Month: October 2012

Microscope photography

usb microscope

As I was catching up with all of your blogs (500+ unread posts, eek!), I came across Resurrection Fern’s fascinating iPhone microscope photos. Aren’t they beautiful? I was very disappointed when a quick search revealed that the microscope gadget doesn’t fit my poor “old” iPhone 3. A bit more searching ensued, and revealed a little usb microscope for attaching to your computer. Then a penny dropped – I’ve seen one of those at work! I unearthed it from the bottom of the Science Box yesterday, and brought it home for a quick play.

usb microscope

So far I can say that I’m really enjoying playing with the camera, but the software leaves an awful lot to be desired! First of all, this camera is too old to be properly Mac-compatible, which is very frustrating. Not to mention the ridiculous mini-cd that houses the software, which doesn’t fit into a single computer in this house. Thankfully the computers at work are old enough to have a proper cd tray, and I was able to copy the software to a usb stick. I installed the drivers on my netbook, which was easy enough, and the camera worked straight away.

usb microscope

Sadly, after I’d named and saved all 30 photos individually (no batch operations, how unhelpful!), half of them wouldn’t open. The jpegs turned out to be corrupted, so they obviously hadn’t saved properly. When I got the remaining photos onto a nice large screen, I could see that most of them were out of focus, which was disappointing. The focus wheel is pretty much the entire body of the camera, which means that as you’re trying to sharpen the image you’re also moving the lens. That’s never going to work, especially not at 200x magnification!

usb microscope

But, the microscope + netbook combination is easily portable, which means that I’ll be able to take the whole lot outside with me and see what I can find. And the newest version of the microscope looks to have much better software and higher magnification, even though it’s still only a 2mp camera.

I don’t think I’m quite ready to give Richard Weston a run for his money, but I do have some ideas for incorporating designs inspired by these images into some new textile work. The question is, will I ever have time to make it?!

New dress, new jacket

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I made Simplicity 1755 to wear to a wedding. Then I realised I didn’t have a smart little jacket to wear with it, so I thought I’d better make one. This is a short bolero hoody, with long bell sleeves. (I drafted the pattern myself.) I couldn’t get any bias binding to match, and I didn’t have time to make any with the left over fabric from the dress, so I bought the least-clashing colour and went with that. What you can’t see in these pictures is the machine embroidery that I added over the top. I thought it would help to tone down the very pale lilac, so there are little leaves embroidered all over the binding. Definitely a finishing touch that I’m going to use again, I’m really pleased with it.

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Here I am, looking wistful in a gazebo. As you do. No matter how hard he tries, Paul just doesn’t seem able to take a decent photo of me, so you’ll often find me staring away from the camera looking a bit grumpy. (Any suggestions that perhaps I’m just not very photogenic will be met with derision. And then crying.)

I’m pleased with the dress, but my lack of a 1950s-style well-defined waist does make it look a bit frumpy. I do need to change the collar though. As you can see, the hook and eye kept coming undone, and that made my brooch wonky, which annoyed me all day. I’m wearing a huge floofy petticoat in these pictures, but I took that off half way through the reception because it was just too damned big and annoying. I have a very low tolerance for uncomfortable clothes, so anything that I have to fiddle with or which makes a nuisance of itself will very quickly be consigned to the charity shop pile. (Or the boot of the car, in the case of the petticoat.)

I will make another of these dresses though, just with a slight alteration to the front neck. And I’ll definitely be making more of these little jackets. The only change I need to make to this one is the hooks and eyes on the front. I think I’ve sewn the eyes on back-to-front (I didn’t realise it mattered!), and the jacket won’t stay closed. But once I’ve sorted out the fastening, I want to make another one with narrower sleeves, and one with a printed cotton lining, and a longer one with pockets, and a fancy one with needle felting… I have a lot of plans for this design!

Simplicity 1755

Simplicity 1755

This is Simplicity 1755, my new favourite dress. Fifties-inspired style? Check. Pockets? Check. Raglan sleeves? Check. Pretty collar? Check. Perfect!

Well, sort of.

