I knew I shoulda taken a left at Albuquerque!!!!!
Today we drove to Albuquerque, just an hour south of Santa Fe. And for this post I’m starting with my favorite thing – a new yarn shop!! The Yarn Shop at Nob Hill is located in south Albuquerque and seems to be the only independent yarn shop in town. This surprised me since its a pretty big city.
When I first walked in, I thought it was a very small shop but I was WRONG – it was the whole building! I picked up an adorable little print of a bear knitting that I saw immediately on walking in the door – I’ll laminate it and put it up somewhere I can see it everyday😊. The shop carries other gift items and a small section of embroidery materials and the rest is yarn.
There was a good selection of local southwest yarns from New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona. I purchased a skein of fingering weight yarn by Ziawoolz named Sundancer – its full of greens and blues and should make a lovely something for Mother’s Day! The shop also had everything from Auraucania to Brown Sheep to Lana to Malabrigo to Noro, Plymouth and Universal. They have several sitting areas and a large table to visit at when there’s not a pandemic but, in the meantime, are hosting a zoom.us group video chat “Virtual Big Table” open knitting. I love the ways the knitting community have found to stay in touch this last year!

He did seem very friendly!!!!
On our way to Camping World for supplies, we passed a sign for the Petroglyph National Monument and decided to check it out. We pulled up to the gate and showed our National Park Pass (LOVE it) and received some instructions about parking and trails and drove on through. The park ranger that day was very informative and enthusiastic about the area – he came through some of the trails, answered questions and checked on visitors. He seemed to enjoy his job! (Ed. Note – Yes he did!!!)
Volcanoes!!!!
Petroglyphs are designs and symbols carved into volcanic rock in areas through North America. This is one of the largest sites. These symbols were carved by Native Americans and Spanish settlers around 1300 – 1500, over 700 hundred years ago. There are three trails that wound in and around the rocks where the symbols could be spotted. It is believed that millions of years ago the area held several volcanoes that erupted. This left a ridge of rocks made of basalt. Over time, through oxidation, the outside of the rocks turn a dark gray color. The symbols are scratched into the rocks exposing the lighter color underneath through the symbols. It is not known what all the symbols represent. Some are personal to the one who created the symbol, others show tribes or clans and others have religious meaning. It was and still is a ceremonial place to Pueblo tribes and is respected as such. We thoroughly enjoyed it and so glad we saw the sign!
Before heading back to Santa Fe, we stopped for dinner at Monroe’s. They were recommended by some locals in the yarn shop. It was good New Mexico food covered in red and green chili (for the hubs), my chili was on the side😊. Since I didn’t have to drive, I got in quite a lot of knitting time on my Wispy!
Some of those symbols look like your pre-school refrigerator art!