Anyway, here are some photos taken from a camping trip DH and his brother took in northwestern New Mexico near Gallup.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
This weekend there was a party where all the NM rabbit people got to know each other. I was amazed at how many people were there. I'm still not sure we're going to get a local chapter of the HRS but at least I met various wonderful people who are rescuing rabbits from shelters and humane societies around the state.
The hostess had a really neat set-up for her rabbits. She has around 30 rabbits in permanent sanctuary from the Hayward, CA cruelty case. They have their own room with painted concrete floors, lots of dog beds and litter boxes and toys, and some low shelving around the room that the rabbits like to jump up on. They also have an adjoining outdoor courtyard (completely protected/surrounded by the house, with shade) to romp in. I don't think I've ever seen that many rabbits in one place before and I was amazed they were living in harmony.
There were also rabbits hopping about the rest of the house mingling with dogs and cats and greeting the party guests. She had one terribly popular 4-week old baby bunny she was bottle-feeding for her vet. Her house was beautiful and she had some neat collections of rabbit art and an antique rabbit tureen collection.
Tomorrow I'll have more fiber farm photos. In the meantime, here's your favorite super-sized rabbit eating some endive.
The hostess had a really neat set-up for her rabbits. She has around 30 rabbits in permanent sanctuary from the Hayward, CA cruelty case. They have their own room with painted concrete floors, lots of dog beds and litter boxes and toys, and some low shelving around the room that the rabbits like to jump up on. They also have an adjoining outdoor courtyard (completely protected/surrounded by the house, with shade) to romp in. I don't think I've ever seen that many rabbits in one place before and I was amazed they were living in harmony.
There were also rabbits hopping about the rest of the house mingling with dogs and cats and greeting the party guests. She had one terribly popular 4-week old baby bunny she was bottle-feeding for her vet. Her house was beautiful and she had some neat collections of rabbit art and an antique rabbit tureen collection.
Tomorrow I'll have more fiber farm photos. In the meantime, here's your favorite super-sized rabbit eating some endive.
Here is the object of my affection - the most adorable Mr. Thunder from the fiber farm tour last week. Can't you see why I fell in love? Apparently he started out black (see the yarn I bought) but turned a different color after he was sheared. He was the only sheep on the farm not wearing a coat because he keeps outgrowing them.
More fiber farm photos next week. Here's another pair of socks knit in the dark. These are for DH - yarn is Cervinia Calzetteria from Smileys.
More fiber farm photos next week. Here's another pair of socks knit in the dark. These are for DH - yarn is Cervinia Calzetteria from Smileys.
AAACCCKKK!!
Two nights ago I am about to get into bed and I notice a large spider on my pillow. I transfer him/her to another room but can't sleep in the heat so I take out the trash. In doing so I nearly step on a scurrying mouse. I finally get to sleep.
I wake up and go outside to water my herb garden. I inadvertently sprinkle a lizard who zooms out toward me at great speed. I jump and end up getting myself all wet. I try to figure out what creature is nesting in our rock wall behind the patio. All I ever see are chewed up cactus pieces and twigs blocking the entrance. A nearby canyon towhee gets mad at me and starts shrieking. Do towhees eat cactus? I think the nest might be rock squirrels. A friend of mine told me they carry the plague around here. Oh yippee.
I return inside and remove the dust ruffle from the bed. I figure this will keep spiders from crawling up onto my pillow. I vacuum vigorously just in case all this dust is attracting insects. Peaches is quite irritated by all the vacuuming and glares at me. I find a couple of large moths and transfer them outside. I do my yoga early because if I wait until later in the evening I'm absolutely positive something will crawl on me while I'm doing relaxation pose.
DH comes home and we have the usual "discussion" about whether or not to open the windows. I say no because then the house will be full of more bugs than usual. He says yes and finally prevails. I tell him he'd be happy living outside. We can move his chair and lamp outside and he can live happily among all the bugs and lizards and skinks and have fresh air 24 hours a day.
DH and I go outside to watch the sunset. A carpenter ant starts crawling up my leg. I notice something is digging tiny holes in the ground. The strawberries I noticed on the plants earlier in the day have disappeared. I return inside and turn on a baseball game. I start knitting socks in the dark. I go over to the computer and notice something coiled up on the floor next to the desk chair. It is dark but I can still tell what it is.
It is a dead snake.
You gotta love living in New Mexico! I don't want to know where the snake came from but I suspect he/she met his demise from one of the cats. It was just a small snake so Peaches didn't seem too perturbed.We had more garter snakes come in our last house in NM - a brand new custom built home so you'd assume the doors and windows were pretty tight. Our elderly neighbor there found a 6 foot long bull snake on her bedroom dresser. I'd probably just move out at that point.
Two nights ago I am about to get into bed and I notice a large spider on my pillow. I transfer him/her to another room but can't sleep in the heat so I take out the trash. In doing so I nearly step on a scurrying mouse. I finally get to sleep.
I wake up and go outside to water my herb garden. I inadvertently sprinkle a lizard who zooms out toward me at great speed. I jump and end up getting myself all wet. I try to figure out what creature is nesting in our rock wall behind the patio. All I ever see are chewed up cactus pieces and twigs blocking the entrance. A nearby canyon towhee gets mad at me and starts shrieking. Do towhees eat cactus? I think the nest might be rock squirrels. A friend of mine told me they carry the plague around here. Oh yippee.
