A lesson in duplicate stitch

My brain reached it's limit for fair isle. Hat number 21 is a mess. I think it may be salvagable with some duplicate stitch. I've never done it before, but I did some embroidery in 3rd grade. I may need a break from tiny hats.

I think the real problem here is that the only paper I could find for the printer was green and I made a color copy of the blue pattern from the book and it's pretty hard to read. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Could not possibly be me making mistakes.)

It's Big Brother's first day of school. The Episcopal school he goes to has a new policy for middle school and the kids now have to "dress" for chapel days. I think it's good they teach them to dress nicely. They have a pretty tight dress code for regular days too. And we don't have too many events around here except holidays where he would otherwise dress up, so at least the jacket we had to buy will be worn more than once before he outgrows it. We have a closet full of jackets to be passed down to his cousins as they get big enough.

Since he has gym today he had to bring a bag with his shoes and socks. Those are some very big shoes. And poor kid, the only bag I could find was one for plastic cups. He has endless patience for me. He will have lots of good stories to tell his family one day.

Poor kid also has a lazy mother who makes him ride the school bus (more misery stories for the future kids) so he had to be up and ready to go before 7am. He had a few minutes to rest. It was really early. He had to get up and cut the mohawk off this morning too. Kid has a rough life.

I for one am glad he's home and school's starting again. We need a schedule around here. It's been a good summer, with Big Brother and PeeWee being very busy. I think if we looked at the calendar, Big Brother was probably gone more than he was here! And when he was here it seems like there was a pack of boys with him. I think he had a good summer.