Dragon Rambles

We had our Spring bank holiday today and what a day it was. Spring came out in all her glory.

I decided to enjoy the weather with a walk to work. By road, work is about 5 miles away (that’s about 8km for those of us who speak metric). But no one really wants to walk via the road as there are no footpaths. This last week, I’ve been told by a few people about how you can match up several public footpaths to walk to work. It’s a longer trip but is supposed to be a nice walk. I picked up a couple of OS maps this morning (yep, Saffron Walden is at the top of one so I needed two) and headed off.

I’ll be heading out across these fields.

At the moment all the rape is blooming. It’s gorgeous, but is causing havoc with everyone’s hayfever. For me, I usually only get really bad hayfever my first spring in a new place and then I usually get used to the new types of pollen. I’m really hoping that continues to be the case as my reaction is a little different from the norm: lots of heavy bleeding noses. Yes, yuck. Unfortunately I have a golden staph infection in my sinuses, a gift from a hospital when I was very little, and when this flares up, the blood flows. Luckily, today it was behaving, even when I was walking next to these fields.

Isn’t that house great. I’ll live there please. It was lovely walking through these fields of yellow, feeling a little like the only person in the world even though I was just 10 minutes out of town.

At one point, the ground I was walking on was much lower than the other side of me. I got a fantastic view of the ground. Wow, there really isn’t a lot of soil there is there.

In some parts of the walk, the direction to take was nice and clear.

And in others, not so much (I had to turn left here).

While much of the way was yellow to begin with, as this view back to town shows nicely

Not all of the farmers had planted rape when they harvested the wheat fields last autumn.

Then later, the crops change to something else, that obviously bunnies like. I’ll have to wait and see what the crop turns into so I know what is so tasty and worthy of protection.

Eventually, you get to a point in the walk where the start/end of the path is not a farm, but a village. This cute little church was in Little Chesterford, just as I was exiting a paddock.

And this one was in Ickleton, just before I went into the nature reserve at the back end of work.

2.5 hours after I set off from town, I was sitting at a picnic table at work having lunch. Not that it took that long to walk there. I just found a cool little place with pocky little crafty shops (art, framing, jewellery, craft supply shop) next to a tiny little lake. It was like finding a secret place – I had no idea it was there. So I stopped for an ice cream and had a look around. While I made it to work, I wasn’t actually going to go to work, so this was the closest I got – looking across the fields at the buildings.

A nice stop for lunch then the return trip back. It took 2 hours to get back to Saffron Walden town, by which time I was getting really tired and my legs and lower back was starting to really ache. Going for a long walk in joggers is not a good idea, so I really need to get my new hiking boots before I try a day of walking again.

And of course, this walk was out the north side of town and I live on the southern edge, so there was the extra walk home. Which took twice as longer as usual as I was walking slower and slower as I got closer and closer to home. But it was a great walk, and luckily my sinuses didn’t realise how much pollen I was breathing in and so behaved. Well, until the start of this paragraph, that is. They’ve just caught up..

Those of you in the UK, hope you had a great long weekend. Those of you not, hope your week started well.

Ok, so my attempt to get back online didn’t really work. Let’s try that again shall we. Meanwhile, what have I been doing while I haven’t been online? Good question, what HAVE I been doing?!

On the craft front, I finished the pieces for Alta (the multi-colour jumper I was knitting), but haven’t gotten around to blocking the pieces and sewing it up. That seems to be a theme for me, which is really why I should stick to one-piece knits.

I’ve been doing some work on those baby quilts I’m making for my cousins. But mostly in terms of cutting pieces. Man does that take a bit (draw and scissor cut). You can see I’ve been busy with this lovely little pile that was on my living room floor earlier in the week.

Which, of course, I kept trodding in and tracking around the house. But this did eventually result in a nice bundle of pieces ready to start sewing together. There should be enough pieces here for about 20 blocks.

I’ve also been doing more planning for my trip later this year, mostly with trying to track down the right pack and boots. So after having narrowed down the pack to three via lots of online research, I went to London yesterday to try them on, get them fitted and buy one. My next post will be all about the packs, what I did/didn’t like about each, which I chose and why. While I brought a pack home with me, the saga that has become my search for a good pair of hiking boots did not end yesterday. I need to think about that for a little and hopefully will get a pair in the next week or two – as I’ve been without hiking boots now since Jan.

