January 2014

Click... dammit!

Click... dammit!

The distant sound of an inexperienced photographer trying to get a photo when the bloody thing won't stay still. One of my resolutions is to get better at photography, although that's mostly to take pictures of knitting which is a lot slower than fireworks.

I also intend to learn new picture editing techniques and practice writing more.

29/01/2014

Time to Shine III

Attempt the third is actually very similar to attempt number two, I've just refined my technique a little. This one I've written up straight away.

And I am going to explain that distraction I was having... just as soon as it... stops... being...

20/01/2014

Time to Shine II

So the second attempt at a geode happened before the write up of the first one.

I concentrated on getting the edge flatter, like the geode had actually been cut through. I'm much happier with it. For the inside I used the same colour beads but a different coloured thread. I actually like the first combination better but I'm not sure if I want to knit another geode just yet, I've become distracted. More on that later...

15/01/2014

Time to Shine

Option 2 - Attach sparkly bits to something that is knitted.

This geode is another sort-of-cheat pattern in that it is basically the same as the plain knitted baubles I did a year ago. I'm pretty pleased with it though and will probably write it up as is.

I am tempted to do another, better geode with a neater edge as well.

12/01/2014

Sparkly Knitting

All this leads to the question of how to make my knitting sparkle in the way that gemstones sparkle. My ideas so far.

• Buy some yarn with sparkly bits built in, like this or this.

It would make knitting sparkly things really easy but will take extra time and money. Also I'm not sure it's the right sort of sparkly for gemstones, the glittery yarns I found were mostly metallic.

• Attach sparkly bits to something that is knitted.

Now usually my horror of sewing in would push this option down the list, but I'm remembering a technique I used once for knitting beads into a fabric as you go. Could be an option for the gemstone encrusted look. I'm having thoughts.

• Use different colours of yarn to create the impression of translucence.

I've been inspired by a tutorial for painting wooden gems and think it could apply to knitting. The drawback is that I would need a lot of different shades of yarn in similar colours. Luckily my stash is extensive so it's a definite option.

• Knit something very obviously gemstone shaped and forget about sparklyness.

Booooo. I wanna knit sparkly things. Maybe next time.

07/01/2014

Geology Rocks

I enjoyed doing the sparkly glowy fireworks so much that I wish I had an excuse to draw more sparkly glowy pictures.

On a completely unrelated note I'm knitting something a bit unusual this month. Well not unusual for me. I've already got a good selection of fossil patterns uploaded so I'm going to branch out into other rocks. Sparkly sparkly rocks.

03/01/2014

Onwards!

Did I mention that last months pattern went up? The best part is that it fits me. I will soon have awsome but impractical elf slippers.