Gold Thread and Software

Well, last night I spent a couple of hours (well, it seemed like that), unwinding a couple of skeins of Krenik Jap Gold thread. That stuff is murder. No matter how much I tried, I still managed to put some kinks in it as I was winding it onto the felt rolls. I wish it came on a roll.

I have signed up to do the NSW Embroiderers Guild Goldwork course. I am doing year one. It is 4 lessons by correspondance. I found the instructions informative, but boy, do they need some reworking and DTP (hey, I can't help it, I look after the development of distance learning materials for a living!!). I haven't done anything yet. I am going to get the basic lessons done while I am on holidays. Only one more week to go.

Meri Wanderer - I downloaded the XPRO software. It is very good. I tried both the basic version and the Pro. I think the Pro has the features I am after but $300 is just out of my budget and the basic one doesn't really do what I need. I don't really want all the fabric features etc but I think I would prefer more stitches. I want to make charts, so that is the most important thing for me, rather than seeing what it will look like on certain fabrics etc. I do have to say though that of all the software I have tried, this one definately had the best import feature. I pulled in a couple of images and it really converted them well. Thanks for the help.