You Say It's Your Birthday

It's not actually my birthday yet, but since my parents were in town we had a little birthday gathering last night. My parents, my MIL & FIL. Mom and Dad gave me yarn money. MIL/FIL gave me a new suit. A birthday suit, hooray! It's a long story, but my MIL worked for Daytons/Marshall Fields (now Macy's) for years and years. Part of her retirement is that she gets her employee discount for life. Since Macy's has ridden into town, they have declared that their sales associates will only wear black. When D/MF had to sell off all the brands that Macy's doesn't carry, they set aside all the black suits for sales associates to buy at a huge discount so that they could comply with the new all black all the time rule. One of her former co-workers called my MIL and told her about the black suit sale and told her she could get in on the deals as a retired associate. So she bought a black suit for herself and one for me! This is great because I wear suits 2-4 times a week at "the firm". So I have a beautiful new Anne Klein suit.

I haven't really knit at all this week and I realized this morning that I am literally drowning in UFOs. We are talking the little men descending from the craft to take me away and perform Martian experiments on me. I have my Sunrise Circle Jacket, a hooded tunic for my nephew, a Lizard Ridge square, a Grandma Purl square, the final poncho, a Fair Isle hat. So this weekend I am committed to finishing something, anything.

I just joined the Lizard Ridge KAL. Maybe this will be the KAL where I actually finish the project! I'm down to three finished squares because I just committed two to Stephania's LR Afghans for Afghans project. Thanks to Chris for directing me to the site. (BTW Chris, I still haven't received an e-mail with your address to send you your prize!)

In other news, I have a devious plan for outing Roger Clinton. It involves a picture of the suspected RC. I am waiting to receive the picture and then I will post. The picture is of the suspected RC and contains knitting. More later, but a note to all my blog friends, have you ever gotten a comment from Roger Clinton on your blog? This information will help me in my Nancy Drew efforts.

As much as I enjoy reading about knitting and writing about knitting. I better get to the actual knitting.

Away From Home

I awoke to the sounds of NPR. For me, this qualifies as a rude awakening. I'm just not an NPR kinda girl. Not just in that I shave my legs on a regular basis. They editorialize every single story. If Katie Couric reported the news like they do on NPR she'd be fired. The story I woke up to was about Terrell Owens. Correction it was about how the story of Terrell Owens was "big news" and reporters were all over the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. They disdain sports anyway on NPR, but they were really disparaging in this particular report. Referring to TO as "a man who catches footballs for a living". Yes, I realize that being a wide receiver in the NFL isn't as nobel a profession as making peanuts as a posturing little stringer for NPR, but please. Okay, I think I'm done ranting.

I've done almost no knitting. I missed Project Runway last night and the Gilmore chicks season premier on Tuesday. I have nothing worthwhile to write about. Except, despite what he says, I think TO probably did try to kill himself and I hope that someone gets him help. 'Cos he's seemed a little nuts to me for quite some time. I don't know if I'd want my boss to be the warm and fuzzy Bill Parcells if I was feeling blue.

Quick Note

I'm hitting the road today for work. You know how I love that. Yesterday I was at Needlework Unlimited and I noticed a flyer for the Minnesota Knit Out. It's in my neighborhood at Brookdale Mall. Yes, truly the Mall where the hookers shop (and I'm not talkin' crochet here people).

I try to shop at Brookdale but other than the Barnes & Noble and my pal Shawn's Subway, there isn't much for a forty-something. I'm on a Macy's boycott because I'm not over the loss of Daytons. (Yeah, I know that was two acquisitions ago, but I was really attached) If someone sees me walking into Forever 21, they should tackle me. I'm not 21 and 40-somethings that want to dress like they are 21 just look a little sad. There is even one store called K-something that has to be where the hookers shop. If all the hookers and drag queens in town get invited to Ascot to enjoy the races with the Queen, they definitely need to make a stop at K-whatever to buy shiny cheap satin dresses with big matching hats. Get some satin pumps dyed mint green to match. Oh, but if you need really expensive cool sneakers, there are about 4 or 5 stores that sell them. So as much as I try to boost my little town's economy, there isn't much for me to buy at Brookdale other than books at the B&N and hoodies at Steve & Barrys.

