I'm going to New Mexico! What should I do?

I'm going to New Mexico! What should I do?

I grew up in Northern New Mexico and have spent much of my adult life living in and around Santa Fe. I love this area of the globe a great deal and have explored a lot of it over the years. People love to visit New Mexico and I often get questions about where they should visit on their vacations.

I get this question so much I thought I'd better write a blog post about it. Please don't think that that is altruistic of me. It is self defense. I love my home state and I'll happily spend 30 minutes writing someone an email listing all the places they should go. This post is my shortcut for future requests. If you have other ideas especially of fiber-related places to visit in Northern New Mexico, please leave them in the comments. 

Weaving on the road

Weaving on the road

Summer is a great time for tapestry weaving and travel. I packed up an overly large bag (or two) of yarn, spindles, and looms and had a few days car camping at 11,000 feet with friends.

Some four selvedge weaving was done on this trip... the first completed on the ride there. One of my favorite views is this one coming out of South Park when you first see Mt. Princeton.

The satisfaction of making your own simple weaving equipment

The satisfaction of making your own simple weaving equipment

I come from a family of makers, so the idea of making my own loom is not totally foreign to me. However, my stash of woodshop tools is pretty limited. I have a mitre box and saw for making tapestry hanging bars, a few small wrenches and screwdrivers, and a motley collection of screws and wire.* Oh, and not long ago I added a big pipe wrench. If your guess is that I bought it to make pipe looms, you'd be wrong. It had something to do with a dye stove and a propane tank... I do occasionally use it to tighten or loosen the galvanized threaded pipe on my small loom and one day I'll make a large pipe loom and use it to tighten large nuts.

Folk Art Market fun

Folk Art Market fun

I went to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market this past weekend. I'd never been* and so this was the year. I had seen the film, Silkies of Madagascar, at the Clothroads film festival and then read the Thrums book, Silk Weavers of Hill Tribe Laos. Both things made me want to see the market where so many artists gather to show their art.