Update and answers to comments

The new semester has started and so my stitching time is going to be curtailed by one evening a week - plus the private study time - that vacation went too quickly! I got a couple of my assignments back and I did okay - not the highest grade band, but comfortably into the second, which is better than I expected. My tutor is really great at putting in constructive comments so I know what to do next time...

I'm still working away on my February Biscornu design - when that is done, hopefully at the weekend, I will release the chart here. I wonder if it will be as popular as my Valentine Biscornu design has been? That has lead to so many requests - and so many more blogs to read :o) Hello and welcome if you're a new reader - especially if  you've come via seeing my design on Freebie Gallery or World's Largest Collection of Smalls ! I've also completed the stitching for the Stitch Red for Your Heart exchange over on Hooked on Exchanges. This just needs to be made up into "something" and mailed before Friday. It holds a bit more meaning for me than perhaps it might have done previously, as my dear dad has just been diagnosed as having mild left ventricular dysfunction. Fortunately, he is very fit for his age and leads a healthy lifestyle, so the prognosis is good, but it's been a bit of a stressful time for the family - probably because my dad is never normally unwell!

Design wise, I've finished a design for a March Biscornu and just need to stitch it - the same with a St. Patrick's Biscornu. The St. Patrick's biscornu may have to wait until next year for a release - unless anyone would like to model stitch for me?

I took out my tub of finished pieces yesterday and gave a number of them a good soak. My flat is poorly insulated and the outside walls get very cold so condensation builds up on them so that a couple of framed pieces have got slightly damp inside and needed a wash :o/. I'm going to re-frame these - or get them re-framed - and with the dehumidifier I got for Christmas, hopefully things will be better. These all count towards my "Year of the UFO" project too, but I've only done one so far! I have just ordered some nice fabrics though, so perhaps that will be a motivator?

I'm going to a friend's house to knit this evening, with some of the other girls from my knitting group. We met last week as well, in our usual pub and hopefully the evening won't end up like that - I had to walk the 3.5 miles home as enough snow fell to stop the city buses. And I live somewhat higher up than the city centre ... so there was a great big hill to go up, and underneath, the footing was awful, very slide-y and slushy. I'm grateful though that I am able to walk so far though - a lot of people with MS would find it much more difficult. Of course, as we'd met in the pub, no one had brought a car ... my friends aren't that hard hearted! Anyway, I asked them for advise on my Ripple socks and the consensus was to frog if I was unhappy - especially as the heel maths wasn't working out. I was knitting them in a Kaffe Fassett yarn - Landscape Canyon - and it looked awful. E. very kindly did the physical frogging so that I didn't get second thoughts, and T. suggested a different design, which I've started and am much happier with! I love my fellow knitters! The Colonnade wrap may yet meet the same fate ... I'm getting quite ruthless these days - I think it's all the Finish and Fling decisions I'm making, it's influencing me in all sorts of ways!

I am (we are!) about halfway through the decision making for Finish or Fling - thank you everyone for your comments and input! I need to take the next lot of photos, so there may be a bit of a hiatus. Several people have asked about The Hermit and his Christmas allergy - and whether I'm being fair to him! The Hermit has always hated Christmas (and birthdays, and Valentines) - he is very avowedly atheist, hates consumerism, isn't big on parties or family get togethers and for many years was a cab driver, so got to see at close quarters the drunken excesses of the "festive" season. This has left him more than a little jaded, and used to be somewhat of an area of conflict between us, as I do celebrate Christmas - albeit in a secular way. I've scaled back Christmas in some ways since we've been together - I don't have a tree, and I don't plan parties or special meals, or bake a cake. I make sure he writes cards to his remaining family, and that he wraps my presents - which come from a list I give him and then I leave him alone. He knows it's important to me to celebrate Christmas because my gran died on Christmas Day 2004, and I don't want it to become a sad day so he is pretty good at tolerating the displays of Christmas stitching I have - as long as they are on display for only a couple of weeks!

Okay, better get cracking as I need to finish some stuff before I go knit! Thank you for your company, and i hope you all have a nice evening too!