Dragon Rambles

As promised, here is a post from the train on my way home. I should be home in about 1.5 hours, though the train has just been stopped for a while (we were told it was due to kids throwing stones at the trains from the railway bridge near Swindon), so maybe it’ll be later. Hopefully not by too much though as I’m really hanging out for a shower.

Thanks for the welcome-back’s I got from my last post. I’ve missed blogland and am looking forward to catching up with everyone. I’ll start replying to individual comments again from this post, now that I’m almost home and will have some more time.

So what have I been doing in my absence? Well aside from trying to grapple with some grief and a last-minute trip to NZ, I’ve been busy applying for jobs. I had a phone interview for one over near Cambridge just a few days before I flew out. Then a follow up phone interview for the same job the morning I flew out, and I got an email while I was away asking me to do a technical test. Basically this means write some code to do two tasks and email it to them. They knew I was away though, so I have until Wed to do it. Fingers crossed it all goes well. The tech test seems fairly easy, but there’s always the chance that I won’t solve it the way they want me to.

I’ve also submitted two more applications for jobs at the same place, so I’m waiting to hear whether I have any more interviews.

On the knitting front, my Feb plans for the spring shawl fell apart. First because I needed to quickly knit up a shawl using the second batch of wool I bought for Granny. It had to be finished and blocked before I left for NZ. Thankfully, I managed to get it done in time, and Granny loved it.

Oh, and yes, you will see the jewellery I bought at Auckland airport. I’ll take a photo this weekend and show you in my next post. I can guarantee that none of you would be able to guess/imagine what it is before I show you. Yes, I know, I’m such a tease. I’ll also share the huge amount of foodstuffs I brought back with me. Just imagine, a 12kg outgoing suitcase with lots of room, a 30kg allowance, an epic supermarket visit to stock up on kiwi favourites that I can’t get here or pay a huge price for.

And of course there were the things I made sure I had while I was there that couldn’t be brought back. Like fresh feijoa juice, hokey pokey tip top ice cream, boysenberry trumpet (also tip top ice cream), jelly tip (another tip top ice cream, what can I say, they make the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted and it was warm and sunny), mainland tasty cheese, and choc-mint milk (though I have an idea how to make that last one).

While I was in NZ I spent most of my time visiting Granny, but I was also able to catch up family members that I haven’t seen in quite some time. I stayed with one of my cousins. We’d only seen each other briefly twice since I was a kid, so it was great to be able to get to know her as an adult. And also to get to know her new husband. They seem the perfect fit – similar in ways they need to be, different in ways they need to be. Evenings were often very entertaining.

We also saw footage of Granny’s wedding for the first time. She was beautiful! And Grandad was very handsome! I wonder why the looks in the family didn’t pass down, ah well, lol. I spent one afternoon with Granny going through old photo albums, and so I’m also travelling home with a usb stick of scanned photos. Including one each of Granny and Grandad as chubby little toddlers . The wedding photos need to be scanned professionally though, so my cousin will get those done and send them to me.

So there you have it, my absence was busy, stressful, emotional and sentimental, but also with plenty of laughter, possibilities and food thrown in.

Thanks everyone for the supportive messages. It’s been a busy and stressful time and I’ve really appreciated knowing you’re all out there. I’m behind on reading blogs, but I’m trying to catch up. Mostly I haven’t been leaving comments but I’ll hopefully be back to normal online presence next week.

I’m now sitting in the Auckland airport waiting to board my flight back to the UK. Via Brisbane and Dubai. It’s been an emotional trip so partof me is glad to be on my way home. But a bigger part of me wanted to stay. I do however have a suitcase full of essential kiwi snacks to give me a taste of home. Literally

I’ll post again when I’m on the train to Cardiff on Sat. I have lots to fill you in on, but for now a word of advice…. Don’t go into a duty free jewelery shop when you’re feeling depressed.

Well, there’s the boarding call. That means if there’s no delay, I’ll be touching down in London in a mere 31 hours and 5 mins. ‘Til then…

I’m not going to go into details here, because what’s happening right now is too personal to share. I just wanted to let my friends here in blogland know that I’m going to be absent for a while. I may still skim blogs on the walk to/from work, maybe leaving the odd message, and I’ll still be checking my emails, but there will be nothing on this blog until March. And I’ll be absent from the internet for most of the last half of Feb.

Don’t worry, I’m ok. Or I will be. Sometimes, life doesn’t just throw a curve ball, it detonates a ten tonne bomb.

Hugs to you all, and I’ll “see” you in March.

Thanks everyone for your input. Derelict daughter brought in four votes, midnight had three and bramble got two. The basic feedback was all the colours rock. Yes, yes, they do, that’s why they were in the list to choose from

I thought about it, and yo-yo’d back and forth then I finally put some logic to it.

I’m planning to order derelict daughter in the merino/silk 4ply to knit this sweater in a couple of months (ok, so origninally it was supposed to be my Feb project, but Spring madness changed that tune).

