Yes, you read that right. Sometimes a successful attempt at writing a knitting pattern depends on the weather. Let me explain...
First of all I will concede that knitting is largely an indoor sport. Of course it can be performed outdoors should the knitter prefer but it does lend itself to sitting quietly in an armchair, curled up warm and cosy indoors. In the summer I love to take my knitting to the garden or a park and watch the world go by in the sunshine while I work on a few rows but at this time of year, my knitting is by and large an at-home pursuit.
My actual writing of patterns is done almost completely inside the house. I write on a laptop, and while it is portable enough to take into the garden, the wifi signal out there is patchy, and if the sunshine is bright I can't see the screen! Writing indoors does mean that it doesn't matter much whether it's hot or cold, wet or dry, foggy or snowing, the writing can still go on.
However, this weekend I came upon two stumbling blocks. One was for a pattern, the other a design submission, but both had the same problem and it relates to photography.
The pattern has been written bar photographs for a few weeks. It's been too wet to take pictures outside, and on the dry days I've been out until dark (sounds awful but it's still dark by 5.30pm at this time of year) so not able to take them. The design submission required a sketch and a swatch and I've been knitting and blocking the swatch so had to wait for that to be ready.
This weekend was dry. I grabbed my camera, the shawl, and the sketch and swatch and headed for the garden. The sun was shining. It was a bit cold, I knew that, but what I hadn't appreciated was that it was also really really windy.
The shawl didn't do too badly pinned to the fence, and then draped over a tree branch. I've got some shots of it against the fence, and some of it blowing gracefully against the tree.
The sketch and swatch caused more of an issue. How on earth are you supposed to take a photo of a sheet of paper and a 6" knitted square when they blow away every time you let go of them?! I'm glad our street is quiet without too many passers-by to see me, because I ended up crouching behind my car on the driveway. It was the only spot I could find with good but not direct sunlight and enough shelter from the wind! I still had to hold the paper until the wind died down but after no less than 8 attempts I managed to get a picture of the sketch and swatch lying exactly where I'd put them flat on the floor instead of a blurred red and white streak as they blew into next door's garden wall!
First of all I will concede that knitting is largely an indoor sport. Of course it can be performed outdoors should the knitter prefer but it does lend itself to sitting quietly in an armchair, curled up warm and cosy indoors. In the summer I love to take my knitting to the garden or a park and watch the world go by in the sunshine while I work on a few rows but at this time of year, my knitting is by and large an at-home pursuit.
My actual writing of patterns is done almost completely inside the house. I write on a laptop, and while it is portable enough to take into the garden, the wifi signal out there is patchy, and if the sunshine is bright I can't see the screen! Writing indoors does mean that it doesn't matter much whether it's hot or cold, wet or dry, foggy or snowing, the writing can still go on.
However, this weekend I came upon two stumbling blocks. One was for a pattern, the other a design submission, but both had the same problem and it relates to photography.
The pattern has been written bar photographs for a few weeks. It's been too wet to take pictures outside, and on the dry days I've been out until dark (sounds awful but it's still dark by 5.30pm at this time of year) so not able to take them. The design submission required a sketch and a swatch and I've been knitting and blocking the swatch so had to wait for that to be ready.
This weekend was dry. I grabbed my camera, the shawl, and the sketch and swatch and headed for the garden. The sun was shining. It was a bit cold, I knew that, but what I hadn't appreciated was that it was also really really windy.
The shawl didn't do too badly pinned to the fence, and then draped over a tree branch. I've got some shots of it against the fence, and some of it blowing gracefully against the tree.
The sketch and swatch caused more of an issue. How on earth are you supposed to take a photo of a sheet of paper and a 6" knitted square when they blow away every time you let go of them?! I'm glad our street is quiet without too many passers-by to see me, because I ended up crouching behind my car on the driveway. It was the only spot I could find with good but not direct sunlight and enough shelter from the wind! I still had to hold the paper until the wind died down but after no less than 8 attempts I managed to get a picture of the sketch and swatch lying exactly where I'd put them flat on the floor instead of a blurred red and white streak as they blew into next door's garden wall!
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