One of my friends from work is having a baby in the next few weeks, so we’re throwing a baby shower for her. She is happily having a boy. Not that I don’t like little girl babies, but now that they make decent boys clothes, it’s so much fun buying for them. I like the types of clothes that make them look like miniature men. And since I always buy size 6-12 months since I know the mum generally has lots of smaller stuff, and bub grows out of the smaller stuff so quickly, I had plenty of choice. A quick visit in Baby Gap yesterday while in London (handily right around the corner from my new favourite outdoor shop), and score!

You also can’t go to London without catching up with Charlotte. I think it’s a law. She was stuck at home on dogsitting duty, so we visited her house instead. And force fed her cake. I don’t think she’ll ever let me come over again

I love her house, it’s in a perfect location and I loved seeing all of her quilts, cushions and other homemade goods around the house. It was a lovely, if short, visit. Next time I’ll try and come to London with just visiting in mind and no pesky shopping trips. As I was leaving though, she did give me a slap on the wrist for not blogging lately. So Charlotte, consider it successful

And as everyone else in the UK has already blogged – Spring has finally arrived. Like everybody else, Macros is enjoying the sun

Yes, I went silent again. I was in a bit of a funk leading up to Easter. That time of the year. We passed the one year anniversary of Granny’s death, and my niece’s birthday. Or what would have been her birthday. If I counted correctly, she would have been 11. Instead she will always be three. So, anyway, that’s why I was in a funk and not online much.

Then, over easter I spent several hours each day online planning, juggling and booking things for my big trip later this year. I’m getting there and will fill you all in once I have the rest sorted out. It’s costing a bit, but this will be my last big spend before I get serious about saving for a house deposit. And my last trip down to Australia and NZ for several years. I’m really looking forward to it.

When I wasn’t online over easter, I started work on the quilts I want to make for my cousins’ babies. I’m sure you recognise the fabric from my recent show haul.

And in the week and a half since easter? Busy with work and stuff. Have hardly been online and am still way behind on my blog reading. That’s what happens when you go mostly offline for a couple of weeks though.

Am on my way to Cardiff today for a meeting regarding my last job. So if I get sick of doing the work I brought with me, I can use some of the long journey each way to start catching up with what you’ve all been doing.

Oops, I disappeared there for a bit didn’t I. I think I’ve mostly caught up on blog reading, though to do so I was very economical with commenting. Looks like you’ve all been up to loads.

My time offline has been well spent though. I finished that jumper I was knitting and have worn it a few times. I need to get a pic of me wearing it and will share once I have.

The day I finished that one, I cast on a jumper with my other birthday yarn. A pattern that had just been released a couple of weeks earlier and that I loved: Alta.

I do like this yarn and how it’s knitting up, but I’ve also started thinking that I’d like to make this again with a single colour tonal yarn. Plus, there’s an error in the chart for the front. I spotted it when I started but didn’t follow my gut and instead followed the pattern. By the time I was sure my gut had been right, there was too much to undo. So I’d like to make it again correctly and with a yarn that will showcase the pattern more.

Making these two jumpers I’ve discovered I really like knitting garments with thicker yarn: they knit up so quickly!

I’ve also started planning the two quilts I want to make for my cousins. They are sisters. One has just had her first baby, the other is due with her first in June. I want to make play/cot/lap quilts. You know, a quilt that baby can play on on the floor, that could be used in a cot and later has a quilt to snuggle under on the sofa when they’re a but bigger. I’ve made this sort of quilt before and I love knowing that it’ll be used for at least 5 years. I’m going to make one for each of them probably the same or similar (from the same fabrics at least), aiming to have them done in June/July. I’d like to try and hand piece, but will machine quilt (for speed).

Other news:

I renewed my NZ passport. And got it one week after I sent off the application. That’s a far cry from the 6 weeks my UK passport renewal took in Australia a few years ago. But given the price has gone up and the passport is now only 5 years instead of 10, really, they can afford to be quick.

Work is going well. Very busy, but I like it. This is the first job I’ve had where the weekend comes around very quickly. Week time is still not as fast as weekend time, but the gap has narrowed significantly.

I’m heading to Cardiff in a couple of weeks for a meeting tied up with my old job. Might have to visit a couple of my favourite shops while I’m there. Though it’s a quick trip with more time spent getting there and back than will be spent in Cardiff.

I was asked if I’d like to take a day off work in May and go to France for the day. Trick question? Guess I’d better finally finish putting my kitchen in order so I can let myself buy some le creuset. Now to just whittle down my list. I think at the moment there are 4 of us going. And the whole purpose of the trip is to shop. Looking forward to it already, but something tells me there’ll be no savings that month

I’ve almost narrowed down my itinerary for my mega holiday in Nov-Dec. Am going to try and book flights next weekend. Very exciting.

