Well. It's been a while. I've a whole list of topics to blog about, just haven't gotten it done. I was busy working on a project with a deadline, then I was interrupted several times, then Blogger was down, then my computer was crawling.... well, anyway, no blog. I was feeling really badly about this, then this morning I checked out The Yarn Harlot's blog and found her post about general work malaise. Just what I was feeling. So, knowing that I'm in good company, here goes.
I'm reaching my mental hand into my bag of blogging topics and...
More trips and more stash enhancement!
The Man of the House has shown an interesting curiosity about fiber production lately. Apparently he read something about fiber in NM in some magazine in the doctor's office and he was intriugued. Notice how I'm not complaining!
First we went to Mora, NM to find the Tapetes de Lana Weaving Center. The Man has a head for numbers and probably remembers the route number associated with every road he has ever driven down. I, on the other hand, have no idea of route numbers and prefer to identify roads by landmarks or occasions traveled. The Man remembered the exact directions from the magazine. So when we got to Mora, we drove through town seveal times looking for the intersection of 518 and Main. Finally, I stopped looking for the road signs and began looking at the actual buildings. There it was - Tapetes de Lana (and yes, we'd driven right by it each time). Only...it was closed. It looked really, really, interesting, however. I guess we'll just have to make the trip again (sniff, sniff.)
Then, Memorial Day weekend, after the Indy 500, of course, The Man got the idea of visiting Tierra Wools. I had picked up a brochure for them when we had our unfruitful excursion to Mora. It's north of Abbiquiu, the location of
Georgia O'Keefe 's famous Ghost Ranch and not far from The Abiquiu Inn. We have eaten dinner at the
Abiquiu Inn several times and been pretty impressed. Not to mention, the fabulous, fabulous landscape therabouts. Georgia O'Keefe has been quoted as saying that God told her that if she painted it enough, she could have the land. I'm not sure anybody can ever own that land. It's like a cat, it owns you. I never turn down a trip in that direction, even without anything fibery on the itinerary.
So, the man made reservations at the Inn and off we went. It seemed like no time at all until we got there and checked in. Our room was an oasis (I told the Man that when I write my book[!] that that's where I'll retreat to do it), but it didn't feel like we'd had enough scenery. So, off we were again, still travelling north. Our destination was
Chama, about 10 miles from the Colorado border. The road was under construction, had been removed actually, but was still open. Driving was kind of slow, but with such views, who cared? Except, perhaps, the Man, who was actually doing the driving. We arrived in Chama, drove around a little,
past the old time train, the churches, the school complex, and saw a sign for the Elk Reserve. Elk Reserve? In New Mexico? We've seen elk herds before, but somehow in my mind, an elk reserve was something found near Jackson Hole, not right here where it was accessible. So, off we went to explore the Elk Reserve. Only to find the gate closed and firmly locked. The Reserve was closed for calving. This was even more interesting. Baby elk! But, we respected the locks and turned around. Another reason for another trip.
Now, we had a teensy bit of a problem. The only place we've found to eat in Abiquiu is the Inn and the Inn's restaurant closes at 8PM. With all of our travelling around and the road construction, making that deadline was kind of uncertain. The Man does not miss meals. There was Chama, but the couple of possible dining places seemed to have an abundance of Harleys parked outside. I remembered that there had been a sign for the Cliff View Inn a little way outside of town. A cliff view seemed a perfect ending to the day. Back we went. We turned down the small road and drove. And drove. We saw the cliffs we must be going to dine in view of, and the road kept going, past woods and cabins and it seemed, along side a river. After a while there was a sign informing us the road was now private property, but it was still open to the public, so we kept on. And on. And finally, finally, found the Cliff View Inn. Which was closed. Oops! Back we went, though we stopped and got a look at the river. Way, way down below where we were standing. Another cliff view.
Now we really did have a dinner dilemma. Back to Chama to see if anything at all was open. There was a rustic bar/grill kind of place and the Harleys were gone. The weather had gotten quite chilly and our shorts and my sleeveless shirt were tourist labels, but the restaurant turned out to be a diamond in the rough. I had a great steak, garlic mashed potatoes and wonderfully seasonded vegetables and the Man was pleased with his meal as well. We dined well and made our way to the Inn without incident.
The next day, it was off to Tierra Wools. It's in Los Ojos, a tiny hamlet with a picturesque entrance. The building is old, old and looks like a general store kind of place. There are fantatic handloomed rugs on display and for sale everywhere. There is a whole room full of working looms and another couple in the display room. I'm not a weaver, but looms fascinate me. They just look so satisfying. The woman who was minding the store could tell us about the creator of each rug and there was a bulletin board with their pictures. She showed us the dyeing room and discussed the methods with the Man, answering his questions patiently. I looked around at the many yarns on display without hurry or pressure. I asked my own questions about spinning and it turned out the spinner had been at the Taos Wool Festival where we had watched the spinners last fall.
Of course, I ended up with more yarn. This is the most amazing red ever. And what's that you say? What's that other bag over there in the picture? Why, it's roving of course. Do I spin? Do I even have a spindle? Nope! At least not yet. I guess another addiction is around the corner.
I took my first crafty type of class in years and years and years these past two weeks. Usually I just buy a book and figure it out for myself, but this time I decided a little company would be fun. The local LYS ( I know, I know, how redundant, but somehow local YS just doesn't do the job) offered a handpainting class and I signed up. The summer class schedule came on Saturday, I enrolled on Monday morning and the class was almost full already. And, the LYS is closed on Sunday! Handpainting must be popular!
