More Color Inspiration; New WIP; and, a Free Desktop Wallpaper
Another Walk in the Park
Emerson Park, that is, that place Gryphon and I keep going back to in downtown Milford, NH for mini-walks. We are discovering that between the gardens, the woodlot, and the river, this is a fantastic place to watch the changes of the seasons.
And I keep finding new color inspiration there. Reds and yellows were the message of the day today.
Vivid Red, Mustard Yellow, and a Hint of Bright Green - Unknown Berries
Japanese Maple - Bright Orangey Red
Japanese maples seem to have absolutely the best color, and I love the shape of the leaves. I got another great shot of some of these leaves artfully scattered on the ground by Mother Nature, and at the end of this post, you'll learn how to download it as a free desktop wallpaper.
Trying to Stash Bust - Really I Am
It's amazing what you can find when you come back strong to a hobby after an absence. I've been knitting since the late 1960's, but it went on a bit of a hibernation for a few years. Not completely going away, mind you - just kind of sleeping quietly in the background, and now and then turning over and snoring a little. Most of the knitting done during the hibernating time was simple scarves and one-piece afghans.
Now that I'm back to it - and getting more inventive with the process than ever - I'm digging into my pre-existing stash and looking with new eyes.
This vivid pink yarn called to me nearly 20 years ago. The bulk of it went into a sunshine bright afghan in yellow, orange, and pink - another hibernating item, a UFO, even, that I recently dug out of the stacks. The yarn is from the leading edge of novelty yarns, at a time when there was a big trend in knitting with ribbon, as I recall. Mid-80's, something like that.
Bright Pink Vintage Stash
The yarn is 2-ply, one being a loosely spun fiber, the other a shiny, silky, knitted ribbon. The labels are long since gone, so I have no idea about fiber content. The only thing I'd care to guess is that it's almost certainly synthetic. But I'll bet you already had that thought in mind.
Two-ply, Loose and Ribbon
It's a nice, soft yarn that I like a lot. I got the notion that I'd like to find something to make with it, and I married that to the idea I've been having that a pair of fingerless mitts would really be useful for me this winter.
I swatched a bit, and played a bit with different sizes ofyarn. (Edit: needles. I meant to say needles, not yarn. but you knew that, right?) I started and knit a little over an inch of the first mitt, and concluded that I certainly wasn't going to have enough of this to make a pair.
So off to the LYS, nearly-empty purse in hand, to see what I could turn up as an option.
What I found was Berrocco Foliage yarn, color number 5930.
Stash Enhancement on a Budget
It's not an expensive yarn as they go these days, but it did take nearly everything I had. I just love these colors, and they look good with my pink mystery yarn, too.
This Could Work
I'm knitting these mitts from the top down, making them up as I go. I decided I want the colors of the Foliage yarn to be around the hand, where they'll be more visible when I'm wearing a coat.
The First Mitt So Far
The needles are my trusty Addi Turbo size 8 circulars, and I'm doing the two circular needle approach again. I'm going to do the whole thing in 2x2 ribbing - I like the way that hugs the body, and it shows off a pretty yarn well.
At this stage, I'm nearly ready to bind off a few stitches for a buttonhole thumb. When I cast on new stitches, I'm going to create more than I bound off, so that I have more room around the base of the thumb. I'll be selecting where to place decreases over the next several rounds in order to get nice merging of the ribs under the thumb.
I was trying to stash bust here, to use that vintage pink yarn - but as I work this mitt, I'm really liking how this yarn looks as is. The pink looks good with this in theory, but in the finished mitt, I don't want to introduce that bright, jarring contrast. The Foliage is matte, the colors marble together marvelously, and there is no stretch of unbroken color anywhere. The mystery yarn - shiny, and absolutely solid with no heathering, marbling, or blending to soften it.
I guess stash-busting will have to wait for another project!
Free Desktop Wallpaper
I've been starting to take photos specifically for the purpose of being desktop wallpapers. I re-sample them in Corel PhotoPaint - part of the CorelDraw Graphics Suite 12 - to create JPGs with a size of 1024x768 pixels. This is the resolution I use on my 19" non-LCD monitor - I'm not a computer expert, but I think it will work well on just about any size or resolution of monitor out there.
Free Image #1: Japanese Maple Leaves
Directions: (For Windows users - I don't have a Mac, and can't speak to how it would be done.) To save the image to your computer, click on the above picture to see the full-size version. Once you get to the larger image, right-click on the picture and either:
I have been taking great pleasure in using my own photographs as desktop wallpaper. I hope that you will enjoy them as well. Please, if you do, drop me a note or leave a comment to let me know. And if you have more experience than I do with optimizing JPGs for desktop wallpaper use, I'd welcome any tips you care to share.
If this proves to be popular, I may set up a regular link on the sidebar and provide new wallpapers seasonally.
Emerson Park, that is, that place Gryphon and I keep going back to in downtown Milford, NH for mini-walks. We are discovering that between the gardens, the woodlot, and the river, this is a fantastic place to watch the changes of the seasons.
And I keep finding new color inspiration there. Reds and yellows were the message of the day today.
Vivid Red, Mustard Yellow, and a Hint of Bright Green - Unknown Berries
Japanese Maple - Bright Orangey Red
Japanese maples seem to have absolutely the best color, and I love the shape of the leaves. I got another great shot of some of these leaves artfully scattered on the ground by Mother Nature, and at the end of this post, you'll learn how to download it as a free desktop wallpaper.
Trying to Stash Bust - Really I Am
It's amazing what you can find when you come back strong to a hobby after an absence. I've been knitting since the late 1960's, but it went on a bit of a hibernation for a few years. Not completely going away, mind you - just kind of sleeping quietly in the background, and now and then turning over and snoring a little. Most of the knitting done during the hibernating time was simple scarves and one-piece afghans.
Now that I'm back to it - and getting more inventive with the process than ever - I'm digging into my pre-existing stash and looking with new eyes.
This vivid pink yarn called to me nearly 20 years ago. The bulk of it went into a sunshine bright afghan in yellow, orange, and pink - another hibernating item, a UFO, even, that I recently dug out of the stacks. The yarn is from the leading edge of novelty yarns, at a time when there was a big trend in knitting with ribbon, as I recall. Mid-80's, something like that.
Bright Pink Vintage Stash
The yarn is 2-ply, one being a loosely spun fiber, the other a shiny, silky, knitted ribbon. The labels are long since gone, so I have no idea about fiber content. The only thing I'd care to guess is that it's almost certainly synthetic. But I'll bet you already had that thought in mind.
Two-ply, Loose and Ribbon
It's a nice, soft yarn that I like a lot. I got the notion that I'd like to find something to make with it, and I married that to the idea I've been having that a pair of fingerless mitts would really be useful for me this winter.
I swatched a bit, and played a bit with different sizes of
So off to the LYS, nearly-empty purse in hand, to see what I could turn up as an option.
What I found was Berrocco Foliage yarn, color number 5930.
Stash Enhancement on a Budget
It's not an expensive yarn as they go these days, but it did take nearly everything I had. I just love these colors, and they look good with my pink mystery yarn, too.
This Could Work
I'm knitting these mitts from the top down, making them up as I go. I decided I want the colors of the Foliage yarn to be around the hand, where they'll be more visible when I'm wearing a coat.
The First Mitt So Far
The needles are my trusty Addi Turbo size 8 circulars, and I'm doing the two circular needle approach again. I'm going to do the whole thing in 2x2 ribbing - I like the way that hugs the body, and it shows off a pretty yarn well.
At this stage, I'm nearly ready to bind off a few stitches for a buttonhole thumb. When I cast on new stitches, I'm going to create more than I bound off, so that I have more room around the base of the thumb. I'll be selecting where to place decreases over the next several rounds in order to get nice merging of the ribs under the thumb.
I was trying to stash bust here, to use that vintage pink yarn - but as I work this mitt, I'm really liking how this yarn looks as is. The pink looks good with this in theory, but in the finished mitt, I don't want to introduce that bright, jarring contrast. The Foliage is matte, the colors marble together marvelously, and there is no stretch of unbroken color anywhere. The mystery yarn - shiny, and absolutely solid with no heathering, marbling, or blending to soften it.
I guess stash-busting will have to wait for another project!
Free Desktop Wallpaper
I've been starting to take photos specifically for the purpose of being desktop wallpapers. I re-sample them in Corel PhotoPaint - part of the CorelDraw Graphics Suite 12 - to create JPGs with a size of 1024x768 pixels. This is the resolution I use on my 19" non-LCD monitor - I'm not a computer expert, but I think it will work well on just about any size or resolution of monitor out there.
Free Image #1: Japanese Maple Leaves
Directions: (For Windows users - I don't have a Mac, and can't speak to how it would be done.) To save the image to your computer, click on the above picture to see the full-size version. Once you get to the larger image, right-click on the picture and either:
- choose "Set as Background" to immediately replace the image currently in use as your desktop wallpaper; OR
- choose "Save Picture as", and save the JPG file wherever you'd like it to live on your computer, usually in the "My Pictures" folder. Then, right-click anywhere on your desktop, and choose "Properties". Select the "Desktop" tab. Browse to the location where you stored the picture, and select it. Press "Apply", and the image will appear as your new desktop wallpaper.
I have been taking great pleasure in using my own photographs as desktop wallpaper. I hope that you will enjoy them as well. Please, if you do, drop me a note or leave a comment to let me know. And if you have more experience than I do with optimizing JPGs for desktop wallpaper use, I'd welcome any tips you care to share.
If this proves to be popular, I may set up a regular link on the sidebar and provide new wallpapers seasonally.
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home