I return inside and remove the dust ruffle from the bed. I figure this will keep spiders from crawling up onto my pillow. I vacuum vigorously just in case all this dust is attracting insects. Peaches is quite irritated by all the vacuuming and glares at me. I find a couple of large moths and transfer them outside. I do my yoga early because if I wait until later in the evening I'm absolutely positive something will crawl on me while I'm doing relaxation pose.
DH comes home and we have the usual "discussion" about whether or not to open the windows. I say no because then the house will be full of more bugs than usual. He says yes and finally prevails. I tell him he'd be happy living outside. We can move his chair and lamp outside and he can live happily among all the bugs and lizards and skinks and have fresh air 24 hours a day.
DH and I go outside to watch the sunset. A carpenter ant starts crawling up my leg. I notice something is digging tiny holes in the ground. The strawberries I noticed on the plants earlier in the day have disappeared. I return inside and turn on a baseball game. I start knitting socks in the dark. I go over to the computer and notice something coiled up on the floor next to the desk chair. It is dark but I can still tell what it is.
It is a dead snake.
You gotta love living in New Mexico! I don't want to know where the snake came from but I suspect he/she met his demise from one of the cats. It was just a small snake so Peaches didn't seem too perturbed.We had more garter snakes come in our last house in NM - a brand new custom built home so you'd assume the doors and windows were pretty tight. Our elderly neighbor there found a 6 foot long bull snake on her bedroom dresser. I'd probably just move out at that point.
Stasia told me about the new knitalong, Knit the Classics, in the comments recently. They're currently reading Middlemarch which is my favorite book so I'm finally involved in a knitalong. I'm going to choose some lace socks to knit while re-reading it - probably the vine lace socks in Socks X3 and the Girly-Girl socks in the Spin-Off sock book.
Chris asked why no ribbing on the last pair of socks I knit. I have a perfectly good explanation - BUGS! NM is an entomologist's paradise. What does this have to do with socks you ask? Every night the house fills with insects of all shapes and sizes despite the fact that I rarely even open the windows. One strategy to deal with this is to knit in the dark while watching tv. Although I can turn heels in the dark, I can't knit ribbing for some reason.
I finished the second pair knit in the dark (see below) - the yarn is some Kroy I bought on Elann a while back. I had sworn off Kroy sock yarn previously when a meticulously knit Christmas pair of socks shrunk (it is supposedly machine washable yarn) but now that I wash all my socks by hand it isn't an issue.
Oddly enough, these socks don't really slouch despite the lack of ribbing. They do fit pretty snugly though and are knit on 60 stitches with size 2 dpns. Both DH & I have really skinny ankles and the socks stay up. (I'm almost done with a pair for him which I'll show here in a day or two.) I may never do ribbing again.
Peaches is highly offended that I was feeding strange sheep graham crackers when all she gets is an empty hand to sniff. Look at those chipmunk cheeks.
.
And here's the second pair of "socks in the dark".
Chris asked why no ribbing on the last pair of socks I knit. I have a perfectly good explanation - BUGS! NM is an entomologist's paradise. What does this have to do with socks you ask? Every night the house fills with insects of all shapes and sizes despite the fact that I rarely even open the windows. One strategy to deal with this is to knit in the dark while watching tv. Although I can turn heels in the dark, I can't knit ribbing for some reason.
I finished the second pair knit in the dark (see below) - the yarn is some Kroy I bought on Elann a while back. I had sworn off Kroy sock yarn previously when a meticulously knit Christmas pair of socks shrunk (it is supposedly machine washable yarn) but now that I wash all my socks by hand it isn't an issue.
Oddly enough, these socks don't really slouch despite the lack of ribbing. They do fit pretty snugly though and are knit on 60 stitches with size 2 dpns. Both DH & I have really skinny ankles and the socks stay up. (I'm almost done with a pair for him which I'll show here in a day or two.) I may never do ribbing again.
Peaches is highly offended that I was feeding strange sheep graham crackers when all she gets is an empty hand to sniff. Look at those chipmunk cheeks.
.
And here's the second pair of "socks in the dark".
I'm in love with a sheep. His name is Thunder and he's a Corriedale wether. We met on the East Mountain Fiber Farm tour today and I got to feed him graham crackers. He came running over at breakneck speed the minute he heard the crinkling of the plastic. What a doll! All the animals at the two farms I visited were really affectionate and photogenic. It will take a week or so for photos to be developed but in the meantime, here's my loot from the event.
Some alpaca/Corriedale roving:
A goat cookie cutter:
And of course I had to buy some of Thunder's yarn, didn't I?
Some alpaca/Corriedale roving:
A goat cookie cutter:
And of course I had to buy some of Thunder's yarn, didn't I?
I've been watching a lot of baseball (and the National Spelling Bee today - I wanted Samir to win but he only made second). Consequently I'm only working on plain projects these days.
Here are the plain red socks - yarn is from Elann, their Sock it to Me line.
Here's Peaches playing dead. I told you she was a drama queen bunny. She sleeps with her eyes open but I can tell she's snoozing because her ears go back when she conks out.
Here are the plain red socks - yarn is from Elann, their Sock it to Me line.
Here's Peaches playing dead. I told you she was a drama queen bunny. She sleeps with her eyes open but I can tell she's snoozing because her ears go back when she conks out.
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