Yarn Along

This week I made a really fun gift for a member of my knitting club. I also took some really fun photos of it and I can't wait to share, but I will refrain until I give it to the recipient.  But I can share with you the pictures I took of a reversible hat I made. 

One side has arrows on it. I designed this pattern to go along with my parents alpaca farm logo. Their farm is called Arrow Acres Farm.

 This is the other side of the hat. It has a single dark gray stripe.

 Both sides have the same pinwheel shaped decrease on the top. I have used many different techniques of decreasing, but this one is my favorite when I am using a solid color.

I like how the edge of the hat looks rolled over. You can't tell where the knitting begins and it really looks nice when it is on. (My boys didn't want to pose for me this morning so you will just have to imagine what it looks like on an actual head.)

On my needles I have another reversible hat, but this one will have a solid black inside and a gray stripe on the outside.

Photography Tip-

I use a white balance lens cap to set my white balance before I take my pictures.  This helps to make the camera adjust to the light source to appear the same color as daylight.  I purchased my cap at The Photo Center in Brick, but you can order them online. I like to support my local camera shop.

I set my camera's focus to manual focus and I take a picture in the direction of my subject.



White Balance Shot



Then I go to menu and select "Custom White Balance" then I select the picture of the white balance shot. The camera then asks "do you want to set as your white balance" and I select Set.  On the back of most cameras is a WB button (white balance, even most cell phones have this feature). Select that and choose the custom white balance option.  You have to be in P, Tv, Av or M mode to use this feature.

I usually shot all my photos in Av mode. I think of this setting as "Available Light".  (you can usually go to Av mode by using the dial on the top of the camera).  Also when I am photographing black yarn I like to be on the Neutral setting.

Just remember if you change your position you have to reset your white balance.  If you don't have a white balance lens cap you can do the same thing with a white sheet, t-shirt or piece of paper, just make sure the entire frame is filled with the white subject.

Knitting Tip-
To acieve the rounded edge like I have on the hat above I double my yarn and cast on to a larger needle then I will use for the rest of my hat. For the hat above I casted on 88 stitches, then transfered each stitch onto two sets of US6 circular needles.