I miss my lightbox

Before I even started blogging I had a light box. It's basically a plastic bin lined with white paper, to diffuse light when I'm taking pictures of my knitting, yarn, and fiber. It really helps me get pictures that are mostly color-accurate to begin with, and with the macro feature on my digital camera (nothing fancy, just a point-and-shoot), I have a routine for taking pictures that involves a minimum of fussing. So I imagine that these people, sitting outside a restaurant near the Schlossplatz in Stuttgart:



were probably a bit confused as I spent ten minutes trying to get the perfect shot in less-that-ideal light:



This was one of the two knitting projects I took with me on the plane. (Yeah, I know it's small in the photo. The lion statue was larger than I expected, but by the time you've been seen by 50 outdoor diners on a Sunday afternoon acting a little weird, you can't just change your mind. Now they're expecting a show. Mustn't disappoint.) The first project is my pink leaf kimono, which is more of a watch-a-movie-at-home type of project, so I haven't made much progress on it. The other, which I knit on primarily during my flight, is pictured with das Löwen (the lion); a pair of socks.



This the the Jaywalker sock pattern (original top-down version), on size 1 US needles, in BMFA Socks that Rock Lightweight, the Covelite colorway. This yarn has been sitting in my stash for almost a year, and I had grown a little disenchanted with it. I was even considering putting it up for trade on Ravelry. Then, I got a new pair of shoes for my trip, and the color demanded to be knit up immediately. Here, see what I mean:



So I had a few rows already on the needles when I got to the airport, but I got most of the leg done on the flight. This pattern really is the perfect balance between mindless knitting and distraction due to pattern stitches. See where the fifth DPN is threaded through the sock in the close-up? That's about how far I'd knit when I got off the plane. The leg is a little tight, but it will stretch out over time. One reason I love this pattern is that the leg doesn't really slouch, even after wearing the socks all day long. I've knit it twice before, once in the toe-up and once in the top-down variety, and it really is a wonderful pairing for handpainted sock yarns. I love the zig-zags!

Speaking of handpainted yarns, the significant other outdid himself for this year's birthday present. I had cajoled pleaded asked nicely if he wouldn't mind going to a handcrafts market that was happening before I could fly out, and snag me some coveted Wollmeise. He agreed, as long as it wasn't too far away. Turns out it was about 20 minutes' drive, so my plan to acquire more Wollmeise yarn worked beautifully. Behold, my birthday present:



I was hoping he'd get me one skein, so three is a real treat! That's one skein of the 100% Superwash base in the Rhabarber colorway, one of the 80/20 Twin base in Kräuterbeet, and another 80/20 Twin in Poison Nr. 5. I first saw this last colorway on The Loopy Ewe, and I had begun to accept that I was not fated to ever possess this color. I spent about an hour just trying to capture the color of these skeins. I think I did a fairly good job with the Rhabarber, but what looks bright blue in the Kräuterbeet is actually more of a royal purple. My limited photography skills just weren't up to the challenge of the Poison Nr. 5, the pink is too pink and the black is too flat in this picture. The Wollmeise is doing another market (this one in Haslach, Austria) next month, where I hope to find some of her lovely laceweight yarn.

And one last thing before I go: I forgot to mention in my last post that we saw a yarn shop (sadly closed) while we were in Freiburg. I took a picture of some Opal sock yarn in its natural habitat:



That's it for now, as always there are more pictures of the Stuttgart area and Freiburg are up on my Flickr page.