It's a bird, it's a plane.... no - it's a flying cow!

The wonders of the Albuquerque balloon festival continue! I didn't even have to go to the Fiesta park to see the balloons. I drove to work this morning amid hundreds of balloons of different shapes and sizes. It was cool to see them last night glowing on the ground - but to see them in the air was breath taking.

The wind was quite strong this morning and the balloons were moving! We had a great view from the third floor of my building where there is a little balcony facing them. The balloons were landing all around me - and it looked like they were landing on top of houses in the distance! I'm sure they weren't - but it sure looked like they were!


Check this out!





I also thought it was very appropriate to see the Energizer bunny attracted to the power lines...





And it wouldn't be New Mexico without chilli peppers!!!



Seeing all the different shaped balloons was so surreal - especially before my coffee!




About an hour after the shapes had their flight - the "regular" balloons took to the sky. I love the shapes - but there is just something so wonderful and pure about the regular balloons - it was just beautiful to see them all around me.





One even got close enough to my building to wave to the passengers!




And appropriately - it had a black sheep on it!




I got out of work a little early today - Hooray for Fridays! - and my mom and I headed out for more sight seeing. I took her to Old Town and we shopped and ate and shopped some more. I still love this church!



As luck would have it - I stumbled upon a shop that had yarn!!



Of course I had to buy a skein.... it was meant to be! I got a gorgeous Moss green colorway hand dyed by Mango Moon and spun in Nepal - 100% viscose. Part of my purchase helps to provide safe shelter, health care and education to women in Nepal. So - not only was it meant to be - it my moral duty to buy this yarn! Oh and I got it at a shop called Schelu. The owner is a knitter and didn't know about the Albuquerque stitch and bitch - so I enlightened her - and invited her to come next week!





After Old Town - we headed up to Sandia mountain and tramway. My friend Bentley had warned me about not going up there during balloon festival. She wasn't kidding!!! The line for tickets was out the door and around the corner! My mom wasn't too eager to ride the tram anyway - she's afraid of heights - so we just looked around the outside and saw the whole city - even if it wasn't from 10,000 feet - it was still beautiful.






After the mountain - we went to the Sandia casino to play my mom's favorite - the penny slots! It is a beautiful sight against the mountain isn't it!?




Just another beautiful day in Albuquerque.



I better get to bed - tomorrow we are going to get up at 5am in order to get to the Balloon park before they take off! I hate mornings!!

Balloon Fiesta!

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is in full swing! This morning I watched as literally hundreds of balloons launched from all over the city. Unfortunately I was at work - so I didn't get any good pictures (just a few on my camera phone!) My mom is staying with me here for the weekend - yeah mom! - and she went over to the Fiest park this morning and watched the balloons launch. She said it was an amazing sight!

After work - we both went over to the Fiesta park and saw the "Glowdeo". It's basically a chance to see all the balloons up close while they are on the ground. All the balloon are lit up and "glow". It was gorgeous.

It was also crazy shaped balloon day - meaning all the balloons were different shapes - not just the normal balloon shape.

There was a witch, a wagon, an eagle, bumble bees, chili peppers, the space shuttle, an elephant, a dragon, a frog, noah's arc, Jesus on a cloud, a turtle, crazy monsters, a cat, a penquin, a scarecrow, a pirate, and many many other amazing balloons. It was cool to see them getting inflated with the fire from the gas tanks.
















There was also a lot of great food and we sampled frito pie, chicken fajitas, and mini cinnamon rolls. I really would have loved to get some Native American Fry bread - but the line was so long! Maybe next time.

After the balloons - they set off a wonderful fireworks show. It was a grand evening!

I couldn't wait!

I cast on with my new yarn! I couldn't wait any longer. I think three days is quite a long time actually :)

I did manage to finish the other socks I was working on before I started the new ones. I did a variation of the Rib of Doom socks from Sock wars. They are K3P3 for a round and then knit around....and they also didn't kill anyone...

