We went up to Santa Fe today. My parents are staying at a hotel in Albuquerque this time but they like spending time up there too. Mostly because Dad likes his breakfast burrito from Cloud Cliff Bakery and we like to shop at the outlet mall up there. But there’s usually some plaza walking too.

Most of my time in SF is really weird for me because suddenly I’m a tourist in a town where I used to live and loathe tourists. Anyway, we were in the little Mercado where the Blue Corn is (as well as a new bar grille thing on the bottom floor called Sleeping Dog Tavern)- because that Mall one has a decent public bathroom - and I saw a big scarf/shawl thing that looked a lot like the one I made out of Artfibers yarn in the window of a shop with lots of floaty deconstructed flowery gauzy clothes. You know the kind, lots of linen and old looking lace - like Molly Ringwald but with crystals. I used to love dressing that way when I lived up there. It kind of fits. Anyway, I went inside to find out how much that stole was (300 dollars btw) and found all kinds of mixed media knit skinny scarves with dropped stitches and little milagros tied on with ribbon. I could make them in approximately 2-3 hours. Those averaged 100 dollars. There were also some freeform crochet sweaters by Valentina Devine but those cost a small fortune. Regardless of the downtown Santa Fe markups, it was a reminder that I’ve got to get back into creating items for the Etsy shop.

I know it’s common for people here to dislike Santa Fe for a variety of reasons. But I do miss some aspects of living up there. I went to the parts I liked and lived in my own world, usually at night, sneaking down to the Barnes and Noble every once in a while for some megacorporation chain coffee and access to lots of books. Now I live within two miles of that B and N and take day trips to Santa Fe. Life’s funny.

I just (re)started a pair of top down 2 socks on 2 circs this morning using some Greenwood cotton lycra striping yarn I bought in February. This time is going much more smoothy because I’m using the pattern that came with the yarn rather than vagely follow a pattern in a book.

The ride home was really rainy. There were roads that had been completely flooded by water and clay earth in Rio Rancho coming in from Bernalillo. Crazy. On the one hand I wish it weren’t so muggy and I worry about all the problems with water washing out and flooding new houses and streets, on the other this state really, REALLY needs this rain. This might be the end of a six-plus year drought and replenish that ever-drying water table the city’s been wrestling with that bothers a lot of anti-growth people (ironically the most vocal are usually imports themselves). Seriously it’s been like living in the friggin dust bowl here. It’s annoying and I have to go find some mosquito protection for the dog but it’s important and I’m willing to deal with that for the sake of a city I enjoy (for the most part).