Think that sums up what’s been happening here. Now off to get ready to visit with friends this afternoon.

I went to the Duxford spring quilting festival today. There were some lovely quilts on display. I took photos of a few of them to share. The light seemed good enough not to need a flash, but seems like maybe I should have used one anyway. But still, you can see the loveliness.

Secret garden.
Hand appliqued, embroidered and quilted by Gwenfai Rees Griffiths, Conwy.

And some of the details.

Welsh Dresser
Machine appliqued and hand quilted by Gwenfai Rees Griffiths, Conwy

In the pink
By Hilary Beettie, Lincolnshire

Tatlin’s Tower
By Catherine Millar, Somerset

For more pics, check out my flickr set.

After the quilt festival, I went for a walk around the air museum where the festival was held.

There was a Lancaster, the plane made famous by Dam Busters

A messerschmitt.

A sea hawk

And lots of other cool planes, some of which you can see in this flickr set.

It was a fun day. But a long one and I’m exhausted. But I got lots of goodies. I’ll post about them tomorrow, as they deserve a post of their own.

I had to work from home on Tuesday, because I had Virgin coming out to install internet, phone and tv. Was just going to get internet, but the rest was only a few pounds more a month (they were having a really good deal) so seemed a no brainer.

I got their slowest internet, because it was already at least ten times faster than what I had had previously. In reality, it’s even faster. Tuesday night it took me just 2-3 mins to download something it usually takes 45min. On a good day.

And that same morning, my landlord popped over to drill a hile in the kitchen cupboard so my dishwasher could be installed. Which he did too. After he left, I piled in all the dishes I’d been saving for the dishwasher since the weekend (I’m no dummy) and washed them. Oh, ok, it wasn’t quite as simple as that. I had to call Nicki first to find out how much salt I should be adding. I’d poured almost 2kg in and it just seemed to keep wanting more. And I hit the start button several times because it wasn’t starting. I thought. Yep, it’s THAT quiet.

It does a fantastic job, gives me nice and shiny dishes and glasses, and even dry plasticware. Plus, gotta love the cool blue light.

Me is very happy with my shiny new blue-light toys

Yep, I’ve been pretty quiet on blogland this week. I’ve skimmed through most of the blog posts in my reader but haven’t responded to them all. So if you didn’t hear anything from me, sorry, but I have been reading.

So what have I been up to? Well, remember the last time you were in constant pain for a solid week? Not enough to stop you functioning, but enough to make you very very tired, all the time? Well, that’s been my last week.

Sat, I succumbed after my trip into town, and curled up on the couch to knit for the afternoon. But I did rouse myself enough to go out with a friend to a local pub quiz. And it was confirmed that I am crap at pub quizzes. Especially those aimed at people who have been living in the UK for years, if not their whole life.

Sunday, I had friends over. We had a belated “xmas” meal and exchanged gifts. I got an awesome interchangeable needle holder. And I’ve just realised I forgot to take a photo, and it’s upstairs and I can’t be bothered to go get it right now. Perfect colours for me and just what I need. I had been considering trying to make myself one. Getting one as a gift was a much safer option

While my friends were here, I brought out the pile of fabric I had compiled for possible alien colours for my space invaders quilt. One of my friends does graphic design for publishing, so I figured he had to be helpful for picking colours . His first move was to pick out all the Kona solids and discard the rest. His comment was that they were shiny and popped up from the matt-ish black background better. Of course, this might just be because the Kona fabric was the only ones that were not prewashed. I’ll wait and see what they look like after I’ve washed them. But these were the colours he picked:

Still really hard to photograph with any colour accuracy. So, ignoring the purple on the left which I’ve had in my stash for ages and will be used for the bonus ship, the greens are: emerald, jade, candy green, pond and ice frappe. He was suggesting the three lighter greens with one of emerald or jade as the darker colour. But I still think the jump is a bit much, so I’m thinking of using both emerald and jade and dropping ice frappe.

Of course, if these lose their “shinyness” after being washed then the Bella solids and other ones I have are back on the table and I can probably get a smoother gradient.

Originally, I was wanting more teal greens for the aliens, and was then going to pick more royal blues for the home bases and gun. But if I do go with these colours, then I think I’ll go with Kona turquoise and peacock.

It will be interesting what the Kona looks like after washing, because if the Bella really is a flatter colour, then that will be the black I buy.

