Do you love dragons?

If you love dragons as much as we do in our house, then you'll love these fantastic wallpapers for your computer.  Click here to see a selection.

A jumper for a dragon

To make an Eldritch jumper
Using 3mm needles (old number 11s) and two-ply wool. Choose your needle size to  make the right size of jumper. Knit a small 10 stich by 10 row square first to test your yarn and needles.

Front
Cast on 30 stitches
Work two rows in K1 P1 rib.
Work 18 rows in knit a row, purl a row (stocking stitch)
Continue for 14 more rows, decreasing 1 stitch at each end of  the knit rows until you have 16 stitches left. End on a knit row. Cast off.

Back
Start as for front until the end of the straight section. (row 20) Start the first decreasing row until 15 stitches have been completed. Leave the second half of the row on the needle. Turn in mid row and continue to work half of the side, decreasing at the start of the knit rows until you have 8 stitches. Cast off.
Continue with the second half of the abandoned row and, starting with a knit row, work 14 rows, decreasing 1 at the end of each knit row.
Cast off.

Sleeves (Knit 2)
Cast on 25 stitches
Work two rows K1 P1 rib
Work 20 rows stocking stitch
Cast off.

Press each piece and sew together from the inside.
Sew a buttonhole loop at the neck and sew on a nice button to fasten it.

Welsh dragons are working for charity

Last weekend Eldritch talked me into taking him and the lads (and his Unclclel Kevin) to Wales to see a fantastic parade of Superdragons.

They've been in and around the town of Newport since July, parlty because of the Ryder Cup golf and partly because Newport is a bit of an arty place.

There were more than 50 of them in various sites and we managed to track down about 30 or so. Each one was decorated by an artist or a local group and they all had their own theme.

We learned a lot about the place and met a lot of lovely dragons along the way.  This one was in the old Roman town of Caerleon and was very Welsh. He was called Celtic Dragon and Eldritch loved him because he was red!

The dragons have all been collected now and are having a party in a local shopping centre before being put up for auction on Wednesday, October 27. Proceeds will be shared between wildlife charity The Born Free Foundation and a cancer patients support group called Tenovus.

If you'd like to know more about the Superdragons you can find out about them here.

Pasty's baked!

We had a day out somewhere with a paint-a-pot studio and I fell in love with this gorgeous guy. He's called Pasty, even though he's not from Cornwall. But that's because I had one for lunch while I was working on him.He had to be left behind to be put through the kiln. 

Isn't he cute?

 (For anyone who needs a pronunciation guide: that's Pass-tea not Paste-tea) We had to wait until he'd been through the kiln before we could bring him home.  I've never done ceramic painting before so I'm really pleased with how he's turned out. Eldritch loves him!

Fáfnir

In the far north lands of the Vikings stories are told of fights and feuds and foul deeds. The books of tales are called the Sagas and in one of them is featured Fáfnir (or Frænir) the son of the King of the Dwarfs, Hreidmar.

Fafnir was fair of face and brave and fearless and strong. He and his brothers Regin and Ótr guarded their father's house, which contained a fantastic hoard of gold. One day Ótr was killed by Loki, the trickster god, and Hreidmar was given blood money in return. But the gold was cursed and made the surviving brothers plot to kill their father. But Fáfnir wanted the gold all for himself.

As a mark of his greed Fáfnir was turned into a dragon (for the Vikings believed that dragons were greedy because they kept hoards of gold and jewels in their nests. Regin sent his foster-son Sigurd to kill the dragon and they feasted on the dragon's flesh.

Regin was still cursed by the gold and planned to kill Sigurd, but Sigurd had eaten the dragon's heart and so could understand the language of the birds. They warned him of Regin's approach and so he was ready for the attack. Regin fell in the ensuing fight and the curse was broken. Sigurd kept the gold for himself.

E is for Eldritch

Eldritch is now four and a bit years old. Like all English dragons his official birthday is Midsummer's Day, June 21.
He shares that with his little brother Bamburgh and they are the same official age even though Bamburgh arrived a few months after Eldritch did.

My first sight of Eldritch was unusual to say the least. He was elbows-up in a pile of plush animals at a local garden emporium so all I saw was his bottom, a red tail with a golden tip and the edges of a pair of gold wings. Of course I had to pick him up and take a closer look and once I did I was enamoured!

So he came home to live with me and his Unclclcecle Kevin and cousin Moo and the rest, as they say, is history.

According to the Penguin English Dictionary the word eldritch is Scottish and means weird or uncanny. He is naturally a magic creature and so I think it suits him exactly.

Normally he is a cute, kind and lovely dragon but beware - do not excite him or make him cross. For you are crunchy and taste good with mustard!

Diamonds and Deities

Oriental dragons, unlike their Western counterparts, go through many stages of development before they are considered fully grown. In the very early stage (the first 500 years) they are called lung, which translates as deaf. During the next 500 years the lung grows a set of horns that enable it to hear. After that it is known as kioh-lung.

It takes another 1,000 years before the dragon grows wings and becomes a ying-lung. At this stage it can develop into a god-like dragon deity.
The tien-lung is the sky dragon, protector of the gods' heavenly home. His cousin is the shen-lung, bringer of dark skies and storms.

Another is the fu-ts'ang lung or treasure dragon. He is master of the deeps and dark mines, where diamonds and other jewels are discovered.