Taos Wool Festival

Taos Wool Festival 1008, originally uploaded by Knitterista.

We had a ball (or skein I should say) at the Taos Wool Festival during our family trip to Santa Fe. It just happened to be at the same time...just my luck. Thanks to Amy for pointing out the dates. I'm so glad we got to go...I owe JD for him tagging along.

Flynn enjoyed seeing the llamas, sheep and rabbits. I picked up a bit of yarn...didn't overdo it like I could have so easily done. I got some wool for a special project, some that was just plain gorgeous (see in Flynn's grubby little hands..I'm sure they were filthy by that point) and some peaches and cream color that was to die for.

I swear, if you are even thinking about spinning...don't go to a wool festival. It will make you want to pick that up as a project too, cause the have workshops and wool galore to purchase. That's the next thing I want to learn to do...someday...someday. I certainly don't need one more thing to take-up in my life. It was really inspirational being there and getting to be around so many other textile people. I loved it!

The Ravelry crew had a booth at Taos Wool Festival. It was cool to meet the owners...sorry no photo...didn't want to be a total geek. I picked up a couple of buttons from them.

Taos Wool Festival - a shot of some of the vendors. There were probably 75 or so of them...all full of yarn. It was awesome!

It's all about the wool my friends. Here'a a little Before and After action...they did a demo of sheep shearing at the Taos Wool Festival. That was fun to watch.

Off to Connecticut

I work for a non-profit American Indian cultural organization...in June we have our huge Festival: art and dance event. It's a huge undertaking, but I've done it many times before so it was like old hat jumping into it again. As part of my new post, I am getting to attend some amazing museum (which we also have) conferences.

I won a scholarship to attend the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian exhibit renewal conference. It was at the Pequot Tribe's reservation in Connecticut. I had never been to that part of the country, except for NYC, and it was just gorgeous. It was one of the best experiences ever, plus I have a lot more museum related knowledge under my belt now and made some great friends.

The tribe hosted a lobster dinner one night on the coast just down from Mystic Pizza (shot that out the window as we cruised by). We had a double rainbow view of the harbor. Part of the workshops included mount-making classes. The lower right shot is of the Pequot Museum...gorgeous.

I've taken two more museum courses since, but they are related more to archiving which I find fascinating. Lots to do in the museum now that I'm a know it all.

Over the river & through the woods

Flynnie's 1st Thanksgiving, originally uploaded by Knitterista.

Flynn experienced (as well as the two of us) his first airplane ride to grandmothers house this past weekend for Thanksgiving. He is the most amazing child ever. Not a squeek or a peep from him on the 4:30am trip to the airport. He just hung out and looked outside the window, ate and fell asleep and did the same thing coming home.

We had a great time at his grandmother's...a beautiful turkey and delicious gourmet dinner. She's a great cook! Lots of naps were had by all. And, a gorgeous snow Thanksgiving night. It was a good time!

We got to shop a little. I have my favorite shops in Santa Fe I like to go to when we visit. There is a darling upscale baby shop called Gypsy Baby. We got Flynnie a little red knit robot baby. He absolutely loves that thing...one of our best purchases to date.

Craft Congress is now in session

pitts, originally uploaded by Knitterista.

Marilyn and I went to the first ever Craft Congress (representing The Girlie Show) held in Pittsburgh two weekends ago. This is a view of downtown Pitts and the rivers/bridges from our hosts office (Ms. Al Hoff).

The Craft Congress is a group that was formed online just last year for "indie craft" event organizers/websites/magazines to network and get ideas about each others shows and share resources. The girls from Handmade Arcade in Pittsburgh started it and set up the meeting. We had such an amazing time. There were about 50 reps there from many different events around the country and Canada and England. It was so awesome. We met the greatest people and made friends and contacts for the show. It was interesting because every single event, even though with a similar mission, is so different. I base it a lot on the resoursces of the individuals, their community support and region they are located for what makes each of us so different and successful in our own ways. There are so many fabulous events out there. What a truely great experience for us to attend the Congress.

guest haus, originally uploaded by Knitterista.

Our hosts, Pat and Al and Kathy from Brooklyn. We're just chillin' in their camper...don't ask why. That's just how we roll.

shoes, originally uploaded by Knitterista.

Wall o' Shoes...pure love! The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh was so way cool. The whole wall in this gallery was of shoes with diamond dust in the paint.

silly jenny, originally uploaded by Knitterista.

Matt from Etsy and Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching at Friday's dinner.

CC Discussion2, originally uploaded by Knitterista.

The Craft Congress in session.

Micaela and Mare, originally uploaded by Knitterista.

Micaela and Mare at Saturday's reception at Air, a wicked screen-printing studio. I'll have to take a shot of the print I made...so cool. Micaela is working on the Indie Craft Documentary with Fayth Lavine. She's the camera-woman...great girl!

A Very Baby Christmas

A Very Baby Christmas, originally uploaded by Knitterista.

My family had a late Christmas get together this January since we went to Santa Fe for the holidays. Instead of buying each other gifts, Mom wanted everyone to buy stuff for the baby. Since at the time we didn't know what we were having we had to get kind of non-gender items. We got some cool stuff though. And it was fun opening precious baby things.

My sister got us a cool book with John Deer tractors that actually is called "Welcome to the Merryweather Farm". They spelled it with a "i" instead of "y" so she went through and changed it throughout the book...too cute. And, there is a thang in my family about tractors because dad was raised on a farm and collects tractor junk now. He loves tractors.

I got the baby a Very Hungry Catepillar book and matching stuffed toy plus some Burt's Bees baby stuff. Mom got us a ton of cute things from bath toys to towels and receiving blankets and some little onesies and medical kit. One of her girlfriend's made a soft quilt that is way cute, plus gave us an ornament. Flynn is set already. I don't know what I'm going to do with all of these things. I really need to start organizing his room so we will have somewhere to put his toys, books and clothes. Lots to do. Lots to do.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve Collage, originally uploaded by Knitterista.

I'm a little behind on the activities in my life. I guess I'll catch you up now.

New Year's Eve was a lot of fun. We went out with three other couples (Chad/Sue, Thovas/Tina from San Antonio and Becky and Ben). We ate dinner at Mickey Mantles in Bricktown. It was very nice. I had never been there and it's just around the corner from where I work. We had a lovely four-course meal and then went to Cafe Nova for the last hour of the year to toot horns and be exited about 2007. I was worn out. It will be an amazing year for JD and I. I can't wait!

AmeriVespa 2006 - Denver

We just got back from AmeriVespa last weekend in Denver. We had a blast...met lots of new friends and got lots of heat. My husband did a fantastic job at planning this event...went off without a hitch. There were over 500 attending...the largest scooter event in the nation...awesome.

My scooter is featured briefly in this Denver News segment...of course you can't see me sitting on it. I have no photos of me on my bike at all from the weekend. Look for the hot pink Vespa...she's gorgeous! For more event photos, check out: Scoot.net.

I was bummed that I had no extra time to hook up with Cathi who lives there...was in the plans, but we were so overwhelmed with things I couldn't make it out to see her. Maybe next time! I got a little knitting done...working on the Baby's 1st Tattoo sweater from SnB Nation for a girlfriend's baby girl.

Loving This!

I loves me some gnomes!Of course one of my favorite movies is Amelie and my family surprises me every now and then with a gnome at my front door. I just think they are awesome in general. How cute is this little family! The guest house we stayed at in Austria had these in the garden...they posed for me to get this shot. I thought about taking the whole lot with me back to the states, but that's not good juju, so they stayed for others to enjoy. I couldn't find a one to buy...you would think they would be everywhere as souvenirs, but no. My favorite gnome at home got his cap broken and needs to be glued back on before he goes back into the weather. That's is his ugly mug below.

Lake Eufala weekend

This is the Captain of the ship for sure. Ape absolutely loved the water and didn't even mind wearing his life jacket...how cute is he anyway. He would just jump in he loved it so much...my little water baby. We had a great time! We got caught Saturday in a huge storm, we thought we were in a tornado for a while, it was so bad. Then Sunday we got lots of sun and burnt too. Our friends, Ben, Becky and Ape's girlfriend Betsy are great! We stayed at their lake house there. We will definately do it again. He loved the beach too and eating the waves.


As you can tell we were having so much fun on the lake, I had no down time for myself and got no knitting done... I was so looking forward to that. I did show Becky the One Skein Wonder pattern and of course she wants one too...no problem I said, just let me make one for me first. This next weekend, JD will be doing boy stuff, so I will get to do whatever I want...I'm watching movies and knitting...can't wait.

Pooh swimming with Daddy...he liked to rest up on top of our chests so he didn't have to swim so hard.

the family at the lake

Betsy at the helm...she love doing this...that's the position she sleeps in too...crazy girl.