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Update from Chez Turtle

If I haven’t already mentioned, Mr. Turtle and I are closing on a house at the end of the month, and we’ve been up to our eyeballs in packing.  Have I mentioned how much stuff we have?  Because it’s a lot.  It seems like everything is in boxes.  So it seems to me like the perfect time for an update!

Single ply fingering weight handspun, natural rainbow colors.

Single ply fingering weight handspun, natural rainbow colors.

I’ve been working on a design for Spin Off that’s due in a couple of weeks.  I’m enjoying having a span of time without a whole bunch of tight deadlines, as it seems like it was one on top of another for a while.  This design involves handspun gradient yarn, hairpin lace crochet, and seashells.  Being somewhere between a lace and fingering weight yarn, it’s going slow, but I’m certain (certain, I tell you!) the results are going to be amazing.  This is one pattern I might make a version for myself.  It’s going to be just that stunning – a real marriage of technique and yarn.

Unfortunately, I gotta keep it under wraps, so while there’s pictures, I can’t share (most) of them.  Here’s a sneak peek. Shhhh.

Still!  I actually have a finished item, made for myself, that I can share.  So that’s a good part of the update.

A few weeks ago I got a hankering for a really simple knit.  I also was looking for another hat – my original Wurm was getting ratty (though still well-loved), and my secondary Wurm was with the heavy coat.  (If you’re looking for a great pattern, Wurm is it – great slouchy, a little interest, folded over brim.) While I had a lightweight hat for indoors, I really needed something DK weight for the lighter weight coat.

And I decided it needed to be a maximum of slouchy – for the hair, of course.

Mountain Colors Twizzle, slouchy hat, own pattern.

Mountain Colors Twizzle, slouchy hat, own pattern.

Enter in a skein of Mountain Colors Twizzle that had once been another project, since fogged.  Let the yarn shine, I decided.

This is a great hat.  I cast on just over 100 stitches in size 3 needles, and knit a folded-over brim that is just slightly too tight, which means it’ll stay on my head just fine.  After knitting the brim together, increased every 5th stitch while also going up to a size 5 needle.  Twizzle, in my experience, works up right around a DK (I could look up the weight of the yarn, but I’m feeling lazy… EDIT: Apparently it is a worsted.  Huh).  It was so freeing to work without having to worry about writing a pattern or re-creating the hat, though I could, given a little bit of reverse engineering.  Still, there’s plenty of slouchy hats out there, find a pattern for one of them.  This one is for me.

This is the hat, unblocked.  Ends still need to be woven in, but I’m not worrying about that now.  It looks lovely, it’s done, and I’ll be wearing it as soon as the weather warrants it.  Details, however scant, up on my Ravelry project page.

I have nearly an entire skein left over of the Twizzle (I had 2, and only just dipped into the new one), and I’ll be sharing later this week my plans for it.

Stay tuned!

Off to India!

Michael and I are winging off to our honeymoon in India this evening.  Today (and last night) has been a flurry of packing, wrapping up loose ends, and arguing with myself about how many knitting  and crochet projects I can REALLY get done in India.

On one hand, we’re going to be taking the train a lot, and that is prime knitting time.

After going back and forth with myself, this is what I’ve decided on:

  • 2 balls of sock yarn (yarn under wraps, sorry) for a half-finished design submission, and needles.
  • 1 ball of sock yarn (Mountain Colors Mountain Goat) for an old half-finished sock for myself.  It’s entirely stockinette.  I stalled out when my Knitter’s Pride Karbonz metal tip broke off.  The needle breaking was no great tragedy (I wasn’t really enjoying working with them as much as I thought I was going to – the seam between the metal and the carbon fiber was not very good, and rubbed by finger), but it was sad that I stopped, the yarn is gorgeous.  I actually knit a pair of socks in the color, I ended up giving them to my mom.  Then I brought more of the yarn in the same color for myself.
  • Rainbow colored sock yarn to play with and to make a pair of socks for myself.  I haven’t knitted for myself in forever.  Two new pairs of socks to add to my collection would be great.
  • 1 ball of sock yarn and beads to play with a design idea for when I come home.
You might sense a theme with all the sock yarn – basically, I didn’t want any big project, I wanted to maximize yardage for space.  All my stitch markers, needles and scissors are packed in carry-on luggage.  I’m good to go!

Stash Sunday – Mountain Colors Mountain Goat

Mountain Colors is a yarn company which which I have a strong and passionate love.  The colors they create are georgous, and when I talk about the company, my passion comes through.  Often, I will walk into a new store, and the first yarn I approach, without even seeing the ball band, will be Mountain Colors.  I was Beyond Thrilled when The Yarn Spot started carrying this yarn, because I love it.  Whoever plans the colorways at Mountain Colors must have the very same color sense as I do, because their colors speak to me in a way I can’t describe.  Other companies I love the colors because they are “OOO, SHINY!”  Mountain Colors I love because the colors say to me, “home.”  They fill the warm place in me that yearns for peace.

Needless to say, I’ve had a fair amount of their yarn over the years, though most of it isn’t documented in Ravelry.

Mountain Goat I love in particular for it’s hand.  It’s solid.

The Deets:

Yarn weight

Worsted / 10 ply (9 wpi)
Amount stashed

3 skeins = 690.0 yards (630.9 m)
Dye lot

Colorway

Sweet Pea