Tucson’s Old Pueblo Rug Hookers will host their annual Tucson hook-in January 28.
It’s a busy, busy week here at High on Hooking. And a short one too. Today six of us from the Adobe Wool Arts Guild (AWAG) were doing our regular demo schtick at Albuquerque’s BioPark – at Heritage Farm in the Botanic Garden, specifically. (We’re there the first and fourth Tuesdays of the month. Feel free to visit.) Come early Friday morning, four of us will saddle up (okay, we’ll climb into Cathy’s SUV) and make the eight-hour trek to Tucson.
What’s in Tucson, you ask. Besides warmer weather, of course. Well, I’ll tell you. Saturday, the Old Pueblo Rug Hookers are hosting their annual Tucson hook-in at La Paloma Country Club. Last year I was a OPRH virgin. Not this year, sisters! And I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I had a great time on my hooker-girls’ weekend. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might
2016’s prize! An Anderson frame at last.
remember how last year I managed to “win” an Anderson frame in the silent auction. There was some serious back-and-forth with another woman, but she already had an Anderson, and I’d wanted one for years. (The reality is that there were two up for auction, and she got the second one with it’s smaller hooking area.)
Like I said, four of us AWAG members will drive the l-o-n-g drive to Tucson Friday. Two other members will meet us there, their significant others left behind to fend for themselves in hotel rooms while we hook, chat, purchase, eat, make friends, bid, hook, eat, and chat some more. It’s going to be a great weekend!
Tynan presents this week’s current rug update. He will allow me to bring it to the Tucson hook-in to work on and share.
Attend a hook-in lately? (I’m talking to you, New England peeps! I know all about the Eliot Hook-In happening the same day as Tucson’s.) What made it so worthwhile for you? Share any hook-ins coming up!
Damn, I wrote that headline and realized that it looked vaguely political, something I try to avoid on social media especially these days. At least the freaking election is finally over, and we can only wait to see what January will bring. In the meantime, the holidays are rushing at us like there’s no tomorrow. A portend? (Sorry. I said I wouldn’t say anything political. I won’t.) And there is hooking, always hooking.
The bag is burlap, about 6 inches by 6 inches. It’s hooked with wool yarn, ribbon, and stretch velvet. And a little pearl. Very cute, if I do say so myself.
So, what am I working on these days (always hooking)? In hopes that I’ll get a call from the waiting list at the Rail Yards for the holiday market next month, I’m still creating rug mugs. I’ve also come up with a new item; it’ll be a great stocking stuffer, gift card holder, hostess gift, or little girl’s purse. Here’s a pic of the prototype. Like it?
I plan on filling them with candy canes for Christmas time and maybe some faux flowers or something next spring. The bags are from Hobby Lobby, too inexpensive for me to bother making. The hooking’s a bit tricky since there’s no frame involved, just your hand to stick in and hold it all. (I don’t know how Rachelle LeBlanc hooks without a frame ALL THE TIME and then gets those beautiful results.)
Albuquerque’s Fiber Fiesta is also keeping me busy and not just because I’m a guild rep to the Fiber Arts Council. I think I know what I want to create for next May’s show, and I’m doing some research, though I’m not ready to share just yet. But I better get a move on as it has to be pretty much finished by the March 1 entry deadline. For those who are interested, the Call-For-Entries is open and waiting. Consider joining us.
In between projects, I’m still working on my “fall” tree of life rug, the one I started last month. It’s coming along despite being thrown to the side on a regular basis. Always hooking….
It’s about a yard across, t-shirt and bedsheet.
As an aside, how many of you saw this rug on page 56 of the newest ATHA magazine?
“Kenya Flora and Fauna” hooked and designed by Sylvia Huntington.
I was flipping through it the evening my copy came, when I caught sight of “Kenya Flora and Fauna.” That’s really familiar,” I said then looked a little closer. “Ha, I do know this rug!” Nancy Huntington submitted the pic; it’s a large mat that her mother-in-law Sylvia hooked after an adventure in Africa. Nan brought the rug to one of thedemonstrations our guild does at the Albuquerque BioPark a couple of months ago. Kids loved it! Here are a couple of close-ups I snapped at the BioPark. (Nancy generously shared the photo above.) Fabulous rug!
Mr. Snake and a giraffe.A closer view of Sylvia’s rug.