That being said, I'm really excited that knitters are coming to my neck of the woods. Some will have to pack their Louis Vuitton bags and venture north of 394 for the first time ever. Some will have to cross the river! I love my crazy little neighborhood where diversity rules and you can't go anywhere without running into someone you know. So I'm hoping to see you here on October 8th.

And The Winner Is. . .

Using a random number generator, Chris is the winner of Look Back & Cringe. The prize yarn is in no way purple or black so I'm hoping she will still use it. I'm also some including some other stuff (also not purple or black) that hopefully she will use.

Finally, as a thank you or perhaps a punishment, I give you my own Look Back & Cringe photo
Forget the fact that I look like I would break in a strong wind, how much hair did I really need? I actually paid someone to do this to my hair. I wanted the big news anchor scoops to stay really big all day. No, those aren't two catepillars that crawled up over my eyes, they are my brows. I did fall for the Caroline Kennedy wedding dress that was in retrospect very conservative compared to the giant sleeved beaded numbers that were popular at the time. I had to have the pillbox veil with the giant pouf in the back though. You couldn't legally marry without the big pouf.

Thanks to everyone for having fun with my little contest.

End of Look Back and Cringe

Yesterday was the official end to Look Back and Cringe. If I missed your entry, let me know. I'll choose a winner via random number and post tonight.

Blatantly disregarding The Sheep's warning about knitting on cold medication, Ispent most of the weekend in bed with a fever, knitting and watching Gilmore Girls the Complete 6th season. One thing I can tell you, the cold medication really takes the edge of the frogging. I was trying to make a simple square for Grandma Purl. I wanted to make it washable because I generally believe that afghans should be washable (that's why I'm doing a giant Kureyon afghan for my first one?! what's wrong with me? No, really) and I wanted happy colors. I remembered that I had some Koigu in the stash that I bought just because of it's really happy colors. It seemed like the perfect choice for an afghan square. Since it's a simple square what better way to try out some of the patterns from Vogue Knitting's Stitchionary? Getting gauge so that this square is exactly 8 inches was a royal pain. After frogging twice, I think I have it.



Happy or what? I like the pattern, it's number 85 from the stitchionary, granite relief stitch. Even with all the frogging, I really like the Koigu too. It holds up great to frogging and I like the fabric it creates. Now I'm thinking about a Koigu sweater in this same pattern stitch. I'm envisioning something top down with slit sleeves and fitted. All the Koigu sweater patterns I found on the internet were well, fugly. Many were modular knitting and had this "look at what a clever knitter I am" look rather than being really wearable. We'll see. I did the preliminary math and a little sketch, but I was on cold medication.

I also did a couple of these:
Each time I do a square I'm sure that "this one is my favorite". Five down, 19 more to go.

Welcome Autumn

I love fall. I like the leaves changing color and the crisp feeling in the air. I love getting my sweaters out of summer storage and putting away the summer stuff. I love buying really great apples and putting them in a big bowl on my kitchen table. It's the best time of year. Give me 50 and 60 degree weather all the time, I much prefer it to 80's and 90's.

However, it has drizzled here for days and days. Everything is gray and the damp cool weather has brought on a horrible allergy attack. I feel crappy. This is perfect knitting weather though and sitting around knitting is my only plan for today.

I am still working on squares for my Lizard Ridge afghan. I took Chris' advice and went to Webs to look at the discounted Kureyon. I still might order some, but with shipping it works out to be about the same price as anywhere else. They do have some great colors though. I want each square to be in a different colorway. I'm using my new handy dandy little notebook to keep track of the colors. When you pick up a skein at the LYS, each one looks different depending on how it was wound. If I don't record the color numbers, I am afraid I will end up duplicating. For example, everywhere I go I end up picking up color 165 and admiring it, only to realize I've already used it for a square.

Tomorrow is the end of Look Back and Cringe. Christina has posted a picture and reminded me of the fashion trend of layering socks. If this comes back it could be a great thing for all of you that are knitting a ton of socks.

Pull up a box of tissues, a good DVD, something hot to drink and knit through your allergies. Have a good weekend!

A Little Knitting

I'm out here. Not much knitting to report, just a little. I've been working on the stockinette sleeves which is fairly boring knitting, and periodically I've been working on these:

They need washing and blocking, but my plan is to get four done and then block. I really love working on these. The knitting is fun and I never know what the yarn is going to do next. I missed the boat yesterday. I got the Herrschner's weekly yarn sale e-mail and Kureyon was on sale for less than $5 a skein. By the time I got to the site it was all gone! I have a feeling there are a whole lot of people knitting this afghan.

