Uncle Leona's Day Camp

Ah, yes...

It's springtime, when a young man's fancy turns to...

"How the heck do I get through this screeny thing?"

I hate rain

There was a chance this afternoon that my golf league would have a little preseason round of fun. Of course, Mother F-ing Nature would have none of that. Since I don't own hip waders with cleats, I get to go to a bridal shower instead.

I think the rain shower is more appealing.

So, since there's no outdoor fun to be had on this day off of mine, I plowed away on a few UFO's sitting on the couch. The mohair scarf is done (no photo...it's already in the gift bag for my medical assistant's birthday tomorrow). I've also nearly completed Curiously Clever Clog #1:

All that's left is an applied I-cord for the edging of the opening which will also close up the heel layers. I'm curious about how this whole thing is going to wind up working, though...

That's my adorable size 9 for perspective. I may be felting these things for a week.

I also have another sock in the queue:

It's with Lorna's Laces sock yarn in the Amish colorway. The colors are wonderfully vibrant, and I like the striping that developed. I got a little of the sock done this past weekend.

Oh, and you were all wondering about the weekend, weren't you??? Yes, I'm evil. It's one of my best qualities. Anyhow, the weekend was absolutely wonderful. The weather was picture perfect, so our two days out on the golf course were awesome. I actually played pretty well, and I think I impressed one guy in my foursome a bit too much.

On Saturday, we headed out to the course to play alongside a friend of my man, who I had met last year. The course asked if we wouldn't mind adding one more guy to fill out the foursome. No big deal. The guy seemed pretty harmless, but somewhere mid-round, he announced to me that he had taken a great picture of me swinging the club with his cell phone.

OK, now I'm a bit creeped out, but I wasn't sharing his cart, so I felt safe. Later on, he asked me, "He's your brother, right?", referring to my "friend with benefits," which is how the gals in my league refer to him. I let him know we were friends, and I think he got the hint to lay off. It was a tad interesting, to say the least.

And no, he wasn't cute. And he smoked. Ew.

Other than my little stalker, the rest of the weekend went swimmingly, both the days and nights, if you know what I mean. Contrary to my last visit in August, there were no "no nookie" rules set down. As usual, I have no clue where this crazy relationship is going, but I'm going to have as much fun with it as I can. I will be back up there no later than June, when my internet golf board is having an event at one of the clubs up there--I'm guessing that will be the next time I see him given his kids' schedules, but who knows?

My stinkin' love life is a mini series waiting to happen.

Spring break, Leona style

For the first time in a year and a half or so, I decided to take a full week off from work. This is the week. So far, I've managed to fine tune and file my taxes, reformat a computer, partially clean a kitchen, and pull weeds. All of that is wrapped around my birthday on Tuesday, where I did nothing except finish a sweater to wear to dinner and the theater with Mom. And finalize some weekend plans. First, the sweater:

This is the completed 3/4 sleeve top down pullover. From that angle, it would appear that I am quite huge. It's an optical illusion...only the boobs are that huge. Love the sweater, though--the cotton/wool blend is perfect for spring and summer.

OK, as for the weekend plans, let's back up a few months. When I closed my practice, I was left with three computers that I didn't need. I gave two to my nurses, but kept the one with all the accounting/billing stuff on it. Now that the billing stuff has been transferred to my laptop, the computer is expendable. That's the computer I reformatted this weekend to donate to someone whose machine is dying a slow, agonal death. It is to be delivered this weekend to its new home in Grand Rapids. I let the man know that the machine was ready for him, and he let me know (in no uncertain terms, mind you) that he was ready for me. Suffice it to say it should be a lovely weekend of golf and whatnot.

Love that whatnot.

Of course, I still have a few days until the whatnot, so there's other stuff to get done. I started this today:

It's the top of a Curiously Clever Clog. I got the pattern from the Stitch Diva, who has some interesting stuff on her site. The pattern is written and illustrated very nicely up to this point. The beads will eventually be locked in place before felting with cable ties I got at Home Depot, which are chopped off after the felting is done. Pretty clever. Stay tuned.

The next item on the agenda is likely to be Karen's Gloves, which have morphed from the initial color combo to this one:

I like this combo better. Anyone who has seen me meander around a Stitches Market knows why. Purple and pink are my colors.

The La Boheme vest is also done, but I need to figure out how much of the dye is going to bleed. Fiesta Yarns suggested rinsing an inconspicuous area in cold water to see if the dye messed up the yellow. Inconspicuous?

You find inconspicuous on a vest! Looks like a swatch and wash is in my future.

Right after some whatnot.

If you can't beat 'em

Well, I survived the Indians game. As many of you probably found out, it was snowed out one strike short of an official game. Unbelieveably cold, and the snow was relentless. There was actually more snow delay than game (four different delays....fun, fun, fun). But I stayed to the bitter end.

I almost have feeling back in my toes.

Thankfully, Mother F-ing Nature has started to melt away the foot we got over Easter. Some grass is actually starting to peek through again. This better be the end of winter...I'm ready to move to the desert.

However, when one is stuck inside watching God shake off his dandruff, one surfs the net in search of new ideas. This is what I found: Karen's Glove KAL.. This is one beautiful looking glove, and, I believe, my karmic way to get winter to scram. I ordered the pattern today from Kansas City, so I'm guessing it'll be here sometime later this week.

Weather permitting.

As for yarn, I have a few skeins in the stash that may do the trick. What a shock. Here's the initial thought:

The multi, of course, is Koigu. The solid is a Jamieson Shetland. I like how the colors play off each other--very sunsetty. Once I get the pattern, I may do a little mind changing, but that's nothing new.

I predict that I cast on as the temperature starts to get into the 70's again.

Merry Easter!

There's a bunny out there somewhere with my chocolate.

Take me out to the ball game my ass

Today is the Indians' Home Opener, a game I have not missed since 1995. A day of joy, hope, and a sign that spring is officially here.

Sure it is.

It is officially 28 degrees. It is snowing. It is freakin' cold out there. But, there is a warmup scheduled for today.

It's supposed to top out at 34. Fahrenheit. But the snow is supposed to let up until tonight. That alone has me pulling out the tube top.

Well, it has me at least whipping this thing up from the stash:

This is "Antifreeze," from the Winter 2006 edition of Knitty. I had some Lamb's Pride in the stash in Tribe hat colors, so, after a good look at the forecast, I decided it needed to be part of the wardrobe tomorrow. What? It's not baseball enough? How 'bout this?

Go Tribe.

I have good news and bad news

The bad news...the Buckeyes were outclassed in the NCAA Championship. Florida had the better team.

The good news...I finished third in my golf board's basketball pool. I get a cool $60. I picked Florida to win.

I may be a graduate of the school, but I'm still a realist.