2011 so far...

So far 2011 has not been quite as smooth as I would have hoped, and I believe today is only January 9.  It is just the little things like dropping a glass jar on your big toe (when the other big toe is infected from an ingrown toenail).  I went out to start my car Friday night to go to some gallery openings in Santa Fe--you know, a fun evening out with friends, and it made a horrible clicking sound, the lights on the dash jumped in weird frantic little ways, and it made no attempt to turn over whatsoever.  We got out Emmy's jumper cables (brand new and fabulous), but this effort did not change the frantic machinations of the 2000 Volkswagen Golf (with 219,000 miles now). Visions of tow trucks have danced in my head ever since.  I have loved this car a lot.  It has never demanded any major maintenance jobs and I fear this may be the week when she wants something major replaced.

It is the little things this week that made me wonder if this year is bound for glory or something a little rougher.  I woke up in my work trailer with a swollen eye which made it look like I had been crying all night (related to another infection)... which I decidedly hadn't though work didn't smell much like roses this week either... and my most comfortable jeans just sprung a large rip in an inappropriate place.

My body may be riddled with infections, advancing wrinkles, and an incipient "muffin top", but it was a beautiful day in northern New Mexico.  The below-zero weather has left for the time being, the sun is out, and the mountains are gleaming under their blanket of snow.  I'm stirring my dye pots and enjoying the sunshine.

My sister made these fantastic socks for Christmas for Emmy and I.  Aren't they fantastic?  Check out the cable on the back of this one.

I was at the New Mexico History Museum Friday night and saw this poem.  Mount Blanca is a 14,000 foot peak in southern Colorado which is one of the sacred mountains of the Navajo people.  I used to live at the base of it.

Blanca Peak is adorned with white shell.
Blanca Peak is adorned with morning light...
She is the brightness of spring.
She is changing woman returned...
Because of her we think and create
Because of her we make songs.
Because of her, the designs appear as we weave.
Because of her, we tell stories and laugh.

--Lucy Tapahonso, Navajo (Dine) poet
"This is how they were placed here for us" 1997

May 2011 be full of learning, expansion, and hope despite the sometimes frightening state of the world.

Yarn in Germany

First of all, any country that produces a knitting magazine called Rebecca is okay with me! I did once find a copy of this in the states in English and was thrilled with the European patterns.

I love yarn. I suppose this is a good thing considering that I am a fiber artist. Shortly upon arriving in Erfurt and still hazy from jet lag, Conni took me to the yarn store. The selection of yarn was much smaller than you’d find in a store like Village Wools in Albuquerque, but the quality and prices were fantastic. A couple weeks later in Kufstein, Austria I found a ball of the exact same yarn I was currently knitting (which I paid $22.75 for in the US) for 6.5 euros.

Here I am at the yarn store (for the 4th time).

Seriously, look at this price. This is 50 grams of alpaca. 4,25 euros.

Needless to say, I visited the yarn store in Erfurt four or five times during our stay and while packing to leave I couldn’t understand why I had so much more stuff than when I left. I seemed to have filled the suitcase with yarn.

Conni and I seriously considering something knitting related...

I was knitting socks on this trip. Knitting is necessary for me when I am away from my looms. I started this sock on the train to Austria. I have never done Fair Isle and for some reason I thought that a trip in a foreign country to another foreign country was a good time to give it a go. Actually, it was a lot of fun and the chart was pretty easy to follow. (The Pepsi was the only one I had the whole trip. Germany is full of Coca-Cola and this one I found on the train to Kufstein.)

Knitting at the Gasthaus Wastler in Reidenberg, Austria.

Knitting at breakfast. Sock looks so pretty! I had some suspicions about the SIZE of the sock though. The circumference of this leg seemed awfully big. But I had gotten gauge when I swatched initially (I swatched each of the yarns separately--hmmm). But I was having fun knitting it and I plugged blindly on despite the presence of a ruler in my bag which could have been used to check the gauge much closer to the beginning of the sock.

I kept knitting and knitting. There was an unfortunate moment when we realized that we were going to have to spend the night before flying out in the Frankfurt airport. The best thing about that night was the large McDonalds french fries. Here I am knitting the foot of the sock while listening to this guy snore. It was pretty miserable. About 4 rows later I actually did measure my gauge and it was off by 2 stiches per inch. I realized then that this sock was destined to hang over a fireplace with oranges in it on Christmas morning and wasn't going to fit anyone smaller than 8 feet tall. Perhaps I'll try again with smaller needles.

***I am grateful to Kurt for not laughing right out loud at me too much when I made this mistake. I was looking for Woolite to wash some things out--the bottle was the same shape and it didn't have the word for starch on it like the other bottles I saw. Unfortunately, this particular product was to whiten your curtains. Apparently in Germany there are very specific cleaning products.