Of Turtles and Alpaca

Blogless Michelle is on turtle patrol on the North Shore. The turtles come to a particular beach to bask in the sun and her job is share information about the turtles and prevent the busloads of tourists from getting too close and tormenting them. I brought my knitting, but knit not a stitch. Instead I lay in the sun, floated in the water and the time went by.




The green sea turtle is fully protected under both the federal Endangered Species Act and under Hawaii state law

In total disregard of my personal mandate to buy no more yarn, I got a sh*tload of ultra alpaca from Webs. But hey, it's soft and somewhat fluffy and I don't care if its not practical for Hawaii and that summer is on the way.


So I cast on for Pure and Simple's Neck Down Shaped Cardigan. I'm leaving out the shaping.

Not Scarlet, FO

My lovely nieces are modeling for me. On the left Christine is modeling the $4 Tommy Bahama silk dress I got at the thrift store. On the right is Jennifer modeling the sleeveless tank.





Pattern: Scarlet Woman Sleeveless Tank, by pieknits
Yarn: Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK, 5 balls for the XS small
Mods: just an unintentional boo boo in following the rib pattern. I did all left twists up the 6 stitches.

The pattern doesn't show up much in the photo on the black. It was a fun, fast knit, and both my sister and niece who tried it on said the yarn felt very good. Since it was cotton, I didn't block the pieces before sewing up the shoulder an side seams, but steamed it a bit before crocheting the neck and armhole edge. I quite happy with the size of the armholes and neck. I think it can be made longer for a taller person.

Hanging Around my Bathroom

While doing my residency in Lexington, Ky, I was fascinated by Shakertown. According to wikipedia, the Shakers, were a Protestant religious denomination officially called The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, originated in Manchester, England in 1772 under the leadership of Mother Ann Lee, who moved the nine-person group to New York in 1774. The colony in Kentucky was a one of 19. The group believed in celibacy and many of the members were orphans. I guess this zero population growth eventually led to extinction. What fascinated me was the simplicity of the life, which is reflected in the furnishings. I love the shaker pegs and have to thank my ex for humoring me and making a bunch of these for my bathroom, sewing room and laundry room. The Shakers hung up all their furniture on these pegs and this made housekeeping and floor washing much more efficent. Apparently they did a lot of cleaning. I hang up my buckets, my thread boxes, clothes, treasures, bag ladies ready for more plastic bags and all kinds of other stuff on them.


Opal gave me some very colorful yarn and I took a break from my two black projects Scarlet Tank and Koigu socks. Blogless Michelle was appalled by the colors although I think it matches her scarf.
The bag really was just random stitches and then a cord mixed together some very old cotton red and blue yarn I found in my closet. I think it will make a great bag to keep plastic grocery sacks it because it can grow larger then a baskeball! It went home with Opal.
I want to thank Megan for the bead book. There are some cute projects in there and I hope to get my bauble making mojo going.
Sandy had an interesting discussion about Sue Monk's Mermaid Chair that I stumbled on. I got the next book on her list, but it's really fat and I wonder if I'll finish it in time. If not it can go on the shelf with all the other books I plan to read after I retire. Reading is on my list.


I hit my 3rd Blogiversary on April Fool's Day. I am so grateful for the great community of real and imaginary friends. The inspirations and the stories are priceless. Thanks!