WIPs

I know there are some people who like to check out Ravelry's notebooks to see what other knitters are up to...  I love to do it myself!
Well, I must say that if someone has been paying attention to mine, they are probably bored, cause there was not much happening there!
I love to talk about what I am working on...  I like to share bits of the design process and the pictures of the projects growing on the needles.  But ever since last year, I have been blessed with many opportunities to work with others, whether they are other designers or yarn companies.  And playing with others means secret projects...

So, ever since I published Hopeful Knits, I haven't opened up many project pages, but I have been working! 
They say you have to make things happen for you, and they seem to be right:  I was determined this year to only work on projects that I am really excited about, and look for more exciting things to do in the future.  And it looks like 2014 is going to be a great year...  Lots of things, lovely things, coming ahead.

In the meantime, I am working in-between projects on a WIP I started almost 2 years ago: my Folded, written by my favorite designer ever, Veera Välimäki.
It is really satisfying not to do any maths before starting to knit, and not having to take notes all the way through the poject.
I am enjoying it especially because I get to use a yarn I love: Noro Kureyon Sock.  I love all Noro yarns, but don't have much of it in stash because it is hard to use for work (i.e. designing).   Yes, it is scartchy.  Yes, it is too bright!  But it just makes me plain happy :D
The pattern so far is quite simple, just bottom up stockinette tubes, and I should be ready to join for working the yoke bottom up shortly.  I can't wait to get to the folds to see how it transform.

I am also planning a new project involving one of my favorite yarns: Tosh Merino Light in colorway "Ink", a yarn I had had in stash for over 2 years too.

And how is it going to be?  Well, yes, boxy.  Because I do love a lovely fitted sweater, but I only wear the drapey and oversized ones myself... So since I love this color so deeply, I'll make something to live in.

~Joji

Photo school

One of the things I brought home from our holidays was a shiny new camera.
I did love the one I had, it was a hybrid Sony camera (hybrid means that is has the body of a compact camera, but it allows the use of interchangeable, better quality lenses).
This camera was awesome, I took the photographs of all my patterns for the last 2 years with it, and the automatic mode was just perfect.

But, I kept reading "You should learn to use your camera", and "your pictures could be so much better with a Reflex"... And especially I kept hearing "Why would you buy a big camera and use it in auto-mode?".

Well, I did get my new camera, I brought it home un-touched and... What do I do with this beast now?  No idea.
So it seemed reasonable to take some photography lessons, and I signed for photo-school.  I'll be studying a semestre in which I am supposed to learn not only how to use this beast, but also to take "photos with a meaning".  Well, I tell you: I had never been so scared of learning something since I finished university!

Suddenly I feel that all the pictures I have been taking all this time are just rubbish.  But why do they have to be perfect?  I don't know, and certainly my teachers don't tell me so, but now that I know how pictures are "supposed" to be taken, I feel bad about how spontaneous mine were all this time.

Anyway, I guess in the end, I will feel a lot more happy about this new tool, and my pictures should be improving.  In the meantime, I have learnt to take those pretty "stash" pictures that I've been drooling over for years:

Stash pic for Ravelry: Malabrigo Arroyo in colorway "Sand Bank"

Stash pic for Ravelry: Northbound Knitting BFL/Silk in "Nocturne"

I have been trying to reorganize my stash and photograph everything there, so that I know what to work with.  I find my stash feature really helpful!  If only I could keep it updated...

So it seems like through yarn, the camera and I are starting to get to know each other.  I haven't felt the confidence yet to take the pictures for a pattern, but it will happen, eventually.

This week our teacher gave us a new assignment.  We are studying different kinds of portraits, and we need to take "environmental portraits" and "close-up portraits".
I felt like taking a portrait of myself at work (which I had never done before), so I set up my tripod and gave use to that remote control at last.  So here I give you my workspace and in my first "Environmental Portrait".

My wall (I'd call it my studio, or office, but it's just a wall actually)

Mind you, I did organize it a little bit before this pic.  Do not be fooled by the perfectly arranged yarn inside the basket.  It is normally all spread out in the floor!
I'll save the close-up portrait for someone who is not so camera shy at the moment ;)

So I hope that in a short time I can fill this blog with more appealing pictures, and I hope you keep coming back, even with so little update over here...

~Joji