Category: Santa Fe Fall Fiber Fiesta

September 7, 2021

Change coming this fall

Change is good. I really believe that. Most of the time. Unfortunately, occasionally it’s painful.

Photo of neon sign reading "Change." — “Change”: Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash.

Case in point: The US Post Office and other shipping companies announced that they’ll be instituting a surcharge on shipments come October 1. That is not a good change. Worse, this means that I’ll have to change, that is, raise some of my prices slightly to compensate. I don’t anticipate having to do it for small items – like mug rugs and the sunflower wall hangings and similarly sized items – but the shipping costs for larger items are WICKED these days even without a surcharge.

Please be advised that I won’t do anything till October 1, so if you’re interested in something, order it on Etsy NOW! Or message me to let me know your concerns. I’m sure we can get a rug to you somehow. In fact, if you wish to purchase anything in the shop before or after October 1, contact me directly rather than going through Etsy. You’ll get a bit of a price break anyway as then Etsy won’t take their bite out of it.

Also note that I’m reviewing options to Etsy, including WooCommerce and other such apps. If you have any words of wisdom or other advice for me, please, please share!

Unfortunately, our two forays this year into public sales (one outdoor, one indoor) haven’t had the best results. Damn you, Covid! While we usually do the Fall Fiber Fiesta in Santa Fe, I’m just not that sure it’s a good bet given the virus and its mutations. It’s indoors and three days and a lot of driving or hotel rooms. I usually love this event, but maybe next year. Another bad change…

Now that the unpleasant stuff is out of the way, I’m reminding everyone of the coming In the Studio Workshop Week 3 in October. I’m teaching two sessions of Hooking with T-Shirts. I have a few spots left in each class (both on Saturdays, October 23 and 30). Some workshops are full or almost full, while others have some room. Contact each teacher if you’re interested in their class. More info HERE. Besides myself, teachers include the very cool and fabulous: Susan Feller; Karen Miller; Beth Miller; Meryl Cook, Carmen Bohn, Charlie Dalton; Anastasia Tiller; and Lisa Meecham.

No change here, two dogs on hooked rug. — No change here – Tynan and Bowyn bring you the current WHAT’S ON THE FRAME. It’s the rug that I started while traveling and have finally gotten back to (repurposed t-shirts on monk’s cloth).

So, how’s your fall shaping up? Are you back to the usual stuff or is Covid still cramping your style too?

November 21, 2019

“What is holiness” opens tomorrow; so does Fall Fiber Fiesta!

High on Hooking’s got a little problem. We’re supposed to be in two places at once tomorrow night. We’ll actually be at the Fall Fiber Fiesta in Santa Fe. In fact, we’ll be there till Sunday evening. Fortunately, this show, “What is holiness?” at the Santa Maria de la Vida Abbey in Albuquerque WHICH OPENS TOMORROW runs till December 13. My piece “Sacred Life” was juried in. Maybe we can go together?

Much excitement going on in our little fiber art world here these days. How about yours?

What is holiness? art show poster

November 18, 2019

It’s time again for Santa Fe’s Fall Fiber Fiesta!

Hooked rug to be included in Fall Fiber Fiesta — This is a section from a new table runner, “My Bollywood Holiday,” which will be available at the Fall Fiber Fiesta this week.

I’m busy, busy finishing up rugs for this weekend’s annual Fall Fiber Fiesta at Santa Fe‘s Scottish Rite Temple. Unlike Albuquerque’s biennial Fiber Arts Fiesta which is primarily educational in nature, this event brings you items for sale: hooked rugs (!); felted objects; knitted and crocheted items; yarns (you supply the creativity when you get home); Navajo rugs; woven creations to wear; and so on.

Saturday and Sunday are free. Friday night’s Artists’ Reception will cost you $10, but then you have first dibs on…everything! Plus there will be live music, a silent auction, eats, and drinks. See more info on the card below. LOTS of info can be found on Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center’s website here.

Hope to see you at Fall Fiber Arts Fiesta. In fact, if you mention this blog post, you can take 10% off any of High on Hooking’s rugs! Did I mention that this is an excellent opportunity to shop for those upcoming holidays?

Fall Fiber Fiesta info

November 26, 2018

After the vending…

So, vending is over for the year; time to relax. Yeah, if only. Instead, I have LOTS OF WORK here at High on Hooking, both new, old, and some things I’ve been putting off till now.

Rug and mug to be sold on Etsy now that High on Hooking's vending season is over. — **“New Mexico Geometrics”** just went up into the Etsy shop last night! It comes with 4 blue mugs (if you choose), but also has a ring on the back for hanging. It’s 12×12 and hooked with recycled t-shirts!

