Travel Turtle ’22: Announcing the February Host

Posted on by texasgabi

Congratulations!
Angela Tong from Yardley, Pennsylvania,
will be our host for the month of February!

Charlene is already studying the next destination … There is so much history!

… and she loves the pretty color of the Mountain Laurel …

… and she is also very concerned about the long journey, and … it will be so much colder in Pennsylvania than in Arizona!

For the next few days, TT’22 is still in Arizona at his host Terry, and you can follow his January travel journey on Instagram.

Coming up next … we will share a little bit about our February host … stay tuned!

Travel Turtle 2022 – Call for February Host

Posted on by texasgabi

Are you enjoying the Travel Turtle report on Terry’s Instagram account? Lot’s of looms, pretty yarns, unusual “freeform” project inspiration, nice people, good food, and stunning Arizona sightseeing make it a perfect vacation retreat! Terry is an amazing host, and I think we’ll probably have to rope Travel Turtle ’22 out of Arizona.

That said, TT22’s visit to Arizona will be coming to an end next week, so it’s time to look for a host for the month of February.

If you are interested in hosting the Travel Turtle 2022 during February, please leave a note in the comments section of this post.

Sign-up is open now and will close Sunday, January 23rd, 9 pm US CT. The winner will be announced after I had a chance to talk with the future host.

Do you have a question about this adventure? You can see what the Travel Turtle adventure is about in the January post. If you have further questions, please contact us.

While you’re waiting … here are some highlights from TT22’s travel report so far (All photos are courtesy of Terry Neal, all rights reserved. See full report on Instagram):

My 2022 No-Stress Patchwork Project

Posted on by texasgabi

I’m a little late in chatting about my 2022 no-stress patchwork project because I needed some lead time to be able to show the idea … all no-stress, of course!

This year’s project idea is a culmination of my love of yarn cakes … and getting stuck out of town a few weeks ago. I “had” to stop at JoAnns to find something to do, and I discovered Freelance yarn cakes by JoAnn’s Big Twist yarn line. These cakes feature pleasant color combinations in worsted weight acrylics. While the knitting gauge says 14 sts/4″, it certainly looked and felt “just right” for a regular sett TURTLE . Later sampling confirmed that indeed this yarn is pleasant to weave. It creates a dense but not stiff cloth.

The yarn comes in 10 color combinations. I got “one of each”.

Doing less than one cake per month should be doable, even if life gets hectic. The idea is to do some relaxing weaving just off the cake, then put the hexagons together to make a blanket.

The first cake resulted in 43 hexagons on the original TURTLE Loom™. The design will be in rows of 14, which will yield about three rows per cake, enough to get a good impression of the color run of that cake.

The “First Cake”

  • Yarn is Big Twist Freelance, color Purple Red Orange Multi.
  • One cake yielded 43 hexagons on the original TURTLE Loom R-regular.
  • I wove off the cake, but I cut the yarn to make solid colored hexagons, except for some white/purple sections where the colors just changed too frequently.
  • Leftover yarn ends that I cut out be fore color changes will make nice tassels.
  • The yarn is fun to work with, but it changes sometimes from thinner and shiny to slightly thicker/puffier and dull. Those changes do not affect the weaving, though.
  • Based on the yield of one cake (43 hexagons) I plan the blanket to have 3 rows for each color with 14 hexagons per row. The spare hexagon is saved in case another color is one short, or it will be used in another patchwork project.
  • I did block my work, because a reviewer of the yarn had shared the concern that the yarn bleeds. I do not detect any color bleeding in my piece.

The next color – randomly selected – will be “Blue Green Multi”, which is a nice combination of wintry pastel colors.

I’m excited to see how this will work out.

Will you join in this year? What are your plans for a no-stress patchwork project?

Travel Turtle ’22 en Route to First Destination

Posted on by texasgabi

Travel Turtle ’22 is all packed up and on its way to Gilbert, Arizona, a small farm town that grew into a city on the outskirts of Phoenix. There, it will meet our first host Terry, a dedicated fiber enthusiast.

January host Terry is an indie dyer by profession, and her hobbies include knitting, spinning, and art weaving. Terry has been pin loom weaving for long enough that she doesn’t remember when and how it started. And yes, she has woven on TURTLEs before and has several fine-sett hexagon looms in her collection, and Squares, too. When asked what she’s made with those looms so far she replies:

“Mostly I have been experimenting with all the different yarns, including some of my hand dyed yarns.  It’s fascinating to see how the squares and hexagons work up different when you change yarns.
I am currently working on making enough elongated hexagons to do a scarf or cowl of some sort.  The way I work my projects is to collect a lot of the pieces and let them tell me what they want to be.
The best part of using the Turtle looms is that I make one piece and something is completed, a finished piece. I get instant gratification by making one hexagon.”

