In which school ate my brain

Two weeks into the school year, I remember what life used to be like. Up at the bumcrack of dawn, ready me, ready kiddos, drop off, plan plan, teach teach teach, yearbook yearbook, grade, copy, visit, pick up kids, home, dinner, baths, stories, grade some more (or maybe just procrastinate), to bed, lather, rinse, repeat.

I'm trying to keep my NEW favorite verb in there: knit.

MS3 update: I finally finished clue 6 and am about 10 rows into clue 7. Wahoo! I had to rip back about 20 or 30 long rows when the slip stitch at the short-rowed join slithered off the needles and wiggled down. Trying to hook it all back up proved to be just too confusing: p2togs, plus yos, plus the short rows? No can do. It was about 50 rows back to my nearest lifeline, unfortunately, but when I was ripping I was able to pick up -- carefully! -- a purl row without a lifeline. Thank goodness for the peace and quiet and good lighting of my new LYS.

I'm back to being excited about this project, after a long period of sour grapes following the Escaping Slip Stitch and the stole's Subsequent Incarceration ("I wouldn't have worn a stole, anyway; humph!") But now that I'm closer to completion and keep seeing the lovely stoles posted on the yahoo site, I am jonesing to be done.

That said, when I realized the other day that I probably could have knit both me AND M sweaters in the time it's taken to make a stole which will get sporadic use, if any, I think I may hang up my large-scale-lace spurs for good. Melanie's designs are gorgeous, but when all's said and done, I think I'd rather have an Aran sweater.

(Of course, never have I done so much knitting for so little moolah; lace and socks are truly the more-bang-for-your-buck options for us knitters of little budget.)