Finished Knit: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

Pattern via Maddycraft, after signing up for an e-mail newsletter. It's a simple I-cord with a button and crochet chain loop for closure, but I have never tried to do a Celtic knot before. It didn't take very long to make at all. The pattern is very clear, providing step-by-step pictures to go along with the directions. Any scrap yarn will do, I happened to have the perfect amount of olive green Vanna's Choice on hand. Although I didn't have any shamrock charms, I did happen to have a gold leaf, which I thought was a fairly good substitute.

I have to say I'm tempted to make more Celtic knots, especially this trivet tutorial from design*sponge. Unfortunately I don't have any rope around...maybe a trip to the hardware store is in order. If I'm going to, I'd better try it before I drink too much green beer! Tying knots after having a few drinks probably produces, um, interesting results...or, more likely, none at all.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wildlife: Nutria/Coypu

This is, apparently a Nutria, also known as a Coypu. I wasn't familiar with this animal at all until this weekend. We initially thought it was just a muskrat, but facebook friends helped me identify it as a Nutria. As you can see in this picture, nutria have orange/red incisors and a long skinny tail. The water in the Willamette was very high this weekend and we found this guy right along the shore when we went for a walk around the river.

I love learning about knew things, so once I found out what this was I read what I could find about it. The Nutria is actually an invasive species. They were brought to the US for their fur, in Oregon the peak of the trade was between 1930 to 1950, topping out at about 600 fur farms. When the market for that fur declined many were just released. They've been seen in 40 states in the U.S. and there are known, established populations in at least 15 states. In Louisiana and Maryland the Nutria populations have done severe damage to wetlands. They feed on plant roots, having a significant impact on above ground biomass. I found one article mentioning a farmer loosing a cow to a pit caused by their eating habits.

I found this site on the subject, from the Center for Lakes and Reservoirs at Portland State University, very interesting. According to their report from 2007 there's currently no management plan for these guys. It also noted that the Pacific Northwest is unusual in that there is a high density of nutria in urban areas, and populations spread in mild winters. There are really no major predators in the northwest, in their native South America they would be eaten by alligators, large dogs, birds of prey. Fortunately they mentioned that there is a lot of awareness of the problem here, and I'm sure sighting one isn't that unusual within Portland. 

Portland Walks: Around the Waterfront Again

This may become one of my favorite walking routes, I really enjoy walking over the lower part of the Steel Bridge and being right on the river on the east shore. It's also pleasant to stroll through the Saturday Market, which started up again last weekend, before crossing the river.

The first time we walked around the waterfront it was a sunnier day. This weekend was wet, and gray, with the water high enough to submerge some trees along the shore. The high water might be the reason we saw this creature, a nutria or coypu, but I will talk about him more in a post tomorrow. 

 

In spite of, or perhaps because of, all the gray skies and rain, it's pretty much already spring here. Cherry blossoms are starting come out, I think there were some blueberries, and the willow tree is looking lovely!

 

Downtown looked more crisp and clear than usual, with very little mist back in the hills. Well, that is until we got caught in a downpour about 5 blocks from home. Then everything got misty again and we ended up getting very wet. It was sudden and windy, a little unusual for the Northwest & of course it stopped shortly after we got inside our apartment.

Finished Knit: Umbilical Cord Baby Hat

 

This is my first Baby hat! It's the Umbilical Cord Hat from one of my first knitting books, Stitch 'N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook. It's a very straightforward pattern, but I'm still not feeling too sure about baby sizing issues. The book says it should fit a 0 to 6 month old and be about 16" in circumference. I think it's supposed to fit a little loosely, and curl up at the edges. It looked kind of big to Chuck and myself, and I've tried it on a few times. But I think I need to stop that cause I'm stretching it out. Still it made for some fun Saturday morning silliness!

 

It actually looks like it fits me like it's supposed to in this picture, it's got the curl going on. That wasn't happening all the way around the hat, however. I'm still using Taupe Cotton-Ease to match the baby smoking jacket I finished up last week. I've still got more of it, but I think I may raid my stash for some color for the next baby project. I do like the taupe but the baby could probably use a bit of color!