Filling the Etsy Shop

Unfortunately, because I was so busy getting ready for and then actually doing the vending of October and November, I’ve had little to no time to devote to my Etsy shop. I was even forgetting to take down items that sold “in person.” Finally got around to that just before heading up to Santa Fe for the Fall Fiber Fiesta. In fact, I was in such a tizzy that day, that I initially deleted the wrong rug! With no time to put it back up, I hoped desperately to sell it that weekend. And you know what? Sometimes desperate prayers work! A lovely volunteer bought it. Now, though, I’m in the midst of putting up those items that didn’t sell at various shows. If you know someone who’d like to give a rug a forever home, send them here. There are all kinds of sizes and prices. And remember, every little rug deserves a home!

ATHA Biennial Favors

Because the Adobe Wool Arts Guild (AWAG) here in Albuquerque is so close – out west, eight hours is considered close – the Denver guild putting on next August’s ATHA Biennial asked us if we might help out a bit with an item to be included in the swag bag. We agreed, of course, and now I owe them some hooking. Vending put me behind the other AWAG members who will now laugh at my hurry-up attempts this week at our three-day retreat. See if I make them brownies…

Hooked rug on Anderson frame. Now that vending is finished, I can work on it. — I walk by this poor rug all day long. In the kitchen I try to sit with my back to him, but I can still hear him calling. “You promised we’d be together today…” The truth is that I long to sit and work on him more than any other rug. (But don’t tell that to “Kleeful” below.

The BIG Rug

Still languishing on the Anderson frame, shooting daggers every time I walk through the dining room, which is nothing more than the area next to my kitchen in my open-concept home, is the BIG Boucherouite of which I’ve hooked nothing but some outlining. Working on him is far more imperative now what with Albuquerque’s Fiber Fiesta (not to be confused with Santa Fe’s Fall Fiber Fiesta; ours is MUCH bigger and more educational in nature) right around the corner. Big Boucherouite is to be my primary entry. By the way, anyone, including YOU, can enter multiple pieces of fiber art; there are several categories. We receive stuff from folks all over, even Europe! But the important take-away is that entries are due online by March 1. Check out the Call for Entries here.

Unfinished Projects

You know, before I moved from Massachusetts to New Mexico, I never allowed myself to start a new rug before I finished the one I was working on. That went to crap pretty quickly out here as I started vending and taking annual workshops with AWAG, let alone doing commissions. Mats are always bumping others in my now not so insignificant queue of UFOs. Really, I’m not particularly happy about that, but it seems to be a fact of life these days. One day…

So, you see, vending is over but more work remains. Fortunately, I love my work! Maybe hemming a rug up not so much. But it’s getting colder even here in New Mexico, so the timing’s good. Oh, except for Christmas is in less than a month! Time to de-autumn the house and trim a tree. It never ends…

Dog and stuffed opossum sitting on unfinished hooked rug. — Tynan and his new best friend Opossum (thank you, Nan Huntington!) bring you this week’s “What’s on the frame.” Still working on “Kleeful.” Oddly enough I’m working on its (wide) perimeter before I fully decide on the small inner squares. I figure that it ought to be real fun when I try to hook those center squares what with the heaviness of the t-shirt loops. Not!

Are you like so many of the rug hookers I’ve seen on Facebook and Instagram this week who already have their trees up and their houses looking like Santa’s home up at the North Pole? How? Already? Maybe you’d like to come do my house too…

November 20, 2018

Trying to lay low…

Two women and a hooked rug at Santa Fe Fall Fiber Fiesta — Something to be thankful for: When you meet an Instagram friend for the first time! Josephine of **lonnieandjosephine** Instagram fame showed up out of the blue, surprising me at my booth this weekend. And she bought a rug! Nothing’s better than that. Except that… she’s coming to next week’s **Adobe Wool Arts Guild** retreat here in Albuquerque. Woohoo!

Santa Fe Fall Fiber Fiesta 2018 is in the books, so now it’s time to lay low for a bit. Well, not exactly. It’s Thanksgiving week, and the kid is coming home tomorrow. Thursday’s dinner for our little family and a few friends is here, and you know what that means: cleaning and cooking! Not so much the hooking for a couple of days. I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving with your own kin and whoever else circles your table – in body and/or soul. Enjoy one another! Lay low and tell your stories. Eat! Hook rugs! But do it together.

Happy Thanksgiving, 2018! What are you most thankful for this year?

Dog with hooked rug and stuffed turkey, trying to relax and lay low for the holiday — Couldn’t resist. I think this is actually last year’s pic, nonetheless, Tynan and High on Hooking bid you all a very Happy Turkey Day.