Taxes, crafters, Misfits and socks

You could set that title to the kind of music that creates instant earworms. You're welcome, I'm sure.

Misfits box arrived last evening about eight, I'm betting their last delivery of the day.

All in order though

Slight mishap with the box of blueberries, which came in one of those cardboard protectors, which popped open, making the box fly up in the air, land on the floor and burst open, to the joy of the tiny ants now in residence, while I crawled around the floor retrieving them, berries, not ants,  from under shelves and other unlikely places.

Carrots and potatoes will feature in next week's Easter dinner with Handsome Son. He'll be working Easter Sunday probably, so a day or two after that. 

I just do the main course at holidays, leaving the cheese and crackers before and the dessert after, to him.  Easter usually brings jelly beans and tiny chocolate eggs in plastic egg container things. Silly and fun.

Then good news from the local taxman: the state Homestead Rebate, who names these things, will this year knock a sizeable amount off my May taxes on the house. That still leaves a large amount to pay, NJ being proudly Number 1 nationally in amount of real estate taxes, but I'll take it anyway.

And here's the current reading, aside from a funny E J Copperman mystery e-book

The Hewett book interviews and commissions essays from a wide variety of women of color in the craft world.

Thoughtful interviews with people like the wonderful Sonya Phillips about whom I've gone on about before, and a lot of crafters less well known. 

The only tiny drawback is that it's so moving that I have to run make stuff every couple of pages. It may take a while to read it at this rate. 

I haven't started the Barking at the Choir yet. I'll let you know how it goes.

And here's a side effect of the craft book

I had intended to take a few days off from knitting, but suddenly realized I could invent a stretchy cast on, much trickier than the stretchy cast off, so there you are. The start of a top down spiral tube sock. Sorry about the pink, Mary Anne, it's what's there in the box of supplied yarn.

Yesterday I had to break errands into two parts, getting a wave of weakness after the post office sock-dispatch run and library, and had to go home and rest then set off again after lunch to do a bit of food shopping. I think it's the last hurrah of the vax aftereffects.  Okay now. Just a word in case any blogistas experience anything like it. It passes.

In between all these enthralling events, I potted up a couple of begonia cuttings I'd rooted in water for Gary, and delivered the pot next door, also forcing him to come pick up the case of wrenches, siphons, hoses and miscellaneous stuff he'd left here after the plumbing. He still hasn't accepted payment for the toilet, keeps saying next week, next week. He'd never make it as a plumber. As a neighbor he's world-class.

October dinner, ginger and friend, new figure, and the gummint

Yes I know it's not October yet, but Handsome Son has a lot of evening shifts lately, so we're seizing the day and calling it October. Like celebrating Thanksgiving on whatever day he's free 

Table laid, last few daisies picked. 

Menu set: pumpkin, carrot, lentil soup with hot biscuits, ham with steamed carrots, couscous, Dijon mustard or horseradish, banana bread with hot tea. 

I like the table organized ahead, makes me feel I'll get there.

This morning  seemed to be a good day to bring in the ginger plant and the moringa plant, of which another seedling broke ground here, so all is not lost with the moringa.

And I have embarked on the next Figure. This is a piece of silk organza with one of my woven works printed on it, hooped over a piece of sari silk.

Here's the original work I photographed and printed out

Monotype background, woven wire, beads, roving mounted on it. I painted the frame to suit, echoing the metallics.

And here's the back of the hoop showing you how this works if you're not familiar.

The design is going to be executed trapunto style. That's where you stitch shapes, through two layers of fabric, sculpting them, then insert stuffing, here very fine cotton roving, into the sections, entering the back via tiny cuts you make,  to render the three dimensional shapes you want.  

It's a way to get more complex shapes going than you get by sculpting into the complete head. This section will be appliqued to a head to form the top of the figure.

And the outside edges I think I'll do as stumpwork, the edges tightly stitched in buttonhole stitch, then cut around to stand free. That way there'll be an impression of wild hair.

If little of this means much, just watch this space and you'll see it unfold. I know we have some experienced embroiderers reading here, to whom trapunto and stumpwork are not foreign terms. We also have quite a few interested, but a bit less conversant,  readers, too. 

So, as the French say in their gummint forms, rayez ce qui est inutile. Delete that which is not applicable. 

Speaking of gummint forms, my Homestead Benefit form came today. This is an annual nod to our proud claim of First in the Nation in high real estate taxes. 

You can get a bit back if you can figure out how to apply. Unless the state Treasury says oh sorry, we can't afford it this year. More likely to happen with a Republican governor, Christie, I'm looking at you. 

But even they manage to find a bit for the downtrodden in an election year, which this is.  Current governor is a Dem, though, and has come through for seniors and other homeowners nicely each year. 

You'll notice they're not in a mad rush to part with your money. See the three year interval during which they've had the use of it..

This refund only applies if you owned and continue to own, your residence. Not if you rent it out nor if you're a tenant. 

And despite the old timey name, mules and plows and such don't enter into it, just a refund of some of the exorbitant rates we've paid. I'll take it, despite all my moaning.