She's Baaaack and I'm Gone

One thing I'll say for Dolores–the grass never grows under her feet. She's been fairly mum about exactly what happened on the tour, although she did confide over an evening cosmo that once the balance sheet was totted up she'd turned a profit of $147.46, not counting tips.

I admitted that I was impressed she'd ended in the black, given the costs of touring with a large troupe and the specialized appeal of her somewhat esoteric act.

"It's all in how you spin it, cupcake," she said. "When you've been in the industry as long as I have, you learn it's not what you got in the box, it's how you wrap it up. I may not be your typical pre-packaged Hollywood bimbo but I know how to bring the boys to the yard."

"Plus it helped that in Peoria they paid us $100 to get out of town," said Harry.

Whereupon there began a heated discussion, and I withdrew to my bedchamber.

More Baby Knitting

In my ongoing quest to earn for Abigail the title of World's Most Knitted-For Niece, I've started an Elizabeth Zimmermann Tomten Jacket. It's in three of her books: Knitting Workshop, Knitting Without Tears, and The Opinionated Knitter.

This is another of Elizabeth's patterns that, like the Baby Surprise Jacket, has become a classic and for good reason. The design is so ingenious that simply by changing your gauge you can size the thing to fit everybody from infant to adult. Sewing up is minimal. The possibilities for modifying to suit your taste or needs are myriad. The finished product scores in the highest percentile of the adorability scale. What's not to love?

Abigail's Tomten will definitely have a hood. And to jazz it up, I'm also throwing in color patterns. Now, like much of Zimmermann's work the piece is done entirely in garter stitch, which is often striped but seldom in my experience worked with frequent color changes within a single row.

But I knew there must be a way. And sure enough, dear Montse Stanley in the Reader's Digest Knitter's Handbook has it: Garter Stitch Jacquard.

I can't offer a detailed explanation this morning, as I'm off to visit my folks in Indiana in an hour or so. But here's a photograph to show you the stylized leaves around the lower edge of the jacket.



I enjoyed this so much, I'll work up a demonstration/description of how it's done over the next day or so.

But first, I have a date with a Megabus to Indianapolis. Over and out, friends, until I report from deep in the cornfields.