Uncle Leona's Day Camp

Who needs a Hawaiian sunset?

Lake Erie ones are just dandy, thank you.

Not the way to start a holiday weekend

The plan today was to go to work, then leave a vapor trail around 3:45 for Kelleys Island. I already had the pop and snacks in the car (my responsibility...Dad was especially insistant on the snacks), there was $3.85/gallon gas in the tank (it's $4 plus now), and my golf practice net was in the back seat. Grady's food bowl was full, the cat box was clean, and the toilets were all clean and accessible for his drinking pleasure (he won't drink from any bowl but a toilet bowl). All I needed to do was throw some clothes in a bag, grab some knitting, and skedaddle.

Fate, however, to quote Ben Linus from "Lost," is a fickle bitch.

My shower this morning was scalding hot--not normal at all. I checked my cold water in the sink, and it seemed to be running at normal pressure, so the next candidate was my hot water heater, which has been in hospice care for the past few months since shorting out. I went downstairs to check, and found a few gallons of water on the basement floor and the tank leaking like mad. So, I am now not at work waiting for the plumber to come along and replace the tank so I can confidently head up to the lake.

Waiting until next week is out of the question; I'm on call and cannot take a day off.

The gal on the phone said the plumbers will probably be able to come out at the end of the day, whatever that means. So here I sit. Waiting. Maybe I should knit.

Baltic is now arrived at Sleeve Purgatory:

The sleeves aren't hard, but the bulk of the sweater is a pain in the tookus. Shouldn't complain, though...it's chewing through yarn at a tremendous pace! I may take this up to the lake to try to finish it this weekend. Or, I may start something else...

The purple is some Trendsetter String of Pearls that just needs to be used (it's a good four years old), the others are some yarns I got for bargain prices. It's going to be a stash reduction short sleeved top down pullover when all is said and done. In linen stitch. Ooooohhhhh! Fancy!!! Maybe I'll start it this weekend. Or maybe I'll start something else...

I have to try it. Don't like that it isn't superwash wool, though. There are folks out in cyberland who swear it doesn't felt, but I ain't buyin' it. I can felt anything. Whether I want to or not.

Remember when I said I thought I had a Knitting Olympics project set? I lied. I NOW have one set that's far more appropriate. Here's the project:

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what I may be knitting in August?? I'll give you a clue:

It's red.

Lazy day here at the day camp

It's my day off, and it's raining. I'm heading to the theater with Mom tonight, but until then I have absolutely nothing planned. That's primarily because I did the Big Job That Needed To Be Done over the weekend. Behold the results!

What you are looking at are 10 very full bags of used clothes that I purged from my closet. There are items in there that made the move here from Columbus...in 1991. Guess they never did go back into style. Anyhow, I now have space....and hangers!

Not to mention a pretty hefty charitable deduction on the ol' taxes next year when I finally get all this stuff donated. I better let Goodwill know that they'll need the bigger truck.

Back to the lazy day. I think the better part of it will be spent working on the latest project. I decided that I needed to really, seriously do a little plowing through Ikealand before I go to Stitches Midwest in August. Here's the plan:

The yellow stuff is Peace Fleece from a frogged project that had been in pieces for a good two years. The Knitting Olympics possibility are a couple of cones of Harrisville Shetland. The purple stuff is 10 skeins of Lavold Silky Wool. And the little tight skeins are Malabrigo fingering weight in shades reminding one of a peacock. The goal is to try to get all that stuff out of Ikealand before I head out to Chicago.

Shouldn't be too hard. I already have a head start on the Peace Fleece:

This is Baltic, from Alice Starmore's Fishermen's Sweaters book. It's a nice combo of fair isle and gansey knitting styles, and it uses up heavy worsted weight quite nicely. As is my MO of late, I fudged the gauge again. This time, I'm using the smaller size in the pattern to make up for the Peace Fleece knitting to 4.5 stitches to the inch instead of 5. So far, it seems to be working. The dark gray/green trim is also leftover Peace Fleece. I wasn't sure of how the colors blended, but it's growing on me. Sort of a silver and gold kinda thing.

