Navajo-Churro Sheep Wool

While on our way to Kayenta and Monument Valley in Arizona the day before Christmas Eve, we stayed the night in the Cameron Trading Post. This is a beautiful motel under Navajo management that we return to again and again. The rooms are big, tastefully furnished and absolutely quiet. The rates are very affordable especially when you take into consideration that the motel is rather close to the Grand Canyon. If you don't want to stay with the crowds, this is the place.

However, I don't want to write about the motel, but something that you can buy in the Trading Post: yarn. Not any kind of yarn, but wool from Navajo-Churro Sheep. The sheep are raised locally, the wool is harvested and dyed locally and some of it is sold in the Trading Post. It actually hangs in long strings from the ceiling and you just have to pick your colors.

It's very affordable as well, so nothing could stop me. I was in a knitter's heaven! The colors have beautiful names as well - rusty rose (on top), fuchsia (back right), jaded dreams (front left), peacock (front right) and sea foam (back left). Jaded dreams was the only color that was difficult to photograph.

Kaefer chose fuchsia, I'm going to knit some warm socks for her. Peacock will be for a friend and the other three are for me. All of them will probably be worked into warm socks since I constantly have cold feet. Our house is not particularly warm in the winter, especially not at ground level, and that's where my feet usually are!

This is the only picture that shows the jaded dream in a realistic way - and the peacock is closer to its real color as well.

My Friday Finds for this week - I just love yarn!

Fence in a Sandstorm

Well, not a bad sandstorm, really - but bad enough to chase us back into the car as quickly as possible.

In this picture you can see the sandstorm in the not too far distance, blowing the sand over to the rest area next to the freeway. We were on our way to Arizona, but this is still in the desert in California along Interstate 40 between Barstow and Needles. The desert here looks like this:

Not really much to see... and the sand can pretty much do what it wants. Like blowing over the ground and into people's faces and eyes - not fun. The wind was hard, and we tried to get back into our car as quickly as possible. But not before I had taken some pictures of the fence around the rest area.

I wish you could see how everything was bent in the strong wind!

I'm linking up to Theresa's Good Fences!

Covered with Snow

Hello my friends! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a great start into the new year. Have you set any goals, resolutions etc. for 2015? I have stopped doing that years ago because they usually vanish by the middle of February. If I want a clean new start, any day in the year is good for that. However, I do hope and wish that 2015 will be a creative year for us with lots of joy and laughter.

 Texture: "january15createedges" in soft light at 100%, levels adjustment on texture only

Over Christmas we spent a week in the American Southwest - Arizona and Utah. It's an area we have visited often and know quite well. However, there are always new places to discover and explore, and while we visited "old" beloved places, we had lots of opportunity to discover other areas as well. We love the American Southwest, it is full of inspiration and wildness, vast "emptiness" and amazing light and colors.

 Texture: "january7papergrunge" in multiply at 42%

There was snow and it was pretty cold. However, the snow and the red rock were a lovely contrast. I especially loved the snow covered plants and leaves - the resilience of nature! While hiking the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park I took pictures of these leaves and ground shrubs.

Texture: "january7papergrunge" in soft light at 85%

Texture Tuesday is still here in 2015 - a great opportunity to link up. If you want to see more textured work, just follow the link.

Sunday Gratitude

On this last Sunday before Christmas there is a lot I am grateful for.

- There is still color in my garden. The rain has knocked off most of the flowers that were still standing, but the Pineapple Sage still is strong and beautiful. Real eye candy at this time of year.

- The rain. Since the beginning of December we have had a lot of rain, and boy do we need it. Although we got quite some inches it hasn't put a dent in the drought yet. Conditions are still pretty severe. However, everything looks so pretty and fresh. The hills that were brown most of the year are green. I think the cows have a field day (literally!).

- We had a huge rainstorm the week before last. School was cancelled and we were advised to stay at home if possible. Nothing happened here - no flooding, no power outage. Some towns and villages nearby weren't quite that lucky and were flooded. Many roads were closed due to flooding, even the freeway. However, everything cleared rather quickly, but there certainly is some damage. We were lucky that nothing happened here and are very grateful for that.

- Kaefer was my assistant at our second artisan holiday fair. Our booth was much smaller than at the first one where we had a 10' by 10' booth. Here, we only had one 6' table and I had to redesign my display quite a bit. The day before I changed my sign to get more space on the table. It is now hanging from the burlap at the front of my table. Even though we had much less space, we sold so much more and got lots of compliments for the display and my items. The energy at the fair was happy and positive, the organisation of the event was excellent, the entertainment great and the food was good as well. Kaefer and I had a wonderful time. She is a great helper!

