Icicles in Alpaca

In Peru, a couple of years back, I purchased some handspun alpaca while in Cusco in Peru from here

Do I look happy or what?  I'm suspecting that the yarn is in the bag.

Here is the label

Consa from Pitumarca handspun it. It's two ply. Cost, if I'm not wrong…$16.oo.  OMG. I might have to name my next cat Consa.  Consa probably speaks Quechua. My handwriting is on the left of the above label, I guestimated the yardage. Here is a map showing where Pitumarca is, southeast of Cusco.

So, I had to figure out what to do with it. Sometimes yarn must sit and pickup the vibes at my house before it knows what it's meant for.

A while back I saw a pattern in Knitters for Susana IC's Icicles Shawl.

It seemed to be right for this yarn.

I added green toned beads at the border.  I love the natural striations of the yarn.


So it was finished up last week.  Here's a lousy photo that is out of focus, but it gives an idea of the drape and potential.

An aside: there was leftover yarn so I knit Anne's "Spiraluscious."  The lace in both projects shows the yarn to advantage…

(Yes, sometimes there's the iPhone photo and sometimes the Nikon…neither are that grand this time 'round, though)

My church is having an exhibit of art done by those who attend.

On Saturday we hung the artwork.  I was pleased that my shawl was hung underneath a lovely oyster wreath done by my friend Cheryl; lovely natural tones from two parts of the world together…ignore the plastic hangers, please…)

If You're Cold, Put on a WOOL Sweater

My Mom went to Scandinavia in 1999.  She visited Tanum in the north of Bohuslan on the west coast of Sweden.



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Tanum is the location of the Vitlycke Museum, location of bronze age rock carvings or if you want three syllables, "petroglyphs."

(They all kinda look like JarJarBinks, no?)

A clever knitter and designer created sweater patterns from them.

And a clever Mom knew to buy some. You know, while Brenda says "if you're cold, put on a sweater"…my Mom says "if you're cold, put on a WOOL sweater." I guess that in the Bronze age, one would say, "if you're cold, put on a FUR!"

There was a hat, too.  She also bought a kit for me to knit for my little (at the time) sons (in the darker gray)

And then…some folks who I am related to, including the woman who is smart about wool sweaters...showed up for Christmas this year

(note the hat)

So I noted the label in Mom's sweater and did a web search

I found the designer!  She is Cecilia Bergil of Goteborg. Here is Cecilia's blog:

http://tollasstickning.blogspot.com

Cecilia's blog is in Swedish but her English is great too.

She has kits for sale if you'd like one.  Or better yet, go to Vitlycke and buy one in person…!