A (Small) Photo-Editing Tip

I figured out something new the other day, to help make my photos a bit better, and thought I'd share! Some (most? lol!) of you have probably already figured this out, but I thought I'd mention it just in case it's helpful...

So, I've been taking pictures of buttons lately. I take them outside, in bright light, and use my macro button so I can get up close and personal. Then I copy them into Picasa (wonderful free photo editing software!) and crop them.



I've noticed that they have a tendency to have a kind of grey cast to the background, though. Distressing! So, I did what I normally do with my photos that look a little dingy and went into the "basic fixes" section and hit the "autocontrast" button:


Hmm. Only a tiny bit better. So, how do I fix this photo? Then - tada! - I decided to venture over to the "Tuning" tab and played with the "Fill Light" "Highlights" and "Shadows" sliders a bit - and, hey, much better photo, and much better representation (at least on my monitor) of what the buttons actually look like.


My photos always need work, but it was fun to find out one little thing to do to make them a bit better. Hope this helps you, too!

The Painted Skein Becomes Warp - Part II

From this...






To this. (Just the beginning, but I'm liking it so far!)

Footprints

Carlos (Mr. Skiingweaver) just sent me this picture, which I had forgotten about...

Doesn't it make you want to be a little kid again? It does me. Reminds me that the straight-ahead way of moving through life isn't always the most fun... Or most interesting.

Re: Weaving - the purple scarf that had its 15 seconds of fame on the front page of Etsy is on its way to a new home today! Along with another scarf - wonderful customer. My shop is looking kind of bare, yikes.

But I did want to share some new fabric I wove last night:



They're really more like samples - just 8" wide by about 13" long, but I wanted to weave with some fabulous little 1-yard lengths of silk, and decided to give it a whirl. Warping a 1-yard long warp was kind of odd, but I figured it out. The colored bands are pure silk, the black on the outsides is Zephyr (50/50 wool/silk) and I wove it in a loose twill. Not quite sure what I'll do with them yet (little wall hangings? cuffs?), but I really enjoyed how they came out, with a nice random mix of silk fibers.

Twisting Madness

Wow, I've actually managed to finish two more scarves in record time. Twisted fringe during Red Sox games, got them washed, and managed to take photos during Conall's 30-second nap this afternoon (sigh) (my kids don't sleep). Nothing like a sale to light a fire under one's rear...

The first is a lime/white twill woven from zephyr (50/50 wool/silk) and 50/50 alpaca wool:

The pattern is called "gothic cross" and is from Marguerite Davison's A Handweaver's Pattern Book. If you're a weaver with a four-shaft (or more) loom and don't already own this book, run, don't walk to Amazon and get yourself one. (It's an old book, out of print, but you can still find it!)

Here's a closer view of the pattern:

I like it. :) The reverse side is predominantly green, but I think of this as the front side.

I looooove how this second scarf turned out, though!



This is a turned Ms and Os pattern - and it's made from three shades of pink bamboo (love that bamboo) - ranging from light shell pink to burgundy to outline the cells. Would make a nice gift for a breast cancer survivor...

Bamboo, it turns out, loves Ms and Os. Who knew?! It shrinks up just enough during finishing, I think, to really take to a structure that requires the yarn to move. Which means the finer version of the yarn would probably make gorgeous lace, too. Hmmm....

I'm thinking I might have to make another one of these, and a little headband/scarflette, too, for myself. Now if I can just get around to choosing the best pictures and getting these two listed in my etsy store...