little harvest

Posted on Posted in designing, food and garden, projects

zukes06_23

i couldn’t help myself—i picked a half dozen or so of these baby summer squash so we could cook them into our eggs. and the pepper had gotten so long it was touching the dirt, so i grabbed that too; we don’t want any slugs to get the first one, now do we?

our squash plants are already loaded with tiny fruit so i’m taking advantage of the plenitude to harvest some at a novelty size. i don’t like my squash to get much bigger than an inch in diameter anyway and i love them really small for an interesting presentation on our plates once in a while.

i spent the all my “knitting” time this weekend hunkered over the keyboard writing up a pattern for a secret project and putting in some rows on that as well (almost done, yay). so i don’t have progress to show on my current public projects.

ecobutterflyArrives06_23

the end of last week was fun around here because so many good things happened. first, our shipment of color grown organic cotton yarns arrived on thursday from ecobutterfly. these yarns are so cool—the cotton used to spin them browns in a range of colors from brown to green. they are ethereally beautiful.

ecobutterflyArrivesA06_23

sarah promptly forgot everything she was just telling me about sticking to her current knitting project (a roger that blanket) til it was finished

ecobutterflyArrivesB06_23

she fell head over heels in love with all the cool summery colors of the cotton; well, do you blame her? they really are just lovely.

they all need to be photographed, but as soon as they are, they will be listed in the shop and our summer cotton festivities can begin.

ecobutterflySport06_23

we chose two skeins of sport yarn for a new hat design—i think this pale gray-green will look smashing on david, don’t you? he doesn’t have a cotton cap yet but when i’m done he have both that and maybe a new kerchief to go with it (he wears his susanna triangle all the time).

i’m also going to cast on and reknit the empreinte shawlette for its general release when the KAL begins. i’ll knit that during my upcoming trip to denver.

cottonEBbrowns06_19

we got out all the colors and made a list of samples we’d like to get knit up, new designs i’m hoping to do, and samples we already have on hand. we are all set to kick things off over the fourth of july (yarn will roll out this coming weekend so you can prepare for the group cast on)

cottonSwatchPBA06_19

in addition to the ecobutterfly cottons, i’ve been playing around with the cotton fingering yarn offered by pura bella, the company we got our luscious cashmere from (which we were thrilled with).

their cotton yarn is also a color grown organic product and comes in fingering weight (which ecobutterfly does not have).

cottonPBsand10ply06_19

it has a ten-ply construction, making for a superfine and silky surface with a beautiful pearly sheen. it is not at all hard on the hands.

i worked up the above swatch in both stockinette and the wheaten cable and lace pattern.

cottonSwatchPBB06_19

because of all its plies, the yarn has a lush denseness which offsets a lack of spring in the cotton. it makes beautiful stitches and is comfortable to handle. it also has superb stitch definition. the ecobutterfly, which is heavier but has fewer plies, has all of these traits as well, with a slightly softer, fuzzier surface; it’s  a little less refined, but closer to cashmere in its texture and hand.

the pura bella washes up beautifully; while there isn’t a significant change in the silkiness of the fabric, the surface becomes even more regular and even.

this before and after comparison says it better than i can—you can see how washing and blocking improve the fabric, though the changes are subtle when you assess them individually.

just look at that beautiful shadowing and drape—this cotton performs well in a textured fabric, alright; i would love a little summer sweater knit with it. so many possibilities, so little time.

anyway, i hope you’ll join in the fun—our big cotton KAL starts soon; please join us!

we also had a very exciting meeting on friday with a new mill that we want to work with; we need to find a permanent producer for our breakfast blend line, which is everyone’s favorite.

our whole staff stayed for supper and we all talked long ingot he evening about the possibilities—SO exciting. more on that next time; i’ve been swatching with the samples they brought and we are drooling over them.

between now and wednesday, i’ll finish up swatching and take some nice photos so you can share the love; if only i could somehow let you touch them too. well, we’ll figure some thing out!

 

 

7 thoughts on “little harvest

  1. Never thought I would like to knit cotton until I tried the ecobutterfly. What a difference! The colors are so gorgeous!

  2. Hattie is egging me on since, like me, she’s not a big fan of knitting cotton. This is hugely tempting! The samples are gorgeous. Your little squashes look so good! I need to get over to the farmer’s market (yard is too small for squash growing boohoo).

  3. I’m so looking forward to the cotton projects…I’ve got my Ecobutterfly green lace ready to cast on for Wandering Thyme as soon as I finish up the June BNK project, which is flying off the needles!

  4. Yum yum…..can’t wait to get my fingers on some. Now if only we could get rid of this rain and get some sun on our gardens!

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