The Ram is on tour! Village Wools in Albuquerque agreed to host him for awhile.
Here’s me and Abbey posing with him:
How exciting to have the Ram there! If you’re in ABQ and want to see him in person please stop by and let me know what you think.
Later on Abbey and I posed with our monster bags.
My ABQ visit was short but we had a good time hanging out.
Last month I made some presents. I made my friends Grant and Megan reusable grocery bags. I used my own pattern for them.
Grant gave me upholstery fabric that used to be part of his late father’s living room recliner. His Dad Ralph was an awesome guy. So funny and so sweet-just like Grant though he’d never admit to the sweet part. I used one of our old pillowcases for the lining so the whole bag would remind Grant of people who love him.
For Megan’s bag I used recycled fabric. She sometimes goes by Bee so I put a flower and bee detail on the bag for her.
Megan’s father recently died. As is often the case around death the family was in a state of stress. So in addition to the grocery bag I decided to make her son Logan a hat. And I let him pick the colors.
They’re in MO so I couldn’t try it on him while knitting. I went with the Hothead pattern since it’s nice and stretchy. It fits him great and he loves it.
Here’s Granola helping with laundry again.
Pattern: Grocery Bag Gifts
Source: my own pattern
Medium: sewing
Started: Nov 2011
Finished: Nov 2011
Pattern: Hothead
Source: Stitch ‘n Bitch
Yarn: stash yarn
Needles: 4.5 mm needles
Size: medium
Modifications: none
Started: Nov 2011
Finished: Nov 2011
Last December before Thebes got sick we went to Arizona. The official reason was to see a Doug Stanhope show. We used that excuse to turn it into a vacation to escape the cold temps of New Mexico winter.
Arizona is a beautiful state. I love the saguaro cactus!
We explored the Saguaro National Park.
The warmer weather was a treat. The scenery was gorgeous.
The saguaros are just majestic!
Even when they’re dead and rotted they still look cool.
Thebes brought his old school camera along for the trip.
We visited our friend Willow and crashed at her place for a few days.
The Stanhope show was in Scottsdale. The Christmas lights on the palm trees were funny.
As Jesse once commented me and Thebes will use any excuse to have sushi. We ate at Pearl-good sushi and delicious cocktails.
The Stanhope show was awesome! He’s a good sport and bit my tentacle for a pic.
This plant was on the way to the show, so pretty.
There is so much beauty in this state!
The sun was hitting this yucca at such a lovely angle.
Do you see the hippie in the tree?
A dry creek bed:
We’re planning on going back again for another Stanhope show.
El Carnero De Colores (ie Colorful Ram) is a collaborative piece by artists Floyd Archuleta, Twilight Kallisti and Abigail Z.
Floyd built the lifesize sculpture out of recycled wire, rebar, fence posts and a real ram skull. Abbey knit and crocheted most of the squares. I made additional squares, the face, hooves, tail and assembled the fiber pieces over the wire base.
Abbey said she wanted the ram to look like a cross between Day of the Dead decorations and a New Mexican cemetery. I think we captured the look.
Pictures of the wire sculpture can be seen here. Progress pics can be seen here and here.
The face, tail and hooves are a “normal” ram color. The normal colors turn brighter up the legs and then bursts into the technicolor fleece.
Abbey said we should get some sort of ribbon for our efforts so she knit the ram a bouquet of roses as a prize.
The ram’s colorful fleece is blooming with bright flowers.
El Carnero De Colores is currently on display and for sale at Weaving Southwest.
Here’s a picture of him in transit. It was a little tricky but we managed to fit him into the car.
The dimensions are 41 1/2″ H x 23″ W x 56″ L
Abbey is sharing the booth with Merce again at this year’s Taos Wool Festival. She’s made lots of funky purses and gorgeous handwarmers this year. Her booth name is In The Wilderness Art and their booth number is #26.
I’m all packed up and ready for tomorrow! When I’m not shopping like a madwoman I’ll be hanging in the Ravelry tent. If you see me come say hi!
In June the Las Conchas Fire had gotten pretty bad. The fire was so big that we were getting smoke and ash up in Taos. The smoke was burning our throats and eyes and making us nauseous. Plus we had paranoia about possible radiation. (In the 50s and 60s radioactive material was buried around Los Alamos Laboratory in the forest. Was it being burned? Was there radioactive material in the air? Would we trust the “officials” to tell the public if there was?)
So Thebes and I decided to go to Colorado on an impulsive vacation. We also took Sieben. What was his reaction?
Doggie vacation! He loved it so much we joked he was having a better time than us.
We picked Durango because it was far, far away from the smoke. Even past the Colorado border there was still haze in the sky.
