Mighty Distractible: Use the Skinny Lens, Please.

As many of you are aware (because we've been talking about it incessantly), Cassandra and I were lucky enough to have an original pattern of our design chosen to be in What (Else) Would Madame DeFarge Knit, due to be published in June 2012. The process has been wonderful, frustrating, surreal, and exhilarating. A million thanks to Heather Ordover for seeing something in our pitch and agreeing to take a chance on two people who had never designed anything more complicated than a hat.

One tends to forget, while in the throes of working out a pattern, that there are ancillary things that are required of a "published knitwear designer." For example, we needed a bio of some sort. Fortunately, that wasn't too much of a stretch to create. We also needed a head shot. Wait. What?! You want our photo?? And, potentially, thousands of people are going to see it? Oy... this is my worst nightmare.

When you become a "woman of a certain age", having your photo taken is monumentally stressful. I see every wrinkle, every jowl, every pound of extra weight. And, lest you think that my young(er) friend Cassandra is immune, think again. She despises having her picture taken.

Please don't misunderstand me. We're both perfectly fine looking people. We're not scarred or deformed in any way. Our hair (while a little courser) is pretty nice. We both have nice smiles. We may be a bit thicker in the middle (and the top, and the bottom) but we're fairly normal sized for Midwesterners. It's just that we're not the hotsy-totsy cuties we were back in our 20's.

We called our dear friend Kim, a real-live professional photographer who does AMAZING portraits, and asked if she'd do our photos for us. We decided that we wanted to have fun pictures - not just our two heads smiling at the camera. So, we brainstormed some ideas and settled on a couple that we really loved - tableau's that would show our personality and, hopefully, convey that we were crafty.

Make me look like this!

Then we asked Kim to make sure she used the "skinny lens" in all the pictures. (This is a real thing - ask any photographer. I swear!)

The photo shoot was a blast! Kim took us to an old warehouse studio so we had this gritty wall and old windows to work against. The natural light in the room was incredible and it really made for some interesting lighting in the photos.

For the one scene, Cassandra and I put on temporary tattoos that Cassandra had designed. Her's was heart-shaped with pins and needles coming out of the top and a ribbon that said "Stitch Bitch". Mine was a ball of yarn with two needles sticking through and ribbons that said, "Knit Fast, Die Warm". We borrowed a tattoo ~~gun~~ machine from a friend and made it look like Cassandra was tattooing my arm. The next set of poses are what we call our "engagement pictures". They're probably my least favorite but they're good for cropping if we need just our heads for something. Then, the final set is Cassandra and me, sitting on the floor, surrounded by piles of craft materials. In the last set, Kim suggested that we make beatific faces - as though we were on some kind of crafting high. They're hilarious, as long as you understand the context. Otherwise, I think we just look nuts. LOL

Here are a few of our favorites for your viewing pleasure. In a few months, you'll be able to see our pic on the website for What (Else) Would Madame DeFarge Knit in the designers area. Woot!! We're (nearly) famous!