The Gifts Keep Coming

I had a very good knitterly Christmas thanks mainly to my moms, my brother-in-law and his wife and my Hubby. My mother-in-law gave me a gift certificate to KnitPicks and I was able to get the set of Harmony needles that I had been craving for so long. I had enough to also buy the nickel plated tips in sizes 4-8US and a set of 40" cables. I also splurged and got two pair of size #0US 24" circs in the Harmony wood. I'll see how long they last.

My step-mother gave enough to get a swift. It's ordered and I am saving my skeins until it arrives.

I haven't used the KnitPicks yet, only petted them and shown them off to anyone who would stop long enough to look. They're so beautiful. I'm dying to put some lace on them but I have other things that need to be finished first.

The case is great too. I think I'll like this pouch much better than the binder. It holds both types of needles and all the parts with ease.

I'll gather additional sizes as I need them. I find I rarely ever use larger needles anymore. I prefer knitting more delicate things now. But it's certainly good to have them if you need them.

Not that I should ever need more needles. I counted the needles that I have inventoried on Ravelry yesterday and I had about 96 pair. I did count each of the tips pairs as a set of circs because that's what they are even though I don't have enough cables to use them all at once.

Aren't they pretty? I know I'm probably the last knitter to get some of these and you all are no doubt immune to their charms by now but let me enjoy my infatuation for a little while.

Those are the #4's and the #11's. Sigh...

The way I figure it, I've got enough left to buy the swift and Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters from Susan at Y2Knit. Life is Good.

Santa Fe

While we were in Santa Fe we took in a few galleries. I loved these sculptures but I can't remember the artist's name. I picked up a brochure but I haven't been able to locate it. It was quite cold that day but the sun was warm and it was calm. The temperature was only in the mid twenties but it felt quite nice. Maybe too nice, because we were tempted to dress lightly and I don't think that did my cold any good.

This sculpture was amazing in the sun. A big slab of rock with the glass set in to a rectangular slit cut in the slab. I'm a sucker for glass so this one really appealed to me. There was a glass blower across the street but the shop was closed.

Robin took us to one of the yarn shops in Santa Fe, Needle's Eye. They have a very nice selection of yarns, though not a big color selection in each brand. I'm sure space limitations were the cause and no doubt they could order the colors you need if you ask. The two ladies who were there that day were both very nice.

They had Koigu on sale for $9.00 a skein and since I'm on this baby sock binge right now and have used up all my sock yarn scraps, I bought four skein specifically for baby socks. I've already used up two of the four. I can get three pair of socks out of a skein.

I also bought a skein of Lane Borgosesia Baruffa Cashwool which is new to me. It's so soft. I was little disappointed that they only had three colors the day I was there but I've been wanting to make a shawl in off-white. Here's a photo of all the yarn I bought along with a crocheted bag I bought from a Mexican girl in the lobby of a restaurant. I couldn't resist the colors and it makes a great knitting bag. The clear object in the foreground is a Yarn Clam. Here's a better photo of it. It's made out of the same plastic they make take-out containers from. I'm sure it won't last very long but it was cheap and it works great for yarn cakes. The hole in the top has a metal grommet to protect the yarn. It comes in different sizes too.

When we left the yarn shop Robin took us by the Really, Really Big Cows and Geese. There are sculptures everywhere in Santa Fe especially of Elk.

We also went to the Silver Sun which is where Robin works. I didn't get any photo though because I was still pretty sick then. Please check out the website. They have a fabulous selection of Native American jewelry using American Turquoise from a variety of mines. She gave Joyce and I gift certificates for Christmas so we went there the day after and picked out our treasures. I selected a Zuni piece but I haven't photographed it yet.

We left Santa Fe on Friday, Dec. 28th around 11am and arrived home in Maryland on Sunday, Dec. 30th at 10pm. It was a quick trip back with good weather most of the way. We all had a great time but it's always good to get home to your own bed.

Thoughts on Santa Fe

Joyce said that Robin once said to her that we in Maryland don't know what blue sky is. I think she may be on to something. The sky in Santa Fe is definitely a different kind of blue. I think it may be because of all the light on the ground. It was snowy and a lot of the trees have light or white bark. All of that contributes to the blue of the sky.
Orion gently explained to Doug that he is Alpha Dog by putting his paw on Doug's arm. If you pushed it off and put your hand on his shoulder you would end up in an arm wrestling match to see who could end up with their paw/hand on whom. He (Orion, not Doug) was very persistent. All in all, Orion is a very good dog. He goes to his kennel when told, isn't terribly destructive, and doesn't bark much. But he really has a hangup about this Alpha Dog stuff.

Here's a photo of him on reclining on Robin after a hard day. I like the way his right leg is sticking straight out. He thinks he's Alpha Dog because he's laying on Robin and that's made him very contented. He kept us all entertained while we were visiting.
Here's the gift that we hauled all the way to Santa Fe for Robin. It's a dress that Robin's grandmother (Joyce's mother) crocheted for Joyce when she was a little girl. Joyce had it framed along with a photo of herself in the dress when she was 5 or 6 years old.

Here's a photo of daughter and mother with the dress made by grandmother. The dress was stored in a trunk wrapped in paper and was in excellent condition. It looks like it was made from cotton crochet thread in a peach color. The framer put matching matting inside the dress so that the back didn't show and carefully arranged each row of stitches.
Here's a slightly better angle. Click on the photo to see a larger version.

The kids have a Wii so Doug and I got to try it out. I've been telling Doug we need one of these and he's been resistant. Now he sees how much fun they are and we're trying to find one. They're still very thin on the ground.

Here's a photo of Joe and Doug bowling on the Wii. They also have an XBox 360 and maybe a PS3 (I'm not sure about that one). We played Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution. I totally suck at those games because I have ZERO hand/eye coordination but it was fun to try.

We ate authentic New Mexican food while we were there and we both thought it was great. I learned that "chili" in New Mexico isn't a soup with beans and hamburger. I learned to order green chili ( not quite as hot as the red) and have them put it one the side. We ate posole
(yum!) and sopapilla with honey. More about the Santa Fe later