Now I have that Burl Ives song from Rudolph stuck in my head. Well done, doofus.

The Lakeside pullover is done and has been worn:

It's a great little pattern, but I must do a little complaining about the yarn. It sheds little cotton poofs. I'm hoping it's only a "breaking in" phase, but I'm afraid my armpits will be a little more ventilated as time goes on. It is a lovely thing, though. I may just wear it to the theater this evening.

So, the lazy day marches on. I think I'll go knit. Someone else has another idea:

Cats have all the fun.

I've been Meme'd!!

Thanks to Mary, I have officially been meme'd for the first time. So, in order to pop my meme cherry, as it were, the Day Camp proudly presents...

The Seven Random Things About Me Meme!!

But first, the rules:

Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

Let them know they are tagged by leaving comments on their blogs.

I ain't tagging seven people. But there will be tags.

Random facts:

1. I collect puffins. Never have seen one in person, but I just think they're cute. At last count, I think I have 20 or so in various incarnations.

2. I survived a waterspout. My family was staying in a lakefront cottage on Kelleys Island during the July 4, 1969 storm (anyone around Northern Ohio can attest it was the worst in recent history). A waterspout hit the cottage dead-on and sent two door-sized screen panels flying 50 yards down each side of the beach. That release of pressure probably saved my family.

3. I was on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" in February, 2000. Didn't win any cash, but I shook Regis' hand and waved to America like a trained seal. It was a free two-day trip to NYC for me and my sister-in-law; can't complain about that. OK, winning some money would have been nice, but it wasn't in the cards that day.

4. I'll try to eat just about anything nowadays but brussel sprouts. It's a deep-seeded childhood thing. Probably would require years of therapy to discuss. Very sad.

5. My family won't let my brother and I team up to play board games. We have this crazy sibling ESP thing going on that freaks out my sister-in-law to no end. It really is pretty comical, actually. I think she lost it for good when we (on opposite sides of the phone) rattled off the same euphimisms for male self-pleasuring in the same order, me in her phone ear, and my brother in the other. Guess you had to be there.

6. I test 4+ allergic to cats, yet have always had one as a pet. My theory is that if you own a cat from kittenhood, you develop a tolerance to that animal. As it gets bigger, it's as if you're getting a bigger dose of cat in your allergy shot. I have no medical studies to back me up on this, but it makes sense to my feeble mind. And it keeps Grady happy.

7. I hate it when nitwits misprounounce "nuclear." And we all know the biggest offender here.

OK, useless facts are complete. Here's a few taggees:

Lorette
Marti
Kris

I just don't know enough bloggers out there, I guess. If you have one and feel left out, though, consider yourself tagged, too!!

For further useless info, tune in again next time. I do useless well.

Paybacks are a youknowwhat

I think I worked about half the month of March. Took a 10-day break for the Houston trip, then added another day for Opening Day. I paid for it in April. I think I was on call half the month. Today marked the last full week of call for a while (I have been on three of the last six weeks), and I am officially tired of telling people that their non-asthmatic kid isn't going to die from tree pollen. Actually had someone call today just to know what the best local urgent care place was to take their sniffly 5-year-old...from the road. Yeah, that makes sense...leave the house with the kid not knowing exactly where to go unless Dr. GPS calls them.

Common sense. In some, it is severely lacking.

I did finish up the red pullover this evening before Grady clawed it into oblivion:

The neckline is done with reverse single crochet, which is such a cool stitch that I have no good reference for. Thank goodness for YouTube, where I found a great video tutorial. Who'd a thunk that the home of "Leave Britney Alone" would actually include something of value?

The Lakeside pullover is coming along also:

I'm in Sleeve Purgatory at the moment--number 2 is on the needles. In theory, that means this sweater could be done this week sometime. Good thing...the AC in the office is starting to reach meat locker stage.

I'm beginning to develop my yearly jealousy of those who look comfortable sporting nothing but a diaper.