Yesterday it was sunny. And not just the brighter-than-normal that we normally call sunny in Seattle. Downright sunny. I went out and took some (by which I mean about 50) pictures of a pair of socks that I’m going to submit to Knotions. That means I can’t show you the pictures that I took, but I can show you the park where I was.
Nice, huh? That’s Mount Si there in the background. The lighting was great for photos… except that I really only have me to take pictures in the middle of the day. So, taking “in use” shots of socks involves a good deal of running, diving, and contorting. See, I set up the camera on the tripod and try to find a good marker in the frame that I can stand in front of. Then, I set the camera to the self-timer. Then, I dash to the spot, kick off the shoes I was wearing to protect the socks and strike a pose before the shutter trips in ten seconds. Then I put the shoes back on, head back to the camera and look at the photo to see that I didn’t kick the shoes far enough away and they’re positioned just right to ruin the picture, even after cropping.
Ok, set the timer back up (because the camera doesn’t remember that setting from picture to picture) and run back over to the spot, kick shoes really far away this time, and strike pose. Go back to camera, see that the picture is really good, except for that wrinkle by the toe… Try to replicate photo in ten second bursts, ending up with twenty-five terribly similar photographs.
As you can imagine, I looked like a right fool doing this. And this being a public (and beautiful) park and not my backyard, people were there to see.
One older couple walked by as I was looking at a picture I just took. To them, it looked like I was pointing the camera at the ground and intently staring at a piece of pavement. The man walked over to me and asked, “So, what are you interested in here today?” clearly confused about what in the world was so interesting about that piece of pavement.
I told them I was photographing the pair of socks that I had knitted so that I could publish the pattern. The woman immediately perked up. “Oh, are those merino?” she asked excitedly.
“Actually, they’re a merino/bamboo blend, that’s why they’re so shiny,” I said. She came over and felt them (which was slightly hard for me, because I stood on one leg to bring the sock up higher.) We chatted a little about the softness of the socks and the fibers involved. They went on their way and I went back to dashing between my camera and my spot.
I love how knitting brings people together in totally unexpected ways.
The Daily Skein 