The Albuquerque Trip
Another graphics-intensive post today, so let me apologize in advance to those of you who are viewing this site through a modem.
Since I was in the desert, I felt obligated to get a picture of the Sooper Seekrit Projekt in its natural environment.
The day after Thanksgiving (awesome food - thanks to my sis, mom, and my sister’s mother-in-law), we went down to Village Wools.
Visitors to Village Wools will find themselves inspected by Purl, the guard dog on duty. She was very sweet, but kind of timid. Everytime someone entered the shop, she followed them, sniffed them, and then went and sat back down. The one time I tried to pet her on the head, she startled and loped away.
There was a very nice lady working at one of the many looms they had in the middle of the shop. She was very happy to chat about what she was working on. Apparently she’s a recidivist weaver, coming back to the craft after a many-years absence.
Village Wools did not have the best selection of yarn that I’ve ever seen in a shop. (That distinction is a toss-up between my LYS and Hilltop Yarns in Seattle.) But they definitely had the best selection of wool yarns that I’ve ever seen under one roof. Here’s about twenty different colorways of Manos Del Uruguay:
And more wool:
On Saturday, we got up early to drive back to San Antonio. My nephew Alex bid me a coy goodbye. I’m going to miss him and his brother. They’re really cute little boys.
Once we got back inside Texas, we passed by an expansive windmill farm. I think this is part of the “windtricity” project which serves parts of West Texas including San Antonio.
This picture doesn’t do the site justice. There were scores if not hundreds of windmills atop the mesas.
Finally home again well after dark on Saturday, we popped in the movie Frida and settled down with our knitting. Well, my stepdad didn’t, though he wants me to put together a starting kit for him so he can learn. My mom has taken to it like a fish to water. Here she is working on a stockinette scarf for one of the boys.
There’s more to the trip of course. I met a lovely artist in downtown Albuquerque who paints these lovely cartoonish pieces, including one titled “Knit Yourself New Relatives In A Weekend!” She was cool. And I went into a co-op to buy some pozole for Christmas. They were all out of the regular stuff, so I had to settle for blue pozole. I’m going to have the most colorful stew pot in the county this Christmas. I’m going to try to talk my sis into bringing out some green chiles from N.M. to complete the color palette.
And that’s it for me, folks. I’m going to try and crank out a couple more rows on the Seekrit before I hit the hay.
December 2nd, 2003 at 10:13 am
Sugar, did you buy pozole already made, or do you mean that you bought just the hominy? Enlighten me.
And by the way, I’m terrifically jealous of those Manos colorways. My two LYS only carry about six colors each, and it’s nowhere near enough!
December 2nd, 2003 at 3:56 pm
The pozole I bought was just hominy, not the full-blown pozole stew. I make that from scratch, silly! What do you take me for?
December 2nd, 2003 at 5:11 pm
How do you make the stew? I had some once, and it was yummy. Lots of shredded chicken.
Your nephew is cute!
December 2nd, 2003 at 9:16 pm
Sorry about the multiple posts! My 14 month old is learning to use the mouse
December 3rd, 2003 at 4:42 pm
No prob, Georgina. I cleaned up after the kid.
I make pozole using a recipe my mom gave me. I put in pork, chicken, onion, chili powder, some cayenne pepper (I put that in everything) and serve it with tamales on the side. It’s really yummy.
December 4th, 2003 at 10:16 am
Oh my god. Pozole with tamales on the side? What, do you just explode afterwards? Where I come from pozole is sensibly served with shredded cabbage and/or lettuce, diced white onion and radish. You know, *vegetables*!
But I give you much credit for making it from scratch. Good job. Would you like to come taste some of my chicken mole?
December 4th, 2003 at 10:40 am
What are these “vegetables” of which you speak? Some kind of seafood?
I actually had some pozole at a local Mexican restaurant yesterday, and the bulk of it was shredded cabbage. Very good, but the broth was not as spicy as I like. I think I’ll have to add some more veggies to mine this Winter.
And I am *always* ready for some chicken molé.
December 5th, 2003 at 12:21 am
Hey… I somehow stumbled onto your blog (who the hell knows how, but that’s what happens when you are up too late and should be studying). Your oatmeal colored aran with the honeycomb stitches is GORGEOUS. If any man in my life appreciated knitting I’d make him one in a heartbeat. Maybe I should size it down and make it myself… Wait–I need to get out of grad school first. Anyway, the blog is very well done. We need more men-types who knit.