Happy 4th!

This past week has been a curious one, beginning with my Allergic Wednesday. Has anyone ever heard of allergies that hit in full force for one day, and one day only?

Imagine this scenario: Somewhere during the first cuppa tea of the morning, one realizes that what could have been an early morning sniffle has changed into a seriously runny nose, accompanied by sneezing fits and chills. A base camp is established at Knitting Central, stocked with fluids, tissue box, and wastebasket. Wandering away from base camp is certain to trigger a sneezing fit; staying put means the kleenex box has a chance of surviving until mid-afternoon without reinforcements.  (Ignoring the physical realm and putting mind over matter, without changing the day's plans, is likely to result in a triple-digit temperature and a wretched week. Been there, done that.  Benadryl, Allegra, and Claritin are totally useless.)  When bedtime arrives, a peaceful night of sleep is practically guaranteed ... no sniffles whatsoever disturb a peaceful repose.  When morning arrives, the wastebasket is returned to its usual location, the tissue box (the second one, that is ...the first one has achieved wastebasket status) is likewise returned to garrison, and she-who-had-sneezles recuperates with a few good books and possibly an attempt at knitting before an early bedtime.  Zombies don't knit.  The following day, life is back to normal. 

For a few years, I lived life without allergies.  It was lovely.  Drink a pot of tea a day, and the allergies stayed away.  Last year, they decided that tea wasn't sufficient to keep things under control.  It was nice while it lasted!  I read last week that there is a substance in green and black tea, quercetin, that is used for allergy treatment in alternative medicine.  And my favorite enzyme, bromelain (in pineapple) works to boost quercetin's effects.

I transferred photos from my camera to the computer, and discovered some photos from May lurking in the folder.  First, we have my Very Own Homegrown Scoby.  Isn't it cute? 

Then we have an attempt to photograph the Queen Susan, from yesterday afternoon. 

The focus wasn't so great, so I tried another one.  Except that one had a Spot in it. 

Again, Spot. 

And more Spot. 

And then I gave up. 

And now, a photo of my Hap Shawl.This shawl was finished a few years back, but the border didn't have enough stitches in it and so it lived in a corner of the craft room for a year or so until I decided I would frog the entire border, pick up more stitches, and reknit it.  I did this past Christmas (and most of January.  Borders have lots of stitches. especially when one picks up around 400 more stitches than the previous border contained.  What you see here is a pre-border-blocking photo.  The center had been blocked before, but the rest is (cough) fresh off the needles. 

What you do not see are the four holes caused by groups of severed threads.  I discovered them while pinning the critter out.  Alack and alas, they were annoying to mend, and I did a botchy job on some of them.  But they are fixed, the shawl is blocked, and it may see some use this fall!  I used it last Wednesday, when the temperature was at least 80 degrees inside, to try and warm up. 

Queen Susan update - yesterday saw the completion of 21 points, and I rounded the second corner.  A bit less than two sides left.  And it drapes soooo nicely over my lap when I work on it.  We're definitely on the home stretch now.  And I do NOT want to find severed threads in it when I block it.  Dropped stitches are preferable, but I'd rather not find those either. 

So far as reading goes ... Scaramouche has been finished, and I'm now listening to a Henty novel.  They're a very nice standby for light listening.  While recovering from the sneezles, I read a lot of Tamora Pierce.  And Finding Atticus.