What’s your current state of affairs? On your frame, that is.
PS – Before I let you go, for anyone in the general New Mexican area, if you’re in the mood for a field trip this coming weekend (Friday-Sunday), make sure you look into the Santa Fe Fiber Festival brought to us by the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center. My partner in crime, fellow native New Englander and new New Mexican, Melinda, and I are heading up there Saturday. Hope to see you!
If you’re in the mood for hooking, try the Biopark’s Botanic Garden tomorrow between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. As I’ve mentioned before, the Adobe Wool Arts Guild demonstrates our craft/art (that distinction is a discussion for another day) on the first Tuesday of every month. As of last month, we’ve been doing it on the fourth Tuesday as well, same time. Why? you ask. Because WE LOVE HOOKING! And sharing it, of course. Stop by if you’re in the area tomorrow or even next week.
The ladies are ready to answer all your rug hooking and fiber questions when you visit Heritage Farm at the Biopark.
Maybe you’re already really into rug hooking and you’d like to try your hand at another fiber art. Knitting? Machine knitting? Spinning and dying your own yarn for your knitting project? Doll-making? Weaving? Quilting? No matter, we have pretty much all fiber activities covered come Saturday. The Yarn Store at Nob Hill in conjunction with Albuquerque’s Fiber Arts Council is holding an all-guild demo day (scroll down the page some) from 10:00 – 4:00 at Immanuel Presbyterian Church (114 Carlisle NE). All ages are invited attend and encouraged to try something new. See the poster below for more info.
Will we see at one of these fabulous fiber events?
The rug I was working on during last summer’s exodus: “Welcome to New Mexico.” Since then I’ve been taking stock of our first year here.
Taking stock – that’s what I did with some of the time I took off from the blog these past couple of weeks (which passed by REALLY QUICKLY). July 30 held particular significance and not just because it was the day before my kid’s 19th birthday. This year it marked exactly one year since we rolled into the state of New Mexico to stay.
Wow! We can’t believe it either. At times it’s been tumultuous, there’s no denying that. The holidays, they were tough without family and friends. The kid crashing her car – no injuries other than to pride! – means that just like in high school, Tom’s stuck driving her back and forth to work till she saves for a new vehicle.
Big picture, though, the move’s been most everything we wanted.
Where Tynan and I walk in the Bosque along the west side of the Rio Grande. This is city living Albuquerque style.
CLIMATE:
Certainly, the weather’s wonderful: lots of sun, lots less winter (compared to New England). One day last January, we hiked in the snow on the east side of the Sandia Mountains then drove the 45 minutes to home where it was 55 degrees. No need for a stinkin’ snowblower here!
RUG HOOKING (this is a hooking blog):
You’ll find several of us AWAG’s ladies demonstrating rug hooking at Albuquerque’s Biopark the first Tuesday of most every month.
Who would’ve guessed that there’s such an active guild of hookers out here in Albuquerque? I’ve made some great friends this past year, even one, Melinda, who moved from New Hampshire about the same time I moved from Massachusetts. Now the two of us try to get a hooking afternoon in each week. Better yet, she and her husband are New England Patriots fans just like us. Tom and I are no longer alone in a sea of blue and orange Bronco fans.
“Desert Gone Wild,” a table runner or wall hanging, went to a good home just last week.
As High on Hooking, I’ve managed to start selling pieces and been involved in not one, but two shows. The Adobe Wool Arts (ATHA) guild volunteered me as our representative to Albuquerque’s Fiber Arts Council which is currently planning next May’s Fiber Arts Fiesta. Then back in January, three of us headed down to Tuscon in Arizona for a hook-in with the Old Pueblo Rug Hookers. It was 80 degrees there! In January! I even managed a little sunburn!
You can’t get much closer to a balloon without being in the basket. This one landed right behind the house last fall.
HOUSING:
While we didn’t down-size like we planned (hey, with no cellar or attic, we realized we needed an extra room for the treadmill and bike), we found a great house close to the Rio Grande. That means the dog and I can head out to walk the scenic trails of the Bosque (the forest) whenever we wish. In summer this is best done in the early morning hours.) So far we’ve come across a snake, hawks and hummingbirds, lots of bunnies and geckos, two coyotes, and, just last week, a porcupine.
Tynan running free in the Bosque. Just like New England, autumn is the best season to be in New Mexico.
