Instagram Catch-Up! Gettin’ Snappy Wit’ It

Gentle reader,

So, I have a whole bunch of stuff to share with you over the next week or two. One of those things will be my Bendigo haul which a few people have tried to hurry me up on. Tomorrow I will snap them! I promise! In the meantime, I hope an Instagram Catch-Up will tide y’all over.

So, one of the things I’ve always been a bit self-conscious about with my blogging is the pictures. I look at my fave blogs and their pictures are so great and fancy. But, the thing I’ve learned is not to let these things get you down or to start being all bummed out, but to be inspired and use these things as motivation. And I mean, once you stop learning you may as well be dead, right? Well! I decided I was going to just take pictures as often as I could. Since my proper camera and I aren’t on speaking terms at the moment, it’s been mostly me and my iPhone.

I’ve tried out different apps, I’ve tried to snap things from different angles, but most of all, I’ve tried to keep my eyes open. I mean, I’m sure some bloggers go looking for amazing things to snap, but I think most of them just look at everyday stuff with a different perspective. That’s what I used to do when I used to write all the time, and costume shows, and keep a journal, so I says to myself: Raynor, I says, just open your eyes and see what speaks to you. So I did!

I decided to start with my journey to work. It wasn’t too hard on this particular day. It was super cray-to-the-azy foggy on this morning when I left my house. By the time I got to work, the fog had shifted, and it became really crisp and bright and cool. When I put these pics together, it reminded me of The Wizard of Oz going from black and white to color. I thought it was kinda fitting – going from my dreary suburb to the beautiful public parks I work across the street from.

Then I decided I should try taking some pics of myself. I mean, it’s kind of a bloggy/Instagrammy thing, isn’t it? Well, I don’t particularly love taking pics of myself. I’m not emotional about it either. But, I thought, why not, and if anything perhaps taking snaps of myself might make me be less of a scruff-bag and put some effort into my appearance. ^_~ Well, I had mixed results. The bottom right one came out super nice in terms of colors and everything, but I don’t even know what’s going on with my face. I SWEAR I thought was smiling somewhat naturally at the time, but clearly I was mistaken because that’s a veritable case of stinkeye right thurrr. Don’t even ask me to explain why. I can’t.

The pic above it was taken by The Beard when we were out for dinner. I think not having to take the pic myself and the prospect of stuffing my snackhole with pancakes and maple syrupy bacon banished any possibility of unintentional stinkeye.

Lastly, I am completely mystified how people manage to take halfway decent pics of themselves in mirrors. It’s the single most awkward thing I’ve experienced in recent memory with the exception of just day-to-day socializing. Look, I understand that being a hottie with a naughty body would make the process a LOT easier than being the human personification of Fizzgig from The Dark Crystal. But even that aside, holding the camera in a way that it isn’t too in the way and still being able to press the button? BLERG THAT’S HARD! I did the best I could, and in the end I had to run it through a bunch of filters before I was even remotely happy with it. Ignore the photo in general, and just take note of the green overalls please and thank you. I ❤ them like whoah.

Now, this diverges a bit from my photographic journey of improvement. But here’s the thing. I used to write all the time. I mean ALL the time. If I didn’t have pen and paper handy, I’d start to feel like I was losing grip on sanity. But, after I quit theater and started working full time, it slowly died off. And I MISSED it, y’all! A whole lot! But, for me, it’s not the sort of thing I can force. It kinda has to tell me when shizz is going down. And then, this last week, it was like “Oi! Raynie! I’m ready! Get yo’ pencil, fool!” and this came out. I almost didn’t share it, because it’d been a while and I’m not as confident in my writing as I was back then, but I figured, what’s the point of writing something down if no-one’s going to read it? So I did share it, and peeps liked it, and so I’m sharing it again. And I hope YOU like it too! If not that’s cool too because words are a subjective thing and it just may not be your jam. I still heart your face!

Today, I met up with the incomparable Kate to run some errands and go shopping. Also, she had a parcel for me but that’s another story! We went to some pretty cool places. Now, Collins Street in Melbourne has some pretty shi-shi shops, and the first one we went into one that had the most amazing plaster moldings, cray chandeliers and a massive glass ceiling (top pics). I’m usually a pretty happy chappy to go shopping with lady friends and being a bag-holding, advice-offering accomplice, but I had to duck out of the shop and get some snaps. I must have looked mad. Later, we went to a shoe store that had these fat, smooshy looking flowers in glass bottles hanging from ropes. I thought it was super neat, but don’t ask me what it has to do with shoes. I was sold. Later, one of the arcades we were in had the open area above the food court full of floating umbrellas (the first pic in the post). It took my breath away, but I’m sure I didn’t do it justice,; it was so surreal and awesome. And such a simple idea. Oy! My skin prickled!