Look Back and Cringe update:
Kaye and I graduated from high school the same year, so her 80's experiences seem to be close to my own. The hair was certainly similar. I don't know about you, but I don't have time to stand around with a curling iron for an hour every morning, so the hairstyles can't come back.
Karen has posted pictures, but didn't leave me her blog address, so Karen K, please come back and share your blog so that we can all take a peek!

Like just about everyone else, my allergies are miserable and I don't have a ton of energy. Hopefully, I'll be able to do more knitting this weekend.

Aargh!

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day. I'm very afraid that my husband and son are participating. Anyway.

No posts yesterday because my morning was interrupted by a sighting of the dreaded mouse. In my son's room. Yes, where the cat lives. Let's just say that Albert the cat is not a mouser.
Last night the internet connection was messed up, so my apologies for no post yesterday.

More Look Back and Cringe Posts:

Chris has some really good arguments against an 80's comeback.
I'm not positive, but I think I saw Beth on an episode of "Dallas".
Tiphanie reminded me that we weren't all teens and 20-somethings in the 80's. Some of us were Punky Brewster!
Katie was adorable! She did however remind me that overalls are not flattering on anyone who no longer wears diapers. I'm not wearing overalls again no matter what.

I had big problems with overalls and stirrup pants back in the 80's. They were made for people of normal proportions. I'm only 5'7", but most of it is legs. Stirrup pants cut into my feet while the crotch of the pants landed somewhere between my knees and where it was supposed to be. Which meant that I was constantly pulling them up which in turn cut into my feet even more. Stirrup pants were a vicious fashion circle for me. Overalls were always flood pants for me. Alternatively, I would adjust the shoulder straps as long as possible so that the bib was way down and again I had the hanging crotch. Real attractive. Of course we didn't call them overalls back then, they were bibs. As in, "what are you wearing to the hockey game tonight?" "I'm just wearing my bibs".

In knitting news, I've completely fallen for this. Who hasn't? I've told myself that I'm going to take it slow. It could take years because at $8.50 to $9.50 a skein, this is going to end up being a throw that costs well over $200. I've completed two squares and started on a third and I've come to the conclusion that even with all the new worsted weight self-striping yarns out there, you couldn't substitute. Part of the fun is that you never know what the Noro Kureyon is going to do next. (including when it's going to break in a very random fashion, but that's a whole 'nother post) It's like a great mystery novel, you really don't know how things are going to turn out until the very end. I'm addicted. It's just fun knitting. Like knitting should be!

Prize Peek

I don't have much time today, I have to be somewhere very early this morning. I'm an early riser but a slow starter. I need time to ease into the world in the morning. So being made up and wearing a suit, arriving someplace at 7:00 a.m. is tough. Really tough. So here is a little peek at something I bought today as part of the prize for Look Back and Cringe.

I picked it up at Yarnzilla on my lunch hour today. It's Mt. Colors Bearfoot and the fabulous Linda assures me it's a new colorway that isn't easily found. I need the help of someone like Linda when it comes to sock yarn because, in case I haven't mentioned this before, I don't do socks. Linda is the best and someday she is even going to let me buy the cashmere I'm craving.

More on the Look Back and Cringe front:
Chris has gone so far as to link to pictures of herself. If back in the 80's you went to buy purple eyeshadow and the store was out, it was because Chris had bought it all. Proof positive her obsession with purple is hardly a new phenomenon.

Deepa is, sadly, blogless (but I heard through the grapevine, she's thinking about starting a blog) but she has posted a comment about her Indian "fusion fashion". Deepa, I still can't think about cowl necks even though I see patterns for knitted cowl necks all over the place.

Tam may be the bravest woman ever. She has not only posted pictures of her 80's fashions and a dizzying array of giant glasses, but she has posted a picture of herself just after giving birth. She looks like the happiest woman on earth in this picture, but let's face it we are not exactly at our glamorous best after pushing a person out of our bodies. Tam, I am not worthy.

Okay, I'm going to go be an early bird. Talk to you tomorrow.

