VEVO 2.0

After blocking the Cousteau VEVO, I felt it was too wide. Folded over, it was perfectly snuggly against the neck.

I had more than enough yarn left to make another one the size smaller - 148 sts. I started it last night and finished it this afternoon. It still needs blocking.

This shows the difference between the look of an item before and after blocking. On the right is the previous VEVO with one repeat of the pattern folded over. This will be similar to the size of the VEVO 2.0 after blocking.

Wet blocking really opens up the holes (yarn overs) and shows the meandering pattern of k2togs and ssks.

I did some more work on The Light of Winter (TLOW) yesterday. The border goes much better without distractions. 

I do listen to audiobooks or have YouTube videos on while I stitch. So I've almost completed the top, right half of the pattern. 

I had to unpick a few of the leaves in the flower vase after I realized I had stitched them the wrong colour and a couple in the wrong place. I can fill them back in when I'm stitching socially next time. If you look closely, you can see the little holes where the stitches were removed.

Poppy and I finally got a response about cancelling our Hobby House Brenda Gervais retreat this June. We are still waiting for our deposits to be returned. There are 300 people on the waiting list so our spots will be immediately filled. It's kind of cheesy that we'll each forfeit $100US of the deposit as an 'administration fee' but that was clearly stated before we signed up so we knew what we were getting into. Still, with so many people on the waiting list, I'm not impressed they couldn't have made a complete refund of the deposit, especially since we cancelled 7 months ahead of the event. 

I had also cancelled last September's retreat last summer but was too late to get any refund of the  deposit. I was promised that the materials/swag bag/kit would be sent to me back then and I'm still waiting for that. I hope after all these months the materials are still accessible so they can be sent to me.

And finally, both my orchids are in bloom now!

This is the first time the little one (Piccola) has bloomed under my care. I really should find a smaller pot to put it in. From what I've gleaned watching orchid-care videos, they love to be in the sun when growing but once they bloom, they should be taken away from direct sunlight to slow down the growing process. This will lengthen the time they stay in bloom. I expect them to continue blooming for at least a couple of months - maybe even longer.