Although the dress itself has come out lovely, the pattern leaves a fair bit to be desired. To begin with, the instructions for the button loops and sleeves are wrong. Somebody’s had a little centimetres versus inches confusion, because the instructions say to cut the button loops 2cm long, when they actually need to measure 5cm – about 2 inches. And the instructions for the placement of the button loop are wrong as well. In the end I decided to abandon the loops completely, and used a couple of sparkly buttons on each sleeve to hold the cuffs in place.

Simplicity 1755

I also added a couple of sparkly buttons on the back of the collar, because the pattern didn’t seem quite right there either. The instructions call for hooks and eyes to close the two halves of the collar together at the back, but the pattern pieces simply aren’t the right shape for that to happen. So, the sparkly buttons are holding the back of the collar down to the dress, to stop the corners from flying away.

Simplicity 1755

I’m pretty pleased with the invisible zip, considering it’s only the second one I’ve ever put in. It gaps a little bit at the waist, but the belt covers it, and all the seams match which is good. The waist isn’t terribly defined for a 1950s-inspired dress, but that’s because I had to grade it from a size 16 at the top to a size 20 at the waist to make it fit. I only hope that doesn’t make it look too frumpy, but the most important thing for me is that it’s comfortable.

The fabric is an organic cotton and bamboo mix, in heather and heather splash spot. I’ve used this bamboo fabric before, and it’s fantastically soft and luxurious. Bit crinkly though, so I foresee a fair bit of ironing in my future.

I’ll definitely be making this dress again, probably with a couple of modifications. The pockets are a little on the small side, so I’ll replace those with my own pocket pattern. I also have a shirt pattern with the most fantastically enormous raglan sleeves, and I can definitely imagine a long sleeved version of this dress. In fact, I may have just ordered three metres of this lovely stripy bamboo/cotton, to go with the leftover plain purple… perfect!

I love my new camera.

Through the lavender
Through the lavender

For my birthday, Paul gave me  a new camera. I made the big decision to trade in both of my SLRs (an Olympus OM10 Quartz and a Canon 350D) and go for the fanciest point-and-shoot we could afford. That turned out to be a Canon G12.

I thought my old compact camera (a Pentax Optio A30) was pretty good, until it stopped talking to its batteries, but this one’s just fantastic. Its pictures in low light, its macro capabilities and its depth of colour is just lovely.

Raindrops on roses...
Raindrops on roses...

The only down side at the moment is that the RAW files won’t speak to my existing version of Adobe Lightroom, and I can’t afford to do an upgrade right now. This is particularly frustrating, as I specifically wanted a point-and-shoot camera that could create RAW files, and now I can’t use them!

So, these pictures are jpegs with minimal editing, mostly just a bit of cropping to improve the composition. Although one thing I do like about the jpeg settings on this camera is that one of them is a square format! You may have noticed that my preference is for square photographs, and it’s quite interesting taking them straight through the viewfinder rather than cropping them afterwards.

Shiny beetle
Rosemary Leaf Beetle

This lovely little beetle was only about 1cm long, and the lavender he’s sitting on was swaying in the breeze. My old camera would have really struggled to catch him, but the G12 managed it perfectly!

These pictures were all taken in the garden where I work. I’m really pleased with the way the autumn light and colours have come out, exactly as I saw them.

Rosehip
Rosehip

The G12 is much bigger and heavier than my old Pentax, about twice the size. But it does fit into my handbag (just about!), so I’m carrying it about with me every day. Hopefully this will result in me remembering that I can now take nice photos whenever I like, without carrying a wrist-breaking SLR. I’ll upgrade my copy of Lightroom later (perhaps Paul will buy me the upgrade for Christmas!), and then I can have a proper look at the quality of the RAW files too.

It looks as though I’m going to have a lot of experimenting to do with this camera. I think it’s going to be fun!

Rolled hem foot

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I love my Pfaff rolled hem foot very much.

Without it I couldn’t have hemmed Karen’s wedding dress without having some kind of a nervous breakdown.

Thanks are also due also to Gabrielle, whose rolled hem foot tutorial helped me to figure out the tricky business of getting the hem started.

The inside layers of the dress were done on the overlocker, as I didn’t fancy trying to do two more rolled hems on very fine jersey. I thought that might be pushing my luck a little bit.