It’s Blumchen, by Anne Hanson. I borrowed the photo from ravelry. Click on the photo to go to the pattern’s page, where you can get the pattern if you want to knit it too .

And I have some deep purple-blue gossamer yarn to make this shawl. Pinched off flickr again, and funnily enough the same knitter of Spring. Told you she was talented.

It’s the wedding ring shawl by Heirloom Knitting.

So I figured that left bramble. No hardship at all. But midnight and gothic will be up my sleeve for future projects. Once I’ve knitted my way a bit through the ones I’ve already got organised. Or not, as that’s probably five years of knitting, and I don’t think I could be that good.

Ok, so a few years ago I started knitting because I was seduced by lace knitting and wanted to do that. Fast forward a little, after getting bored with the easy projects I was knitting to ease in, and after moving to the UK and being exposed to Heirloom Knitting (somehow), I jumped in and knit an heirloom shawl/blanket for a friend’s first baby. Dodgy pics can be found here.

Then work swallowed my life and knitting was forgotten. But I’ve (obviously) gotten back into the knitting groove lately, and everything I’ve worked on has been easy. Well, we won’t talk about the seaming of cardis and coats…

Anyway, where was I? Oh, easy. Now some of you may know that easy just isn’t me. Sure, it’s great to have projects you can work on when you’re tired, but I like something I can really sink my teeth into. And the list of Heirloom Knitting projects I want to make has been howling.

So now we come to the point of this post. Lilith, of Old Maiden Aunt fame, has announced the Feb KAL theme: love. Basically any project that you love but haven’t had the time to do, any yarn you’d love to try… You get the picture. At first I thought this’d be hard to narrow down. Until I decided that Feb should be a two-theme month, and the second theme should be: insanity.

Have you guys guessed where I’m headed with this?

I have decided to start the Spring shawl from Heirloom Knitting. I’ve swiped this photo off flickr, hope the owner doesn’t mind, but really I’m using it to show you one beautiful rendition of this shawl, and why I want to make it. As always, clicking on the pic will take you to its flickr home where you’ll get to see more project pics by this very talented knitter.

But the question is… What colour? I’m going to knit this with OMA merino/silk lace. Here are the colours I’m thinking of.

Bramble..

Derelict daughter..

Gothic…

Midnight…

See… Tricky. I’d love them all. Which would you choose?

Oh, and maybe you’re wondering where the insanity comes in. Well, this is a month-long KAL, so I’ll start it on the 1st of Feb and try to finish it by the last day! Just as well Feb has an extra day this year. I may need it

The first of the year, so time to look back on the last year. It started off great with a visit from friends from Australia. Then on the night they flew home, I flew to Iceland for 2.5 days.

Unfortunately after that, work took over. But in August I decided to claw my life back. And I started crafting and blogging again. Got quite a bit done too. On both the sewing…

and knitting front.

There’s another knitting project I did this month that I can’t show you yet, because the friend I made it for hasn’t got it yet. Ok, I haven’t posted it yet. I was waiting for the xmas – new year postal break to be over so it didn’t go missing.

And of course there was the big decision to change career path. So that wraps up 2011, and 2012 is looking to be a great year. So hopefully, in a year’s time I’ll be here showing you even more craft and have had a good 6 months or more under my belt in a new job, new town, and be very happy. Happy 2012 all!

I’m linking this up to Fresh Sewing Day at Lily’s quilts again.

Did I say that with the leftovers from Mon’s buffet that I had my xmas lunch and wouldn’t need to cook anything extra? Yeah, well, I may have changed my mind…

I’ve been in the kitchen today since 10am and am taking a quick break for lunch. I’m getting everything done today so that all that needs doing tomorrow is reheating or popping things into the oven.

So far I’ve made a root veg soup, which I figure will make a nice starter before or after those finger food leftovers. I’m putting together a potato gratin, and cheese and spinach flan. And probably another dish but I haven’t yet decided what. And since one dessert is just so last century, I’ve made some boysenberry-strawberry cupcakes to go with the chocolate mousse. And depending on how I feel later, and what ideas I have, combined with what ingredients I have in the house, I may make a third dessert.

Now, how many people am I feeding?, you may ask. Just me . So this will keep me fed for a week, but with enough variety that I’m not having the same thing every day. Just think of all that crafting I can do when I don’t have to stop and cook meals

I’ll be back in blogland on Boxing Day to share photos of my xmas feast. And hopefully a pic of xmas day knitting (I’m wanting to knit my first sock). But until then….

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope you all have a great day, whatever you end up doing.

Ok, so maybe my plan for the weekend was a little ambitious. I finished everything for our xmas lunch today with 5 min to spare! And the fudge is still waiting to be cut up.

But everyone enjoyed the food so it was all worthwhile. And despite all our best efforts, there are leftovers.

Which are now in the freezer, that’s xmas lunch sorted Oh, and I decided to change those vegemite scrolls to a chilli relish one instead. Very yummy.

