Ten things I learned on summer vacation

1. Turns out, tablets are not like computers.  Nor are they like e-readers.  But they are a little like both and pretty handy for a knitter, not least because of the colour screen.

Favorite Socks, edited by Ann Budd - SO much nicer in colour

2. According to friends who camp, Listerine makes a great bug repellent.  You pour it on the ground around where you plan to sit, or dab it on your clothes or shoes or tent entrance (in places where you're pretty sure it isn't going to damage the fabric) and bugs won't come near you.  I am totally testing this next summer.

3. Knitting in the dark is not always the sum of all its parts.

Remember me? Next time, bring a reading light.

4. Sleep is not overrated.  But spending an entire summer just cleaning out a basement is.

5. Having a decluttered house - not just one room, but the whole house - just feels better, even in the face of the extreme sleep deprivation needed to pull it off.

6. Throwing a party for more people than will technically fit inside your house is still the best motivation for finishing off a big cleaning and decluttering project.  (it was a good party, even though I did have to shove a lot of not-yet-gotten-to stuff into one room and close the door for the duration.)

7. There is just something about crochet.  I'm not especially good at it, and I don't have a lot of yarn I want to dedicate to it, but MAN, every time I picked up a book on crochet to shelve with other books on crochet in the basement cleanup (my summer mantra: 'store like with like') I wanted to drop everything and sit down with a hook and some wool.  And not just because it would have meant taking a break from the basement cleanup.

8. A few years in to this whole blogging thing, I can now take pretty good pictures.

Yay for a good zoom lens!

9.  Kayaking is SO MUCH FUN.

Even if it's not in a 'real' kayak and you only get to do it a few times.

10. Next summer, I'm taking a real holiday.  No more cleaning, GAH.


Okay: it's Labour Day and I have some labour on the agenda (yes, in the basement, where else?) Hope you get a fun day today and I will see you tomorrow!