Waiting for the Mailman

I love shopping online. I love getting packages in the mail. I'm almost sure my mail carrier hates me because of it. Yesterday, I got this:

My notebooks from Myndology! They are going to be for knitting. The itsy bitsy one will fit into my purse. It has heavy paper that seems like a light cardstock. It's refillable too, so as long as I don't lose it, I can refill it.

Now I know that everybody else seems to use their Palm pilots or Blackberries for this kind of note taking stuff, but I don't have one. I had a Palm and it seemed that I mostly used it as an address book and to play Bejeweled on airplanes. It seems like too much expense for how I use it. It died. It was drowned by the cat. Not Albert, our now departed Schmed cat. It was sitting on the kitchen counter and Schmed decided to play soccer with it. It landed in his water dish and drowned. Palm pilots don't like water, or cats. I have a wet, messy, animal intensive home that leads to electronic accidents. So I'll stick to buying notebooks.

Since this is meant to be a knitting blog, I am actually knitting. I'm making sleeves for the jean jacket I bought way back in March while in Chicago. I lost the pattern so I had to use my Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns and math.

This is Schaefer Miss Priss in the colorway Isadora Duncan. It should look great with the jacket. I'm doing both sleeves at once because I hate finishing something only to have to start all over again. Have I mentioned I don't knit socks?

Apparently Schmed cat was not the only animal who enjoys a good game of soccer, Maxine is pretty sure she's going to be picked for the next women's Olympic team. She will not tear her shirt off after a win to expose her bra, she plays naked.


Keep Looking Back and Cringe-ing! Some of you have even hinted at posting pictures of your 80's fashions! I can't wait!

Look Back and Cringe Contest

Everyone is saying that the 80's are making a big comeback in fashion. You'll have to drag me kicking and screaming back there. No long sweaters and leggings please. No ripped sweatshirts. Please, please no big giant hair with mall bangs. And I am absolutely not growing my eyebrows back out to look like giant Brooke Shields catepillar brows.

Being a banana clip away from a Styx concert got such a strong reaction from everyone (it even brought our pal Roger Clinton out of lurkdom into the comment light, hooray!) that you have inspired me to hold another contest.

What special outfit did you have in the 80's that make you resist going back to the 80's now? Was it the layers of purple eyeshadow? Was it your Madonna inspired headband? Was it the blouse with the giant sleeves? What is that special look that you so loved back then that makes you cringe now. I mean real embarrassment. Tell me why you don't want to do the 80's all over again on your blog. Be brave, this is no time for some wimpy "leave it in my comments" contest. We are talking the return of lycra leggings people, blog about it! The winner will get something special in the way of yarn.

I will confess, my 80's fashion transgressions were numerous. My absolute worst was a turquoise outfit that included rip-stop nylon pants. The pants had a ton of puffy pleats on the top and then tapered to very small ankles. These wonders were topped with a turquoise and white striped sailor shirt that had puffy sleeves. I wore this with my purple eye shadow, plastic turquoise button earrings (the bigger the better) and (gasp) RED ballet flats (white socks of course). I loved this outfit. I bought it myself with money I earned working at the insurance office after school (yes, I've been a big old insurance geek since I was 17). Oh God, I felt cute in this outfit. Oh does the thought make me cringe now!!

Obviously the benefits of going back are numerous.

• We all await the death of the muffin top and the tramp stamp with eager anticipation.
• If we can fashionably go back to butt covering sweaters, we can put away our "Firm" steps and get off the stairmaster.
• If I never see another chubby teenager's belly hanging out of a crop top or a too tight shirt, it will be too soon (as my friend Dan says, there is such a thing as too much self esteem in children)
• Maybe stores will start selling t-shirts in real sizes again. I have to buy large or even xl sometimes at places like Old Navy and The Gap. I'm a size 6/8 and have virtually no chest. I don't know what you do if you're an average size like 12/14 and actually have a chest. I guess you just can't buy Old Navy t-shirts most of the time.
• I will be the first one at the flat-iron bonfire. I will be swinging it over my head by the cord screaming, "I have curly hair and I'm proud of it!"
• Maybe we can find clothes that don't look like you're on your way to party with Paris Hilton. I need some coverage people!! I work at a "firm". Yes, people refer to my company as "the firm" and they wear ties. I can't dress like I'm headed off to a taping of TRL.
• Flat shoes. I miss flats. I miss comfy toes. I have seen a lot of rounded toes in shoes stores lately and this is a sign. I love how my legs look in pointy-toed stilleto heels, but my hamstrings are now aproximately one fourth their original length.

