Michaelmas Term

Very long time no blog! 

It's been a strange and at times difficult Summer with the Mental Elf playing up and the Black Dog making a reappearance - all due to a muddle with medicine dosages. 

The slugs eating all of my Dahlias and most of the Sunflowers didn't help. And the rain! There was hardly any macrophotography to be had as all the poor winged creatures hid from the deluge (and me). After i decided to actually kill the slugs (upsetting),who seemed to be the only living things left in the garden, i didn't feel justified in photographing them. 

    I've been feeling much better since mid-August so i can only excuse myself for half of this long blog-gap. Anyway, self-recrimination is no way forward.I hope anyone who reads this has had a perfect Summer - with fewer slugs!

 Here's what i've been up to:

Knitting

[reverse side of cushion]

I made this cushion for a great friend of my great friend John. Ulla is a Danish forensic psychologist (among other things). She came to visit at the end of August with news that after many years in England she had decided to return to Denmark. I couldn't make it to her farewell party so i made her this cushion. Ulla is a truly beautiful person. I can't not mention that!

This is an example of 'My Intarsia Hell' ! It's always worth it in the end, though.

Bears

At long last, i got hold of some proper German mohair! I spent a whole week designing, re-designing, amending and revising a pattern for a bear small enough for  one whole bear from 1/16th of a metre of fabric. It's incredibly expensive.

I don't have an entirely finished bear yet but will do soon.

I tried out the pattern in felt, first. I think it's an excellent fabric and has something sweet about it so i shall be making more bears and other animals with felt. It's also cheap and doesn't fray!

Limbs and bodies were fairly easy to anatomize proportionately but there are several disembodied heads lying around.

Painting

The canvases have gone white.

 I thought this might happen one day. It's about an interest in texture. There are a couple of canvases like this, begun years ago. I thought they were waiting for colour - i took my reluctance to be some kind of block-nonsense; now i think colour can sometimes be inappropriate.

 As i'm piling so much matter onto the canvases, i think it might be time to try working on wooden supports.

I've been making a lot of my photographs black and white. Perhaps this has crystalized my view.

'...a poor describer of light.'

Crochet

 First crocheted blankey finished. I couldn't work out a way to square it in the end, although i did try. I think it was already too big.

It measures about 48 inches across. Kind of neither here nor there, purpose-wise. I'll try a squared one next and keep going.

Last but not least...

The livestock. Everyone is fine and they deserve a whole post to themselves, really. I''ll just mention this little treasure. She came into the house  at the very end of August. We had seen her in the gardens during the Summer and were sure she lived at Number 5. However they had moved away. She is logged with the RSPCA as a lost cat but other than that i have no way of finding her owners.

    

 Of course, we have fallen in love with her. We are calling her Dolly.

It became almost immediately apparent that Dolly had a secret (approximately 4 secrets).
Kittens due any time now :-0   !!!

(Cats 5 - Dogs 1) 

not including the kittens.