(note the plural :P)

for the first time in what feels like months i’ve actually finished something! fingerless mitts made from this pattern from handspun merino/silk blend, dyed with food colours. a lovely easy knit, although i did have to rip back when i realised there was no way my holey m1s were ever going to be taken for a deliberate lace pattern as i’d hoped i was finding getting into the back of the loop almost impossible beause it was too tight. i finally managed it by going into the front of the loop and then sliding over the left needle while staying under the yarn (if that makes any sense at all).

i’m much happier with the yarn than i was when it came out of the dyepot. it was lovely to work with and there’s just enough colour variation to be interesting but without being out-and-out variagated, which i’m not so keen on. the sheen of the silk really shows too. the rather unattractive bloom on the yarn which i took to be felting i now think was just patches of very fluffy merino. knitting has made those patches pack together and become denser, more colourful and less alarming.

so how did i manage to miss lomo for so long? lomography.

i’m a sucker for weirdy cameras and films - i’m particularly attached to the murky, out of focus, poor resolution, colour-casted pictures i’ve taken over the years. particular winners in those stakes were our first digi camera the matchbox sized l’espion (max 352 x 288 resolution :D) and the instax mini with its fuji blues.

what particularly appeals about lomo is that it’s not a proprietory film format, so as long as there’s 35mm there’ll be lomo. i also like the idea of cross-processing slide film as negative to intensify the weirdy colour thing as seen here (lomo) and here (general). i just had a surprisingly helpful chat with jessops who said that while they won’t cross-process there is an online company who will, though i’ve yet to find them.

from having a quicky shufty about a lot depends on your processing. most places correct the colours, which is exactly what you don’t want. i’ve read advice to just slap a digi filter over a standard photo but that’s gonna take away the randomness of your weirdy effects and the interplay between the lens, the film and the light.

there’s a flickr group on xpro so i’ll have a read up there and maybe just play around with what weirdy effects i can get out of my slr before i start thinking about adding a lomo to my wishlist.

edit: peak imaging do mail order and they’ll xpro, and it sounds like snappy snaps are worth a try too.

more xpro links:
webmonkey
fotoserve