We started out the morning in Albuquerque on the search for fiber. Village Wools is a store that actually sells spinning stuff and I had to go. Unfortunately they've moved...so if you're looking for them be aware their address has changed...they have a great, new store on Anaheim Ave., NE. Lauri, Marlene and Audrey were as friendly and helpful as anyone would want. they're great...definitely visit!

Then on the way out of town we passed by this bridge...Route 66 used to run over it...it's closed now but pretty cool anyway. Then we headed out onto reservation land. The scenery was really beautiful...I wish i could show you...but we were guests in someone's home and we respected their wishes not to take pictures. (it is posted at the reservation edge that photographs and video are not allowed....so if you want to see it....come on down and see turtle rock for yourself...it's worth the drive!)

We drove through rusty red canyons all day long...here's some red walls from near the continental divide.

We stopped to pictures and mail a postcard at Continental Divide, NM....I didn't know that was an actual town.

Then we ate lunch in Gallup...The Hotel el Rancho is a wild conglomeration of architectural styles that has attracted movie stars from days gone by...from Clark Gable to John Wayne, from Jane Wyman to Ronald Reagan...they stayed here...

From Gallup we headed out through a few ghost towns and then back into reservation land where the old Route is completely gone, we crossed into Arizona. We decided that we wanted to see the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest so we took a little detour...we couldn't have drive the old road anyway, and the scenery was totally worth it.

the Painted Desert reminds me of the Badlands of South Dakota. the colors are a little different, darker and less yellow, but clearly the same elements of wind and rain at work here.


Route 66 did go right through the Painted Desert. Here we all are at the place where the old road used to run...apparently the road bed was taken up and you can't even tell there was a road there now...except for the line of short electric poles.

This little guy was hanging out with his family too....

Newspaper Rock is amazing...covered with petroglyphs.








Then on to the Petrified Forest end of the loop. This was truly amazing. We stayed until the moon rose over the hills and we wouldn't be able to see anymore before we finally headed out for Holbrook.

The Wigwam Motel had no vacancies... but it has great neon.... more pictures tomorrow of the concrete teepees!

Good Morning Albuquerque!

Santa Rosa was charming! We left Santa Rosa on the old allignment. Apparently in 1937 Route 66 moved. It went through Sante Fe pre-1937 and straight across skipping Sante Fe after 1937. We decided to take the old Route and see Sante Fe...since Stephen informed it was the capital! So we headed out...the scenery was amazing!

We took a small detour to Las Vegas, NM....(it was only 3 miles). The visitor

center used to be in caboose....This church is old and pretty amazing. it reminded me of churches in England where the cemetary is in the church yarn--oops yard!

Here we are on the road ...with a pre-1937 sign!

We discovered a fold in space and time in New Mexico. We took a momentary detour to San Jose, New Mexico and it looks like it folded into Old Mexico instead. We dropped a postcard in the mail and moved right along.... Wish I knew what this amazing half-cactus/half bush was!

We drove by--but didn't stop as this ruined Mission...it was burned down in 1680 during an Indian Revolt. It had been a center for trade prior to that.

We wandered around downtown Sante Fe...it was fun, the food at the Burrito Company was good and spicy! We saw more old churches....lots and lots of adobe....McDonald's in adobe, Border's in adobe, Thai food.... you name it Sante Fe has it in adobe.

We drove on to Albuquerque and stopped for supper--ok we ate mozzarella sticks and chili fries so we would all have room for the super deserts at 66 Diner...where the service was fab and the neon was to die for...

spinning along on Route 66

Hey...we got to Amarillo, TX day before yesterday (Saturday about midnight). Then yesterday we started on Route 66 where we could...occasionally driving on Interstate 40 where the old Route is gone. We saw all kinds of cool stuff. From our first Route 66 sign, in downtown Amarillo,



to Cadillac Ranch...where we of course added our little bit...



















From Vega....



















to Midpoint Cafe where we all had Route 66 Root Beer.



















To the last motel/first motel in Texas, where we may have located 'Mader (if you haven't seen the movie Cars you really should).







