Abyssal Shawl

• Yes, this is back on the needles! I found a second skein at my LYS and figured it was a sign! so I told you i wasn’t quite happy with this shawl, even though i had it bound off before the last podcast.

Heirloom Blanket

• The world’s ugliest, 100% acrylic from the 70’s or 80s has no dye lot…some skeins are darker than others so I’m alternating every 5 pattern repeats.

Rocky Coast Cardigan

Off the Needles

Milo Vest

Brainstorming

• Planning my vacation knitting:
  • Another Abyssal Shawl with my Unwind Yarn Company yarn that I won
  • Maybe another Milo vest…
  • Chinook Scarf/shawlette
  • Romney Kerchief
  • Age of Brass and Steam

Also dying to cast on the Color Affection Shawl by

Veera Valimaki. Kristin from the YarnGasm Podcast’s is especially beautiful- find her project here. I bought some Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine, and will start that in the next couple weeks.

• Biston  
• Ferrous Wrap
• Walpole cardigan

Crafty Adventures
No new work in the studio- too much summer fun getting in the way!

Sewing- Retro Apron (in progress)

Life in Focus

Overview of the Aperture Priority Setting DSLR cameras

• Great blog post to show how to adjust camera settings on Canon and Nikon here

How I usually set up my camera- Aperture Priority Mode:

• Set your camera to Aperture Priority Mode- AV on Canon or A on Nikon
• Set your focus to Auto Focus

• Set your ISO first (100 bright sunshine, 200 natural light but not really harsh, 400, inside with lots of light, 800 darker, 1600/3200 very low light)

• White Balance

• In natural light I find that using the Auto White Balance setting generally works ok, but most of the time I change this setting.
• More information on White Balance here.

• Set your Aperture

• What does that mean? Aperture is how open the lens is to receive the light

• How to do it: (usually) turn click wheel on the camera near your shutter (depends on model)
• Tips:
  • Low number means that your camera’s lens is more open (so more light comes through). This also means that it will exposure for subjects that are closer to the lens– creating a shallow depth of field. Example of larger aperture- f2
  • High number means that the lens is less open to light, will expose for something far away and create a deeper depth of field. Example of smaller aperture- f32.
• In Aperture Priority Mode- you set this- and the camera will choose the corresponding Shutter Speed to create a good exposure. 
• Move your Array Point (in your view finder) to set the focus on your subject.

The Crafter’s Guide to Taking Great Photos: The Best Techniques for Showcasing Your Handmade Creations by Heidi Adnum


In My Travels

Very excited about our summer vacation! 

I may (or may not) be attending this local event:

• Interweave Knitting LabWill take place from October 4-7, 2012 at the Radission in Manchester, NH

Ravellenic Games 2012  (formerly Ravelympics)
Gave a really short reader’s digest version of my comments about the USOC’s threat to sue Ravelry if the name of this event wasn’t changed, but was very unkind in the process. Mentioned an interesting blog post by the Yarn Harlot. Bottom line: knitters rock. We still get to knit this summer. Maybe this whole thing brought some more awareness to knitting and empowered knitters 🙂

On a Happy Note
New ipod nano with its handy built-in clip.
The new fawn who visits our backyard!

Knitting in Passing

• Love chatting with knitters on the train! This week someone actually helped me wind yarn.

Quote of the Week

“The cure for anything is salt water—sweat, tears, or the sea.” ― Isak Dinesen



Thanks again for listening and for all of your kind messages, posts on the Rav group and blog comments!