There will be negatives to going back to some version of 80's fashions:

• Spandex, need I say more?
• Those butt covering sweaters take a whole lot of yarn. A whole lot. And knitting another 8-10 inches on the bottom of sweaters is going to take time.

So let's all look back and cringe together shall we? Contest will run through Sunday September 24th, winner announced on Monday September 25th.

"I'm plenty fashionable already. Does the return of the 80's mean the return of real dogs? Not just teeny-tiny purse-sized dogs that are worn as an accessory? I'm all for that!"

Okay Maybe I'm Just Mean

I got the Patternworks catalog in the mail today. I love getting yarn catalogs. I like looking at the new yarns, I like comparing colors and fibers. But I've got a question, maybe I'm just mean, but is it 1986 in New Hampshire? Have you gotten this catalog? Have you noticed that the models have feathered hair and are wearing really high-waisted, pleated wool pants? This isn't true of all of the pictures (most of which are provided by the yarn companies I'm quite sure) but the Yarns by Patternworks all feature models living in a time warp. No kidding these models are a banana clip away from a Styx concert.

Something really cool I found online today. I was reading Twin Cities Business today at work and there was an article about a company called Myndology. They sell the absolute coolest notebooks, little ring bound note cards, etc. I, of course, thought knitting. I thought about all the little notes I make for myself and then proceed to lose. So I went online and ordered a disc-bound journal and a 2"x3" disc bound note book. With the disc bound you can take the little notes out and add them to the journal. Cool, huh? I also wrote to the company saying that they should be selling these in LYS's. Check out Myndology if you are a notebook nut like me.

I didn't get to knit at all last night, but I crashed early and feel better than I have in days!! I'm loving this cool fall weather and it's making me think wool and sweaters and more wool.

Have Yourself a Realistic Little Christmas. . .

Okay I've made a decision. This stressing myself out with Christmas projects in September is ridiculous. The notion that everyone in my life needs handknit gifts is crazy. Realistically my nieces and nephews would rather have toys and electronics than a handknit sweater from Auntie Kate. I'm going to stick to making smaller projects for my mom & dad and my in-laws. I will finish the fair isle hats for the kids, I will probably finish the sweater I already have on the needles for my nephew Joe. That's it.

As for the Samantha sweater, I'm going to give it another try but if I just can't do it with my eyesight, I'll have to pick something simple, top down, in worsted weight yarn. Maybe this.

Lately my knitting has been stressing me out and that's bad. Knitting is supposed to be my stress relief not a whole new source of stress. No one knows what causes Graves disease, but they think stress is a factor. My eye isn't correcting itself like the doctors hoped and I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I'm going start working on eliminating stress from my life and being realistic about this Christmas knitting stuff is a start. Saturday morning when I grabbed my needles and a ball of Sugar 'n Cream and whipped out that dishcloth, knitting was fun. I've been making my knitting a giant to-do list and that has to stop. Nudge me if I turn my knitting into anything but fun, okay?

Off Track

I couldn't do it anymore. I was struggling with my eyes and I couldn't do lace on number 4 needles without good eyesight. So I succumbed to the garterlac (sp?) fever going around (Trek is the Typhoid Mary of garterlac fever) and knit this.


I now understand why these are so addictive. I love that I can do them in wild colors because after all they are dishrags, it's not as if they have to coodinate with anything. It would seem a perfect first entrelac project as after the first couple of squares the lightbulb went off in my head and I got it without having to look at the pattern all the time. (Why can't I do this with two crummy repeating YO's?)

Thanks for everyone's well wishes on my eyes. They are much better today. It comes and goes for no apparent reason. I've gotta run. I'm multi-tasking right now. Blogging, watching Trading Spaces re-runs, cleaning my bathroom, and washing that gray right outa my hair.

From Tinking to Full Out Frogging

This little tiny lace panel on the Samantha sweater is completely kicking my ass. I've tinked back 7 or 8 times. Its an easy pattern, I just keep forgetting to YO and it looks horrible.



