Turtles for attention deficit disorders!
Perhaps subconsciously delaying responsibility to my hairpin staple I’ve just started crocheting a new turtle.
This time, it will be a mother turtle with three baby turtles.
Here is a photo of the crocheted parts. I’ve already sewn the legs and tail to the inner bellyside (plastron) of the turtle. The three yellow orange ovals are the three baby turtles’ shell (carapace) and the short green strip is the mother turtle’s head. I’ve also already made a few cross-stitches along the neck of the mother turtle.
I plan to put the baby turtles on top of the mother’s carapace. This is a common depiction of turtles in Chinese fengshui figures. However, supposedly no known species of turtle have been actually known to care for their young!
Nevertheless, turtles are considered lucky symbols because of their longevity.
Researchers have recently discovered a turtle’s organs do not gradually break down or become less efficient over time, unlike most other animals. It was found that the liver, lungs, and kidneys of a centenarian turtle are virtually indistinguishable from those of its immature counterpart. This has inspired genetic researchers to begin examining the turtle genome for longevity genes.
Anyway, this turtle isn’t going to be a purse, but will rather be a stuffed toy (or something like that). So I’ve already prepared the stuffing.
Here are two pods of kapok that I collected from a tree in the neighborhood last year. I’ve collected several more this year. Last month was kapok season.
Great stuff! 
The kapok tree is a truly lovely majestic tree. It can grow very tall with large wide trunks and buttress roots.
Some of the kapok trees here also have green color trunks, which I find unusual for a large tree.
And when the tree is full of those kapok fruits, it’s just such a lovely sight!
Well, now that the turtle parts are finished, I’ve just started work on the hairpin staple. After several tries with 2-ply cotton and 3-ply rayon, I’ve decided to stick it out with the mohair. 
I am thinking of making a nice mohair shawl for my 80-year old auntie. Although the Philippines is a tropical country, shopping malls here offer temperate climate.
I thought of this after my husband and I had lunch with her at the mall, and I saw her using a black shawl because of the cold air-conditioning. My auntie likes going to the mall, good exercise for her too. And because it’s now summertime, lots of people flock to the mall to cool themselves and the building’s air-conditioning is working double-time. That means height of winter here in mall country.
So, here is a photo of the mohair in the hairpin staple.
Finally, work has started!
I still have no idea what shape this shawl is going to take - capelet style? triangular shape? rectangular? And yet to decide whether I’ll use a different color for joining the hairpin lace strips. Maybe I’ll put a few glittery beads on it too. But not too flashy, since my auntie is a very simple old stick.