Ember: set attribute's value with action passed from a

I'm trying to figure out how to set a new Ember Data Record's attribute's value based on choices in a select element, using the helper. Here's my situation, simplified:

item.js route. Creates a new record that is available in the template.

model() {
  return this.store.createRecord('item');
}

new-item.hbs template. The select-element triggers the action to set the new item's color attribute.

<select >
  <option value="">choose</option>
  <option value="white">white</option>
  <option value="blue">blue</option>
  <option value="red">red</option>
  <option value="yellow">yellow</option>
</select>

item.js controller.

actions: {
  setColor(item, option) {
    console.log(option);
    record.set('color', option);
    console.log(item);
  }
}

Console.log(option) returns nothing. The record.set works fine, I can hardcode the option and the console.log(item) will show that the new item object has the color attribute set.

On the other hand, if I do the action call with just

onChange= 

the color gets logged correctly from the action. But if I add "model" into that action call as before with the syntax, console.log(option) returns undefined and console.log(item) returns an Event with no model object attached.

Question is: How do I pass both the target.value and the model to the setColor action?