on the difficulty of photographing one's own feet

Argyle socks are done! And socks are always the most difficult thing to photograph. They always look best on feet, and I usually take my pictures during the day, when the muddy winter light is at least present, if not flattering. That means I'm stuck trying to take pictures of my own feet. The easiest place to do this is the stairs, because that removes some of the contortions, and there's a window right at the bend where the stairs are widest. But my stairs also have horrible brown mottled carpets that look mostly inoffensive in person, but ghastly in pictures. I suppose I could drape them in something, but today I just ended up using my favorite photo background: the goosedown. It's puffy!

So for some project details, here goes. The pattern is Argyle Sock by Edie Eckman. It's put together as a lesson with clear and complete instruction. Despite the wailing and gnashing of teeth that seems to accompany argyle, I didn't find these that difficult. Of course, I did duplicate-stitch the lines. Knitting them in seems to increase the complexity by many fold. The yarn is Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport for the MC and CC, the lines are purple Dalegarn Baby Ull and Valley Yarns Franklin in cancun. Done on size 3 dpns and a short circular for the flat parts. I would not recommend this for anyone who doesn't like sewing in ends. Also, I might use a DK weight if I were to do these again. The fabric is certainly not a sturdy as my usual socks, but I imagine they'll hold up to normal wear. If not, they were quick and fun enough to make that I wouldn't cry to do it again.