If there's one thing i like about night shifts it's the chance to do lots of knitting when it's quiet, hence being able to finish the first faceted rib sock and start the second one. After frogging the first one, sulking lots and starting it again on bigger needles. Of course what i don't like about working nights is the fact i now haven't slept in 24 hours and am feeling rather groggy.

The faceted rib socks are coming along quite nicely, and so far I'm impressed. The pattern really seems to suit the yarn, I'm not sure why the colours are all muted - perhaps it's just my monitor, but in the flesh it's actually a very bright sock, which of course suits me fine as my taste in socks seems to be the brighter the better. The slip stitch pattern also makes a very thick fabric, which will hopefully make for a good pair of winter socks provided they're not too thick to fit over my heels. I've been half hoping that they might turn out a little small so I have an excuse to make a Jaywalker scarf after being inspired by seeing a scarf done in Lorna's Laces shepherd's sock rainbow on ravelry where the colours looked fantastic.

I've also started looking at a few larger projects as well, I find socks and other small projects quite satisfying and more suited to my lifestyle at the moment. But with a bit of luck this time next year I'll have a job and won't have to do quite so much studying so I'll have more time to knit, and knit larger more satisfying things. Lsb and I sat down a few nights ago to peruse the latest Debbie Bliss magazine and between us managed to come up with 2 or 3 projects each that may be going on my to knit list (all of them cabled I might add, which seems to be my new thing). I'm looking forward to having a bit more time on my hands as I'm so busy at the moment it's unbelievable, though out of the two assignments that have to be handed in in January I have just over half of one done and just under half of another which makes me feel a little more relaxed. For me the first two weeks of the year tend to be the worst as every tutor seems to throw an enormous amount of work at you before you've even had time to figure out what each module's about. To me my head just goes into panic mode because everything seems to be due in at the same time and there never seems enough time to get everything done. After the first few weeks everything starts to fall into place and once I actually sit down and start writing I tend to get work out of the way fairly quickly. Of course that's half the battle as I'd much rather be knitting, or running, or climbing things. Hmm as you can probably tell concentration isn't one of my strong points when it come to things I'd rather not do. I love pretty much every element of my clinical placements, I just hate the academic bit.

My first attempt at the faceted rib socks. So far i'm quite impressed with it, particularly as this has been something of a problem yarn to find a pattern for. The colours are gorgeous but the rapid changes make any intricate pattern get lost. The slipped stitches however just help this sock flow nicely. Things are still pretty busy at university, made slightly worse by the fact that in just over a week's time I'll lose my study days when i'm back full time on a ward. This time on a specialist unit for young men with learning disabilities who've either committed crimes or have challenging behaviour. Not my first choice of placement as by my own admission i don't know a great deal about learning disabilities, but one benefit is it's a brand new unit with a state of the art dedicated activities suite. So it should be interesting to say the least.