Cold

It is supposed to be in the mid to low teens tonight, & it is flurrying snow above us as I post. Knowing this made me work harder to fill my heart with the colors of fall today.

On my way to work this morning (yes, I am still working down there), I stopped to pay my respects at the descanso of one of my neighbors. While I was not his friend, I knew who he was & mourned his sad life & demise. I thought that the colors were so beautiful I would share them here. Oh, that New Mexico light.

Here's a picture of the skeins I spun last week (spinned?). They're from our own hand painted rovings. I was having fun, mixing colors & using up odds & ends. I had so much fun knitting that sweater from handspun this fall, I want to do another.

Quiet

I spent so much of yesterday spinning, I went to bed to dream of more today.

I got an awesome book yesterday. It's called KnitKnit by Sabrina Gschwandtner, the creative force behind the magazine of the same name. It includes profiles & patterns of some of the hippest, avante garde knitters on the scene right now. I love it.

Well, off to start my day...wanted to pop out of hibernation & say hi.

Martie

And, in the end...

the love you take is equal to the love you make.

These verses have been haunting me since I left California a couple of weeks ago.  It has to do with family, love, sharing and caring.  I will spare you much more, except the good news that my sister is on her own road to recovery and sounds in good spirits when I call her. 

I returned just in time for the last week at the retail shop in Seco.  It was a great week, just hanging out with the staff up front (while the piles of papers on the desk languished) and seeing friends from near and far.  We missed seeing many of you this year...I can totally understand...the cost of travel is a luxury at this point in time.  Please know you were missed.  You know who you are...we sure do!

Wednesday brought us a gorgeous surprise...the florist delivered a bouquet in a vase that was roughly the shape of a fish bowl, only big enough to house a koi, at least.  It was the most gorgeous arrangement I have ever seen, let alone been blessed with.  It came from our friend Susan Anthony, who lives back east and couldn't make it to Wool Festival and our closing.  I took some photos to share with her (and you) and the most awful thing has happened...I cannot find my beloved digital SLR camera (it appears to have gone to the Bermuda Triangle over the weekend...I am hoping someone with more presence of mind will find it for me).  In the meantime, I'll just have to tell all of you about this beautiful surprise.  This is a statement about the love and support of our clients...Susan, to my knowledge, has only visited our shop ONCE but has been a faithful telephone/e-mail customer these last years.  How can I say how much we appreciate all this love?

As for Taos, it is gorgeous right now.  The colors are probably at peak in our neck of the woods, and some snow graced the local mountain tops on Sunday.  Our first hard frost has still eluded us here at our place.  I cautiously pulled all the tomato plants and put the booty in our greenhouse for them to ripen.  I'm very proud of them...the plants weren't put in until mid-summer and growing things like that at our elevation isn't a breeze.  Through no credit of my own, they went wild and grew loads of clumps of perfect green globes.  Stay tuned for when they all ripen at the same time!

I am taking my spinning wheel and going into hiding this coming week, so the business of dyeing for the web store won't resume until the week of Oct. 20.  I hope you'll all forgive me...I need some time to regroup...it's been an odd and stressful couple of months.

Lastly, these are the other thoughts that have been in my mind since helping my sister in her recovery:

Don't sweat the small stuff.
Don't get lost in details.
Pick your battles.

Best wishes to all of you....Martie