whoever brought me here

start with saturday morning...

Two words that say it all. I left the house in the morning calling to Ron that I was going hunting and gathering and didn't know when I'd be back. I was on my way to the 29th annual Taos Wool Festival in the park. Several hours later I returned with a large modest bag of yarns. Two gorgeous autumn days of blue, yellow, green. The weather stayed chilly and sunny. Perfect! There were some new vendors and lots of stuff to inspire, warm, gather.

At home I immediately started knitted with the incredible, expensive, delicious, luxurious, Jabberwocky Farm cashmere. Made a pair of handwarmers that I wore this chilly morning working at the computer -- well, I wasn't really working, just facebooking about the weekend and looking for an excuse to wear a luxury that almost makes me swoon with delight.

Jabberwocky is run by two women from Guffey, Colorado. They raise cashmere goats and the wool from these animals-with-names is then dyed and spun. Every year I try to buy at least one skein of cashmere from them. There usually isn't a huge supply and I never know what colors will be featured from year to year. That's what makes it interesting and, therefore, more desirable. Like when we could only get strawberries in summer? I usually make a beeline to their tent upon arrival at the park -- which I did on behalf of friend Joan who was away and asked me to pick up two skeins of any color ("except faded longjohns red"). All day I revisited her yarn (it was in my tote after all) and left it up to fate as to whether I'd go back to buy some for myself (I'm trying to moderate my yarn-buying). And then...just before leaving several hours later, fate intervened and I bought the last skein of aubergine. Drove home, rolled it into a ball, and immediately started knitting with it.

yakkety-yak
Went back next day to pick up yak down yarn. It's almost as soft as cashmere and I'm curious to see how it works up and wears. Truthfully, though? I bought it because of it's romantic/exotic Himalayan connection (and nice color). This yarn is from Tibet and Mongolia through Bijou Basin Ranch in Elbert, Colorado. All in all, it was a lovely weekend and I wanted to pitch a tent on the grass, drink tea, eat cinnamon roasted almonds, and live there until it was over.

saturday night
continued my unusual social whirl weekend that began with the very successful Storied Recipes book launch party the night before. I somewhat reluctantly put aside my needles and yarn and with a different brand of enthusiasm went to RuYi Studio where Pearl Huang's Taos International Society was sponsoring a...well...international event. Turkish poet, historian, musician, storyteller Latif Bolon was performing. Handsome, articulate and knowledgeable, he had the packed audience mesmerized.

At one point he read some poems of Rumi and Nasim in Turkish and asked someone to read in English while he accompanied them on a stringed instrument that's existed in Turkey since ancient times. Pearl, who in a former life, was a performer in Los Angeles, read the English version and then spontaneously performed it again in Chinese! Truly international.

Meanwhile, the International Bazaar exhibit at RuYi continues until next Saturday when there will be a closing event. I'm honored to be exhibiting some of my handknits there -- and to be teaching a mini workshop Thursday evening on knitting & writing memoir.

We are the mirror as well as the face in it.
We are tasting the taste this minute
of eternity. We are pain
and what cures pain, both. We are
the sweet cold water and the jar that pours.
            Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks)