Heeere's EUGENE

I bought Eugene (accent grave on medial "e"), must be twenty-five years ago, at the close-out sale of a South Hill beauty shop (how did I come to go there?), and she's graced my Cornell offices forever since then, getting chipped a handsome bit or two moving from Rockefeller to Goldwin Smith. And today I brought her, with the last of my office furniture, home, where she will model hats in our retirement. I think adult hats will suit her better than these baby bonnets, but she was eager to get started in this new avocation.

We've got two "Baby Lotus Hat"s, one "Eva's Hat," and one Tri-peak baby hat, all from ravelry downloads, a weekend's messing with my stash, mostly Dalegarn Baby Ull, but the tri-peak is a buttery Great Adirondack combo I long ago got on sale from Knitting Etc., and don't know the sub-species name of. Buttery (repeat).

I'm launched on a decidedly not buttery --unless it's wire-haired-terrier-in-your-butter buttery--Shetland Heather (Jamieson's) jacket for Elizabeth. Connie C Chinchio's "Ithaca Jacket." Moving from Great Adirondack to Shetland Heather, I almost had to put on gloves and skin cream, but soon enough grew used to the scratchiness, assuring myself that it will blossom into greater softness when I block it. I'm leaving it at home for ten days, while I fly off to Chicago, as it's cumbersome for flights and back seats; so need to start a contained project for my travels. BTW, the "Grouse" color of this wool is fabulous--with a deep red and a yellowy-green tucked in the strands. When I look it's there, when I don't look, I've seen a lot of U. S. Open while doing a ton of stockinette.

Beginning a run of baby hats

I'm going on a hat jag, baby and children's hats, to see how much of my stash I can put to good use, what designs I'll come up with, and how fast I can complete each bonnet.

Last night, watching (listening to) the Met's Zefferelli production of Turandot, I did this sweet "Baby Lotus Hat" (see ravelry for free download). I'll find a head to put it on when it dries. This is in Dalegarn Baby Ull, of which I have mucho, at 8 stitches to the inch.

Dream in Color Cardigan

Such a springy, unsplitting, easy yarn to work with; the second sweater I’ve made with the same colorway, same machine-washable yarn.

I’m still following the “cartoon” for measurements from Beth Brown-Reinsel’s Gansey book, but otherwise, just knit as I go, this time including the texturing from Starmore’s Celtic Collection (k-p-k-p-k-p- on one side, and k on the reverse): a nice nubble. The cabled circle with the bobble in the middle is also from her Celtic Collection.

about six stitches to the inch on #6 needles

I’ll get another picture when it’s dried and be-buttoned, and--wowser-- on someone, instead of flattened like a bug.

ECO is here, ECOis here

Cascade's Ecological Wool--"Eco"-- is (FINALLY) stuffing the shelves at Knitting Etc. And we should all go empty those shelves as fast as Hickory stuffs them. This yarn does anything you want it to and does it fast. And inexpensively. You won't believe how much yarn you get for how little money. 478 yards: when you wind it into balls, you need to make at least three balls. It goes on and on and on, this yarn does. (This may well be why Hickory was reluctant to stock it: she can't earn much. But our gratitude must count for a lot.)

I fell under Eco's spell when I was away on leave last year, away at WEBS in Massachusetts, where Eco went on sale (!). A knitting friend and I emptied a few shelves, and Eco has been my buddy ever since. It's my default yarn: whenever I ponder what to do next and no baby present or intricate new pattern needs to be done, I fall back on my big ole stash of ECO.

You can knit it at suggested gauge--fourteen to sixteen stitches per 4 inches, on #9 or #10 needles--that will go fast and glorious. Or you can as comfortably knit at a smaller gauge for a denser fabric. This latter is what I so often find myself choosing. Since now I know that I get five stitches to the inch with a number six needle, I don't even need to do a swatch; just start knitting and thinking of what I'll do next.

Yup, knit then think is not the obvious order for doing a project, but with ECO I'm so eager to get going, that I think of the person I'm knitting for, his or her circumference, and off I go, planning on the way.

