Another Day, Another Huge Pile of Cheese and Biscuits

This first bit is not about knitting or anything to do with it at all.

There's something I don't understand. Why can I eat healthily for about three months at a time, and love every minute of it, exercise regularly and love every minute of it AND AS A CONSEQUENCE, FEEL GRRRREAT? And because I'm loving it, I need no willpower at all - yet friends say to me "oh, you have so much willpower" and I insist that, really, I do not. And the truth is highlighted once the enjoyment of the healthy regime suddenly stops, and I oh-so-need some of this willpower people speak of and I don't have any at all. Enter the garlic boursin and cheese melts, along with masses and masses of maltesers etc. and FEELING CRAP. The solution would be to really try hard to get some willpower or wait until I'm a stone heavier and then suddenly have this kind of natural inclination towards healthy living. Hmmmmm, maybe hypnotherapy would help.

Anyway. Knitting. Started Ella yesterday and have completed 70 rows. This Lorna's Laces I'm using is lovely and soft but it seems that the strands of it are twisted (spun?) together really loosely and this manifests itself in strange splits in the strands on the purl loops. It's not where I've split the yarn with my needle, because I've managed to avoid doing that. No, it's happening by itself but luckily it only shows on the wrong side (and nobody else would look close enough to see it, anyway).

The pattern itself is really not difficult at all and I'm really enjoying it. So far, I've not gained or lost a stitch but I did lose track of where I was in a row and realised I'd gone astray, re-did a couple of stitches and then a few rows later found that I'd created a criss-cross couple of stitches right across one of those lovely circular holes in the pattern, maybe you can see it, above. Although I knew it would drive me crazy for the rest of my life, I couldn't face going back to correct it and now it's really bugging me.

This is not something I could knit in the same room as the TV - I need to concentrate on it. Also, I've noticed that it's really curling all over the place. I suppose that's why it will need blocking but I haven't a clue how? Can anyone help? Do I just kind of stretch and iron through a tea towel (that can't be right), or will I have to move to another house to find the space to pin it out? Please, no! Can anyone give me any tips, I'd be really grateful.

The colours are a bit pukey on their own, but I think it'll look ok with my jeans or denim skirt.