Well. My phone was fine for five days or so, then I started getting SIM card errors. On boot up, or randomly in the middle of a conversation. I made a not-very-convincing investigation into possible fixes, and then leapt with unseemly haste towards my local iPhone vendor.
I am starting to love the thing, but also feel that I should be doing absolutely everything with it. I've been taking photos sporadically during the week, but it's taken me until today to get the things off the phone and onto my computer so I can document what I've been doing. Unfortunately, I'm not yet impressed with the iPhone camera. So!
Spinning: This is the start of the yarn for Sandi Wisehart's Sweater KAL (available on Ravelry). I'm definitely very behind on this, as lots of people have knit up to the armholes already. It took me a while to get the right sort of thickness for the singles - I want a DK weight 3 ply, and my fingers are now used to ultra-fine-laceweight - but I think I've got the hang of it now.
The photo is sort of hazy and blue. I know why this was - something was occluding the flash and flaring it onto the lens.
Dogs: Woody doesn't approve of the current cold snap in the weather. However, if it means he gets extra sofa time, and a blanket, he's prepared to live with it.
He would like to point out he's not quite that yellow in real life, though.
Fibre acquisition: I bought this little lot from SpinGirl's destash - and one of the dogs (I suspect Kita) killed it as soon as it entered the house:
It isn't actually too badly damaged, and I was thinking of carding it anyway, so I'll let her off this time. The exposure on this photo is about right, but it's much more pink in reality.
Then, I recently passed J's Nan's old sewing machine to a member of the Cambridge KTog knitting group - and in thanks, she gave me this lovely fibre!
It's not really that dark. Let's try again:
Hmm. Not a lot better. The fibre - which is Corriedale - is lovely, though. And has inspired...
A bit of fibre dyeing! This is also Corriedale, and has dyed up to a lovely stormy grey. This is the first time I've dyed Corriedale, and I'm impressed with how well it stands up to the process (read: no felty bits, even in this dark shade):
Exposure and colour: not too bad. Focus: bah.
I have more very bad iPhone photographs to share with you, but I'll save them for another post. I'll be trying a few more times, see if I can get a consistently good acceptable photograph with the New Technology, but it might be back to my old camera if the learning curve is too steep.
You're being wonderfully fibrey and prolific. You're really putting me to shame.
Poor old Woods. He does look like he's bearing up elegantly under a bad lot though!
Posted by: Geodyne | October 21, 2010 at 02:10 PM
I've been scared to delve into iPhone-owning. I'm sorely tempted, and one reason is(was) the camera. You may have cured me - although it looks like you're having a lot of fun trying it out. The Corriedale is beautiful, as is the blue fiber, and your singles. Great spinning!
Posted by: Cassie | October 21, 2010 at 02:38 PM
Thanks for the compliments! You should probably know that I am *not* an accomplished photographer, though; Ive been told that the iPhone 4 camera is *awesome*, so it may well be operator error. Frankly, I tend to sulk if cameras cant read my mind. My little point-and-shoot and I have come to an understanding over the years; maybe the iPhone and I will manage it, too.
Posted by: Alison | October 21, 2010 at 02:54 PM
Weehee! iPhone play!! I find the camera is particularly sensitive to backlighting - more than you would expect. It is very hard to take a landscape photo, e.g. a tree against a light sky, because the bright light of the sky just dazzles it. If you point the camera at such a tree and gradually move it upwards towards more sky, you will see it suddenly jump as if it had got the sun in its eyes and had to blink. When you don't have a bright background, however, the images tend to come out grainy... It seems to be crying out for a certain all-round level of brightness, and if you don't hit that spot then the pics aren't great. On the whole I don't think much of it as a camera; but as I never had a camera phone before I had the iPhone I do love just being able to snap pictures of friends, pets, silly things without having to go and get a Proper Camera. Hence the number of cups of tea I post on twitpic...!
Posted by: Cally | October 21, 2010 at 05:38 PM
oooh, thanks, Cally!! That really correlates with some of the issues Ive had, particularly the grainy thing, like a very high ISO. J has also pointed out to me that, as it has an LED flash, it doesnt freeze motion like a regular flash does, so its perfectly possible to get camera shake *with* flash (that boy knows his photos, you know).
A.
Posted by: Alison | October 21, 2010 at 08:13 PM
I have a cat, the one who isn't into yarn, will kill any fiber top that comes in smelling like sheep. She will rip it to shreds. I wonder what would happen if she ever got to see an actual sheep.
The pictures are pretty good for a phone camera.
Posted by: Denise | October 22, 2010 at 06:36 AM
My dogs love some wools! Fresh fleece, of course, but even some scoured stuff. Ive heard that fibre from male animals tends to cause a stronger response, however clean we humans think it is.
The worst was when Kita killed a padded envelope containing 50g of hand-combed, grown-in-England, really wonderful cashmere. I cried. But again, most of the fibre was rescue-able - amazing!!
A.
Posted by: Alison | October 22, 2010 at 12:16 PM