The deadline for the Taos Open is two weeks from today. I’ve been hustling on my Bridge piece. The bridge is complete. There is a woman on the bridge with her head on her arms.
She is grieving. I will be adding beads as her tears shortly.
Last night I did more embroidery on the river.
Much like Prana, Granola helps me felt.
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.
The Arte de Descartes opening reception was so much fun! Outside the gallery was this sculpture by Michael Neu:
It’s called Latilla Arch. Holes were drilled into each piece of wood. A long piece of bent rebar hold them all together.
This colorful sculpture by Ren Geertsen is called Maniacal and is made out of plastic lids and straws.
This is Pablo Flores and his artwork Green Cyberbug is over his shoulder.
I love that green ladybug!
I also met Leroy Fresquez and chatted about collecting art supplies.
His piece is called Recycled Assembly.
And who do we have here? Me baby!
I’m so excited that I got into the show.
These little metal people are so cute.
The artist is Joel Morse Lage and they are called Juice Jitterbug.
My friend Michael got into the show.
Her piece is called Orange Betty. It’s made out of straw bale ties. Very cool!
Terrie Mangat’s piece Saint Michael Scrap Bag was in the show.
She was in this year’s Beyond The Fringe as well.
The Glam Trash Fashion Show went on during the show. I’ve participated twice before and it’s so much fun. Here’s two of my favorite outfits.
Maybe I’ll make something for next year. I feel so inspired.
My sculpture Just One More Row is going to be in this year’s Arte de Descartes XI, also known as the Recycled Art Show!
Arte de Descartes XI
August 27 – September 11
Opening reception is Saturday August 27 4-8pm
Stables Gallery
(133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos, NM)
The Glam Trash Fashion Show starts at 6pm. I didn’t make anything for that this year but I have in the past. It’s such a fun show. The Taos News wrote about this year’s show in the Tempo section-story here.
I’m super excited that Pearl gets to be in another art show!
When I brought in my Poppy Purse to Weaving Southwest they commented that people kept trying to wear my them. Could I make a hat? I said yes and went home to figure it out.
I made the petals small to lighten the weight of the hat. The smaller the petals the more the hat could hold. I used I-cord for ties. The I-cord trim made the hat a bit snug on my head. I’m sizing it as an adult small/children’s large.
Lion’s Brand felts so lovely.
I have a flower on my head!
I’m thrilled with how this turned out and plan to make more. I combined several patterns into a new pattern to make this hat. A bit more tweaking and I think I’ll have an easy pattern to work with.
The majority of this hat was knit during our Durango trip. Car knitting feels so productive:
Here’s Granola helping me put up laundry.
This hat is currently for sale at Weaving Southwest. Want a felt flower hat? Email me at twilly23 @gmail .com
Pattern: mash up of several patterns
Source: N/A
Yarn: Lamb’s Pride Worsted Wool, 4 skeins, some partial
Needles: 6.0 mm
Size: custom
Modifications: N/A
Started: July 2011
Finished: August 2011
The Taos Open is next month so I’ve been hustling on my art piece. It’s similar in a way to The Portal. I’m trying to develop a motif and look for my art.
I’m really happy with how the sky turned out. I’m also putting vegetation in the rock area with my usual embroidery.
After Chezzie’s death I wasn’t sure if I should continue with this piece right now. I meditated on it for awhile and it feels right to keep going with it.
I studied pictures of the Gorge Bridge because I want my bridge to look realistic.
I had white felted I-cord left over from The Portal that I used for the bridge. The metal under the hand rail still needs to be put in.
The river is coming along and will have lots of embroidery on it.
You can see some plants here by the river and tucked into the rocks.
I’ve reached the panic stage because the deadline is next month. This is a good phase though because I actually get a lot of work done when I’m in it.
This piece is self reflective and deals with depression, sickness, grief, letting go, destruction, creation, renewal and faith. I’m not ready to write about it just yet but will as it develops.
I’m ready for a happy post so will go for a knitting one tonight. I finished my brown shrimp socks in July and am very happy with them.
I love Tofutsies sock yarn. It’s a blend of wool, soy, cotton and shrimp tails which I think is cool.
The pattern is Diagonal Lace Socks from the book Socks from the Toe Up.
Since I wasn’t making gauge I altered the lace pattern by just taking out the last yarnover, stitch decrease.
I finished these socks on our Durango trip. Here’s Sieben on a walk during that trip:
He had such a great time traveling with us. I’ll blog about the Durango trip soon.
Pattern: Diagonal Lace Socks
Source: Socks from the Toe Up
Yarn: Tofutsies yarn, 1 skein, some leftover
Needles: 2.0 mm
Size: custom
Modifications: altered lace pattern slightly because I didn’t make gauge
Started: May 2011
Finished: June 2011
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.
I made a few felt examples for my felt class back in May. One of them was this felt flower:
I felted a sweater and cut it up into triangles. Originally I intended to make felt bunting but the felt wouldn’t go through my sewing machine. It kept getting sucked into the bobbin hole. So I took a handful and handsewed them into a flower shape.
For the stamens I rolled up four of the triangles and sewed them into place. I sewed a recycled button into the middle.
Sieben and Granola like hanging out together outside.
We let the cats outside during the day but keep them inside at night.
Abbey has been cranking out squares and I’ve been assembling them. We knew this would be a big project and it is. Still though progress is being made.
We decided on a solid gray for the head and plan to put on needlefelted eyes.
I love how colorful it is. Acrylic yarn is great for bright colors and outside endurance.
Sewing the squares on the underside of the ram is tricky. I have to bend in all sorts of ways to attached them. I’ve been sewing several squares and rectangles together before attaching them to the body and that helps.
I think it’s going to be a hit at this year’s Wool Fest.