Wednesday night saw me baking 3 dozen cupcakes. Enough to take to the meet up at the local craft store on Thursday evening, and to take some in to work. Well, I wasn’t completely happy with how they turned out so I baked a batch of brownies on Thursday morning before work. Thursday evening was a blast. There were many of us there, all who don’t do Valentines day (and no, we weren’t all single). Lots of fun, chatting, cake and brownies (as I wasn’t the only one baking) and a very small amount of knitting.

And what have I been knitting off and on this week? Well, remember the birthday yarn I bought on my last trip to London? Well, I’ve started to turn it into one of these.

It’s going to be scrummy to wear. And I’m still loving this colour.

Other highlights of the week… I got a message from my brother. He and his fiance love the shawl and really appreciated the thought and time behind it. So they haven’t been crossed of the hand-knit gifts list . I’ve also continued to jog and have been out three nights this week. We are now in three weeks of an eight week program to be able to jog 5Km. I’m finding it’s much easier to do with someone else than relying on being able to make yourself go. Oh, and I’ve booked my holidays from work for later this year. Five weeks off in Nov/Dec. i have lots of fun planned and it will be my last big spend before I get serious about saving for a house deposit. I’ll tell you all about my plans in another blog post. This ones getting kinda long.

And this weekend? Well, since I’ve been so tired all week (and still am), I’m planning a quiet one. I have some work that I have to do before Monday, but otherwise my plan is to dig out my winterkist quilt and put in some quality sewing time. In between the naps. Basically, this is one weekend where I’ll be minimising my interaction with the outside world and just recharging.

Hope you’ve all had a good week and have an even better weekend.

Wednesday night I spent the evening with a friend and stayed up way too late and drank a huge amount. Well, huge for me. I was told the alcohol equivalent was only 3 pints of beer. That might not be much for most, or even for me many years ago, but normally I drink less than that in a 6 month period. So all day yesterday, I was incredibly tired and very sluggish.

I managed to stay up until 7.30 last night. Wild woman, aren’t I. Was probably asleep by about 8.15. And boy did I need to get to sleep that early. But I was woken from a deep sleep at 11.50 in serious pain. The sort that needs codeine mixed with your ibuprofen. The sort that takes the painkillers TWO HOURS to subdue. Nit obliterate, just subdue. So of course, not back to sleep again until 2. And awake again just after 5 as the pain built up again.

So for the second day running, I’m very tired and sluggish. And oh so cheerful with the thought that I will be eating drugs like candy for the next 2-3 days just to be able to function.

Yes. Sometimes it does indeed suck to be female.

Yesterday, I had a lovely day out in London. Nicki joined on the train down, and we met up with Charlotte in West Hampstead.

We stopped for some sustenance and a chat before Charlotte took us to Village Haberdashery, which Annie opened up for us. She’s so sweet.

I picked up some scrummy yarn that I just had to have (looking forward to seeing this knit up into a jumper).

And some kona solids to add to the bella solids I have in the hope I can get 4 colours to make aliens.

I also found out that Annie sells the batting I need for hand quilting, so I’ll be ordering some for moonglow. And that she’ll be starting some classes that I may want to attend. Given all the pretties that were there (including a brand new yarn shipment), I’m really impressed that I came home with just this. But I’ll be calling her soon to arrange for more stuff to come home to me.

Unfortunately, Charlotte had to head home after this, so we were down to two. But the fun didn’t stop there. We headed to Camden Rd, where I had a great chat with a guy who knew just what I wanted in leather hiking boots. He’s going to order some in for me to try and I’ll head back to London in a couple of weeks to pick a pair. Why am I not buying some closer to home? Because everyone is now all about gortex and it’s really hard to find full grain leather boots, let alone decent ones.

That important business over, it was time to hit Camden Lock markets for a browse and some late lunch, before heading to Islington to visit Loop. Yes, I bought myself another present, some yummy madtosh dk, which I’ll start knitting with this week.

We finished off our day in London camping out in a coffee shop having a drink and a good chat, before heading back to Bishops Stortford to join Nicki’s husband for dinner. We tried a new (?) place that serves tapas-like meals to share. They were ok. We probably could’ve made better ourselves, but the whole point was that we didn’t want to.

A leisurely meal and more good conversation and then I was heading home, getting back to Saffron Walden at 10pm. It was a fun day, but a long one. And I’m tired today. Like I always seem to be after a day in London. Why is that, I wonder.

Thanks Nicki and Charlotte for a fun day

Green:

White:

Green:

White:

Green:

White:

While I love the green, I also love the white. And it appears I’m not the only one.

Having decided I need to replace my hiking boots, I donated my current ones to walking around town in the ice and snow. Alas, half way home they decided they preferred 100% retirement.