- Re-discovering knitting has been such a blessing. By now I have knitted so many doll's winter accessories and sold some of them during those holiday fairs. The next project is boot socks for Kaefer which she would like for Christmas but probably will turn out to be a sometime-in-January gift. After that I'm planning on a hat and infinity scarf for myself. Jo and I love to go to knitting stores, and I usually go through the patterns to get some inspiration. There's always the Internet for some wonderful inspiration as well.

- My friend Jo and I had our Christmas breakfast when we chose a nice café somewhere in the county, have breakfast there and exchange our gifts. I am so grateful for this wonderful friend. We got to know each other when our daughters went to the same charter school for fifth and sixth grade. We connected immediately and our bond has become stronger over the years.

- Kaefer and I love to spend time in our locally owned bookstore. It's wonderful to see how much she loves to read - and she reads actual books! She has very similar sentiments about a book like I do. It is good to hear that from a teenager.

- School is over for the holidays. Kaefer had finals last week with Thursday being the last day of school. It is a big relief to have a two weeks break, and fortunately she has almost no homework. She can really relax and I'm so glad about that. She has worked very hard and she certainly deserves a break. We all do. And this is why we all take time off for this winter break - time off the computer and similar addictions. It will be family time for the next two weeks. That doesn't mean that I won't sneak over to your blogs every now and then, I just won't post here.

I wish all of you a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah or whatever you're celebrating - winter solstice, Kwanzaa... - and all the very best for the new year. May it bring you lots of inspiration, health and joy.

A White Mug And the Neapolitan Novels

I wanted to write this post two weeks ago... well, that didn't happen, but I hope you don't mind to read about this today, even though this is not exactly this week's find.

My friend Jo and I love to have breakfast together every now and then, and usually we have our favorite cafés that we frequent a lot. Two weeks ago, however, we wanted to try a new café that is actually in walking distance from my home. The café is wonderful and has become a new favorite. We had planned to go to the yarn store afterwards, but it was still too early. So we opted to visit the Goodwill store next to the café instead.

That's where I found this white mug. I immediately fell in love with it - I love it's clear lines, its simplicity. I already pictured the hot chocolate in there.... but I actually use it mostly for tea. Hibiscus tea, to be exact. The red tea in the white mug looks fabulous (which you can't really see in this picture).

We did make it to the yarn store as well. Those are always dangerous places for me. I love yarn and knitting, especially with double pointed needles. I don't exactly know why - I just love the feel of it. I found some wonderful alpaca yarn in a rusty orange color - I plan to make a hat and a matching infinity scarf. And drink lots of hibiscus tea!

Another find of this (!) week is this book by Elena Ferrante, "My Brilliant Friend". Ferrante is an Italian writer from Naples, and this book is the first in her Neapolitan novels. It takes place in the late 50's in a poor neighborhood in Naples and she just describes her childhood and teenage years in post-war Italy that was dominated by her friendship with the girl Lila, but also takes in all the other happenings in her neighborhood. It's a portrait of Italy that really draws you in. The two other Neapolitan novels are "The Story of a New Name" and "Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay". It was this third book that I saw first in the book store - the title intrigued me and was the reason why I picked up the book in the first place. I then decided to start with the first book in the series - and I haven't regretted it. I will certainly get books 2 and 3 as well.

I'm linking up with "Friday Finds" after I had missed it the last time!

A Christmas Fence Is a Good Fence

There is this woman in our neighborhood who has a beautiful front garden and who always decorates her picket fence for the holidays. I'm usually not into big bows and stuff like that, but this is the big exception - I love the big red bows with the ball ornaments on the white fence (I just realized I used the word "big" three times in this sentence!).

It looks so festive and happy at the same time.

I guess she spends quite some time for this beautiful decoration, and we can enjoy it. It always makes me smile when I walk past her house.

Such a beautiful fence certainly falls into the category "Good Fences" - and that's why I'm linking up to Theresa's blog!

The Last One Standing

Most of my lavender is gone - but this one is still standing! Standing up to winter, rain, winds, digging squirrels. Quite amazing.

Here's the recipe:
layered original photo with kk_bestill in linear burn at 47%;
levels adjustment on the texture only;
added the quote;
layered with kk-hughes in soft light at 100%;
levels adjustment on the texture only.

I'm linking up to Texture Tuesday. Do you want to see more great texture work? Just hop over to Kim's blog!