Psychedelia with no drugs

I am going to teach a class called Color on the Loom and a friend brought me a useful tool. This is a teleidoscope and when you look through it whatever you see is changed into shapes and patterns. We thought that it might be an interesting way to look at yarns when selecting colors. In fact when looking up teleidoscope on Google here is what one reference said about how to use it: "1. Yarn ... It’s hard to get a good idea of how the colors will blend until you have started your piece. Holding up balls of yarn next to each other in the store is good, but we like this method even better. ...view the yarns together through your [teleidoscope]. You’ll get a much better idea of how the colors blend. Not only cool, but practical! Quilters love teleidoscopes and often use them as a tool to look at fabrics selected and see how they will look multiplied out as seen through a teleidoscope." In looking up the definition of a teleidoscope, "a kind of kaleidoscope, with a lens and an open view, so it can be used to form kaleidoscopic patterns from objects outside the instrument" I found a link to iPhone and iPad apps! What fun!! Look at what I saw:

Should I tell you what these things are or let you guess?  My computer screen.

 A ribbon from the fair.

Grass in the pasture.

   A yarn chart.

The new cotton yarns I just got in the shop.

More yarn.

The barn roof.

Sheep in the pasture. I must say that some views are a little creepy--for instance when it's a bunch of disembodied sheep noses.

Map of the U.S.Balls of yarn. Those above are all from the iPhone. With that app you can see all these cool designs but you have to take a screen shot to save them. I also got an app for the iPad and it's a little different. There is a button in the app to take a photo. There are also a couple of sliders to change the effect you see. The following photos are the same view but with the slider moved from one end to the other. 

Another great way to waste time when using technology! But it's better for you than drugs. The iPad app is called Kaleio and the iPhone one is Teleidoscope.