Durango is a lovely city. There’s so much outdoor activity.
The view above was on a trail that was behind our hotel.
We went on a lot of hikes.
Snow on the mountains:
Sieben and I posed for a photo:
He’s a big boy-he weighs around 115 lb now.
The forest fire was heavily on our minds. Every morning we’d check the news for updates. On one of our hikes we walked through an area that had burned years before.
But there is rebirth even after such destruction. I found this plant inspiring.
The Animas River runs right through Durango. There’s a lovely trail that runs by it. Here’s Thebes scouting for a photo spot:
There was a leash free dog park in town. It was awesome-five acres, free and the Animas River ran through it.
Sieben loved the park. He played in the river, got to run around a new place and got to meet other dogs.
A thistle in bloom:
Many towns including Taos had canceled their July 4th fireworks. Durango had theirs so we still got to see a show this year. We hiked up a trail behind our hotel and had a great view.
At the end of our trip we drove to Winter Park to see our old friend Dartman. We hiked with him on the Appalachian Trail in 2000. We’ve kept in touch over the years but hadn’t seen each other since our trail days.
On the drive there I got violently ill. I was curled in the fetal position in the passenger seat repeatedly vomiting into plastic bags. I told Thebes to keep driving because I was going to be sick either way-why not make some good road time? Later I realized it was a gluten intolerance. That ties in with my Endometriosis so I’ll save that for another post.
We made it to Winter Park but I was still sick. My vomiting had subsided but I was exhausted. We had planned to camp out with Dartman for old times sake but I wasn’t up for that. He got us a cabin at the resort he was at which I really appreciated. But I wasn’t the only one:
Sieben loved sleeping on the bottom bunk bed in our room.
After a good night’s sleep I felt a lot better. I decided to skip hiking though because I wanted to let my body recover. So we decided to go out for sushi instead. Here’s me and Thebes with Dartman:
We drove back to Taos after our visit. The Las Conchas Fire was still going but was starting to get contained. The smoke in Taos was still there but not as bad. Originally we fled to get away from the smoke but our trip turned into a nice mini vacation.
I haven’t been blogging lately because the last few weeks have been sad and stressful. I could break things up into individual posts but then it would seem weird to mix happy knitting posts between them. So here we go:
At the end of June I painted the upstairs floor. The paint fumes made Thebes very sick and caused him cramping, headaches and hallucinations. He moved into our shed and slept on the floor for three weeks. Our friend Evelyn gave him some air masks for chemical sensitivity that he would wear as he darted into the kitchen on food runs.
During this time Taos started getting smoke from the Wallow Fire in AZ. That was pretty bad but then the Las Conchas Fire happened in Los Alamos which broke the record for the largest wildfire in NM history.
The smoke was very bad and possibly radioactive (Los Alamos Lab being a secretive nuke lab after all). Our eyes and throats were burning and we were edgy so Thebes and I loaded up the car, grabbed Sieben and went to Durango for a week. The cats did fine on their own and were lovey when we got back. Though we were worried about the fire the trip turned out to be fun and I plan to blog about it soon. We got back shortly after July 4th.
One downside of the trip was that I got extremely sick one day-vomiting in the car sick. I traced that to a gluten intolerance. Apparently a lot of women with Endometriosis have issues with gluten-but that’s another blog post for another day.
Shortly after we got back a young Taos man named Turner took his own life at the Rio Grand Gorge Bridge. He was 28. We didn’t know him personally but since Taos is a small town we have several friends who knew him that were saddened and shook up.
The week after that Abbey’s daughter’s boyfriend Floyd Jr. shot himself. He was a young man as well-only 22. The night he died Thebes and I drove Abbey’s daughter Samantha, nicknamed Chezzie, to be with Abbey and Daniel. She had tragically seen Floyd shoot himself. Floyd Jr. was the son of our friend Floyd Sr.
Sam was of course traumatized by this and five days after Floyd’s death she decided to take her own life at the Gorge Bridge. She was just 19.
Here’s Abbey with Samantha and Floyd Jr. this past March:
This spring Chezzie helped build our greenhouse and I got to know her better. She was a funny, smart, pretty young woman. Her memorial was last week and since Thebes is a reverend Abbey and Daniel asked him to do the service.
Here’s Chezzie putting in insulation in the greenhouse:
The Gorge Bridge gets roughly four or five suicides per year. Thebes and I have lived here ten years but this is the first time we knew someone that jumped. We put up flowers for her at the bridge.
Two days later my friend Bliss miscarried her baby. I had just finished making a funny baby gift (another blog post for another day) when I got the news. She has wanted children for awhile and I was so happy for her (and regular readers know I rarely get happy over babies).