There was only a little dessert left over, as what we didn’t gobble down ourselves, I pimped off to others in the building. But I saved myself a blueberry cupcake, since I hadn’t had one at lunch. And those belgium biscuits were a welcome leftover too.

My kitchen and dining table are war zones but I have every intention of leaving it alone for tonight. Instead, I’m enjoying cheese and crackers for dinner, and I’m going to start putting a dent in that extra choc mousse (I made single serves so there is of course WAY more left).

Tonight, I should really be cutting up the fudge and making that softie that I ran out of time to do this weekend. Both jobs should really have been done LAST weekend, but you know how it goes… You get lazy and you just can’t be bothered

So am I doing them tonight? Nope. I need to have them ready for Wed, so I’ll do them tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow night I’ll be cursing myself, but for tonight I’m going to sit down to Sabrina (the Audrey Hepburn version), with my choc mousse and a skein that I need to wind as I’d like to knit some socks on xmas day. Or at least one of a pair.

So fingers crossed, I’ll return here on Wed with photos of the softie all made. In the meantime, happy xmas prep to you all. Oh, and those who commented on yesterday’s post… I’ll email you tomorrow.

I’ve been absent for almost two weeks. Sorry about that. Been busy job hunting and had a lot less craft time than I’d like. This weekend I’m busy making my yearly chocolate offering. This year I decided on fudge, instead of the usual chocolate truffles. Because it’s faster. All of the fudge I’m making has chocolate in it, be it dark, milk or white. On the list is: choc-walnut, rum and raisin, rocky road, peppermint, white-choc pistachio, cherry-coconut, and choc-caramel. Two have been made, I’m just waiting for my grocery order to be delivered, because when I was stocking up on Monday night, I forgot to get butter!

I’m also busy preparing food for our group’s xmas lunch at work tomorrow. Normally we just head to the local pub and have burgers or such, this year I thought it’d be fun to cater for it myself, as I haven’t done that since I moved here. I’m going for a finger food buffet. So I’ve got cheese and spinach filos, mushroom quiches, mini pizzas, vol au vents, vegemite scrolls, rosemary and cheese biscuits, cheese and cracker platter, and a fresh veg platter (celery, carrot, cucumber) with homemade french onion dip. I figure that should be enough savouries. On the dessert side, I’ve got eclairs (going to try my hand at chiox pastry for the first time), belgian cookies, date and pecan pinwheels, something chocolate (either choc mousse or little choc cakes), and something fruity (haven’t decided what but I have both blueberries and strawberries in the freezer so hopefully I’ll think of something).

And I also need to try and make a softie. Never made one of those before, so this should be interesting. So, today will be busy, although there’s onlu so much food prep and cooking I can do today, the rest will have to be done tomorrow morning.

On the craft front, I showed you my first colourwork mitt, well I didn’t wait until the next weekend to start the second mitt, in fact I was finished last Thurs and had already started wearing them to work before last weekend.

Not a great photo, and please ignore the mess on the floor, but here they are.

Since I spent a week of knitting time on these, by cardi was ignored. But I picked up Hazeline last weekend, and it was then sitting just two rows short of finished until yesterday evening, when I finished it. It still needs to have the top grafted together and then be blocked, but here it is.

So, there is me all caught up. I hope you’ve all been well. I’ve been slowly catching up with everyone’s blogs from my blogland absence, but there were a lot so any comments I left were rather short. Sorry about that. Ok, back to food prep. Everyone enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Every year I buy myself a christmas present. The guidelines are the same as buying gifts for other people: what I’d like to have but haven’t budgeted money to buy. My gifting day is fluid though, and I allow myself to get it any time from the beginning of November. Last year, it was a Le Creuset casserole dish. This year, it was the Ghastlies fabric. I had never heard of this until I stumbled across a blog hop celebrating the fabric a few weeks ago. After much internet hunting and waiting (not so) patiently for it to arrive from the states, the parcel faeries kindly visited yesterday.

I’d still like to get some of that top one in smoke, but the shop I bought this at didn’t have it in stock. They did however have it priced very nicely, and the customs people passed it through without extra charges, so it came out to a very bargain buy.

Which is probably good, since I put an order in to Old Maiden Aunt for yarn to knit Anne Hanson’s Hourglass throw. Handpainted alpaca/silk may be a bit decadent, but it’ll make a beautiful throw and the day I placed the order, I just felt the need to be bad. Besides, since I’ve been feeling a tad antisocial this month, I was able to combine my spending money and my socialising money to pay for it without blowing the budget. Win, win

So yesterday I settled in to a day of knitting because I really want to get my cardy done and I know I’ll want to ignore it once my shiny new yarn arrives. I’m still not quite up to starting the sleeves, but I’m only 12 rows on one of the front pieces away. As this photo clearly shows.

It was a great day. What could beat snuggling up to knitting, catching up with this season’s House and the latest (pretty awesome) episode of Private Practice. I even had company: Santa! But, he lost his head in all the excitement. I really don’t think he’ll be the same again.