andy warhol knitwear

Last week I finally hit upon the setting which is probably most appropriate for taking pictures of knitwear. It's the "food" setting. The thing is, even though it has 12 megapixels and a billion gajillion settings and whatnot, my camera still can't pick up the nuances of colors. That lovely cowl up there (photographed in the most unimaginative manner) is a most beautiful shade of lavender mixed with blues and lilac and certainly 50% more beautiful than seen in this picture. Although this is the picture that portrays the color most accurately, the others were miserable failures.

This is a shot of my Tegami Bachi cowl made from the wonderfully soft and addictive Malabrigo Yarn Lace in "Violetas", food setting, reddest option, macro option. It's closest to the original shade, just like the shot of the whole cowl above (also food setting, reddest option). Seems my camera has the problem of turning everything too blue.

This is still food and macro setting, only a little less red. It's turning blue! Although there is really not too much blue in the yarn.

This is the default and apparently "neutral" setting. See how blue it is? How can this be? Is it the light? No direct sunlight at the time, no flash, everything should have yielded a "normal" shot.

Have a look at this! Food, macro and the first actually "blueish" setting. It's a whole new yarn, one apparently named "Antarctica" or something similar.

Finally, the bluest setting. It looks like an Andy Warhol print. I wonder what food actually looks like photographed with this setting. I guess I'll be testing that soon. But isn't it crazy? For comparison, the reddest setting right below.

No, it isn't photoshopped. It's just my camera! 

Some more examples. That's a view of the sunset taken from my window (forgive the reflection of the actual camera). Setting probably the generic "landscape", colors pretty accurate.

The same view, only with the "dusk" setting. Notice a pinkish tinge that wasn't actually there? That's actually the automatic "dusky" setting. Why?

A view of the night sky one day past the new moon. Notice a pinkish tinge? Yes, the "dusk setting".

And that's the "night" setting. More like the real thing, but apparently, it adds a bit of a greenish tinge. 

I wonder ... is it me? Is it my computer? Or is it the camera? I never had such problems with the old analog camera. Ok, I couldn't take pictures like this with the old analog camera. But even the old digital camera only had color problems with intense purples and pinks - seems like it's colors with an ultraviolet component that are the trouble. But I have lots of blue knitwear, the loveliest being my new Cartouche Fragment. Lots of variegation in that one, greens, blues, purples, grays - and my camera can't pick them up. I'm going to do a few more experiments. Maybe it really is the light in my room. And I guess further experiments as to the veracity of the "dusk", "sunset" and "night" settings are needed. But how annoying ...

And if you think I'm not still watching the news from Japan in horror ... every morning I don't want to get up because the news is worse every time. I hope when I wake up tomorrow, Japan is still there. A bit worse for wear, but without the nuclear catastrophe that seems to be on the horizon.

two of many






This winter I knit a large amount of cowls, scarves, shawls and other neckthings. Yesterday and today I attempted to take some pictures, but mostly failed, since the sunlight and my camera didn't like me. I'll try again after my final exam, maybe I'll be more relaxed then. 


The above picture and the one on the right belong to a neckthing - a scarf that can be buttoned up to make a large cowl or one that can be wrapped around the neck twice or used as a turban, armsling or whatever strikes your fancy. This is my own pattern, but I was inspired by the many similar ones out there and by the Shippo scarf from the book Scarf Style. Due to the colors, I gave it the rather dramatic name Smouldering Storm. Yes, I have a thing for dramatically named things.

The yarn is Rowan Summer Tweed, 70% silk, 30% cotton, full of weird plant bits. I suspect Rowan of deliberately spinning in the plant bits to give it a "rustic" feel. I hate weird plant bits in my yarn. And then the buttons! Sewing on nine buttons ... I don't know what came over me.

This one is the Boneyard Shawl, dubbed Le temps des cerises, because drama. It's remarkably difficult to take pictures of yourself without a tripod, which is why in the far-off future, I will have a tripod of my own.

The yarn I used is Lana Grossa Biosoja, a sleek but soft mix of cotton, bamboo and soy. The yarn itself is a knitted tube, so when it snags, which it does frequently, it's impossible to put the snag back where it came from - annoying. Still, my favorite shawlette of this winter.

The leftovers have been turned into something I called "Little Ripple", which has refused to be photographed. Maybe I'll just have to bundle up all my knitwear, take a friend and have a photo session somewhere.

So far, so good. Studying for the final exam is still going on, only 4 more days and I'll be a bona fide historian with a title (kind of scary). I'll try to relax by looking at the moon ...

it's getting very near the end

Last weekend there was a much-needed break with *nothing* happening, except light cleaning and baseball anime which would have lead to the thesis being completely abandoned, if the main character hadn't put me off at the end of the second season - Goro you moron, you can't leave Toshi alone! (not a link to second season - that's the 6th season there, wait a minute, there is no Toshi in the 6th season ... nooooooooooooo!).

Bishies and baseball, a deadly combination to the anime nerd academic. Now I'm back to the grindstone and my thoughts are finally starting to work again, the quotations are starting to turn into pieces of text and the end can't be that far off.

The best thing that has happened is knitting - finally. I almost forgot how nice it is to watch something and knit or go someplace and take the knitting along with you to pass the time. I'm working on a little cowl with some of the reward yarn I got this summer. But no pictures yet, because I'd first have to figure out how to get the card into the computer (or look for the cable).

Znaim/Znojmo in the Czech Republic.

And today my mother and I made a little run to Ikea, because Ikea has these lap cushions with a hard plastic surface for laptops. Genius! Especially since my touchpad is a touch too touchy for precise work, so I need my mouse. Now I can finally write with my computer on my lap and my mouse by its side - I'm sure the thesis will grow much faster. The other thing I really needed was a breakfast bowl of my own. Now I have one. And then there are always some things that you want and kind of need - new, colorful bedclothes, a new large cushion for the couch, a little plastic set thing for the couch table ... but I did not get the measuring cups, because my old ones are better.