But the dress is finished, I’m never hemming chiffon again (how many times have I said that now?), and I’ve got a week and a half to finish my own dress to wear to the wedding.  That just needs buttons… oh yes, and the hem.

Knitting catch-up

Luxury Tweed Scarf

Look, I have been doing some knitting, and I’ve finally finished a few things! This is Paul’s scarf, which I started when we got back from Waltz on the Wye. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed, and it sort-of-almost matches Paul’s Felted Tweed hat and fingerless gloves that I knitted a few winters ago.

Luxury Tweed Scarf

The pattern is Yarn Harlot’s one-row handspun scarf, and it took two skeins of yarn to make it roughly waist length. I wanted a pattern that was reversible (because it bothers me when you can see the back of a scarf), and one that was very easy to remember so I could just keep knitting without having to think too much. Sadly I didn’t manage to get it finished before Paul went to Canada, but it turns out that Ottowa’s warmer than Reading, so it didn’t really matter.

Marian (pink)

This cowl is a direct result of the fact that the yarn (Rowan Biggy Print) wouldn’t fit into my new tidy stash. So I decided to knit it, and move it into the “Someone Else’s Christmas Present” pile instead. Much more satisfying.

The pattern is Marian by Jane Richmond, with a slight modification. My only 15mm circular needle was longer than specified, so I cast on 65 instead of 45 stitches, and kept going until I’d used up three and a bit balls of yarn. You can either wear the cowl as-is, like a great big scarf that can’t fall off, of you can double it over and wear it like a giant neckwarmer.

Marian (thunder)

I liked it so much that I made another one. This got rid of an ill-fated cardigan that I’d knitted but never worn. Much nicer!

(The dress, by the way, is Simplicity 1755, just waiting for its collar and buttons.)

Neat and tidy

Almost tidy stash...

Last month I took a weekend off work, to celebrate my birthday. I’d decided to have a picnic, but in case the weather was bad, we had to be able to move everybody indoors if necessary. This involved tidying the house to within an inch of its life. The main thing making the living room look untidy was my yarn stash, so the next day we bit the bullet and did something about it.

The wooden box is actually a toy chest, from Argos. I’d have liked something larger, a proper blanket box, but this was the biggest piece of furniture that we could fit into the space and still open the door. All of my yarn has now been sealed into freezer bags (to prevent moths) and squished inside. As you can see, not all of it fits, but I’m knitting as fast as I can!

The paper bags at the front house the projects I’m currently working on*, plus some yarn that absolutely wouldn’t fit in the box. The decorated chest on top of the box contains, yes, you’ve guessed it, more yarn. The little bag on top of that is for my current sock-in-progress.

Tidy needles!

I have a long orange plastic box that holds most of my straight knitting needles. I inherited it from my Aunty Val. The ones that are too big for the box are stuffed decoratively into a glass pasta jar. This work of organisational genius however, is the brainchild of Lettice. All of my double-pointed and circular needles are now neatly sorted into DL size plastic wallets, courtesy of WHSmith. These fit sideways inside a CD storage box, alongside my needle sizing gadget. All I need to do now is label the wallets with the sizes of the needles inside. Perfect!

The stripy tin holds all the little gubbins that don’t fit anywhere else – scissors, stitch markers, tape measures, cable needles, that kind of thing.

There is one more box of yarn, a canvas one that zips closed, bought a very long time ago from Muji. That houses knitted things that are waiting to be unravelled, and some extremely chunky wool that I don’t really like to knit with any more but is too nice to get rid of. And then there are the four balls of yarn that Paul brought back from Canada for me, which won’t fit into the toy box or the treasure chest. Or the canvas box. Oops.

Best get knitting then, I suppose!

 

*By “currently working on” I mean “haven’t finished yet”. Including a little cardigan that I started knitting in 2007. I’m hoping that being able to see these projects all the time will encourage me to actually finish knitting the damn things.

Working 9-5…

…what a way to make a living!

