Infestation!

Day 112: "Ladybug, ladybug...The most commonly seen ladybugs (ladybird beetles) were introduced to the United States to control aphids. As cute as they may be, these red and black insects may outcompete native species in some areas." So reads the interpretive tag I am including with the ladybug hats bound for Mass Audubon Joppa Flats Education Center's gift shop. As you can see, they've taken over my front flower bed and are wreaking havoc with the junipers. Oh dear! Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home!

I can vouch for these critters as competitors. They very nearly won over the rights to my house about twenty years ago. For about two weeks, I kept finding them everywhere, but the capping climax was the morning I removed 38 of them from my shower! And did you know that some species bite? I learned that the hard way, too. But all that aside, there has never been a more adorable "bug" despite the fact that they need to be accompanied by warning labels.

Knittive Species

Day 107: My "Bee-Wear" hat design brought lots of favourable comments from friends, along with a number of requests for a ladybug version. I was somewhat reluctant. After all, the little red critter with black spots we call "ladybug" is an introduced species, brought here from Europe to control aphids. Our native species do not have the red and black colouration. My immediate reaction was that it would be inappropriate for a nature center, but who doesn't love ladybugs? I decided to give the idea a whirl. However, I was faced with the problem of being able to produce the hats quickly and easily as knitwear, and dismissed the options of using felt patches or big black buttons for the spots.

Although it's been many moons since I took up bobbins/butterflies to do multiple colours, I decided that the best way to attack ladybugs was with intarsia coupled with Fair Isle. Here, I carried the red yarn around the row, performing a wrap-and-turn at the end of the round so that I could work on circular needles in a back-and-forth manner, knitting one row and purling back, a technique which allowed me to pick up the black butterflies where I had dropped them at the left edge of each spot. This worked very well, although my execution of the carryovers was a little too snug on this prototype. Developing the head and antennae required a bit more thought. I finally decided to knit the piece in the round on only seven stitches. Cute? Yes, and although this "knittive species" of ladybug may require a bit more time to produce, I suspect they'll be popular in Joppa Flats' gift shop.