When I was a kid, growing up in a tiny town surrounded by cornfields in the middle of Illinois, I would have sworn that summer went on forever.  And I don’t mean in a “nostalgic movie about kids on bikes where they hope that this summer will go on forever” kind of way.  I mean it was hot, muggy and gross…forever.  Our junior high school was built with these teeny-tiny windows to keep the heat in during our epic winters.  But, that meant for the first month of school, the building was insanely hot, without a breeze to help.  We’d spend the first (and last) few weeks of school sweating, trying to stay awake in classrooms with the lights turned off to make us think it was cooler than it really was.  That’s what I mean by “summer lasted forever.”

I’m not sure if that sentiment is correct anymore.  Maybe it is still that way in Central Illinois, or maybe it was just the perception of a slightly dramatic (and easily overheated) kid.   But, this year, here in Seattle, the moment the calendar flipped to September the temperature dropped, the clouds rolled in and the rain started to fall.

And I love it- perfect knitting weather.

Unfortunately, though, it means that the summer camps I’ve been teaching at are all done for the year.  The kids are going back to school in this week, and I’ve got nothing to do until after-school programs start up again at the end of the month.

Which brings me to my point.  What on earth am I going to do for almost a month of unemployment?  I’ve got some designs I’ve been working on (stay tuned!), some Christmas presents to get started, and a few half-finished projects I’d like to get closer to being done.  But, since I’ve got a good chunk of free time, do you have any requests?  Anything you’d like to see?

What do you like to work on when you have a big chunk of free time?