Now that the weather is starting to cool down I'm beginning to think about planning my next knitting project. I have long been obsessed with tiny houses on wheels (THOWs) and tiny houses in general but owning one is a bit of a pipe dream, I may have to knit myself one instead.
I could turn my knitted tiny house into something useful like a pencil case, handbag or tea cosy: https://intheloopknitting.com/home-knitting-patterns.php#freepatterns
Or I could knit some furniture and kit out an old dollhouse: http://www.katieboyette.com/2016/10/little-house-knitting-patterns.html
I'm currently working on the Bathtime Mermaid by Diamond Dotz. I let out a little squeal of excitement when I realised it had aurora borealis drills (dots). AB drills have an additional iridescent coating that gives them a rainbow hue and adds a bit of extra sparkle to a project. In this project they have been included to bring the candle flames to life.
I have used both AB and glow-in-the-dark drills (ordered from Jess' Diamond Painting) to make normal projects extra special and more unique. They are a bit hard to capture in photograph though.
This video by Stitcherista explains a bit more about what they are and how they look.
Just as with knitting, or any craft for that matter, good lighting is essential for DPers. This can be achieved by positioning your desk in daylight (mine is near a large window) but if you want to dot at night you will need a lightboard and / or lamp. The difference a lightboard makes can't be underestimated. They typically are available in sizes A4 to A4. I have an A3 one which is a good size for most projects and sits comfortably on my lap table and adjustable stand.
The pictures below show before with the lightboard off, and then after with the lightboard on. My lightboard has three levels and this is just with the lowest level of lighting.
The downside of lightboards when using them at night is that all the dots look a similar colour so if you've got a rogue dot in your bag you might not notice it when putting it on your painting. Also lightboards can be expensive and it's important to get a good quality one so that it lasts. A similar effect can be used by putting a torch under a glass table. We once did this to mock up a lightbox to look up x-rays. Before getting a lightboard I was using a lamp but it was still tricky to see dark numbers on dark colours at night.
DP pens that light up are available but I haven't tried them. I imagine it would be a similar experience to using a lamp but more localised. I tend to use just a lightboard now but my lamp has a magnifying glass (similar to this one from Bunnings) so it's handy for small / unclear print or similar symbols like M/N/H or 6/8.
