Eastern Box Turtle Hatchling

     There must be an Eastern Box Turtle nest close by.  On Saturday, I was walking through my high grass, hoping things would be dry enough for the lawn guys to cut the grass tomorrow.  I looked down and saw a tiny box turtle.  The little guy (girl?) was about 1 to 1.25 inches in diameter.  Since fresh out of the egg hatchlings are about the size of a quarter (.95 inches), this specimen must have been very young.
      While it's probably best to leave the natural order alone,  I foresaw a gruesome death in this reptile's future if it hung around my yard - or any of the neighbors' yards - or the road.  A little googling told me that hatchling turtles have a high mortality rate.  Most don't live past the first year.  Besides fatal encounters with humans (and their lawn equipment and cars), they are food for snakes, birds, and other animals.  If they don't dig deep enough into the ground for their first winter hibernation, they freeze and never see their second spring.
     I figured the best shot for this little one was to be relocated to the park, away from the parking lot and the trails, near water and soft earth.  So, that's where we went.

So Little
Remember those green turtles that were popular pets in the 1950s and 1960s?  They disappeared from the stores in 1975 by order of the FDA.  Just about all turtles carry salmonella.  Children, who love to touch small animals, then go about their business touching their faces and putting their fingers in their mouths, never having washed their grubby, little hands, were getting sick.  Box turtles, while healthy themselves, carry salmonella on their bodies.  I used a handy dog poop bag to grab this guy.  I deposited him in a crumb butler (which serves as an ash tray for visiting smokers) that sits outside on a table.      

I headed to the park.

Eastern Box Turtles have an average life expectancy of 50 years, but some can live to be 100 years old.  I hope I did the right thing by taking this turtle to the park.  Maybe it will still be there in the year 2100.  After sending a few more positive thoughts out into the universe, I went home and scrubbed thoroughly, up to my elbows.        

  

The Pay Attention Shawl

     I don't know if this shawl is the most difficult thing I ever crocheted, but I did have to pay attention.  Pay attention to row numbers.  Pay attention to stitch counts as the rows are worked.  Pay attention to the total count at the end of each row.  There was no TV watching during this one, so this shawl, called the Ana Lucia Shawl by the designer, was renamed the Pay Attention Shawl by Beverly.


     Here's the YouTube tutorial:

     You can get the written pattern here:  https://wilmade.com/ana-lucia-shawl/     

     My sister claimed this project, and she rejected the tassels.  She also liked the addition of the picot edging along the neck edge.  You gotta give the people what they want.

My Version of the Ana Lucia Shawl
I used Harbor by Fair Isle.  The Color is Platinum #66.  This is a fine #2 yarn, 50% cotton and 50% viscose from bamboo.  The label recommended using a K hook.  That seemed huge for this yarn weight, so I ignored the recommendation and used a G hook.  The strands tended to separate as I worked, so I didn't like that.  However, it feels nice, and it has a nice drape.  Instead of blocking, I held a steam iron over the finished piece and puffed shots of steam through it.  That flattened and separated the stitches.  It shaped up nicely.

The bottom edges have a pretty scallop.

The pattern directions left the neck edge unfinished.  The picot edging dresses things up.

Crescent Shaped Scarf

     Here's the latest item of Covid Crochet:

     The scarf turned out great.  It was easy to make.  After you get going, you can watch TV.  It's not a project that requires lots of counting and constant attention.  I used Red Heart Ombre - Sea Coral colorway.  The project  used one 10 ounce/482 yard jumbo skein plus a teensy bit more from a second skein.  I have plenty of skein #2 remaining if I want to make a matching hat.  I used a 6 mm/J hook.
     I used this YouTube tutorial by Fiber Spider: