Dry...for now

There is nothing that I hate more than setting up a tent in the dark. Inevitably, the spot that appeared to be even and stick or stone free will prove itself otherwise in the middle of the night. With that said, our little holiday camping trip was destined to have us doing just that the moment we decided to leave "right after work." We made it to the campground by 10 pm last night and I was in a completely grouchy mood. It was so bad that Chuck left me to set up our tent alone and helped Sylvain with his tent instead, which in the end was probably his best course of action. And to make the night complete, it started to drizzle while we were half finished setting up the tents.

Even though the Jeep was packed to the gills, we each thought of things we could have used, but had left at home. I had forgotten just how cold sleeping on an air mattress can be, and wished we had brought a few more blankets (or even our winter sleeping bags) as it got down into the low-40s last night. Only the most urgent of needs brought me out of the *warm* bed for a visit to the restroom in the rain. Though, I should really be grateful that there's a restroom at all. Usually when we camp in this part of the state (Manistee Nat. Forest between Ludington & Manistee), we stay in the dispersed campsites, where the sites are what we make of it (bathrooms included). We opted for a campground because one of the couples joining us tomorrow is expecting, and a bathroom has moved from being a camp luxury to a necessity. I'm not minding this switch so much since we were able to get a couple of sites that appear to be surrounded by other quiet tent campers.

So this morning after being out and about, I didn't feel like returning to bed. Luckily, our tent is large enough to accommodate the air mattress, my backpack, a camp chair, and a camp table. It was only 6:30, and I didn't want to bug Chuck or Sylvain, so I started working on a shawl Lisa had designed. I was able to make significant progress, and may very likely finish it later tonight or definitely tomorrow. One of the yarns called for in the pattern is Noro Kureyon, which I thought I was buying in a nice peach, teal, brown, gray, and purple colorway. The teal is not a pretty color, but it was something I thought I could live with. However, during one of my visits to Nancy, she flashed open more towards the center of the skein, exposing a very out of place neon, "safety yellow." Don't get me wrong -- I'm a huge fan of light and warm colors, but this yellow looks hideous mixed in with the colors that drew me towards this colorway. My laziness won me over and I never made it to Rae's to see if I could exchange it for something else. So this morning, I made it through the first yarn, and was ready to add the Kureyon. I reached into the skein to draw out my starting strand and out popped a wad of the ugly yellow, which I gleefully cut out. The next time I need/want to knit with Kureyon, I'll definitely be more discerning about the full color varigation.