Back to Reality...

Yes - Monday arrived. More to the point, 5:30 am arrived - and way too soon. Today was our first day back at school after a glorious two week break. Ahhhh - As fortunate as I am to have all of this time off, it's still quite a shock to our systems to return to school. My students were zombies during 3rd hour (Hello? Hello? Anyone there? Hey? Is this thing on....) Yes - 3rd hour, as in 9:30ish am. Their poor bodies & minds couldn't believe they were actually out of bed, dressed, and expected to function prior to noon. Geez - what nerve! The looks on their faces when I expected them to actually do something was priceless. "Yup - we're going to work today." "Yup - please write a balanced equation... " They looked at me like I had grown a 3rd eye during vacation. How audacious of me to actually expect my chemistry students to write and balance an equation. Wow...

Anyhow - one of the great things about returning to work (besides my students - they are a lot of fun). Is that there is nothing to grade today! Who hooo! That translates into leaving the building before 4:00 and time to knit at home! yee Haw...

Speaking of knitting - other nifty things were awaiting me in the mailbox to help take the edge off returning to school:

Oooh - look at the pretty yarn that arrived from Sarah's Yarns. It's JaggerSpun Zephr 2/18 laceweight in lilac. The photo doesn't do it justice - it sure is pretty. If I waited for the perfect amount of natural lighting, I wouldn't be able to photograph anything until May. I think I took this photo around 4:15 - after shoveling the driveway. This yarn will be used for the Secret of the Stole ii. I've never knit a major lace project, so I'm pretty excited to begin. First clue is released next Friday (1/18), so I need to get working on my swatch.

These are new stitch markers I ordered from The Loopy Ewe. I just love the Loopy Ewe!! Sheri is so nice - she always writes a little note on the order & the turn around is so fast. One set of markers will be sent to my Vintage Sock Swap Pal who lives on the East Coast. Can't yet decide what set I'll send. Perhaps I'll have one of my kids do a random pick. Sorry about the quality of the photos - I really should take some kind of class on how to best photograph yarn & like items...

Speaking of my Vintage Sock - Here's a quick photo of sock #1:


Most of sock #2 is finished - however - I ran out of yarn near the heel. So - I jumped back on line & Jimmy Beans Wool saved my bacon!! I needed Colinette Jitterbug in the Marble colorway - Jimmy Beans had it & quickly sent it north. The yarn arrived today, so I can now finish the sock - I plan to have it off to my pal by the end of the week.

So - all in all, not a bad day. Now off to knit - it's quiet around here still - the kiddos aren't home yet. I'll report on how their teachers liked their new hats & perhaps show a photo of the last hat (actual 1st FO of 2008) as soon as I find where those photos are stored....

Ciao!