Finished Oquirrh shrug pattern

I decided to go for it and see about selling my patterns. We will see if it is worth it or not. I put the Oquirrh Mountain Shrug pattern for sale on Ravelry. You can see it on my pattern page. I think I might try posting it on Craftsy too when I have time. It really is a beautiful shrug I hope the pictures show it off well. It is hard to tell because I am jaded with seeing it so much. 

Shrug Love

I finished the shrug and love it! I need to get a picture of it being worn but I did make the small one so my 14-year-old niece needs to model it. I think I will wait to publish the pattern until I can get some good picts of it being worn. I am also toying with the idea of charging a small fee for the pattern. It’s a big step but would be a big help finances-wise for me. Stay tuned for better pictures and a pattern. 

New Cable Pattern for Oquirrh Shrug

I didn’t like the cable pattern after all so I changed my idea for the cable pattern and did a swatch.

And I started the shrug

I calculated two sizes and I am knitting the smaller one because I am not sure I dyed enough yarn. I will have to have my niece model it again I think. It is a quick knit with the bulky yarn so I will be done in no time. 

Oquirrh Mountain Shrug

Here is my first sketch of a shrug. I am thinking of an allover cable pattern which I represented by a bunch of squiggles in my sketch.

I want to use a cable pattern similar to this in order to mimic the great canyons of the Oquirrh Mountains:

I will do a swatch to see if I like the cable pattern in this bulky wool. 

Turmeric dye

I bought some bare Wool of the Andes in bulky from Knit Picks and dyed it with Turmeric. Look how beautiful!

I think I want to make a shrug that can be worn over another sweater and coat. Something that will keep me warm when I go out to sketch in the Oquirrh Mountains again. I enjoyed the simplicity of the tube hood I made for the West Desert, and I think a tube shrug will show off a complicated cable pattern that I have in my head. So another tube it is. Maybe someday I will branch out of the tube. 

Oquirrh Mountains

As I mentioned a few months ago, I was in the West Desert and was struck by the Oquirrh Mountains as seen from the Tooele side and how beautiful they were. With the subtle shades of yellow grass and brown dirt making shadows in the ridges and canyons, the view was inspiring. I definitely want to make something that can echo those shades in the ridges and I was thinking of cables. Something with cables made in yellow.

The Oquirrh Mountains make up the range of mountains that border the west side of Salt Lake County. They are the mountains we always see at sunset. Although the Wasatch Front (the mountains on the east side of Salt Lake County) are the western-most edge of the Rocky Mountains, the Oquirrhs are pretty tall themselves. The name is pronounced like “Ochre” but it has nothing to do with the mineral or the color. The name comes from a Goshute word meaning “Wooded Mountain.” With canyon names like Yellow Fork Canyon and Butterfield Canyon, the idea of yellow has always been associated in my mind with the Oquirrhs.

The turmeric dyed silk I did for the West Desert Hood was so vibrant and rich I think I want to try dyeing some wool with it. I will need to find some undyed wool to begin the experiment.

Off to buy wool! So excited.