All along the road we saw awesome stuff...places that are still amazing, like Tucumcari....where the Mesa looks almost like a car...and places that have long since quit being anything but skeletons of buildings where people used to have fabulous times....We stayed last night in Santa Rosa...had dinner at the Joseph's Bar and Grill (awesome Mexican American food!) and saw all the amazing Neon!

Today....we're off for Santa Fe and Albuquerque....more later!

i finished 1 sock

only to find a horrible mistake in the other one while ripping out the toe and ending up frogging half the sock :-(

But this one...is so awesome! it fits so perfectly...and i love how the dyeing worked...

i've been madly carding wool...and washing and such. hence my absence here.

holidays

for those who only want to hear about yarn: WARNING: Non-fiber post.

We went a bought a new grill and cooked steaks today. I love cooking out. And they were really REALLY good. Yummy!

then we had rootbeer floats...I love, love rootbeer floats. My parents always went out the the A&W restaurant in town, when i was a kid, and bought a gallon of rootbeer (just on the 4th of July). It was fountain pop, so they would bring it out to the car in a gallon milk jug. (ah for the days of carhops...) Anyway, that made my holiday complete...

what summer holiday traditions do you have?

more sock yarn

i've got two new skeins of lovely sock yarn.

one is dyed to look like the sun peaking up over the horizon turning the sky pinky-orange. it's called Mountain Sunrise.

the other is called Chocolate Covered Cherry...it looks just a like Cherry dipped in Chocolate! what do you think?

new sock yarn

This yarn was supposed to be pink and yellow...ooops! I think i added waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much pink dye powder. Never occured to me that if i added enough pink i'd get red. we'll be trying that again! Anyway, I'm not sure what to name this yarn since i had intended to call it "lemonaid" when it was pink and yellow. Now it's sort of Lemonaide on Acid" or something.

what do you suggest?

SOCKS!!!!!!

YAY! I'm so excited. I finished my first pair of super-fabulous, comfy handknit sock! Ok, i finished a pair before but they were not very comfy...and these...these are the nicest thing ever. I LOVE them. I hand dyed jaggerspun generic grey yarn with red, gold and black in "spaghetti dyeing style". the yarn was lovely, but the socks surpass it! And all knit up they are amazing. My kitchner stitch still needs a bit of working on but otherwise...SUPER!

Okay, seems like I am "it".

Here are the rules:
1.List seven random facts/habits about yourself
2.Choose another seven bloggers to tag and list their names in your blog
3.Leave your seven tagged bloggers comments to notify them of their tagging and to direct them to your blog for tag instructions.

1. i have two different colored eyes. one is green and one is brown. odd but true.
2. I participate in a medieval reenactment group. My persona is a 12th century bard.
3. I have 3 children--amanda, stephen and brenden
4. I've been in 26 of the 50 states.
5. my favorite color is green
6. i play irish harp
7. dr. pepper is my favorite soda.

I'll be listing bloggers soon!

more awesome sock yarn

I LOVE this new dyeing technique. it results in a lovely gradiation between two colors....What do you think?

I also think these are interesting and fun pictures...plus i think that my pictures are generally getting better...YAY! Now i just need to get swatches done!

What do you think?

Sock Yarn!

Ok..i admit it...i'm addicted to socks and dyeing sock yarn. I'm enthralled with how different dyeing methods work, developing new ones, etc. I love knitting socks...i admit it! so...i'm working on a new dyeing method that will produce gradiated stripes ...

this Pilot skein of this dyeing technique is not quite perfect...the next will be better!

But, I'm calling this Dinner and a Drink because the colors remind me of a spaghetti dinner and red wine....

I love how the how it looks all twisted!

I'm calling this one Pele's hair.

When i showed it to a friend she said it looked just like this volcanic glass created by wind that is called Pele's hair...she's the hawaiin goddess of volcanos. I think it quite appropos.

What do you think?

oh...

and what are you working on?

New Zine

YAY! the new issue of Totally Twisted is out today. For those of you who subscribe look for it in your inbox this evening, or your mailbox in a few days. If you don't subscribe you should!

The cost of a single current issue is $7.00

The cost of subscribing for a year (4 issues) is $20.00

shipping is extra but if you like e-zines shipping is free!

come on over to my etsy store and check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5879251