Probably one the biggest lessons I’ve learned since my personal challenge to improve my photography (yeah, yeah, sure, it’s just my iPhone), is that Melbourne’s beautiful, manic, changeable weather means that snapping the sky is almost always a good idea. Maybe that’s just me – I’ve always been obsessed with taking pics of clouds – but a few times I was like “Did I take that!? Gold star, Raynie!” A few of these I took through the train window, and I kind of like the imperfections you get from the reflections in the glass.

I’m gonna keep being a snap happy little odd person. I’m really enjoying going through all my pics and deciding which ones I like and which ones I don’t and why. My addiction to iPhone photo apps has only intensified also; trying to see if I can salvage a pic by making it all retro-fied and such. So, I hope you enjoyed that in lieu of some craftiness. And if you have any photo tips or advice, I’m all ears (well, I have two ears. If I was all made of ears that would be totes gross – but potentially an ah-mah-zing pic – and anyway, I’ll be using my eyes but I digress). Meanwhile, that pic just there is of my buddy at Thread Den. He lives on a way-high-up shelf and is all kinds of creepy, but that’s why we’re tight, y’all.

What’s your favorite thing to take pictures of? Clouds? Finished projects? Your kidlets? Sharezies!

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Instagram Catch-Up!

Gentle reader,

I have a confession to make. I’m addicted to Instagram. If you’re a fellow addict, you can find me there as theshylion. But, the good thing about Instagram is that it keeps me snapping pics whenever I get the chance, which I can’t always do specifically for the blog. I’m just not gelling with my new camera, and I end up having to do way more post-processing that I usually do, and it doesn’t like low-light which isn’t helpful because I’m a night-owl. Eugh.

 

Anyway, I figured that to keep up with y’all and show you some sneaky peaks at some of the stuff I’ve been working on, I can do a little Instagram Catch-Up and share with you some of the little snaps I’ve taken along the way. So, here goes!

 

One of the first things you need to know before you follow me on Instagram is that I snap pics of these two brats a LOT. I’m a crazy cat man. I’m not even ashamed about it.

 

But, I also take pics of all my projects in varying stages of completions, like this sock. I’m a big fan of train knitting so that happens fairly often. (To the top left of the finished sock pic, you can see a bit of cat-butt. See!? I even snap them when I’m not even trying!) I just made this pattern up to test out doing afterthought heels. Pretty happy with the outcome!

 

I’ve been playing Civilization V on my iMac a lot lately since our consoles were stolen. Which is rarely a good idea on school nights because I may or may not have been up playing well into the wee hours of the morning on a few occasions. It’s a pretty epic game, y’all!

I’ve also had a voracious appetite for some delicious, shimmery pop so I haven’t strayed too far from my K-Pop and J-Pop playlists. This one features Meisa Kuroki, Crystal Kay, Perfume and Sophia (who are more rock, actually).

 

I made some fingerless mitts for my friend Seth! The pattern is “Swirling Gauntlets” by Susanna IC and I have to say, it was a super fun knit. I gave them to him before I could take decent pics, but I did snap a few on IG. I found that my cast on stitches for the thumb hole were a bit loose and messy even though I even did them on a smaller needle. I think next time I’ll just knit in waste yarn, rip it out later and bind off the live stitches with a stretchy bind-off.

 

I also take random shots while I’m out about. Here I am looking rather pleased because the weather finally allows me to rug up and wear scrummy warm things. My eyes are so beady! Oy. That fair isle hat – though you can’t see it very well here – is incredible, and it was made by friend Jen over at Little Yellow Cat. I’m somewhat obsessed with it. Then we have the lights of Melbourne! I’m completely enamored with good ol’ Melbs, and I’m loving the miserable, wet, cold weather. Yeah, I’m one of those people.

 

Here’s a sneaky peak of the Dartmore hat that I’ve been wrestling with. Well, I finally finished it and it’s in the post as we speak to my bestie, Panda! I miss her a lot, so I decided I’d send her a big ol’ care package stuffed with goodies including this hat. I sewed a little tag in the back so she can tell the front from the back easily, because there’s a slightly visible squiggle up the back where the rounds join. I’ll write more about it when she models it for me and sends me some pics.

But that’s all I have you for today! I have another project that I’m properly dying to share with you, but I need to get some decent pics.

But how have YOU been!? Sharezies!