Another new design - Design A516 in green tweedy yarn

Another new design and another one that is fairly easy to adjust in size.  I used up some tweedy olive green wool that I bought.  I don't know the brand but it is 100% wool.  Not the softest yarn but its not too bad and despite increasing the needle size I have still managed to produce a fairly stiff fabric, which should soften with time and wear and is incredibly warm.

I took the product photos in two different ways as this shawl is versatile but I think the wedding setting is really nice.

My own blend - Merino and Sari Silk

I've been playing with my blending hackle and some bits of fibre that I bought in December 2018.  I picked out a large bump of purple merino and sari silk and then added bits of white wool to it to lighten it slightly as I feel that its a little too dark to show off that fabulous Sari Silk properly.

The ingredients.

Its been through my blending hackle

I'm ready for my bath now. (This multi photo looks different to the others as it was made on my phone).

 This finished yarn is a Merino Wool/Wool/Sari Silk blend, I don't know the percentages because I don't know the percentage in the main purple bump of fibre.  I've spun it to worsted weight and there is 85g/172m.  I think its fabulous!

Yep, its another Design A2 - Salmon Mohair

I decided to use up the leftovers from a Custom shawl next, I bought a little extra whilst I could just in case of any miscalculations or emergencies such as bad or damaged yarn, seeing as this is vintage yarn and almost impossible to get hold of.  It was a miracle I was able to find any.

This is Charisma Fashion Mohair from Colours by Adrian of Edinburgh in shade Salmon and its 78% Mohair, 13% Wool, 9% Nylon.

Its a lovely, pretty yarn, but its Mohair and does shed but not as bad as some that I've used in the past.

Once again, the product photos were taken a number of months after I made the shawl as I had a lot going on and I'd put so much weight on that I couldn't fit into the wedding dress so I had to lose weight before I could do the photo shoot.

Photography Backdrops

When you sell goods online the advice is always to photograph your item against a plain uncluttered, non-busy background.  Fair enough, it makes the item easy to see and draws your eye straight to it and doesn't leave you wondering which item you should be looking at.  I've done this method for many years.  I made my own backdrop using some blackout curtain material and some plain white voile and its done me proud up until now but that advice is probably better suited to small things like jewellery but it is really boring for things like shawls.

I'm seeing a lot of successful sellers who use beautiful settings to take their photos of clothing items, some are absolutely stunning, like fancy sweeping staircases, carefully manicured formal gardens or stately looking room settings, the kind of thing you find in stately homes, National Trust properties and old hotels.  I've even seen one seller who is lucky enough to live right by the coast and takes her photos up on the top of a cliff with the person modelling looking forlornly out to sea with the wind blowing in her hair and the shawls and they look amazing, full of life and movement.  I live on a housing estate, no such beautiful settings for me without costing me an arm and a leg to hire the place.

Printed backdrops, that's the route for me, carefully selected printed backdrops and I could get quite a few different ones, subject to finances.  I am limited on space though, so I have to bear that in mind, that I need to be able to use the backdrop without furniture etc getting in the way between the backdrop and the camera.

After much thought and search online I have ordered from a company called Katebackdrops, they have a US site and a UK site and are reasonably priced.  I've ordered two backdrops from them, I just hope I've ordered the right sizes, quite a bit of guess work involved as to which size is best to go for as they come in quite a good range.  One with an urban feel to it, something that I could use for modelling the scarf type shawls and shawlettes against and then a whimsical floral framed balcony setting that will be perfect for the wedding type shawls.  Fingers crossed.

Another Design A2 - Colinette Fire

Carrying on with my Design A2 roll, I have picked a single skein of Colinette Mohair in shade Fire and this yarn has been discontinued some time.  Its 78% Mohair, 13% Wool, 9% Nylon.  Again, I used all of the skein.  I made this so fast that I didn't take any progress photos, nor did I take any when I washed and blocked it.

These product photos were taken several months after I made the item.

Oh so pretty - in the garden

I am really starting to enjoy my home and garden again, I'm slowly falling back in love with it after 9 years of the living hell of a horrid neighbour and her kids.  It's peaceful once again, which is what we loved about it when we bought the house 12 years ago.  Obviously there has been a bit of noise from the landlord having to put his house back together but the good news is that his own daughter has recently moved in as she needs somewhere to live and he's had enough of terrible tenants and I can't blame him for that.  I've not met her yet but she's quiet and you rarely hear her two kids.

Anyway, we have flowers in the front garden, all those bulbs that I planted last September are flowering.  I have seen a few bulbs on the surface, half-eaten, bloody squirrels!!!

First of all, the two trees outside of our house are in full bloom and they are beautiful.  We used to have three trees but a couple of years ago a large truck tried to drive along the walk and in trying to negotiate around the trees the steep embankment just behind them they got themselves stuck and ended up backing into the tree, cracked the trunk from the base all the way up making it unsafe and it had to be cut down.

This is my view from the upstairs window in front of which I sit and knit or crochet. There is a large tree behind it in the distance.

In our own front garden we have various flowering bulbs and a magnolia tree that are in bloom.

I particularly like this batch of photos that I took with my Canon camera, yes, amazingly I took these, they're not stock photos from the internet, they're just so much more focused and detailed than those taken with my mobile phone.  There are a couple in the batch above that I took with my camera too but most were taken with my phone.

Bluefaced Leicester - Design A2

I've decided to use up some of my widow skeins on some more A2 Designs.  This one is 100% Bluefaced Leicester aran weight yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners and was spun at their Yorkshire Mill.  Its really lovely and soft.

I just kept knitting until I ran out of yarn.

It was a fair few months before I got around to photographing it.