3 days. No pressure.

That was apparently the full content of a marketing email sent out today by a Californian bookshop. I admire their down-to-earth approach. And it’s not like anybody wouldn’t know what they meant. So… how’s your Christmas knitting coming on?

This season, largely prompted by the Gift-Along, I’ve discovered the joy of hats. Not counting an apparently unceasing supply of Elfbabies, I’ve really knit very few hats, largely because I feel they don’t suit me. (Woolly Wormhead’s Dulcie being the delightful exception!) In the past few weeks I have made three adult hats and one for a child,* all in Aran or worsted yarn, all satisfyingly speedy and awesome for using up those pesky stray balls in your stash. (Click pics for full details on Ravelry.) 

Annoyingly, all the photos are crap. (I’ve walloped them with a wholly unsubtle preset effect in Squarespace, which seems like an unforgivable thing to do to knitting shots – and I’d never do it when showing off my own designs – but wotthehell, archy, wotthehell; they surely couldn’t look any worse.) I could blame the camera (it’s my phone, which I love dearly and which actually takes really good pics… except of knitting, apparently). I could blame the light, which has been about what you’d expect at the darkest, greyest time of year. But you know what they say. It’s a poor crafter who blames her tools.

I’d love to get better at photography. It will require lots and lots of practise, which means time, which is of course in very short supply (whose bright idea were these kids, anyway?!). But I have a message of hope for myself. 

We all know our knitting weak spots, right? I know, for instance, that I’m really crappy at ribbing. I’ve never been able to deliver neat, even columns – always those sloppy, wonky stitches where knit meets purl. Always. So really, I’d have to be crazy to tackle a project – a gift project – that was mostly double ribbing. 

…Oh.

Maybe 20 years from now, I’ll suddenly, magically achieve similar improvements in my photography. Who knows. Could happen.

* This one’s my own pattern, so not yet shown… stay tuned!