The day after that our cat Keefi died. Coyotes or neighborhood dogs got her. Sieben knows what happened. Thebes and I got caught up in town over memorial details and didn’t get back until late. He was whimpering in a very weird way and Granola was sticking right by him when we got home. She was just under a year old.
This is one of the last photos I took of her:
In some ways it still feels like I’m processing Prana’s death. Keefi’s passing just makes it hurt all over again. We talked about getting another kitten but two kitty deaths in one year is just too hard.
There’s been so much sadness and stress and death that it’s hard to even process it all. Today I thought about Keefi a lot. Granola is typically a very happy kitty but he has been so sad lately it just makes me tear up. They were such little friends:
This week I took a long walk in the woods with Seiben. I cried some and prayed some. Is there a meaning to all of this? Or is it just weird chance? Thebes calls it a death vibration; a friend called it a loss vibration. Either way there is a pattern of sadness and stress that has woven it’s way through this summer. I am hoping and praying (and at times begging) that this fall will be mellow and provide some relief to all of us hurting right now.
Abbey and I decided to go to Denver in June for a girls’ trip. We had so much fun!
We stopped in South Park for a photo op.
Once in Denver we went to the Art District. I’m such a fan of outside art.
I spotted a yarn bomb while we were gallery hopping!
Some metal sculptures:
There were artistic details all over.
I love clever street graffiti!
We went into a gallery and were met with large, beautiful paintings. Abbey and I were both into them and chatted with the gallery watcher. Then to our surprise the artist came in! Monica Aiello creates multiple layered paintings that have fiber in them. They’re based off images of planets and she works with NASA scientists.
Her paintings were fascinating and beautiful. She gave us a tour of her paintings (and her husband Tyler Aiello’s sculptures). She was in the middle of taking down her artwork because the show was ended but was happy to talk to us. Thank you Monica for taking the time to show us your work!
Months ago Abbey had introduced me to Laurie Maves’ artwork. Laurie posts videos of herself painting to her YouTube channel. Her videos are so inspiring-I recommend them. We met her at her studio which is in a yoga studio. She gave us a tour and talked art with us.
Laurie’s art is gorgeous and I bought a print of her poppies. Her colors are so vivid! She is cutting up old paintings and turning them into artist cards. Abbey and I each got a little square which was very cool. She also gave us a sneak peek of her next book with fellow artist Peggy Dyer. Peggy was at the studio and we got to chat with her as well.
Here we are posing with her and some of her latest work:
The yoga studio had Laurie’s work all over. This wall painting was my favorite:
It says “the healing power of our own divine spirit will carry us through”. It’s been a stressful week for me and seeing those words again while blogging is calming.
Abbey posing by another painting with Laurie’s “lollipop people”.
A pic of me in the yoga studio:
Normally I’m not that into yellow but this room was stunning.
Another of Laurie’s paintings:
Thank you Laurie for hanging out and talking art with us. You and your work are so inspiring!
Last month Thebes and I went to the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens with Abbey and Daniel.
Thebes brought his 8×10 camera to photograph flowers.
There was a children’s fantasy garden that was pretty fun. At the entrance there was a huge dragon sculpture:
Super groovy!
Here’s me and Abbey posing by a castle wall:
There were many sculptures that made the viewer feel small like this giant flower pot with a huge bee.
Of course there were flowers everywhere. It was lovely!
They were so pretty and smelled so good.
Many of the cactus were in bloom.
Another cactus flower. Do you see the spider?
Lotus flowers are some of my favorite flowers. I even have one tattoo’d on my ankle. See the bullfrog?
Abbey and Daniel being adorable.
So many flowers!
This one was in the Japanese garden area. I don’t know what it is but it’s gorgeous.
Here’s me amongst the flowers:
There was a bonsai show going on at the gardens.
This one was my favorite.
Me and Thebes being cuddly at the photo show we went to the day before:
If you’re in Albuquerque when the flowers are in bloom I recommend the Botanical Gardens. They’re wonderful!
Our friend Cat had a solo art show at Cafe Tazza in Taos last month. She also got a great write up in the Taos News. Here she is by one of her paintings:
Please excuse the cell phone pics. I forgot my memory card at home so my normal camera was useless. Argh!
You can see great pictures of her artwork at her website here.
Thebes and I have two of her oil paintings. She had a new series of pen and ink drawings inspired by the recent political revolutions that were inspiring.
The show was pretty cool. It was so neat to see that every piece of artwork in the cafe was hers. Plus she had live drumming for the opening!
Congrats Cat!