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.)
Cheryl Bollenbach (r) and Dagmar hold up Dag’s rug for show and tell Friday. Dag’s son was the original artist, but she’s the one putting the life into it. She’s a fearless fiber artist who incorporated all kinds of new techniques into this rug.
Hard to believe, but it’s a full week later and the open workshop with Cheryl Bollenbach has come and gone.
Fortunately, the lessons learned and the camaraderie enjoyed go on. Case in point: many of us from the Adobe Wool Arts guild are gathering Friday for another round of dyeing. Okay, personally, I’m not doing any dyeing; I don’t even have any wool to dye. I’m just going to hang out and provide the comedy.
Even though I was working with t-shirt strips last week, it didn’t stop me from purchasing some of Cheryl’s wools. I love the sparkly stuff; every rug needs a little bling in it.Check out the stem action on Dagmar’s rug. By incorporating cording and stitching and her own hand-dyed yarn, she punched up the texture factor.Linda’s Celtic color-planning. Oh, my!
I’ve included a bunch of pics I took last week. Some are of rugs, some are of rugs and their people, and some are just of folks concentrating on their hooking or having fun.
Mary and her dog sat next to me. She was so life-like (the dog, not Mary; Mary is full of life), that I had to reach over and pet her now and again. Again, the dog, not Mary.How my own psychedelic Tynan (the Welsh springer spaniel) is coming. BTW, he’s made out of old t-shirts.
Cheryl helped each of us develop some new skills, learn a few tricks, and look further into what it is we’re aiming to get out of this art/craft of rug hooking. She did some “long and lovely” dying in the Fry Daddy.
The other Linda’s rug included her Mom. I salute Linda for learning hoe to do a realistic face.Mary’s mountainscape is full of color. It made her absolutely giddy for the three days.
Cathy spent three days hooking and then sculpting these rocks. Very cool.
Friday, Cheryl finally put the “fire” into her presentation as she’d been promising: she demonstrated how we might enjoy aiming a heat gun onto decorated Tyvek to shrivel it. “Cut it into strips and you can really hook this up,” she told us. For those not familiar with Albuquerque springs, they tend to be rather windy. Indeed, Friday, Mother Nature let it gust. The doors of our police substation venue were desperate to open and close on their own; Linda was almost blown down as she stepped outside. Maybe fire wasn’t the best idea for the day especially given our EMS facility. Nonetheless, Cheryl was up for it. Alas, the heat gun on hand wasn’t. Too hot, it blew holes into the Tyvek. They were, we noted, quite interesting-looking holes. (Sorry, the wind precluded photos being taken.) Yet I’m sure something could’ve been done with that Tyvek and some wool and a little imagination. And even the foot-long, blue twist tie Cheryl deposited on my table Wednesday afternoon. That’s how she made us feel about hooking. Anything is possible.
Some of the colors I’m using on Tynan.The values of those same greens. I think that one of the most valuable things I learned was how my phone’s camera can make me use color better and thus improve as a hooker.
A “long and lovely” cooking.…and voila ! Here’s the piece all dyed and washed and ready to use. And it’s all mine because I won it!
Darlene hooking her rose with those skinny, little #3 cuts.
Denise, still new to hooking, even did some proddy work. (I’ve never done that…)
Thank you, Cheryl Bollenbach, for an an informative and plain old fun three days. Kudos to Catherine Kelly for all your organizational work and to all the other members of the Adobe Wool Arts guild for the hospitality and friendship you’ve shown me these last several months since I moved to town.
Denise working hard. So is Pat behind her, Pat who’s been hooking longer than most anyone!Hookers just gotta have fun.Much as Rug Hooking Magazine has the first rug last, Liz presented her first rug and her new second rug. Bravo, Liz!
Just stopped by to dash off a quick post – a “postette” perhaps? – as I’ve got tons to do to get ready for this week’s hooking activities. Tomorrow, being the first Tuesday of the month, will find me at Albuquerque’s Botanic Garden participating in my guild’s monthly demonstration. I’ll be bringing my recently completed bed sheet rug and the new one that I’m working on. Yes, I am rather obsessed and finding these rugs great fun to work on.
One finished bed sheet rug to show off at the Biopark tomorrow.And a new bed sheet rug to demo with the guild.
Then there’s this week’s 3-day rug camp with Cheryl Bollenbach. Like I mentioned last week, I finally decided that I wanted to do a portrait of my dog Tynan. But not a realistic interpretation looks- and color-wise. I do want to realistically capture his spirit. I managed to draw him onto the monk’s cloth a few days ago. Picked the colors only this morning and still have to sew the twill tape onto the pattern. So much to do before Wednesday!!!
Tynan and I are off to workshop with the Adobe Wool Arts Guild and Cheryl Bollenbach Wednesday.
What are your hooking plans and/or goals this week?