Fotographed straight down

I hope this will be one of the last thesis posts ... I've finally recovered from the "so tired of my thesis" part, but I still want it to be over and done with. Which means - back to work, I guess!

owls and cowls

Owls seem to be a real trend since 2009. Someone discovered that you can make cables look like an owl (like this or like this) and now there are owls everywhere. Apart from the many, many owl toys, crocheted and knitted, those cable owls are on everything, owl hats, owl gloves, owl sweaters, owl baby sweaters, owl cardigans, owl socks, owl cushions, owl bags, owl bibs and whatever else can be decorated with this cable pattern. Owls are hot and I don't get it. I prefer snowmen/women, myself.

There are patterns for owl cowls as well. How could there not be? Cowls were extremely hot in late 2008 and all through 2009, but now the trend to cover your neck has differentiated itself into various categories. Cowls are still being designed and offered, but the real run is currently on kerchiefs (hot, but leveling off), infinity scarves (pretty hot, but not as hot) and hooded scarves (increasingly hot). Now that's a trend I can get behind (even though I don't really like a bandwagon). A warm neck is very nice and a cowl uses much less yarn than a scarf, so I can buy a ball or two of pretty yarn, knit it up very quickly and not have to spend too much money.

So, since the sun has refused to come out of hiding (yesterday my mother and I chased it to Lower Austria and drove up a mountain to get to it) and since I'm kind of stalling before starting my 200th project (200 put up on Ravelry anyway) and since the baby hat I started has given me only pain and is on a time-out ... it's time for a walk through the cowls.

Between Bern and Lucerne in Switzerland, there is a wonderful stretch of country where you can get all sorts of deliciousness. There's Kirschtorte from Zug, big gingerbread from Lucerne which is cut into slices and eaten with butter and giant meringues from Bern. All to be had just by driving along a single road. And at the end of that particular road lies Huttwil with its Spycher-Handwerk farm/yarn/fleece/woolly things shop and yarny goodness! A giant barn full of yarn and unspun wool and we only had 30 minutes before they closed! So I grabbed a beautiful 50/50 silk/merino mix (among other things *cough*) and only a little later, I made two cowls. I love the color so much - it's like the sky at dusk and dawn when it's kind of lavender, yet still a beautiful blue. I simply took my favorite lace patterns - that sprig or sometimes also cockleshell lace of the first cowl is basically my favorite lace pattern - and knit. These are the Cowl for Dusk and Dawn and the Cowl for Dawn and Dusk.

 

 

Soon after these, I knit another one, using the colors of the season, grey and petrol, and a simple but effective lace pattern, feather and fan, calling it the Fleeting Fashion Colors Cowl. I donated it to my mother, though, because she was cold and wanted a cowl. The yarn I used was Lana Grossa Laseta and I found these two balls next to each other in the sales bin of my favorite yarn shop. I can totally tell that this picture was taken in very early spring 2009 (besides, I actually know it was taken then), because of the mallow plant in the background

Then, I was a little cowled out. But after the 2009 Knit in Public Day in Vienna's Stadtpark, where I left with a few goodies and even more purchases, at the completely wrong time (really hot summer), I made a neckwarmer. I used the Cashmere Neckwarmer pattern by Kim K. and a freebie skein of Malabrigo Gruesa (first time I used Malabrigo ... sigh) and let myself be inspired by one of my favorite anime, Seirei no Moribito. Then began the hunt for the perfect button and I found one, too, but I have yet to sew it on and block the Seirei no Moribito Neckwarmer, even though I could use it right now (yes, that's a little silly).

The anime theme stayed right with me. After obsessing for a long time about Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto and its hero, Akizuki Youjiro, and coming across the beautiful Lana Grossa Fauna (so soft! with alpaca) in exactly the right shade of blue, I knit a rather simple, but warm and (to me) effective cowl (for You-san). Once anime and knitting come together, it's a slippery slope. See, You-san wears a dark blue cowl and he uses it to hide his face when he doesn't want to be recognised and I felt just like that at the time. It isn't the most impressive cowl, the stitch pattern is simple and easily lost, but I love it and its understatedness.

And then my favorite yarn store (the Pingouin on Alserstraße) put out the good stuff. Pure, thick cashmere. Lana Grossa Solo Cashmere, to be exact. In a shade that was impossible to photograph, an ultraviolet purple. In the pictures it looks blue, but it really, really isn't. So I got two balls of purple and one ball of grey and set out to create a cowl that would pay homage to a great female anime character, Re-L, from Ergo Proxy. It matches her eyeshadow ... (slippery slope, I said). When the weather is damp, it smells a littly goaty :) The fairisle pattern was a bit painful - how to create something that looks random, but isn't? It all turned out well in the end, I think.

So I actually have six cowls (and a neckwarmer) at my personal disposal. Two for spring/fall, four for winter. The last one so far is for the coldest winter weather only and so I fittingly called it Winter Armor. It is the simplest of designs, because I didn't really want to bother with something extra-fancy - now I kind of wish I had, but I don't want to undo it all. Maybe with the next cowl. Gedifra Highland Alpaca, the yarn I used, made an appearance in the yarn store in the fall of 2008 and I had been lusting for it ever since, but couldn't find a pattern to justify buying a ball or two. Cowl to the rescue!

There's one more cowl (ok, probably a few more, but I have yarn especially designated for a cowl) in my future, but  I still don't know what pattern to use. Design one myself? After all, five of my six cowls are self-designed. Or find a pattern? We'll see. For now, it's baby hats baby hats baby hats baby hats baby hats ...