V Rebozo Tide Pool

I've started on thisV Rebozo after some years of dithering.

Big wad of tide pool

With the exception of two partial skeins of leftover yarn, all of the yarn for this project was dyed in late 2014 at Anzula, a dye house in Fresno; the nice folks at Nine Rubies (a now closed yarn shop that was in San Mateo) organized a small group class giving us access to all of their dye colors. I've used other bits from that trip in a metallic colored scarf I made for DH and the hip length ruana in fall colors that I made for myself in 2018 and failed to photo for this blog.

I picked the yarn for this project based with the idea that it reminded me of a tide pool, yet could not bring myself to start it because I was unsure of the colors together. Recently, I dug the yarns out of deep storage and was still unsure until I would off about 18" of each yarn and threw them together in a clump that does in fact remind me of a tide pool!

Having the intention (looks like a tide pool) helps me keep the colorway focused; an additional color that I want to add must pass the test of "does this make it look more like a tide pool? Or less?"

It's easier for me to see that they'll go together
in a clump than like this

Right now I'm winding a 5 yard warp, and following design instructions in the November '07 Handwoven Magazine for a V Rebozo; this will give me about 18" for sampling and 16" between the pieces.. I'll go 25 or 26 inches wide on the loom. I need two pieces, 46” and 67” long (added 5 inches from the pattern cause I'm tall); I'll sett at 10 ends per inch.

Based on those calculations, I need about 1250 yds of warp. I'm using the following:

• 2 skeins of Nantuket silk/mohair about 240 yds per skien - every third thread, so about 84 threads
• 2 skeins light blue/grey/green alpaca blend, 400 yds 
• 1/2 skein some random stash green? It's a commercial yarn, use all of this
• 1/3 skein DK weight yarn. I used the rest of it for socks, use all of this in the rebozo. I didn't dye this yarn either.
• 2 skeins chartreuse and grey Cascade 220, about 440 yards; fill in whatever is left.

This will leave me with one skein of the bright green/grey wool and one of the blue/green/grey alpaca blend.  I've also dug out a bunch of other skeins from the dye day and put them in a pile; they'll go nicely together in another project!

Food wise, I cooked the January cookbook challenge meal tonight. I made chitternee, a sweet and sour chicken and onion dish from India. The charm of this month's cookbook, The Book of Jewish Food is not only it's recipes, but it's history and stories of Jews all over the world. Apparently there are 3 major Jewish groups in India; this recipe is from the Baghdadi group, who emmigrated to India from Baghdad in the 1800's. So this dish is an Iraqi dish with influences of Indian spices.  Very tasty, but like many stew like dishes, it would not make a great photo. I served it with Basmati rice, roasted squash and broccilli.