This photo crossed my path at work this week, which rather took me by surprise! It was taken earlier this year, when I was volunteering at the Cole Museum of Zoology. I’m very carefully cleaning one of the many bullfrog skeletons. I’m going back to the Cole Museum next week, to continue volunteering, and I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ve been volunteering and working in museums now since 2009, and my intention was to get involved in as many different areas as possible, to work out where I wanted to specialise. Most of my work has been in education, with a little foray into marketing, which I really enjoy.

In the long term though, I’m now hoping to train as a conservator, specialising in natural history objects. There’s no straighforward qualification route for this, so I’m trying to gain as much experience as I can by volunteering, and by taking short courses as they come up. In December I’ll be learning about the care of fluid-preserved collections, at the Horniman Museum. I’m also trying to raise the funds to study an MA in Preventive Conservation.

So, if you’ve been wondering why there haven’t been as many making things posts around here as usual, the answer is that I’ve been at work! I took on some extra hours during the summer, and those hours have now been extended for a while longer, so I’m saving all the extra pennies towards the fees for the MA.

I’m also trying to decide whether to blog about SCIENCE THINGS here, or whether to write about them somewhere different. I will be required to keep a blog as part of the MA, but I’m aware that some of you really don’t like to see wobbly things in jars (which is the area I’m hoping to specialise in), and I don’t want to frighten anybody away! Your feedback on this would be very welcome.

My husband went to Canada…

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…and came back with some slightly confusing yarn.

I’d asked Paul not to bring me any chocolate home from his business trip (having recently received a mountain of very fine choccies for my birthday) and suggested that yarn would be an appropriate substitute.

As everybody* knows, souvenir yarn doesn’t count towards your stash, so it’s an excellent gift. But in order to make a good souvenir, it should ideally be something that you can’t just walk into a yarn shop and buy locally. So I sent Paul yarn shopping in Canada, with these criteria in mind, plus a couple of Canadian brand names in case of emergency.

So, you may be wondering why the yarn in the top picture is very clearly labelled “Zealana” and “Kiwi”. Apparently New Zealand’s in Canada now. Perhaps the lady in the Ottowa yarn shop, who sold this to my poor unsuspecting husband after he’d explained that he wanted specifically Canadian yarn, is in need of a little geography lesson.

But, it is a yarn I’ve never seen locally, it’s super-soft, and it has the exciting new-to-me ingredient of possum, so it definitely works as an excellent souvenir!

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Bless him, once Paul had realised that the first yarn was definitely not Canadian, he went yarn shopping again!

This, which is done absolutely no justice by the photo (the purple yarn is much more of an aubergine colour), is the softest yarn on earth. This is by no means an exaggeration, I spent a good half hour last night just stroking it. It’s Illimani Royal 1, and it’s made IN CANADA, from the finest 1% of the fleece from Bolivian alpaca. The colours above are hot pink (of course!) and eggplant.

Softest. Yarn. Ever.

It’s crying out to be some kind of scarf or cowl I think, so I can snuggle my face into it as often as possible. Or I might just leave it sitting on the arm of the sofa, so I can stroke it like a soft little pet. (What? The knitters know what I mean.)

I don’t know yet what I’ll make with the Zealana. I was thinking originally of socks, but the cotton content (organic cotton, no less!) gives it such a nice drape, I’m thinking that maybe a little lacy shawl might be in order.

I do need to catch up with a few knitting photos though, as I have managed to find the time to actually finish a few things lately! This is good, as all the things I’ve finished are intended to be Christmas gifts. This has the added bonus of getting some of the yarn out of my house and into other people’s, which I’m sure Paul will be really pleased about!

 

* By “everybody” I clearly mean “knitters who are looking to acquire more yarn without the attendant guilt of purchasing it for themselves when they already have a cupboard full at home”. By which I mean all of them.

Tumblr: September Archive

Here’s my Tumblr archive for September…

You can see the archive in more detail, here.

I haven’t had much free time to spend browsing tumblr lately, so my queue of saved images is getting shorter and shorter. I’ve set it to automatically post fewer pictures each day, so future archives will be smaller too.

I keep wondering about the possibility of printing these little collages, and actually pinning them up around the Shed. If their purpose is to inspire me, it would be nice to see the pictures without having to fire up the computer every time.