  • Experimenting with different yarns.
  • One of Terry’s shawl designs.
  • WIP in progress!
  • A piece of art: Tea cozy.

Asked about her plans for TT’s visit Terry contemplates that she is still thinking about it (but there are already rumors that she might engage her husband in some small sightseeing around Gilbert):
“I have some wonderful small skeins of worsted weight yarn that I have been stashing in great colors.  Since this will be my first experience with a regular sett loom, I want to make as many hexagons as I can, and then let them become something more grown up over the next year.”

I think we are now ALL looking forward to following along! Terry will be reporting TT’22s travel adventures directly through her Instagram account, you can follow her here: Spinfiber on Instagram. Also, look for hashtag #travelturtleloom2022 on other social media.

Last not least, I certainly felt happy to have Charlene around to help with the travel preparations …

  • Charlene has been a tremendous help in getting everything ready.
  • All packed up and ready to go!
  • Charlene?? Charlene!!! No, no, no! Not you, too!
  • Pouting does not help.
  • Remember that you will have your own story to tell soon?
  • Good Charlene!

Travel Turtle ’22: Announcing the First Host

Posted on by texasgabi

Congratulations!
Terry Neal from Gilbert, Arizona
will be our first host, for the month of January!

Our new mascot Charlene instantly started to help Travel Turtle to learn a little bit about Arizona, while I work on travel arrangements … it is all very exciting.

The interest in hosting Turtle has exceeded our expectations … if your name didn’t get drawn, please follow along Turtle’s journey, and we hope that you will sign up again for hosting Turtle in upcoming months.

In a few days we will share a little bit about our January host and also report about Travel Turtle’s departure … stay tuned …

2022 Travel Turtle Adventure

Posted on by texasgabi

Let’s work on some fun, good times for 2022! We made a one-of-a-kind TinyTURTLE that we will send on its way to travel across the United States this year. And you can become part of the adventure! Here’s how …

The Plan

  • Every month, the Travel Turtle 2022 will visit a new pin loom weaver.
  • The “Travel Turtle host” will be determined via a random drawing every month.
  • The “Travel Turtle host” will at least weave one hexagon (but make as many as you want), post at least one picture during that month (but post as many as you want), autograph the travel host page in the instructions booklet, and then send the Travel Turtle off to it’s next destination.

How It Works

  • Each end of the month we will hold a signup here on the blog to enter to win to be the next host.
  • You do not have to be a TURTLE customer, and you can be new to pin loom weaving, as long as you are willing to learn (we’ll help!)
  • The loom is not for keeping … the loom will travel all year and (hopefully) come back to Texas in the end. If you’re a host, we’d like to ask that in the interest of all you’ll do your very best to take good care of the Travel Turtle. If something happens (lost, stolen, damaged) you are not held responsible, though. We’ll work on our end to keep the adventure going, if possible.
  • The first year’s adventure is limited to hosts in the United States … we’ll see if we can manage international shipping time in the future.
  • TT22 will visit a state more than once! If you live in a state that TT22 has already visited, NO PROBLEM!
  • The Travel Turtle 2022 kit includes a unique TinyTURTLE “R” for worsted weight yarn, a locker hook weaving tool, and an instructions booklet. The new TURTLE mascot Charlene that’s in the picture (from our Little Looms Spring 2022 ad) will not travel along … she will be busy telling her own story later this month.
  • Paying for shipping to the next host … if you wish to help with that, fine. But we’ve set a budget aside to pay for it, so no worries … you can participate as a host either way.
  • Yarn … any worsted weight yarn is fine. If you don’t have any, we’ll work it out when your name is drawn.
  • Sharing on social media … Yes, please! I suggest hashtag #travelturtleloom2022 to make it easy for others to follow the adventure. Positive, on topic vibes only, please … if you have any problems or concerns, please contact us directly.
  • We will moderate the travel adventure through the turtleloom blog (I suggest that you sign up to be notified about new blog posts).
  • Our travel map shows where TT22 has been. As the host, please send in a hexagon, woven on TT22. Please note that throughout the year it is ok to have more than one host in the same state.

This is indeed an adventure, but I hope that it will be fun for many, and that you will all enjoy following the journey. Since this is the first time we’re doing this, please ask any questions that you may have, and I’ll update the information on this blog if needed.

Ready, Set, Enter for January!

If you would like to be the first host for the month of January, leave a comment on this blog, indicating that you are interested in becoming the January host for Travel Turtle. Enter before Tuesday, 01/04/2022 6pm US CT. We’ll use random.org to determine the winner. I’ll contact the winner, and when everything is set, the first journey will be announced here on the blog.