Llyr's Daughter

Perception

So I learned two interesting things in my little not-experiment:
(1) Y'all are experienced knitters, who don't let a little thing like scale fool you; and
(2) I need to ask my questions better.

I wanted to know how thick other knitters judged the yarn to be, from the picture alone. When I looked at the original picture, I was struck by how similar to regular sock yarn it seemed; it even has a "halo" when viewed up close. (I don't think the click-to-embiggen picture is quite that close.) I was wondering if others would also be "fooled," or if it tricked me only because I don't have enough experience.

It's a sock for the Not-So-Little-One: here's a shot with a nickle for scale:

The yarn is some coarse weaving/very fine knitting cotton from Webs that I showed apparently never admitted to the blog before; the needles are 000.

One Old, One New

The mystery, ah! the mystery. Terby & Laura were both right, in that the mystery is a template. Here's a better picture:

In theater, when the lighting designer is ready for the lights to go up, she needs to make a scale plot so that the electricians put all the lights in the correct place. Since notes about what kind of light ("Fresnel here! 6x9 here!") makes for clutter, she draws scales pictures of the actual types of lights. I was a theater major; I went for design because I didn't think I could compete against all the actors, and lighting because our lighting designer was one of the most wonderful people ever; and so I needed a light template. I used it once or twice after I graduated, but yes, I still have it, over a decade after I last used it.

Now I have a new mystery (and I won't leave you hanging as long). How big do you think this sock is?

(You can click on the picture to make it about 4 times wider.) I know I have a lurker or two; I hope you will answer also, because I'm interested in perception & how one's experience influences it.

Finally, just a fun picture. I was trying to catch this cabbage moth sipping from the blue flowers, but my camera has a drastic shutter lag. For once, that worked out pretty good:

 

(Again, you can click on it to make it bigger.) Pretty cool, huh?

Lots'o'Pictures, with A Mystery

When we closed on this house, it had already been decided that I would get a little roomlet in the furnished attic to work, either real or crafting. Three years later, I had this:

(Ignore the wallpaper, please. I don't dislike it enough to strip it. Yet.)

Today, I have this:

So much better, no?

In doing this, I did a (very) little stash management, and discovered it's quite useful to become reacquainted with your resources.

For example, I have

fancy yarn,

   

sock yarn,

wool both "real,"

and "soft."

I have fine-ish gauge

and laceweight.

I found the yarn I was looking for here

and a most excellent storage system for my needles

I have many unfinished sweaters

including this masterpiece (no sarcasm) my mother was working on

"Baby yama" wool, size 3 or 4 US needles, big '80s sleeves. She took excellent notes:

(If I wanted such a style, I could probably finish the sweater because of those notes.)

I even have notes of my own

I've sorted the yarn into the "naturals"

and the "mixed"

(which actually includes the cottons; shh, don't tell them there wasn't room for them on the natural-fiber shelf)

I also went through a (single) box of general craft stuff. (It's the office-paper box in the lower center of the second picture from the top.) In it, I found my wedding announcements (from 5 years ago), several unpainted blown eggs, aromatics

that, despite being over 10 years old, are still quite aromatic, and...

this:

Anyone want to guess what it is?