Present card with payment.

Life continues. My moody broodiness seems to have passed, and I am once again feeling good, or at least better. The temperatures and humidity, especially the humidity, last week were mild enough for me to open the windows and let in fresh air. And pollen, mold, dust, and all kids of minute particles to which I am allergic. Wednesday I took 5 benadryls over the course of the day, and still had hives erupt on my wrists. I am sure that is what made me so blue. Yesterday, I closed up the house once again, cranked up the AC and today, here I am, feeling better.

I finished the Never Ending Stained Glass socks last night. I used 5 different methods of two-color knitting: 1.)The knit 2 in black, purl 2 in color for the ribbing, 2.)Stranded knitting for the spiral pattern of the leg, 3.)Slip stitch for the heel, 4.)Knit 1 in black, knit 1 in color ad nauseum for the heel turning and gussets, and lastly, 5.)Spiral stripes for the toe.




Yarn was Regia, needles for the leg, heel and foot were size 1 on 100 stitches, changing to size 000 on 88 stitches for the foot. (And I wonder why they took me so long?)

They are not perfect, but only in a minor details. They fit my feet, and fit inside my sandals without undo bulk. I have put them away in a drawer in order to rediscover them sometime in November and December. I don't really want to look at them again for awhile.

I have finished the kites for Kite Man, who has been away on vacation for the last couple of weeks. I will travel to English this week for payday and to pick up more work. I am almost tempted to go into my studio and sew some quilt blocks or something. You may have noticed the new photo as my blog header, showing several tree art quilts on display at a coffee shop in Indianapolis. That must have been in the summer of 1998. The last art quilt I made was in 2004 or 2005, when I had my store and I sold that one, which was also a tree. I don't think I even took a picture of it. Certain events occurred that put me off of the art scene, things that sucked the joy out of creating, and I hope that maybe now I can take up where I left off. I still have images and ideas in my head that I want to try. There are two or three plastic tubs of dyed fabric upstairs in the barn waiting for me.

But this morning, while listening to Rogue Male on BBC Radio Channel 7, I cast on the Swallowtail Shawl pattern. I have made this shawl before out of handspun, but gifted it to a friend. I am even making it out of Misti Alpaca this time, as called for, in a dark blue and black laceweight. I have, of course, cast on and ripped out the requisite three times - but think I have a firm grasp of the pattern now and so will cast on one more time and carry on to completion.

I only have the two dogs now, Foxy and Princess. It's amazing how much less time these two take than having the three.