My new blog can be found at: dragonrambles.co.uk

It’s a little sparse at present but I have a few posts I plan to put up this week, starting with those recipes I was supposed to post before xmas, and the completed Blackstone that I finished while enjoying a stitching day at Nancy’s.

So farewell sweetestcondition and thanks.

This weekend is my last chance to enjoy my flat on my own for a while as I have someone moving in with me.  She’s just moving to Cardiff and needs a place to stay while getting settled so will probably only be here for 3 or 4 months.  That helps me out financially at the moment (duck races and trips to the other side of the world being very expensive) and I can decide if I want to get someone in again in the new year.

Stress levels are getting back under control, I’m really looking forward to the visit back to Australia and NZ in Sept/Oct and making plans for when I get back, and all is going well.  Things could always be better, but I’m not complaining and just moving forward one day at a time.

Hugs to all.

The rewrite of our data analysis program at work that I thought would just take a week has had me going round in circles.  I think I finally know what I need to do to get all the bits working now, but I think I still have a few days of solid work to do to get it there.

And with that lovely shawl I was knitting – I’m back to where I was two weeks ago.  I started stitching the borders one at a time (flat knitting) but the sides with all the yarn overs were too messy and I didn’t think it would look very nice once it was stitched together so I undid what I’d done on the first side and picked up all the stitches around the sides to stitch in the round.  Of course that makes rows of 472 stitches!  What does that mean?  Well when I stuff up, I have that much more to undo.  And yes, I’ve undone a lot… repeatedly.  Broken the yarn, had the join unravel one or two rows later which caused more unknitting.  Then when I think I finally have that sorted I find I’m two stitches short in one section an end up unknitting the whole lot back to the start of the border.  And of course all this has thinned the already thin wool so much that I’ve know joined a new ball at the beginning of the border, but at least this means I shouldn’t have to join one again.  Fingers crossed it gets better from here and that in two weeks I have some border to show you all.

On the plus side (progress in something), I’ve been up ridiculously early for the last 3 mornings to attend business meetings to try and get takers for corporate ducks for the duck race and have now got some great contacts for my yearly duck races.  From next year will be great, here’s hoping this year’s one isn’t too bad.  I’ve got to get up at 4.30 tomorrow for one last one (yes I know how crazy that sounds), here’s hoping it goes as well as I’ve been told to expect.

So summing up the last two weeks, lots of time spent getting nothing much done.  Hopefully that’ll change and I’ll have some updates soon.

Last year I was unable to go to the show as that was the weekend I was off in Dartmoor.  Thinking that it would be around the same time again (first weekend of Nov) I thought I’d be able to go this year.  After visiting Vicky’s blog I just went and checked the dates… they’ve brought it forward a whole month to the first weekend of October! No!  That’s when I’m in Australia.  

Another year with no craft show.  I think next year I’ll have to go to one somewhere else in the UK just in case the universe wants to go 3 for 3.  It’s a conspiracy I say!

I’m having a stack of fun doing this gardeing thing.  I’ve overgrown my tomatoes so they are taking longer to appear and ripen but the learning what to do is all part of the fun.  This year I started with tomatoes, capsicums, cucumbers, zucchinis, strawberries and potatoes.  Next year I have bigger plans.

And while on the topic of gardens, I have been working on Blackstone Garden lately.  I’ve managed to get quite a bit of stitching done now that I’m making a point of taking at least an hour each night.

For those interested it’s stitched on 28ct Pansy from Pictures This Plus.  The green knot is Dragon Opal (Vikki Clayton) with the outline in Moonglow (Room for Threads).  The other knot is in a custom variegated silk by Vikki Clayton with the outline in Mystic Pools (Dinky Dyes).  And all the blackwork, the colours assigned so far are: A – Rose Bay (Dinky Dyes), B – Noosa (Dinky Dyes), C – Deep Ocean (Vikki Clayton), D – Deep Blue Sea (Gloriana), G – Cabernet (Dinky Dyes).  So just the Rose Bay to finish and then two more colours to assign and stitch and it’ll be done.

So, sorry for the mess. At least the pics are there. I think I’ll need to change my theme to one that doesn’t create such huge havoc.

I’ve discovered the joys of knitting – basically because I want to do some lace knitting.  I finished off a scarf that has been in the works for ages (not a slow job, I just got bored with just knitting and purling), all I have left to do is to stitch in the yarn ends.

Now I’ve started a lace knitting project, but not just any… estonian lace.  I think I had to restart this about 6 times, but I’ve got the hang of it now

As for stitching, well I started Rhapsody in Red when I first arrived in Cardiff. This is a pic that I thought I had posted back in July/Aug last year. But since I apparently didn’t, here you go.

And HAEDs… I’ve done some work on Stella and Pumpkin Pixie.

And then the other month I picked up and old WIP, since this year I plan to finish off things rather than just keep starting them.

And at the moment, I’m working on Blackstone Garden

So that’s you all caught up. For the rest of the month, when I’m not knitting I’ll be stitching on Blackstone Garden. Looks like I might have a stitching finish this year after all.

Like a post telling people I was heading off to start a new life in Cardiff.

And the post a few months after I got here that had stitching pics.

Well, of course none of them are there and my first post since I moved here was back in March by the looks.  So I now have a few pics of what I’ve been working on since I moved here.  They’ll come in the next post – but don’t worry the next post will be written after I’ve posted this one, it’s not like I’ll make you wait another couple of months.

So, I’ll try to write more posts, more frequently, and have less of them in my head alone