I just figured out if I use the Upload File feature in Blogger I can still upload photos. For some reason the Add Image feature won't work for me although it did on Friday when I posted.

Anyway, here are some photos taken from a camping trip DH and his brother took in northwestern New Mexico near Gallup.

I had a nice batch of photos of NW New Mexico for you today but Blogger is currently not allowing me to add images to this post at all. I read there are problems with Blogger's new image software so I guess I'll wait.

Peaches was a huge hit with our visitors this weekend. She is now relaxing after being so popular.

I also have two pairs of socks to show you as well as soon as Blogger fixes the problem. In a few minutes the Red Sox game is one and this evening is the Yankees so I better go find a new sock project to keep me minimally productive while lazing about.

Uh Oh someone is annoyed at the constant vacuuming.

My houseguests are arriving this weekend so I need to continue to clean. My brother-in-law Dave and his partner Matt are traveling from Phoenix for a funeral. They are both extreme neat freaks so I am using this as impetus to do all sorts of things like clean out the silverware drawer and organize the bathroom. I do have two pairs of socks which should be displayed here in a few days - an easy and a fancy pair.

I wanted to pass along a few assorted links.

Grocery Store Wars: Join the Organic Rebellion is hilarious. Darth Tater indeed.

Walkable Communities discusses efforts to make cities more pedestrian-friendly. This 6 page article with lots of photos offers a list of the best places to walk in the US at the end. Not surprisingly, NM is named as one of the worst states in this respect.

Apartment Therapy is an interesting site full of photos of folks living with limited space. I've found some good ideas for storage from looking at all the contest entries.

Isn't Twinkie the house rabbit absolutely adorable?

I've been meaning to post reviews of two new books.

Andean Knits: Great Designs from Peru, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia by Marcia Lewandowski is a fascinating read. There are actually a couple of stores here in NM that sell Andean knits - one is located at the ski resort in Taos and one is in Santa Fe. The tightness of the knitting is astounding. I was thrilled to see a book on the subject so I can knit my own Andean accessories. The author discusses the history of the Andean people and has an interesting chapter on tools and techniques.

I appreciate that this book is full of great color photos. There are a few things I want to make from it including all of the mitten patterns. When I bought the author's Folk Mittens book I learned I can rarely get her gauge so I know to make adjustments accordingly. Lots of the patterns in Andean Knits use worsted weight yarn and size 2 (US) needles to get the traditional tight gauge.

Here are a few whimsical bag patterns from the book - a fish and a llama.







The second book is the House Rabbit Handbook: How to Live with an Urban Rabbit (4th Edition) by Marinell Harriman. This is the bible for people with house rabbits and is required reading for anyone considering a pet rabbit. I've had the third edition of this book for years and it is falling apart. At the recent rabbit rescue get-together, I was browsing through the newer fourth edition and realized it had a lot of additional info I can use.

Some of the updates to this book in the fourth edition include an excellent section listing drugs traditionally used with rabbits written by reknowned rabbit vet Carolynn Harvey, a much-expanded section on rabbit digestion and more rabbit health info, a list of plants rabbits shouldn't eat, much more info on rabbits living with other pets, and a section on special diets. So even if you already have the third edition, the fourth edition is worth buying. It is an inexpensive book as well - only $8.76 at Amazon. There are many new photos showing various living situations and rabbits being rabbits.

Here's a photo from the book showing the sanctuary rabbits I met at the party.

As I've said here before, I'm the only knitter on the planet who dislikes multi-colored yarn. I had some multi-colored sock yarns bought on sale (it really is getting harder and harder to find inexpensive solid colored sock yarn) but the yarn was annoying me every time I went into the yarn room. My goal is to knit all my multi-colored sock skeins up (good for socks knit in the dark) by the end of the month.

This latest pair are knit with Calzetteria from Smileys. It is inexpensive yarn but NOT dye fast. Apparently the blue color is the worst in this respect.



Houseguests are imminent so I'm off to clean frantically. I'll respond to the comments as soon as I'm able.

I cannot believe it.

I have enough sock yarn for 40 pairs of socks. I was reading Michelle's blog and she stated she had enough yarn for 30 pairs of socks. I thought, "Oh I'm sure I don't have as much sock yarn as Michelle. She's always knitting socks with beautiful sock yarns and I rarely even buy sock yarn. Actually I probably need to buy more sock yarn."

So then I went and counted. Yikes. At first I counted just around 25 pairs/50 skeins. But then I remembered the cotton sock yarn (4 skeins) and the sport weight sock yarn (4) and the sock yarn Lisa sent me (6 skeins) and the sock yarn in armoire in the living room and so on.

I was counting sock yarn only - yarn that is officially designated as sock yarn. I didn't include partial skeins. I didn't include my vintage Nylamb stash either since it is designated as "Sock AND Baby Yarn." (If I included the Nylamb I'd probably die from embarrassment.) And here I was so proud of myself for trying to use up all my multi-colored sock yarns lately. I have enough sock yarn - 81 skeins - to knit only socks for the next year. Yikes.

As proof of my folly, here's the stash. The baskets and containers on top hold all my spinning fiber. The cubes came from Target - I believe I bought two sets for around $14 each. 2 cubes hold sock yarn, 1 cube holds Nylamb, 1 cube holds Cascade 220, 1 cube holds Peruvian wool, 1 cube holds Nature Spun sport weight, 1 cube holds fingering weight Shetland wool and the rest are combos.






In my defense, I produce a lot of FOs each year and colorwork requires a larger stash. But still...

Here are the photos from the second farm of the fiber farm tour. This is A to Z Farm in Tijeras.




The sheep were either Corriedale or Colorado Red. The proprietress explained that Colorado Red are some sort of variation of Navajo Churro sheep.




Here she is showing us a 4 week old angora goat.




A few more goats.