Giving thanks

It's been a little quiet in my world this last week.  Oh...I've been busy with our Etsy shop, and spinning lots...but I've had some quiet in my mind I haven't had in a very long time. 
It's been rather delightful, spending some days without the feeling that the devil is chasing me with a huge To Do list.  I hope I can hang on to whatever is changing.

As I was spinning yesterday I realized my list of things to be thankful for is too long to bore anyone with.  The top of my list, of course, is family and friends. 
I recently reconnected with a friend I haven't been in touch with for over 20 years...that has been a great feeling.  So much to catch up on, so many changes in our own lives.  I love how the internet can do things like that.

Instead of any more chatter, I've decided to share some recent photos to illustrate some of the things that make my world so wonderful. 

Wherever you are, I hope you're giving thanks for all that you have, as well.

Taming the wiggles

Remember the overspun yarn I shared with you last week?  Here's what I did with it.  I just love it now, it's so soft and slinky...I actually made two skeins of it.  I'll probably list it on Etsy by the end of the week, but for now, I'm just petting it.  I named it Cha Cha.

 

Time to play

I called a halt to all the serious work on Thursday morning and instead, we spent the day playing. 
I made batts, Monte tried spinning a batt she had made at home.  It was a welcome relief from spending the entire day at the computer.

I posted photos of the batts I made today on our Flickr page.   I haven't been using Flickr, except when I opened my page on Ravelry.  I've decided it's a good way to share stuff when I have more photos than I can easily post here.  Please visit our page and sign up for updates, if you are so inclined.  Maybe I'll be able to tag some of your sites, also, and see what you're up to.

My plan for tomorrow is to stay glued to my spinning wheel and have fun with these batts.  I'll post what comes off the wheel on Tues.  Have a great rest of your weekend....

Tuesday morning

I stopped along the road this morning, on my way to work.  I couldn't not take this photograph.  The snow on Vallecito Peak was blowing and was beautiful.  That's our little village of Arroyo Seco in the distance.

First snow

During the night last night, I heard moisture dripping from the eaves.  This morning I awoke to our first measurable snow (although not much...maybe about 2").  The first snow always feels so joyous to me. 

I managed to catch a few photos at sunset this afternoon. 

One of the view to the southwest, one of things in my yard that are nothing special but caught my attention in some little way. 

I had fun spinning with some friends this
weekend...it's been a long time since I've had a chance to enjoy an afternoon like that. 

I was inspired by my friend Ann-Marie's super fine spinning (see her yarns at Material Whirled...her tag name is Twhirl.  She hasn't been spinning all that long but has found her niche already...and excels at it. 
Sooooo....having spent an afternoon with her...I indulged myself in a couple of hours of spinning super fine yarn today.  Not sure what its future is, but I love it.  One little skein and it has about 175 yards, I think.  Here's a photo of it off the wheel...a little overspun (or is it "energized")?

 

Loving Etsy

I don't remember who introduced me to Etsy.com...but it has become one of my favorite places to hang out when I have spare moments.  I've found great fibers, yarns, and other treasures...and made some new friends along the way.  Never having been a big fan of eBay, I think Etsy has caught my heart because of its clean, cheery appearance...as well as ease in navigation.  Oh...and not to forget the fact that they have made a safehaven for people who love to make things with their own hands...a refreshing concept that has obviously taken off like wild fire.

So having said all of that, I'd like to let you know that this week we (Monte and I) have opened our own Etsy shop, TaosSunflowerToo.  We're featuring our own hand spun yarns, hand painted spinning & felting fibers, some of our own hand knitted items...and who knows what else will show up there over time.  I'm finding this a much nicer venue than the webstore we set up and have been using these last few months...so by the end of next week, I will have moved all the inventory over to our Etsy shop. 

For those of you who use our webstore address, www.taossunflower.com to reach our blog, that will still be possible.  I'll be keeping that web page and blog link until further notice.   Please feel free to bookmark our blog address, http:taossunflower.typepad.com, if you wish to just arrive here directly.

I'll leave you now with a photo of some of our recently painted rovings...happily blowing in the breeze on our porch.  Hope to see you on Etsy soon! 

P.S.  For those of you who are familiar with my "Quilt Scarf" that was featured on Knitting Daily TV (Episode 105), it's now listed for sale on TaosSunflowerToo.

Relief

I hope you all were able to hear the speeches last night.  John McCain's concession speech was gracious and thoughtful.  I am, and always have been, an admirer of his dedication to this country; it was just not his time in history.

As Barack Obama's speech came to a close, and the Bidens and their families joined him on stage, I found myself sobbing like a child.  I feel such a sense of relief. 

Now, to give him a chance, and support our country in whatever ways we can.  It's a dawn of new hope.

Yes, we can.

HOPE

I will, as so many will, be holding my breath all day.  I can never remember feeling this strongly about an election I would vote in.  I remember the JFK election, but as a 10 year old, my world was skewed by the views of my parents; I remember working in the Nixon headquarters on precinct sheets, helping my mom find things to do to get the word out.  Then I remember our teacher brought a TV into class so we could watch the inauguration, and I purposely spent the entire time with my head down.  What a shame to foist your hates and fears onto a child.  To this day I have hated political discussion of almost any sort.   I am only now feeling a little less (but not much) upset by that "my way or the highway", fear based approach.  I may not be able to defend my views with history or statistics, but I know in my heart how strongly I feel.

Si se puede!

These last weeks

I feel like I'm just coming out of some kind of fog, between being gone so long and returning just in time to close the shop and take care of what happens after the doors closed.  This week, something really creepy happened to me...I came to the realization that I'm a (heaven forbid) workaholic.  I was telling Monte yesterday that I've always thought of myself as kind of slow-speed and lazy, but that must be who I want to be, because it sure isn't my real life.  Why can't I just slow down? 

Before I ramble too much, I want to share a real jewel with you...my friend Kara's yarn shop in Durango, Colorado, aptly named Yarn. 
She recently moved down the street, a move that I think was a great one for her shop.  She has a real talent for merchandising and I must say that despite the fact that two months ago I swore I never wanted to see another yarn shop again, when I visited her shop a few weeks ago, I fell madly in love and hereby pronounce it my favorite yarn shop.  If you're in the area, I urge you to stop in and say hi.  She has loads of class opportunities and will teach one on one.  Kara is extraordinarily gracious and you will, as I did, probably end up going back every day, just to enjoy the way you feel so welcome (which we all know does NOT exist in all yarn shops).

If you've gotten here via our webstore and have already read the home page, this will be old news.  This past week I had my last shreds of patience go out the window with the webstore format I chose (one of those that tells you how EASY it is to do it yourself...wheeee!).  I spent an hour yesterday setting up the basic information on an Etsy.com store and will, over the next couple of days, add inventory to it.  Our new store is called

TaosSunflowerToo

Please note that the search engine on Etsy store names does not recognize spaces between words, so from here forward, our shop will be using this same format for its name.

I'll be keeping the current webstore address and for a time, will run parallel stores until I can feel comfortable enough to move everything over to Etsy.  At that time, I'll let everyone know what's next.  I plan to keep the current address, www.taossunflower.com, as a web page (vs. store) and link to our blog...there just won't be any inventory there anymore.

So having said all of that, I'm off to have another cuppa Joe and get this day started.  I hope you're all having a grand weekend...don't work too hard!