So I'm going to frog it all back and re-knit it. I've had more time for knitting than I thought I would as my eye is acting up and I missed work because of it. I'm very frustrated by my complete inability to keep track of this. There isn't a chart, probably because most people wouldn't need one to do alternating yo's up the side of a button band. It's a four row repeating pattern that you knit 12 times. I was using check marks on the pattern. It worked fine for a while, but apparently knitting ADD kicked in and I blew it. Over and over again.

Any advice?

My 100th Post!

As this is my 100th post, it seems important that I stick with a recurring theme. This is Trekking with Maxine Louise, BHFH, beloved blog-dog.

Deb, do you recognize this? You helped me pick it out at Coldwater. I bought these for my OS Secret Pal. The bag was on the desk and apparently she jumped up and took off with the bag. What do you do in a situation like this? Do I try to untangle this mess? Do I just write the whole thing off? I don't even knit socks for heaven sake!

Thanks for sticking with me and my dog for these past six months through 100 posts. Some of them were even about knitting.

Dreams Do Come True

I could get into the whole spooky Irish women dreaming thing, but I won't. I'll just say, last Tuesday's dream has come true, my friends had their first baby two weeks early on Monday. I knit like a fiend all day on Monday in a feeble attempt to finish the baby sweater, but only have the back done.

See the sweet little section that looks like smocking? It's all slipped stitches, but looks like something far more complicated. I have to do the short row neck shaping. The instructions in the pattern completely freaked me out, but I swatched it yesterday and I think I'm okay. The problem is I don't see myself getting a lot of time to knit in the next couple of days. Part of me wishes I'd chosen a simpler pattern in worsted weight. This one has a full skirt, is knit in pieces and on number 4 needles. I know it will be worth it when it's done, but right now I'm worried about finishing it before the kid is too big to wear it.

I could have knit more last weekend, but I was busy painting and doing a little minor redecorating in the living room. The living room had been dominated by our old 43" "big screen" t.v. and a giant oak cabinet that surrounded it. I couldn't rearrange the furniture too much because of it and I was sick of living room being dominated by a t.v. The offending t.v. has been moved into my son's room, the giant cabinet broken up into manageable pieces, and my living room looks bigger and warmer and wonderful. I love it. It will be the perfect place to knit by the fire and listen to music. My son is very happy with the huge t.v. which is a good thing because my husband and son have vowed they are never moving it again.

Yesterday was restful and quiet. However, there are some in this house that are against the boy going back to school. Someone was lonely and restless and a little cranky. I'm not naming names but she has really big ears.

Was that the door? Is that my boy coming home?

School Starts

Promptly at 6:04 a.m., I heard my son's shower fire up. His backpack is packed and by the door. He laid out what he was going to wear, last night. His wallet has ones in it for the snack and juice machines. He is reluctantly ready. I'm so ready.

It is traditional that I stay home the first day of school. I took the whole week off his first year at kindergarten. That first day was tough for me. I took him to school and the parents stayed for the first hour. When the parents were dismissed, kids cried and clung to their mommies. Not mine. "See ya mom" was all I got. I went home and cried. At the end of the day, I was waiting at the bus stop with our dog Sam fifteen minutes before the bus was due. When the bus finally pulled up and opened it's doors, my son never got off the bus. I could see him on the bus, he just didn't get off. Not knowing exactly where the next stop was, Sam and I chased the bus as it pulled off. Waving my hands in the air, chasing the big yellow bus, I was in a panic thinking give me my baby back! Sam happily ran along beside me, barking. We ran all the way to the next stop where I got on the bus and retrieved my son. He hasn't really taken the bus much ever since.

It is also tradition that I take a picture of him on the porch getting ready to leave. I bought batteries for the camera but in all the rearranging and painting that went on over the weekend (details later), I can't find them now. So while he eats breakfast and watches the morning news, I'll be running around looking for batteries.

At 7:25, his dad will take him to school and I will begin the happy dance of back to school joy. No more coming home to empty soda cans and teenagers sprawled all over the living room. No more 47 calls on Thursday (his laundry day) that go something like, "do red underwear go into the underwear load or the red load?". No more coming home after a hard day to hear, "I'm bored, can we go out to dinner and shopping tonight?". I'm gonna miss all that.

To all the moms out there, enjoy the first day back to school. Do your own happy dance of back to school joy. Do it in your p.j.s with the family pets looking at you as if you've lost your mind. Then pour yourself a cup of coffee and sit down to knit. In a really quiet house.