PERSONAL:
I turned 52 this summer. Moving here signaled the start of the next half of my life. (You think I’m optimistic, but one of my grandmothers died as an active 93-year-old, and the other is still very much alive.) One reason we moved here — besides the BIG sky, the art scene, and there being less people — was for the outdoor lifestyle. We like to hike. Unfortunately, a couple of months before we left the east coast, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I won’t lie, it’s been a pain in my ass, amongst other places, but especially for my knees. That’s limited our hiking some. But I’m on a new med; here’s hoping it works without too many side effects (the scary kinds they recite to us in all the TV ads). And that the damn hot flashes stop soon. (I am 52.)
Luckily, though, while my fingers have swollen some, they’ve suffered little pain. Maybe all the hooking keeps everything lubed up. Thank goodness. I know that most of you feel like I do: hooking is therapy. Without it, life would, to put it bluntly, suck.
Life here in Albuquerque definitely does NOT suck. There are all kinds of new experiences:
Wineries and old ruins and Indian pueblos and Petroglyph National Monument that puts volcanoes practically in our backyard!
Hot air balloons that float right over our house and sometimes land on the street right behind it!
Gardening in the desert – we’re not in Massachusetts any more where missing a day of watering isn’t be much of a problem. Worse, we pay for water here! But we’re learning all about drought-tolerant plants.
Tom posing in Tent Rocks’ curves.Navajo rugs up for auction.
I could go on, but I won’t right now. There’s too much to do. Rugs don’t hook themselves. Plus, we have company coming early September through mid-October. I can play Julie McCoy to the relatives.
How’s your summer been going?
Mass Ascension at Balloon Fiesta 2015. Have you ever seen so many balloons in one place?
High on Hooking says “Welcome to New Mexico.” Stay for a while and see why we love it here.
This wooly one welcomed us to Maple Winds Farm and the East Mountain Fiber Tour. Baa!
Last Sunday Melinda and I successfully conquered our first East Mountain Fiber Farm and StudioTour! Not bad for two New England rug hooking broads interested in discovering more of New Mexico’s fiber art scene. About the same time that I moved out here from Massachusetts, Melinda and husband Gary, a photographer, were trekking from New Hampshire. Though they already had a place to live, having purchased a condo decades ago, so they got to skip the whole house-hunting exercise.
Anyway, last fall Melinda stumbled upon the Adobe Wool Arts guild doing our monthly thing at the Albuquerque Biopark. Oh, she tried to cut and run, but she was busted. Now, of course, she’s a guild member doing demos at the botanical garden with the rest of us. And looking for more fiber art. Which we found on the East Mountain Fiber Tour.
Yarns and Cathy Kelly’s rugs available on our first stop on the tour.
The farms, shops, and studios on the tour are located in the area east of Albuquerque and her Sandia Mountains. It’s horse country – and sheep and goat and alpapca country. I’m sure there are more animals, but we weren’t there for them this time. Six stops made up the loop. Thank goodness Melinda was driving her SUV thingie; my little Honda Fit might’ve gotten stuck in a couple of rutted roads or driveways.
Some of Sandra Holzman’s beautiful handpainted garments.Melinda caught me perusing some of Robin Pascal’s woven items.
At Edgewood Yarns and Fibers, I couldn’t help myself despite my plans (and Tom’s back home) not to buy anything. A gorgeous blue skein of yarn jumped into my bag and begged to come home with me. “Hook me, hook me,” it called.
My precious…
After that it was farm time – sheep! We headed to Garcia’s Shaggy Wagon and Baa-Baa shop and then the Wool Shed at Maple Winds Farm. (Walking around the windswept farms, Melinda and I kept a good eye out for snakes. Didn’t see one, but then, we never saw a maple tree either.)
Someone might’ve been a little warm in the 90-plus degree temperatures.
Last, but first in many hearts, were the alpacas of Hollywick and Whispering Spirit Alpacas farms. Whispering Spirit even had a newborn for us to ooh and ah at.
For those in the area, Melinda and I have vowed to do it all over again next year. (Maybe we’ll win the grand prize goodie basket we didn’t win this year.) I think I heard someone mention that the East Mountain Fiber Tour 2017 is planned for June 10 and 11. Be there!
Is there anything cuter than this baby from Whispering Spirit Alpacas. (Angela, we could’ve easily put her in the Fit.)