I just finished the owl jacket at the top of the page, for one of my twin grand daughters (for both of them, one at a time, that is), transposing the "mooody owls" from a ravelry.com mitten pattern, choosing Alice Starmore fair isle patterns, and coming up with a few of my own. As you can see from the photos below, I have favored the un-dyed tones (with a pinch of red someone gave me). Hickory is now selling both the un-dyed and the intriguing dyed or "colored" yarns (nicknamed "Eco + ").

Here are pictures of most of what I've done with ECO this year, with dear departed Yogi sleeping in the sun for scale in this first picture:








This is a pattern called "Pakuna," and I nicknamed it "Zebra Pakuna," to send to my daughter in South Africa. A friend modelled it; afterwards I added a Latvian braid to cover a few of the rough edges:"Pillow" and "Back Of"--for a friend who'd once made a pillow for me.

And, below, experiments with Barbara Walker "mosaic" stitches:

Baby Ben's Vest

Couldn't be simpler, which is good because I was so excited by the news that I had to produce a welcoming present instantmediately and without delay, pronto. A friend, who for a moment until the final adoption papers are signed shall remain known as Ithaca Red, attended the birth and cut the cord of her son Ben, a very few days ago. I learned on the 13th of his arrival ( on the 10th), and knitting all night (not really), while watching season 4 of "Lost," my size 4 needles shaped this boxy and boy-y little vest. Made with leftover Cleckheaton 8-ply (superwashable) wool, it's soft and springy with twisted rib edges, measures almost square (11' w x 13" h); and I'll go get a shirt to go within--off to Target.

owlmost finished

I'm on the second sleeve, so the sweater should be ready to block before bedtime tonight. With twisted ribbing for the bands, the edging lies nicely, with the modified v-neck. DebDot picked out the wooden twig buttons. And I've got a little owl face on one sleeve--but won't do more owl heads on the other sleeve, as the intarsia was a clumsy bother while I was working with twelve-inch needles and several many lines of brown yarn. So, other adornments on the second sleeve.

Owls in Progress

On to the sleeves (and tiny owls running along the center), then front and neck bands. I'm stuck at home today since the Volvo's getting its 100,000 mile check-up, so...bring on the sleeves.

The Owls are coming

and now some "moody owls"

I found "moody owls" in a mitten pattern, on ravelry.com, which I'm using for the nine-inch owls on this sweater for the GIRLS. This weekend, recuperating from a very intense, filling, attuned week of a writing workshop at Cornell, this weekend when I could hardly lift my chin off the table after leading my way through many people's lives-in-writing, I knit ten inches of this latest Eco Wool sweater.

You can't yet see the owl faces (they don't yet exist), but there'll be two stern and two meditative ("angry" / "sad" ?) owls, four all together. So far, just wings and white bellies. I continue making up the sweaters as I go, a fine way to stay interested, and this weekend I didn't even need anything interesting, just the motions, the yogick rhythms. To be continued.

The back and bebuttoned front of that mosaic sweater. To hide the goofs on the neckline, and to give nice open neck space, I'm pinning down the red inner neck--a design feature always revises the mistakes....

sans buttons

Well, this is a mixed bag, a good experiment, but with some dopey mishaps that mute its success as a sweater. In my attempt to finish the sweater during my "free" weekend, I got lazy or careless around the neck. After deciding I couldn't do an elaborate mosaic during all the shoulder decreases, without losing the pattern for the decreases, I did something so simple (I do like topping the sweater in the lightest two color choices to hand) as an alternate pattern, that I stopped paying attention, in several ugly ways or with several ugly results, which I won't elaborate on, but which make some iffy spots along the neckline. (I get into "whatever" moods some times.)

Then, something that's NOT my unmindful fault, because I knew to use very cool water bringing this sweater to its blossom, the #$%^ red yarns bled a little bit. Nothing life-threatening, already invisible as I lay it out on the blocking board. So I think this mishap might be negligible.

I've got some buttons in my stash which will do very well. So, once this sweater dries, I'll put them on and post a final picture.

Now on to BLUE OWLS--very significant.