Fun as Folks

The photos are coming fast and furious now!  

First and foremost, here is our lovely host and tour guide in Santa Fe, Carol (permission was granted!).  I met Carol through a mutual friend when I was working on The Knitted Mile.  She contributed a fair amount to that project and we have maintained a steady email correspondence since that time.  This was the first time I met someone who I have only known online.  It didn't feel strange - we just dove into our usual conversation.

We had a nice afternoon of knitting and talking while Finn and Lucy played on her iPad.  Everyone was happy.

After days in the car, it is very fun to be out and about using those jointed things we have that some call "legs".  We legged it over to the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe, where they have an amazing collection as well as changing exhibitions.

Here are some good luck charms from Italy.  I think my favourites are the lungs.  The entrance to the exhibition halls contained good luck charms from all over the world.  Surprisingly, the images were all very similar.  Or maybe not so surprisingly.

Dolls from Morroco.

A huge installation of ceramic pieces from Mexico.  This section of the museum is one couple's collection of folk art that they donated.  It is installed according to their request, much like the Barnes Collection in Pennsylvania.  The room is chock-a-block full of stuff from everywhere.  It was a little confusing to remember where I had been and what I had missed but I really like it when people don't install art according to some over-arching theme like chronology or geography.  It felt surprisingly personal.

There was a nice collection of samplers.  Unfortunately, they were difficult to photograph through the glass.  I loved this white on white one.

This one was made by a nine year-old girl.  Lucy said that she didn't think she could have done that at nine.  Errr...yeah...me neither.

This was a beauty too.

Loved the red on white.  This one is from Mexico.

One of the special exhibitions was of bridal wear from Macedonia.  These are wedding dresses.  Apparently the women wore this style of dress up until the 1950s.  As a woman aged and bore children, her clothes became increasingly less ornamental.  Less ornamental, that is, until she died and was buried in her wedding dress.  You can draw your own conclusions about what that says about women's value in society.

There were several examples of knit socks.  Again, the glass made them difficult to photograph but they were all stunning examples of colourwork.  I was trying to get a good shot of the heel - it isn't the usual one that I use.  Perhaps Helen can decipher my poor photograph and shed some light on the technique?

At the end of the exhibition, they had a jacket that was similar to the traditional ones on display that visitors could try on to get a sense of how it felt to wear such a costume on an everyday basis.  It weighed 12 lbs. and it was on an adjustable rack attached with springy chords.  Fun!