teeny-tiny needles and teeny-tiny stitches...but they showed me a shawl someone had done with 7s that was lovely. My mother never did lace knitting (that I know of; she made warm sweaters and socks) so this was a whole new concept, and (though I will try to repress the urge to experiment with the really big needles and this workaday tweed yarn) I already know I'll have to try some more lace-looking patterns at some point.
The yarn is Berroco's "Blackstone Tweed" color 2608. Not the kind of color I normally choose, but I want a wool vest to wear when out on the land in dank weather, and it shouldn't show dirt too easily. Not for this winter (I'm slow) but maybe by next winter. I actually kind of like it done on the size 10s. We rarely get the kind of cold where I need dense knitted things, and the looser knit would give better air circulation if I wore a light jacket over it. I'll do a swatch on the size 8s, just to see which I prefer. I know the 8s would show the ribbing more "sharply" but here the point isn't looks but utility for my (not average) uses. Clearly, I've relearned how to do ribbing (though there's a mistake in this swatch...lucky it's just a swatch. I can keep using this yarn for trying out other things where I might use a different color...of course if I use this ball up I'll have to go get another one (oh, pity, pity, pity...)
The nice people at the friendly yarn shop told me more than one thing I didn't know, one of them being that lace knitting isn't necessarily done with teeny-tiny needles and thin-as-spiderweb yarn, but with needles that are larger for the yarn's diameter. That any yarn (though the mind boggles at doing it with a super-bulky) can be made into "lace"; it just makes bigger patterns. I had sworn never to try lace because both hands and eyes rebel at teeny-tiny needles and teeny-tiny stitches...but they showed me a shawl someone had done with 7s that was lovely. My mother never did lace knitting (that I know of; she made warm sweaters and socks) so this was a whole new concept, and (though I will try to repress the urge to experiment with the really big needles and this workaday tweed yarn) I already know I'll have to try some more lace-looking patterns at some point.