Looking good

 It's all back again, finished and looking good, I'm pleased I unpicked, most of the marks from the unpicked sections don't show. Jo you are right it would have niggled at me if I had left it as it was and those tiny blue sections were needed to soften the design. All the colours used here are my choice and nothing like the designer's choice.

My knitting is growing, I do love the simplicity of this design, you only need to count on the 11th and 12th row, and only at the leaf pattern side, I am still sewing in all the ends as I knit, this is for a gift. I want to knit but I don't need anything for myself. I might start knitting some pumpkins as I have just found the knitting patterns, I searched everywhere back in October for them. BUT I will finish the orange sock as well. 

We managed an hour outside, hubby has again picked up all the leaves, and I cut back the late fruiting raspberries, it looks tidy, nothing else to do outside, we love to sit and look out at our garden, the cyclamens are now giving loads of colour, they are in pots closer to the house. I did dig up a couple violets from a pot, they were escaping over the side, I have put them in the raspberry bed in hope they root and grow.

This bed by our back door is still blooming, it a pleasure to walk by it, the colours zing at the time of year when other plants are fading. I'm not sure how much longer they will last. 

We are back having hot chocolate drink most nights, we love the solid Butlers chocolate which we always have with cream and marshmallows. This year we want less calories, so we tried this instant chocolate, just add hot water, it says use 4 teaspoons, we only use 3. £2 per jar in Iceland, and if you go in on a Tuesday, they offer pensioners an extra 10% off. We still have Butlers  but only as a treat.

We are both very comfortable sitting on our new chairs, they are better made than our old chairs, we just need to ensure the cats don't damage the leather, Grace is not a problem as she sits on my lap, Purdy jumps up beside hubby and sits on the arm, so he's trying to get her to sit on his lap, neither cat jumps on the chairs when we are not sat there. 

I have loads of tests booked, the doctor thinks my kidney function whilst not completely normal in the the normal range for a woman my age, so I have blood and bowel test, and a scan of my ovaries which is a just to be sure test for cancer. All these organs are in my tender area, none of the test are invasive at this point, in his words 'let's be sure about everything '

I have started putting out the decorations, normally I get it all done in one day, it's not an option this year, hubby would help, but I like my arrangements just so, and I know I would change things he did, it's me, I can't help myself, things have to be correct. I am leaving putting the tree up to next week, it's a huge task, the tree is almost seven foot and there are loads to go on, including my baubles which are mainly glass and can't be dropped. Slowly I am beginning to find the Christmas spirit, it does feel vastly different this year.