Less than a week to my first bout

Lately, blogging has slid kind of to the bottom of my to do list as I've been rushing between Derby and Work and Home and the Boy's... every moment I've had to myself I've been sewing my Brutal Pageant costume or knitting for - *gasp* - relaxation. And it gets to a point where writing "Oh I'm so so TIRED and my mood is really LOW and I feel really DOWN" gets boring in the extreme... to write and to read. So I thought I'd just check in with what I know is my very attractive blog community (no, really, youse are hot) and let you all know that I am NOT DEAD.

Yay! Not dead!

There is less than a week to the first bout of the season for Richter City Roller Derby, and the first bout I will have ever skated in. I am shitting myself - so freaked out to skate in front of all those people! Strange though that I found it so much more reasonable to stand up as an individual and talk in front of a couple of hundred skaters than I find it to stand up and skate in a big moving mass. Go figure. I've had butterflies thinking about it over the last fortnight. BUT ALSO: how exciting! It's going to be amazing! And I've made the dopest dress ever from a pattern in my head and I think it is rather adorable with it's super cute flippy skirt and tulle bits. No matter what happens on the rink, at least I can feel proud of the awesomeness of my costume.

I've been knitting like a maniac also ever since I scored this amazing viscose  yarn from a great little shop in Auckland. The yarn is described as "paper yarn" but it's surprisingly soft. I'm knitting this big floppy cardigan thing out of individual squares - I saw the pattern in a book called Knitorama that I picked up at the library. It's stupidly easy but I am super excited to finish it off as I think it's the first actual garment that I've knitted; I quite happily knit hats and scarves and funny little bits and socks, but sweaters and cardigans and such like fill me with dread, as a rule. Socks have been my most exciting thing to knit and I'm telling you there's nothing like seeing those tiny stitches build up like the hands of elves have been at work - unless it's wearing the socks for the first time and knowing how much *love* has been knitted into those bad boys.

So, anyhow, I'm going to top up my fuel reserves for tonight when I shall be scrimmaging for a couple of hours. The floor is insanely slippery and I'm hoping like hell that my new wheels are going to improve my grip... Did I mention my apprehension? Ach, Ich bin sehr nervoes!