Sky Scarf 2012

It took me a few days to get the blog post together, but I did complete my Sky Scarf on the 31st. It is awesome! It really did serve its purpose of making me more mindful of the weather (and noticing how much it really does affect my mood) and serves as a nifty souvenir of 2012. It turned out really super long:

But luckily I intended to connect the end and wear it as a big, showy cowl. As an added bonus, I get to look at a much larger proportion of the stripey goodness all the time.

I’ve worn it out in public twice now, and raised surprisingly little interest. There was one fellow knitter (apparently) among the parents dropping their kids off at work who latched on right away to the fact that I’d probably made it, but most people haven’t even looked twice at it, let alone commented. It seems off for a cowl (infinity scarf?) this massive and colorful, with such irregularly placed stripes and beads. I’m sure happy with it though!

Relief

There were some big storms last night and this time they actually brought cool air with them. You know, like they’re supposed to. Oh my goodness I feel like a new woman. The forecast high for today is only 86 (30 C) and while that’s only slightly below normal for this time of year, after the heat wave we’ve had it sounds like the most balmy, deliciously comfortable weather ever.

Carnaby in progress – I forgot how fast patterns go when I don’t have to do all the math myself.

In fact, it’s so nice that I actually took my knitting outside for a bit this morning. Bliss! I love the way the air smells after a good rain; I can almost forget that I live in the city. It’s also nice that my Sky Scarf finally has a break in all the blue (that sounds like an odd thing to be happy about, I know). It seems like the weather has broken all over the U.S., because my cousin out west says the fires are finally about under control there and people are beginning to pick up the pieces.

On the other hand, the peppers loved all the hot and dry the last couple weeks, so despite the best efforts of that surprise derecho we had, they are looking bushy and strong and I’m starting to get some baby peppers!! Can not wait to start eating those!

Baby peppers!

As an aside, my parents actually missed out on most of the heat with a well-timed vacation to Alaska. They brought me back what has to be the most unique souvenir I’ve ever seen – a crochet hook made of moose bone. I feel like it needs an extra special project to christen it. Any suggestions?

It appears to be an L hook. Quite large.

Mid-year Sky Scarf Update

Well, it’s July1 (happy Canada Day to any Canadian readers!) and I’ve now put in an even 6 months of work on the Sky Scarf.

For those who haven’t done one, the idea is to knit 2 rows/rounds each day that match the color of the sky that day. Personally, I also add beads when it rains or snows. With the exception of the wicked overnight storm we had Friday night/Saturday morning, there hasn’t been much rain to speak of lately.

The scarf is only halfway done, but it’s already long enough to be complete.

In this shot the other end of the scarf is just touching the floor. It’s a solid 50 inches (127 cm), which means it’ll be of absolutely epic proportions by New Year’s. Part of me thinks that’s going to be really cool, but a tiny, quiet part of me kind of wishes I’d used lace weight. This is Knit Picks’ Palette, which has a fantastic array of color options (even more now than when I first ordered, it appears), but is fingering weight.

It sure does look pretty all bundled up though. Even if the scarf does barely fit in the basket any more.

Photos

I won’t go into the USOC/Ravelympics debacle here. I’ve pretty much summed up my feelings here, and frankly the whole thing saddens me enough to just want to move on.

So.

Not 20 minutes after my last post the new camera arrived, and I’ve spent (almost) every spare second since then playing with its settings. I’ve never really messed with manual settings before, and experimentation really is my favorite way to learn.

I took an old, mediocre photo of my Sky Scarf taken with the old camera, then recreated it with the new camera. I didn’t change any external factors (location, background, time of day, artificial lighting, etc), which makes it extra exciting to think what kind of pictures I can produce once I start playing with those as well. See what just changing the camera settings does:

This is the original, taken with my old camera

This is the new camera set to auto mode. Already the colors are more accurate

Since I was indoors in my rather dark apartment, I tried the “low light” option in the shooting modes.

Next I played with the manual white balance. This one turned out best.

I experimented with the ISO too. ISO 400 seems to be the best of the batch, so I guess it wasn’t that dark after all.

What I take away from all this:

1. Take lots of photos. It doesn’t cost anything as long as you don’t print them all, and unless you’re a super-phenom and not working with anything that might move, you really can’t predict which shot will be the perfect one.

2. Even auto mode to auto mode, a decent camera really does make a difference.

3. Cannon’s shooting modes are a godsend for people like me just sticking a toe in the deep end.

4. Poor white balance is probably the reason photos with my skin always look so bizarre.

5. Higher ISOs are better for darker shots.

6. I really have a whole lot of buttons left to push. And I have no clue what most of them do.

Any one have any more tips or insights for my new favorite toy?

Battle of Wills

Diet and fitness resources are quick to share the recent research which suggests that humans have a finite level of willpower. If you don’t deliberately indulge in something “naughty” from time to time you’ll apparently use up all your “responsible” and go on a crazy binge. Supposedly this is why people cheat on their diets, or stop working out, or eat a whole cake while quitting smoking. Controlled, well-timed indulgences are supposed to be the way to prevent this.

I think I’m about due for an indulgence. I’m actively working on four different knitting projects right now, and I can only share the slowest moving, most basic one of them with you because the other three aren’t published yet.

Pattern Sky Scarf by Lea Redmond

On a separate knitting-related front, I’m feeling driven to work obsessively on one of my projects, but the school year is not quite over and is sucking up a totally unreasonable amount of my knitting time (and cleaning time, and sleeping time, and…). I’m almost grateful for the obnoxious amount of time I’ve spent waiting around on other people lately, because at least my purse project is getting some playtime.

Once the school year is over I’ll take some time to knit to my heart’s content before starting to plan for next year. That’ll lead to a new battle though – between me and my wrists. My wrists won’t care that my brain has at least 47 more hours of knitting in it, and my brain won’t care that my wrists started crying for a rest 12 hours ago.

While my head knows that eating healthy and continuing to work out is good stress control, my current stress levels disagree. The Stress Monster keeps whispering to me that this:

would make an excellent dinner, and I’m coming closer and closer to believing it. It also keeps whispering that sleep is totally a better use of my time than working out or cleaning, but simultaneously that I’m lazy and disgusting for not running daily 5ks and keeping my home spotless. Stress is kind of a jerk.

So, I’m rapidly running out of willpower. Time to be a little bad. Unfortunately after the unexpected new laptop I’m pretty broke (and trying to save to buy a house as well – another willpower drain), so it’ll have to be a cheap indulgence. No new camera or weekend getaway, unless it’s a super cheap one. Suggestions?

Appreciation

Sometimes feeling good requires us to take a moment out of our day to actually pay attention. Once I take the time to tune in, I find I invariably feel better than I did just a moment ago. So in no particular order, here are 5 things making me feel good at this moment:

1. The stretch of gorgeous weather that is making my Sky Scarf look like this lately:

2. Blossoms on my tomato plants!!!

3. The tsoureki my family is about to devour.

4. The drool-inducing smell of the ciabatta currently in the oven for Easter dinner (yeah, we’re pretty shameless bread fiends around here).

5. The knowledge that my husband and I get an entire day tomorrow to lay around and do absolutely nothing. Bliss!