So..

I'll call them the Rib of Life socks!

I think they look pretty good....






And now - my new sock. I'm using the Plain and Fancy yarn I got at the Taos Wool Festival. The colorway is gorgeous - I can't quite decide what pattern to use... I'm thinking a simple cable. But then again - the colors are so beautiful - it may be better just to so a simple stocking knit to show it off. I'll see how the cable looks and we can decide later if I should rip it out.

Here's a preview of the ribbed cuff...






Neither pic shows the true color - I'll have to try again when I can take a picture outside.

I am loving the yarn - I originally started with a size 3 needle - but changed to 4s and I think it's much better.

I'm in NM again by the way - I had 2 and a half wonderful days at home - got to see some friends, and hung out with my hubby and my pups!

I'm excited because my mom is coming out to visit this weekend for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. I'll be sure to post lots of balloon pictures in the coming days.

Taos Baby!

It was amazing! Nicol and Bentley and I took off on Friday morning - after an amazing breakfast at The Frontier - on our trip to the Taos Wool Festival.

The festival didn't start until Saturday - but we wanted to go up early and see the sights. We drove on the Turquoise trail from Albuquerque through Sante Fe and finally on to Taos.

New Mexico has such a beautiful countryside - I am so glad I had a chance to see more it. The drive through the mountains was amazing. The sky, the mountains, the rock formations - all of it was so unique.





Before we got to Taos - we stopped in a cool yarn, spinning and weaving shop - The Santa Fe School of Weaving.

The garden outside was full of objects 'd art.







The first thing we did when we go to Taos was go to the Taos Pueblos. I had never seen a Native American town before and it was so beautiful! It was full of turquoise doors and windows, dogs running everywhere and gorgeous handcrafts for sale. I bought some beautiful pieces of turquoise there.
































After the pueblo - we went to La Lana Wools. THE La Lana Wools! I was so overwhelmed I couldn't even buy anything. (at first) We went back the next day and I did manage to make some purchases... hehehe...









And how could I not take a picture of the famous Lady Eleanor shawl...





Check out my skein of yarn being modeled by the lovely sales woman...






The next morning we woke up bright up and early and headed out in the rain to the Taos Wool Festival. We arrived about an hour early and we weren't alone in our "pre-game" expectations - there was lots of people already there. We started the day out right - by playing with the animals - sheep, goats, llamas and alpacas! There was this one little goat that loved me - he kept nibbling on my fingers! Isn't he the cutest!





Who could resist this face....





or this one...





After our petting zoo adventures - we started in on the wool itself. All I can say is wow! There was so much beautiful yarn! There were two vendors that especially caught my attention.

My favorite was Notable Yarns by Brooks Farms of Texas. They know yarn in Texas....





They had the softest most amazing yarn at the festival. I bought about 8 skeins!

Here are some of my finds from Brooks Farm:









Here's a closeup of my favorite...










My other favorite was Plain and Fancy Sheep and Wool company... Just look at the richness of their colorways...






I got three different colorways - 2 skeins in each color of 400 yards each! That's 800 yards of wooly goodness!










And ok - I caved.... I bought a spindle.... and some fiber... ok 2 spindles and lots of fiber. I know I know I always said "just keep knitting, just keep knitting..."

But I couldn't resist!!

I got one "regular" spindle - but then I saw this other woman spinning with this tiny spindle and making the most gorgeous lace weight and sock weight yarns... I couldn't resist.






Here is one of the places I got some fiber... Table Rock Llamas Fiber...





(I only bought one of these I swear!)


In the afternoon we headed up to Arroyo Seco and Taos Sunflower yarn shop. (No - we didn't get enough yarn at the festival!)





We ran into Cheryl there too




They had a fantastic sale on Noro - so I got a few skeins.


Finally - after the Sunflower yarn shop - we started back to Albuquerque via the Rio Grande Gorge...






It was an amazing trip!