Even Toshi is Tired

Why is it that the last day of vacation seems to be the busiest? I know I lost a couple of days due to a stomach bug, but come on!

As I head back to work tomorrow, I'll be missing the lazy days on the couch and my list of personal to do items. I've got a huge list waiting for me at school that I'd like to complete before I leave on Friday. We'll see if I can make it disappear.

Today didn't seem all that hectic, since I was at home for most of the day. But my day was filled with heaps of laundry, cleaning up loose ends, finishing a few more UFOs, and some pampering. I left the house for the pampering, and a one hour turned into an hour and a half. . .and I was later than expected on my way home for my knitting class. From the looks of Toshi tonight, you'd think she spent the day running circles around me, or had a rough time guarding the house. Alas, she was napping most of the day. I'll be thinking of her tomorrow when my students and I will be wishing for her list:
sleep on the bed
bark out the front window
sleep by the front door
sleep by the back door
bark and run upstairs

I think I could take a few more days of a life like that, you?

I shared what I think is an interesting tip with one of my knitting students tonight. She's working on her first shaped garment, and it has a lace panel right where she's binding off and decreasing for the front. When I'm working a particularly challenging pattern that has me stumped, I graph it. Using knitters graph paper (honestly any graph paper will do) I graph the section that I'll be working and binding off. Then as I read through the directions line by line, I highlight the stitches I'm binding off. A quick check across the row to ensure I have matching increases and decreases helps me keep my stitch counts on target and lets me adjust on paper before I begin knitting. If you try this, remember, when you highlight a stitch you've bound off, don't forget to highlight it in the remaining rows, and work from the stitches that are left when you continue your bindoffs for your neck, for instance.

Off to sleep, the alarm rings early tomorrow, and I wouldn't want to disturb poor Toshi, she's whipped.