Purple was the overwhelming favorite pick for comb and wattle, and I think it looks great. I chose green eyes to pick up the green in her tail feathers. And I didn’t bother washing/blocking before seaming; her stitches are pretty even, right off the needles. Git. Er. Done.
Eggatha joins her big sister Henelope Aubergina Featherington. I used a US7 needle for Henelope, and a US5 for Eggatha. Eggatha is smaller and stuffed more firmly, which is what I wanted for Emotional Support Chicken #2. Do you ever knit something more than once, because you have an idea for how you’d like it better if you changed something about it?
Henelope and Eggatha, size comparison
And now I guess I should get back to work knitting! I think I’m going to frog my brioche/assigned pooling project and start over, because it’s not quite what I want. Almost there, I hope? The chickens have been a nice diversion while I ponder what happens next. Procrastiknitting for the win!
I couldn’t resist, and Eggatha Crispy is nearly done. I just need to knit comb and wattle, and then stuff and sew! I’m knitting on a smaller needle (US5 instead of US7) with the same yarn, Malabrigo Rios, so she’s smaller and more compact than her sister Henelope Featherington.
Currently trying to decide if her comb and wattle should be lilac like her breast, or peach like her beak. Or deep purple, for contrast. Any thoughts?
Miss Henelope Featherington is our diamond debutante of the season!
I thought her name was Aubergina, but perhaps that’s her middle name. I was watching Bridgerton last night, and realized that this chicken needed to honor Penelope. So she’s Miss Henelope Aubergina Featherington.
Miss Featherington enjoys the pianoforte.
She joins her family, waiting to be knocked over by Calvin the Cat.
Is this a come hither look or what?
Notes: Pattern is Emotional Support Chicken, available on Ravelry or from the Knitting Tree LA. I used Malabrigo Rios and a US 7 needle; if I were to do it again I’d use a smaller needle so I could stuff it more firmly without the stuffing showing through. Seaming wasn’t as awful as I thought it might be. And I used scraps of yarn to close up any gaps that showed in the fabric (like where the tail feathers come together, and next to the decreases on the beak) before stuffing.
I finished the body/head/beak this afternoon. Behold the spatchcocked chicken!
That bit of orange yarn is where I started picking apart the tail seam. I had crocheted it at night. Dark purple yarn and low light meant I wandered off my straight line. I started picking it out to fix it, and then realized I was picking from the beginning, not the end. Just like knitting, crochet only ravels in one direction (you have to tediously pick in the other direction). So I yanked the whole seam from the other end, and it’s much better now.
Folded in half, you can see that it really is going to be a chicken! I’ve also knit the comb and the wattle, and I’m halfway through the undersection. After that, it’s just seaming and stuffing, and picking an eye color. I now own enough eyes for dozens of chickens; you can’t just buy a couple sets online. But at least I’ll have a range of colors to choose from.
Calvin is looking forward to meeting Aubergina. You can see he’s quite comfortable with Gromit and Wocket, and the korknisse, too. Yes, my little Christmas tree is still up. Up until this week, Calvin had stopped sitting with/knocking over Gromit. But suddenly the tree doesn’t intimidate him any more, so it’s time to take it down!
She’s coming along nicely! I’m about to start the breast. More short rows! In garter stitch, short rows are no big deal. I don’t use them a lot in my knitting life; I tend to think in straight lines. I also spent a ridiculous amount of time looking at safety eyes on Amazon; she’s going to need some peepers!
We had a great weekend. Yesterday the kids came over to make dinner for Mother’s Day. My pick? Oxtails. We used this Instant Pot recipe. Yummmm. I think next time I’d sub apple cider vinegar for the balsamic. It didn’t need a deeper flavor, but the brightness was nice. And we added more fish sauce for perfect umami. It’s super fun to hang out with these guys and play with food!
Friday night my Facebook feed blew up with pictures of the aurora borealis, seen from here in Portland and points further south, too. I went out at midnight to find a bit of dark sky. I ended up on Marine Drive on the Columbia River, looking across to Government Island by the I-205 bridge.
Glenn Jackson I-205 Bridge, waxing moonset
I couldn’t see the aurora with my naked eye, but my iPhone XS picked up some color.
If you can’t see it with your eye, can you say you’ve seen the aurora? My eyes didn’t see the sky as green; it was black with a little bit of white-ish haze.
Aurora Borealis
I edited the previous picture to pop a bit more, and to match the background of what my eye was seeing (the blackness of trees on the island). This pinkness matches more what friends with newer phone cameras were seeing. I invited DH out the next night to see, so I could try his newer phone.
No aurora Saturday night, but night mode on his camera works great! (No flash, and the red is from the neighboring car’s tail lights). Our kids went out to Powell Butte to try to see, but there was’t anything to see. The lesson here: Wait until your Facebook feed blows up with pictures, and then you know it’s time to go!
So I’ve “seen” the aurora, and I haven’t! But it was fun trying. It’s still on my bucket list. Did you see it?
I’m on my way to an Emotional Support Chicken. I’ve been seeing these pop up in my Instagram feed, and they’re all really cute. I bought the pattern last month, but I wasn’t inspired to actually knit…until Franklin Habit announced a chickalong on his Patreon. Sold!
My chicken will be mostly purple, because it takes about a full skein of worsted (200 yards), and that’s what I have in a full skein. It’s Malabrigo Rios. My stripes will be that blue/purple and orange/purple; I don’t have enough of either color for all the stripes, so I’ll need to choose one for her body stripe and one for the 2 stripes near the neck. The orange stands out more, so maybe it should be by her face, but there will also be a yellow (?) beak and red comb and wattle. Too much excitement all together? Would the blue/purple be better by her face?
This half of her tail is almost done, then I’m on to the other half. This is definitely a short row eggstravaganza, but it’s wrap and turn in garter stitch, so no big deal. I’m working on a name for her, maybe Egglantina Rose, or Aubergine (a shade of purple, and also EGGplant!).
Beignets, ben-dYAY!
What else have I been up to in my nearly 3 week radio silence? DH and I went to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Lots of music, and we made time for beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde, and crawfish-stuffed beignets and cocktails, too.
I went hiking with a friend in the Columbia River Gorge yesterday; the wildflowers were beautiful on a perfect spring day.
Catherine Creek trail, Mount Hood in background
So much variety.
I’m also still knitting my brioche and assigned/algorithmic knitting shawl. It’s a really fun knit, but I haven’t had a lot of time for it in the past couple weeks. Now I’m back at it, and I have chicken knitting, too. Which isn’t the same as yarn chicken. Yet.
What’s on your needles? Are you tempted by the chicken?
Find my patterns on Ravelry: Michele Bernstein Designs
Here are some of my favorites, and the newest. Many of my designs are also available through my Payhip store.
PDXKnitterati 