Grateful

No, this post is not about Thanksgiving, ah well, maybe just a bit, but mainly I want to thank all my sweet, kind and wonderful friends! Your encouragement, your time and last but not least your support by shopping at the studio tour means so much to me! You blew me away - thank you from the bottom of my heart!

 The truth is that just a few days ago I have sold the last pair of my circle of fingerless gloves, would you believe that? And we are still two weeks away from Christmas! That's a first! 

And that is not all, because I will be busy until January with several fun custom orders, among them three adult cardigans!

For the Thanksgiving Holiday we went to Tucson, Arizona and that meant quite a drive and quite some knitting time. Fiona had asked for a new pair of fingerless gloves and since the hand dyed and hand spun alpaca yarn she had picked was so yummy and the color way so much fun, I used the rest for a pair for myself.

Back home I finished a third pair, similar color way... present for a friend, sssshhh! Don't tell!

Seeing the saguaros was amazing...

All together a great vacation!

I wish you all a very happy and very stress free holiday season, are you all on elves duty? 

I know I am still working on some Christmas presents. 

No peeking!

home

I have yet to mention what gave me the energy to write not just one, but even two posts in one day/in the middle of the night yesterday. It is a story of arrival and growing roots.

In the course of the two years that we have lived in Albuquerque I have come to meet quite a few wonderful, creative and talented women, some through school/kids, some in places as odd as Trader Joe's or Furr's, through the shared passion for knitting/sewing/crafting or at Hip Stitch.

I love them all, different as they are, all beautiful, energetic, inspiring and with a great sense of humor!

Just this summer after I came back from Germany I was greated with the warmest embraces, enthusiasm and thoughtful phonecalls. I realized - maybe for the first time in a very conscious way -, that I had found true friends and that Albuquerque now really has become home!

A few months before that I had started first Friday/scrap'n knit (or as Karen calls it "happy scrappy"!) craft night and started gathering these women once a month in our house. Mostly it is a group of about 10 women, and we do all sorts of crafts, scrapbooking, card making, embroidery, knitting, you name it.

I think I can safely say that we all treasure this event, the talks, showing off the latest projects, just being together.

Last night was one of those evenings, and while I did not get a lot done on my knitting project, I felt happy, content and energized after everyone had left.

At some point I was asked, if I'd ever like to go back to Germany to live there. I answered, that I am very happy, where I am. I said "I love America and America..?" I stopped to think and then Fiona filled in for me and said "...and America loves you!".