March 02, 2007
Bald Eagle Watching 101
The curious trick to looking for bald eagles:
1. If you’re looking for bald eagles in trees, just look for heads without bodies, essentially, white specks. I found 11 eagles this way once.
2. If you’re looking for bald eagles anywhere else, look for bodies without heads. This is because, against a grey, white or blue sky, their white heads (and tails) disappear, leaving just a chunky, dark, rectangular form. Which explains why, when I first saw the eagle on Wednesday—my sincere apologies, Mr. Audubon, for what I'm about to confess—I thought it was a traffic camera.
One of these days, TMK and I will have to tell you about the time we went bald-eagle watching in Alaska. Long story short, (a) it was cold and rainy, (b) when we put on the requisite lifevests and military-green ponchos, we were so round we looked like monstrous, man-eating olives (c) we were in a rubber raft, not the cute tour boat with gaily swinging fringe we were expecting, and (c) we spent considerable time going nowhere, our arses wedged between the pointy rocks of the river bottom, thanks to low water levels. Oh, and of the bald eagles, headless, tailless, torsoless or otherwise, we saw one. But I would so do it again.
In an out-and-out rebellion against the detailed fussiness of most of my current projects, I indulged in some “guerilla knitting” of what I consider to be one of the most perfect free patterns out there, the Fake Isle Hat. All of the drama, all of the charm, none of the work.
The side:
The top:
The problem:
The large size, she knits up very large. (But TMK says it works fine for her.)
I’m way ahead of all a’ y’all who suggested an ankh.
To be honest, though, the swatch of this looked like poo-poo. In some places the purl stitches overwhelmed the knit stitches; in others, the knit overwhelmed the purl. Something to do with the horizontal and vertical interplay. But I will press on. Thank you for all of your suggestions and links! And for playing along with this most ridiculous of projects.
Funny, I've been eyeing the fake isle hat too. Now I have a big head (just ask Jodie, she'll tell you so), so I'm curious to try it out and see if it fits me....
You're slowly winning me over to the dark side ~ that Abdar could possibly be something besides jewel toned fair isle... I think it's the Ankh, one of my favorite symbols. Keep it up, and soon I'll cry that I NEVER said fair isle... :)
Posted by: Lisa in Oregon on March 2, 2007 01:54 PMBe careful. You never know when those bald eagles will start working for the traffic cops and be holding cameras. o.0
I love that hat.
Posted by: Cookie on March 2, 2007 02:06 PMSnort - I'm still giggling at the "Problem" photo - your set up was perfect :) It was like a magic trick: The Pledge (the side), the Turn (the top), the Prestige (the problem)!
I do like that hat too and would like to give it a try - probably in colors very similar to yours - gorgeous tones.
I also like the ankh and, if you can work it out, I think it would be perfect for your new design!
Posted by: Robbyn on March 2, 2007 02:15 PMI thought of you when I was coming back into Seattle on 520 just an hour ago, and there was a HUMONGOUS bald eagle perched on one of the lamp posts just past mid-span. Huge & beautiful, and it totally made my day. :)
Posted by: moiraeknittoo on March 2, 2007 02:24 PMI saw a bald eagle flying across the road yesterday on my way to work - in central Illinois..... I thought, "Wow, that is a big Hawk, and then, Hawk my *ss, that's a bald eagle. Beautiful, simply beautiful.
Have you seen Monsters, Inc.? As Mike would say, "I can't believe I saw TMK's picture on Ryan's blog"
Have a good weekend.
Posted by: Angie on March 2, 2007 02:29 PMMoiraeknittoo, bet it was the same eagle because I was on 520 when I saw mine.
Posted by: Ryan on March 2, 2007 02:32 PMThat's not a hat, it's a teacozy. See? It's all in how you characterize it. Problem solved. It bet it would be lovely felted...
Posted by: Samina on March 2, 2007 03:38 PMI think you made it that way just to conceal the lovely face of TMK.
Admit it.
Posted by: Lee Ann on March 2, 2007 07:03 PMMy mostest favoritest bald eagle sighting was one summer evening when I was floating on an air mattress in the lake and one flew over me so low I could hear the *swish* of its wings.
Posted by: kmkat on March 2, 2007 09:14 PMHey... were you in Auburn when you saw the Bald Eagle Who Wished He Was a Traffic Camera? I was *possibly* running a red light in Auburn earlier this week and shrieked at the site (and thought) of a traffic camera when suddenly I realized that the "camera" had wings, talons a body but no head. Thus... Bald Eagle.
Posted by: Kris on March 2, 2007 09:40 PMA question...how big around is TMK's head? just curious....I love the hat!
Wow, seeing so many bald eagles!
Posted by: marianne on March 3, 2007 03:22 AMBald eagles are so pretty, we see quite a few out this way. Right now we're lousy with pheasants. I almost had pheasant on the hood on the way to work yesterday. He was moving a bit slow and a bit low...
Great hat, does it get felted?
Posted by: AnnaMarie on March 3, 2007 08:00 AMOh lovely hat. The part where it is blue and goes up inot the light purple, reminds me of mountains with snow and the sun is shining just right. A perfect place where you would see eagles.
Posted by: Tammy on March 3, 2007 09:17 AMRyan, for the Abdar -- try knitting the pattern in seed stitch against a stockinette background. It works better. I don't know why, and I didn't believe it either, but whoever told me was right.
Posted by: Elizabeth D on March 3, 2007 10:00 AMThat's so funny, because recently Noah saw a traffic camera and thought it was a hawk.
Posted by: Patti on March 3, 2007 11:03 AMThe fake isle looks gorgeous.
I just saw an eagle while driving past Green Lake on my way to work. That's one of my many, many favorite things about living in Seattle.
maybe if you did the ankh as a cable? this is gansey-style, right?
Posted by: minnie on March 3, 2007 08:26 PMDude! This has absolutely nothing to do with your post, but I'm so excited I just had to share.
I was at Walmart yesterday and made the mistake of pointing out the Batman and Superman fleece to the boychild. With the 'no sew' fleece blanket in mind, I, of absolutely no sewing skillz whatsoever, boldly decided to attempt such a blanket of Superman and Batman to please the young sir. I also picked up a 'No Sew Throw' kit they had with pre-cut fabric for my Dulaan contribution. I just don't knit fast enough to be useful otherwise, and hey, blankets are needed. (and it had kittens. I'm helpless in the face of kittens)
But that's not the exciting part. That's just the long preamble/set-up kind of part. Here's the exciting bit: The boychild deciding he doesn't like fringe and doesn't want it on his blanket lead to a Google search of blanket stitch, and a trip off to my local fabric shop for the proper thread. And moral support.
This is where it gets exciting - in the aforementioned fabric shop, All The Fleece is 50% off! Half Price! One Hell of A Lot Cheaper Than Usual! I was able to score fleece for SEVEN more blankets for just under $100! We're talking $3.99 CDN/metre! COOL! The other shoppers looked at me funny for my giant stack o' fleece, but hey, I knit in public. I'm used to it.
The real point in telling you all of this is so maybe you could let people know that if people are thinking fleece, now would be a good time to look for it. If it's on sale at my LFS, chances are it is in other places too.
Posted by: Rachel H on March 4, 2007 02:27 PMAnother laugh out loud post - you and TMK are the best!
Posted by: Marie on March 5, 2007 08:25 AMBeautiful hat! I hope it felts. I was with some people once who said they saw a bald eagle, but it was an osprey. I saw it too.
Posted by: Joan in Reno on March 5, 2007 09:51 AMLove the hat, if not the size.
For the ankh pattern , try graphing it out so it looks stretched taller or use knitter's graph paper. I suspect the problem is that knitting is not square (10 stitches by 10 rows will make a rectangle) and the pattern looks squished when knit.
Posted by: Maia on March 5, 2007 11:44 AM