Heading to knit night...

Taken on Tuesday night on my way to knitting. I love that I have a group that meets just blocks away from my house. It's totally rocks.

Yarn art!

Awesome/weird yarn art.

Improving my photography...

Michelle and I are "taking" an online photography course. I put taking in quotes because it's free and it's not really being taught. It's just an archive of a class that was given in the past. However it seems very comprehensive and presented in a way that maybe even I can grasp onto the more complicated aspects of the camera's inner workings. ("Whah?," you say, "It's not magic?!" I know. I said the same thing.)

Anyhoo, I've completed the first lesson. Clicky on the photo above to go to my flickr set. I'd love for you to poke around, see what you like and make some comments. I'm really curious as to what people think without knowing what I working to improve. (No pressure, really.) I'm also hoping that making my homework public will motivate me to continue with the lessons!

Last chance to improve your knitting/crafting/blog photography!

EDIT: I think all typos are fixed. I think?

For the final time, Michelle and I will be teaching our Improve your (Knitting) Photography class at In The Loop Café on Sunday, July 27th.

The official class description is below and if you're interested give In The Loop a holler at 416-652-1024 to reserve a spot. Class size is limited. Hope to see you there!

Do you wish you took better photos of your knitting? Are you tired of washed out, blurry pictures of projects that you put hours and hours of hard work into? Are you confused by the buttons and features on your digital camera? Do you feel like your friends point and laugh at the photos you post to your blog or Ravelry account?

Take your knitting photography to the next level with this introductory course in basic photography techniques. Anyone can learn to take beautiful photos of their knitting and other craft projects, and you don't need a fancy or expensive camera to do it! In this hands-on course you will learn the basics of:

* Composition
* Lighting
* Focus

Bring your camera, the user manual (if possible) and a small knit project or two to practice on.

REMINDER - Knitting/Blog Photography Class!

Just a reminder that Michelle and I will be teaching our ever popular Improve your (Knitting) Photography class at In The Loop Café NEXT Sunday, June 16th. If you're interested give In The Loop a holler at 416-652-1024. Class size is limited. Hope to see you there!

Encore presentation- Improve your knitting/blog photography

By popular demand, Michelle and I will be teaching our Improve your (Knitting) Photography class at In The Loop Café on Sunday, June 16th.

The official class description is below and if you're interested give In The Loop a holler at 416-652-1024. Class size is limited. Hope to see you there!

Do you wish you took better photos of your knitting? Are you tired of washed out, blurry pictures of projects that you put hours and hours of hard work into? Are you confused by the buttons and features on your digital camera? Do you feel like your friends point and laugh at the photos you post to your blog or Ravelry account?

Take your knitting photography to the next level with this introductory course in basic photography techniques. Anyone can learn to take beautiful photos of their knitting and other craft projects, and you don't need a fancy or expensive camera to do it! In this hands-on course you will learn the basics of:

* Composition
* Lighting
* Focus

Bring your camera, the user manual (if possible) and a small knit project or two to practice on.

Sunday's Class @ In The Loop

Michelle and I had the honour to teach at In The Loop Café a beginner photography class for bloggers and Ravelers on April 6th. This class was aimed at helping total photography newbies get familiar with their point-n-shoot cameras while providing some tips and tricks to take nice shots of their craft projects. Sandi, Aleta, Emily and Cristina were the best students we could have asked to join for our inaugural class. Sandi even brought us apples (Pink Ladies - my favourite)! I brought my point-n-shoot for demo purposes and I took some shots of our cozy group during the exercises and during some punchy moments.

Thanks ladies, for being receptive to our class material and hope that you walked away with some helpful stuff!

If you're sad that you missed it, we'll hopefully be teaching again in June. More info to come soon!

Say it loud! Say it proud!

The Yarn Harlot declared that April 1st should be the day that knitters behave... well... inexplicable. And by that, she meant for knitters to partake in a photo scavenger hunt to commemorate the launch of her new book. And let me tell you, it was good.

Miss Hell and I (along with Joyce and Zoe) tramped through the cold, windy (with sometimes sunny) streets of Hogtown and had a blast doing it. Here is a sampling of the photos I took. These are my favourite. I won't submit you to all my photos. Unless you ask, of course. (You want to see them? I'm flattered! Please click here. I'll be honest. It's not ALL of them. Some weren't really worth uploading. Although it's questionable as to whether some that I did upload are.)

