Today I turned in the manuscript for the book. Huzzah! There are still some loose ends to clean up, and lots to photograph (wish me luck in this weather!) but I can’t tell you how excited I am. I wish I could share it all with you. I can’t even believe I designed so many things in one year. I think I was a little crazy when I took it all on, but I can’t tell you how anxious I am for the next steps. I had the pleasure of meeting Lily Chin at last years TNNA, and I recall saying to her “I have no idea what happens after I turn everything in, thats the part I’m most anxious about” to which she replied; “get ready Brandy, you get ready for it!!”

I’m here, and I’m ready for it.

Lace, garter stitch, top down raglan, bottom up seamless, pieced,  boys, girls, other *things*.  Cables, short-rows, slipped stitches, twisted stitches and LGs favorite animal. I can not wait for you to see.

Every once in a while I’ll be going through my day with the girls and “un-vent” some little trick I’m sure a 100 mothers before me, have also invented. I always think “I should blog that!” but I don’t. Well now I am even if I’m starting a little late.

Continue reading “Little Parenting Tricks” »

I’ve seen lots of conversations on photography forums about how to get the blurry background (and fun arguments about the use of the word bokeh, which is a really fun word to say. I like to use it, a lot. Because its fun.)

These are the three ways in which you can achieve a blurry background:

F-Stop/Apature – wider like 2.0 and lower makes for very pretty effects
Smaller margin of error means more difficult to nail focus if you have not practiced a lot.

Auto users: Pop your camera into apature priority mode, which is about the same as auto accept you can control the f-stop/apapture and set it to its LOWEST which on an entry level DSLR and kit lens may be 3.0 – 4.5 (try zooming all the way out, and all the way in to see which zoom gets you the lowest setting, those lens’s lowest setting actually varies based on your zoom length at any given moment. Did that make sense? If not please comment!). You can still do this without being in manual!

Focal Length – 85mm + makes for pretty portraits
More dummy proof and unique looking but costs $$$ to get an 85mm lens (if you have a kit zoom lens zoom all the way IN then step back as needed and zoom with your FEET, keeping the camera zoomed all the way in, these tricks are funny aren’t they??)

Continue reading “How to get good “bokeh” or blur in your photographs, even in auto mode” »

It feels like the whole country has been so divided for so long now, I do not want a political discussion because there are no winners in that, but I would like to discuss how depressing it is to have things so polarized. It’s hard to feel “together” in all this with the current climate. I’m so tired of it.

The book is due SOON, like really soon. Exciting I suppose, I won’t enjoy that excitement until it’s turned in! the manuscript itself is the part I have to turn in first, then I have to finish knitting some of the stuff and photographing them. It’s taken so long and taken over so much of my life I will be really happy to have it completed. I want to knit something again for the pure joy of knitting it. It’s been hard to enjoy the photography aspect of it because the weather is not what I really wanted to be working with, but such is life. Sorry if this is slightly depressing, I’m just a bit frustrated and want to have more work complete, faster. We’ll be visiting my family next week, which is a bad idea time-wise but it’s been a year and life is too short to not see family.

Continue reading “Will the country always be this divided?” »

When Flax & Twin came out with this adorable owl tutorial, I was ALL over it. I KNOW I KNOW the owl thing has been going on for like 5 years now, but man I can’t get enough. LG has an owl obsession and we collect the cutest ones we come across. When I saw the tutorial I thought “I can be lazy and just use decorative card stock, and hang them as a banner across her curtains in her room!”. I have a lot of owls to make to get there, probably 12. I made two initialy to test the theory.

Continue reading “Paper Owls – Cloth Owls” »