New Year New Challenge

I have found a new project to play with over the coming year. The UK Sock Knitters group on Ravelry are having a Year Long A-Z KAL. Starting on the 1st of January we're going to be casting on a sock that starts with the letter A,then 2 weeks later it'll be a sock that starts with B and so on and so on until all of the alphabet is completed.

I went through my queue on Ravelry and deleted all of the projects that had been languishing there never being looked at and now in their place is a list of 25 fabulous sock patterns. The only letter I couldn't find was X but I'm sure that someone will design one in time or we can always play one of our two wildcards.

Luckily the socks don't have to be finished in the 2 week period,just cast on. As long as they are finished by Saturday 12th January 2012 then all will be well. Just as well really as I have selected some completed ones, some knee length ones, some easy ones, 4 ply ones, double knit ones, aran weight ones and some I have no idea what they'll be like as they have only had a few projects completed.

This is also a cunning way to get rid of my stash as I'm on a yarn diet until I get rid of most of my existing stash. In the future I want a stash that is full of beautiful yarns with which I actually make amazing things, not random balls of bits that could, if I scrabbled enough of the bits together could, if you squinted in the right light, look okay.

If you'd like to join us in this astonishing challenge then check out the UK Sock Knitters group on Ravelry. If you're not up to the entire year long adventure then it's quite all right to dip in and out as the weeks come up.

Skating mishaps

I was roller skating a couple of days ago, I haven't managed to get out and play much roller derby as the weather has been awful but also I have a new job that requires me to work away during the week. So in a frenzy (as much as you can get after over eating at Christmas) of energy I went skating with my friend at Skate central in Sheffield.

Now I know this rink fairly well, the Sheffield Steel Rollergirls train there and I have used it for practise many times. During the public sessions you always have to keep your eyes peeled for wayward kids, random falling adults and the occasional sweet or other bit of crud on the track. Well I did really well on the first bit and quite well on the second bit but was a completely failure at the third. A HUGE (well not that huge, okay it was fairly small) stone managed to get caught by my wheel and I fell.

This wasn't just tripping style of falling. Oh no,I landed with the grace of an unexploded bomb. Smash. Crash. Flat out. Hands hitting the deck. Body hitting the deck. Knees hitting the deck. It was shocking. As I lay there my first thought was "phew for my knee pads and wrist guards" but I also realised that my right knee was extremely painful so I gingerly got up and although it was a ouchy it wasn't too bad once I moved about a little. I sat out for a bit and then thought I'd have another go at skating but after a few laps I realised that it was a no go so we retired to the pub.

Sitting there in the warmth of the Rutland Arms we chatted and although my knee was sore it wasn't too bad. Until I got home a couple of hours later. By then it had swollen to a good size and was going a delicate puce colour. I managed to find a knee strap for it and by the next morning I could barely bend it and but I could still walk so I trotted off to work wearing the lovely sweaty neoprene strap.

Getting home from work that night I took off the brace and expected to find a swollen and angry looking knee instead I had this

How naff is that? I must have been the pads that helped. Can imagine how muchworse it would have been without them?

Anyway moral of the story if you want a moral. When going skating always,and I mean always wear your knee pads and wrist guards as a minimum.

Knit It Frog it

I have made a shocking decision - I am going to frog many of my ongoing knitting projects because they are not going anywhere. I keep meaning to get them finished off but somehow other patterns catch my eye and I cast on and the oldies are forgotten.

Part of this stems from my stash which whilst not growing too much now is also not shrinking at any rate either.I have loads of lovely yarns (mainly sock wool) but seem to not be using it at all so for the next year I shall not be buying any yarn until I have got rid of most of my current stash.

See I did a clever thing there though because I didn't say I was going to knit with it all, just get rid of it. I shall try to sort everything out and tag it so I know what I have, how much of it and how long it is (thank the small gods for Ravelry) and then decide what I can make from those patterns that I have queued or favourited. Any thing that I know I will never use will either be sold on ebay, ravelry or etsy and then the rest given to anyone who wants it.

Tarzan and Pain Double Header

Sheffield Steel Rollergirls are having their first bout of the year against the lovely Middlesbrough Milk Rollers. But we're also having a Merby too - boys!!!!!

If you want to come along then pick up a ticket or 3 from the Sheffield Steel Rollergirls website - there'll be a few available on the door and sit yourself down for 3 hours of roller derby action


So the place is Ponds Forge, Sheffield.
The date is Saturday 29th January 2011
The time is 12.30
Come along and show your best

HomeSpun Threads pattern giveaway

I was doing my morning perv on Ravelry and came across this great link to a fantastic giveaway for sewing patterns.

Aimee from HomeSpun Threads is offering all of her lovely patterns for free and all you need do is follow her blog. Have a looky see if there's anything that you fancy. I love the little baby shoes and her bags are fab too. Might crack out the sewing machine tomorrow and give make up a bag or two.

HomeSpunThreads: All HomeSpun Thread Patterns are FREE!!

Happy Christmas and hello again

Wow it's been a huge great while since I did this last. But the past couple of months have been busy and fraught and fun and many other things in between.

Firstly I am now employed again. Yay for getting a job. Well yay for my lovely friend Jan for hassling a company enough in to wear them down and they have given me the job. I'm back to being an archaeologist, this time working in Lincoln and supposedly employed to write reports but so far have spent much of the time on site doing watching briefs (this is a weird term for non-archaeologists but it basically means watching groundworks being dug and then cleaning things up to see if there's any archaeology).

It's been freezing here in the UK with temperatures well below the norm so standing out on site in minus 9 has been interesting in itself but I have realised that I do love archaeology and I get a buzz from it so will try to not mess up and get on with the job in hand.