A neighborhood sign... mixed in with a little ass-kissing! Not really but we thought it was a perfect find.

We were a ballsy group, let me tell you. When we couldn't find a cop on the street so we walked into the 52nd Division police station and asked if one of the officers would like to help us with a photo scavenger hunt. The three that were there kind of blinked back at us but this guy volunteered and was such a sweetie. Big thanks to the 52nd Division!

We decided to go into City Hall to find an employee to photograph. When the woman at the info desk declined, Michelle asked if (Mayor) David Miller was in because "he's worth big points." She pointed us to the stairs and said that he was located on the 2nd floor.

Up the stairs we went. I did say we were ballsy, right?

There was a group of journalists outside his office. Since we weren't sure what the deal was Michelle decided to go into the reception area and ask to see if he was available. Not surprisingly, he wasn't. But his Secretary/Admin/Reception person made it sound like he would have done it if he "wasn't jammed with meetings." Being a good sport, he posed with our socks. He was truly the nicest person, gushing about each sock and telling us a story about a pair of socks someone he knew received from Germany.

At the ROM's Crystal... the T-Rex is through the window but you can't see it in my picture (but you could in real life). I didn't give myself the 3 points since it couldn't be seen but I love this photos because you can see Michelle and I.

Here's more of my favorites:

1. with street meat, 2. with the nicest TTC driver, 3. at Canadian Tire, 4. at Honest Ed's

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

After our feet couldn't handle the strain of walking we hobbled over to the Isabel Bader Theatre for the main event. The evening started with a small set from Skydiggers and then ended with Stephanie doing what she does best - bringing knitters together and making them laugh!

As an extra bonus, there were prizes for the scavenger hunt! Michelle and I were sure that there was going to be some rabid Harlot fan who took the whole entire day to go to every location. What surprised us was that we were the rabid ones. Not only are we ballsy but we're clearly competitive too. Michelle and I were tied for points out of all the knitters with 70+. I only came in second because my sock was shorter than Michelle's (really). For my efforts I got a beautiful book called "Kristin Knits" by Kristin Nicholas. I can't stop thinking about the Navajo inspired afghan! First prize was a $100 gift certificate to Lettuce Knit. Go, Michelle! First prize couldn't have gone to a nicer person. No, seriously. I mean that.

I mean, watch yer back, Miss Hell. Bwahahahahahaha!

Just kidding! She created the most awesome map that I think was the key to our success. She and I are heading over to LK this afternoon to do a little retail therapy. Let's hope there is some STR left!

If you are totally blown away by the photo sampling above you can check out the whole set here. While you're at it you should check out Michelle's set and her blog post. And if you're really crazy than you can check out the flickr pool that Rachel H set up to house ALL the sock photos taken by hundreds of knitters.

Many thanks to Stephanie, Rachel H, Jayme (the Wonder Publicist), Skydiggers and the staff at the Isable Bader Theatre. It was a great book launch!!

Take My Class (Please!)

Michelle and I are co-teaching a class at In The Loop Café next Sunday (April 6th) called:

Photography for bloggers and ravelers - Improve Your Knitting Photography

Cost: 35 + Kit cost (TBD aprox $10) - includes a free drink.

Time/Date: Sunday April 6, 2 pm - 4 pm

Do you wish you took better photos of your knitting? Are you tired of washed out, blurry pictures of projects that you put hours and hours of hard work into? Are you confused by the buttons and features on your digital camera? Do you feel like your friends point and laugh at the photos you post to your blog or Ravelry account?

Take your knitting photography to the next level with this introductory course in basic photography techniques. Anyone can learn to take beautiful photos of their knitting and other craft projects, and you don't need a fancy or expensive camera to do it! In this hands-on course you will learn the basics of:

* Composition
* Lighting
* Focus

Bring your camera, the user manual (if possible) and a small knit project or two to practice on.

Sorry for the late announcement! I guess that's what happens when one is traveling for half the month. What's that saying? The path to hell is paved with good intentions? Whatevs.