the alpaca silk wrap's not coming on too badly, had the chance to get another ball knitted up while the long suffering boyfriend was bowling. i've also just been a rather naughty girl and spent a small fortune on the knit tin, but i got a very lovely skein of woolly wormhead yarn for a scarf which i've actually been after for a while, the skein i chose was lilac and gold very pretty though i was originally after a green one (lime green jelly) but sadly it was sold out i'm quite happy with the lovely angel delight skein i chose with the help of the long suffering boyfriend. i went onto the site to show some buttons to the long suffering boyfriend for his broad street mittens and came away with the buttons i showed him, some more in a smaller size, the knitting accessories tin, a skein of yarn and two or three button jars. oops! still it gives me a little something to do on the journey to and from my placement from next week. as of tuesday i'm back out on the wards doing proper nursing, i can't wait in a way as i love what i do when i'm out working with patients, i love learning about their illnesses and their lives especially as so many of those i work with have been in hospital since their late teens and early 20's and it's possible to see the long term effects that psychiatric medication can have over 40 years or so. but i'm also so aprehensive about the experience as i've never worked full time in a nursing role for three months constantly being assessed by mentors. and while i've so far passed all the exams and assignments i've had the results back for i work so much better in practice when i don't know the staff are breathing down my neck scrutinising every move i make, very nerve wracking, but i shall pull through.

it turns out that actually picking up the stitches for the mitten shell was harder than i thought, i got so far across the back of the hand feeling quite proud of myself and thinking it wasn't so tough after all until i noticed that my lovely straight row of picked up stitches across the knuckles had begun to migrate stitch by stitch towards the wrist, oops! passed the glove over to my mother, because if she can't fix it who can, right? anyway she had the opposite problem and the stitches travelled fingerwards. the problem did eventually get sorted though, and i'd advise anyone doing anything similar to run a thread of contrasting colour one row underneath where you want to pick up the stitches from as a guide just in case you hadn't thought of it before (i honestly hadn't, it was only when my mum came up with the idea that a lightbulb flashed above my head and i just thought, how could i have not figured that out before?) . the mitten shell seemed to be coming on quite well too, until i realised sometime on friday night that i'd come to the end of the shaping for the shell and realised that actually i'd hardly decreased at all and where i should have had less than 10 stitches, i had over 30. it serves me right to try and knit when i'm tired, and the pattern was misleading too, still at least it gave me the chance to practise and perfect my unpicking technique.

Just finished the first of the mitten gloves for the long suffering boyfriend and while it's far too baggy for me i think it'll be just right for him (oh the benefits of having a partner with the same length hands as yourself). Just about to start picking up the stitches to make the mitten shell which should be interesting as it's not something i've done before and it seems a little trickier than picking up stitches on a sock.

i've lost my mojo (and not in an austin powers sense), my knitting mojo that is. this weekend for every row i've knitted on anything i seem to have had to unpick at least two more. i don't know if this is just my body and mind's way of telling me to just completely relax and do nothing for a day or two now my exams are over, or if my brain really has started to turn to mush. after much fighting with it i did manage to correct the mistakes i made on my alpaca wrap and get back to where i was again, but boy oh boy does it take some time! i blame myself for being too much of a perfectionist when it comes to knitting but i've always thought that if i'm putting the time and effort and not to mention the money for materials into a project it's only fair to do it right. besides i feel so much happier when things look good.

with exams over and done with this week i've had a little time free for knitting. so i started this very quick and easy net shopping bag on wednesday evening and had it done yesterday afternoon (i should point out to anyone else wanting to do something similar it is possible to knit it in a shorter space of time but as i spent the majority of thursday and friday shopping for a dress). the alpaca wrap's shrunk a bit as i found a mistake a couple of rows down from where i was this morning and after unpicking managed to twist some of the stitches without realising and so the hour or so's hard work i put in later had to be undone to correct another painful mistake, the problem is when unpicking i honestly don't have a clue how to unpick a stitch without twisting it in the process, whether i go into the front or back of the stitch i always seem to manage it to get it twisted somehow, any tips?

Another saturday afternoon picture of the alpaca wrap and me at the bowling green. Despite all the stress and hassle this past week (2 exams down 1 to go) it is growing slowly but surely. Anyway i wanted to write a little note on the joys of knitting in public. I find it a great way to spark a relationship with someone, just now in fact while mid row two ladies approached me, admired my work and enquired as to what stitch it was i was working in and one remarked that the yarn was so soft while the other remarked that her mother had been a knitter. Ok so the ladies in question were both over the age of 65 but even younger people find the craft interesting. Not too long ago i had a teenage boy dressed like a stereotypical thug approach me in the bus station while i was knitting a scarf and ask me in a very polite manner what i was doing and what it would be when done. I suppose i don't even need to go into the appeal knitting especially socks seems to have to little children on buses and trains, i lose track of the number of times a wide eyed youngster's sat with jaw dropped in wonderment at the needles flying round. The point is knitting in public can truly rock, and in a job where you have to latch onto anything your patients have an interest in order to find the key to gain their trust chatting to an old lady with depression so bad she hasn't spoken to anyone or eaten much for days about her latest knitting project, or giving an anorexic teenager a bit of confidence and self worth by teaching them to knit something beautiful can be more important than anyone would think. It might not be something that makes sense to a lot of people out there, but i'm sure knitters reading this who have the odd day when their stressed or feeling down will undertand just how therapeutic picking up needles can be.

anyone with any idea how to straighten a pair of somewhat bent wooden needles can they please let me know.