Saturday, May 19, 2012

A Day with Liz

Hi Knitters,
I want to share my beautiful surroundings from yesterday with you. I am so excited that in my next book we are including photographed tutorials which is wonderful. The tutorials will be actual photos of my hands doing the techniques. I'm definitely not a hand model but I know the knitters won't mind the images of my hardworking hands in the shots. It will give the book a more personal touch and mostly, I think these tutorials will be incredibly helpful. We had quite a successful day of shooting!

I have been working on organizing and knitting step-outs (partially knit projects for technique demonstrations) for a couple of months now. On Thursday I flew to Minneapolis to spend time with my favorite photographer extraordinaire, Liz Banfield.

Liz has photographed all five of my books and I hope we get to do more together in the future. She is a talented and imaginative photographer. Plus, she really has a way with photographing babies and kids which has been perfect for my books. I was happy to finally get to spend some time together in person, not just through emails and phone calls. What a treat, even though it was a long day of hard work. It was fun to get to see her in action with her camera.

Click here for Liz Banfield's website and be sure to look at her portfolio, you'll recognize lots of stuff in there.


I knew her studio would be beautiful and bright. Everything looked so fresh and light. Liz has a way with things, from people, to texture, to color, to textiles, and basically all aspects of design in general. She has an eye that is enviable.


Liz even had yummy snacks to keep us going throughout the day. It all looked so good. We had a delicious lunch brought in. I had haddock with pickled beets and watercress and it was perfect and small, and there was a salad on the side with the lightest, kind of tart, dressing that I am still thinking about. It was a needed break in the day.

Now, I'll let you quietly take a look around.....







And finally, here is the fabulous Liz. Her children have been included in the photographs for all three of the Itty-Bitty books, with her son appearing on the cover of Itty-Bitty Toys with the giraffe. This next book is going to be the best one yet, at least that's what you always hope for.

Thanks to Liz and her lovely assistant Heather for the jam-packed day of good hard work and great company. 

I'll be back soon with a Patchwork Sockalong update! I can't even believe the number of people joining in (it's not too late to join). We might be getting close to 80 people (?) knitting patchwork socks together at this time. I thought I might get a dozen or so. 
Go figure.
best, susie

11 comments:

Sara said...

What a gorgeous studio! Liz is a very talented photographer as shown by her work in your books. I'm glad that you had a good working day together. And I like the idea of the step-outs in your next book. That should be very helpful! Do you get to relax a bit this weekend once you get home?

Susan B. Anderson said...

Hi Sara. Guess what? My son just told me we are hosting a track team dinner tonight when I get home. No rest for the weary.

Kitten With a Whiplash said...

Two ladies full of talent and creativity! It's wonderful to be able to form a working relationship that translates over to genuine friendship as well.

I've found your patterns to be very clear and easy to undersatnd, but the tutorials are an excellent idea - they'll open up your wonderful patterns to folks who are a little less confident in their skills.

Suzanne said...

You always go the extra mile in your books and blog with tutorials.

Kristebee said...

When will we learn what types of patters are in the new book? I'm knitting my way through spud and Chloe and itty bitty toys and can't wait to see what you have coming out next!

browneyegurl35 said...

love Liz studio, it is indeed bright and love the crisp look of it.

Will be waiting to see your new book. Thanks for sharing

Brandi Schoch said...

what a lovely light and bright studio!

Stefanie said...

What fantastic clean and modern lines! Can't wait to read about your next book so I can pre-order!
Mahalo for commenting on my blog as well.

Unknown said...

Oh so that's the handsome little boy, the photographer's son!

Unknown said...

Oh so that's the handsome little boy, the photographer's son!

Anonymous said...

What a lovely behind-the-scenes peak! :)