gigs Can't you get Mr gigs to hold the bit you would hold in your other hand 
. A frame works for tapestry and embroidery as well as cross stitch. Elizabeth Bradley does some nice tapestry kits www.elizabethbradley.com/home King Charles Spaniels on the home page! It was meant to be 
I had to stop buying them as I get a bit obsessive, like Suduko and jigsaws, end up staying up all night.
KK Scales are evil and I have noticed that the ones in Doctor's surgeries are especially evil. We have some digital ones that seem to be very good. Next time you have an appointment coming up we will devise a Jockey type weight loss programme........
Trice I am the nits guru, first a Prep school where the Mums were too posh to push nitcomb, then a Youth Theatre thing where half the kids were from deprived backgrounds, so the nit comb was out every Saturday evening at 6. I agree with KK that conditioner and nitcombing are the best answer, they are resistant to the treatments anyway and as the school nurse said, "even if you don't manage to comb them out it chops their arms and legs off and they can't breed 
When I moved to Hong Kong and I found a nit in Little Pigeons hair I naively wrote an email to the class list saying I had found it and suggesting the other mothers might want to check, which triggered a storm of really offensive emails saying that their children's hair wasn't dirty so they couldn't possibly have nits. little pigeon should be kept from school until they were assured "she was clean" and that the classroom should be fumigated immediately, and the carpet on the floor replaced 
Oh the joys of cultural difference! Thankfully the class mum was an ABC (American born Chinese) the top of the social tree and told them all what was what, and to behave......
Amber I am seriously 
about church thing too. Surely a moral compass should be a requisite for speaking at a church festival, but clearly not. Can the Tamoxigang not teach him a little lesson? If you let us know where he can be ambushed in the virtual world.
Kitkat I am sure you are relieved the drain is out, you seem to be romping to recovery. I took a long time to be reaching up to washing lines etc. in fact I still struggle 
Had missed gbbo for a couple of weeks, surprised to see Keira Knightly not just still in but actually to have stopped the Keira Knightly biting her lip thing and being quite good. She is at same uni as big pigeon who is struggling to comprehend why a first year would be baking instead of clubbing and drinking working. I fear we may have to start backing her. Glad the custard thief went #custardgate