The mystery of the rainbow cap

[rsc]

As some of you already know, I own a rainbow-patterned baseball-style cap, which I like to wear on appropariate and/or festive occasions (or even just out and about to keep the sun off). I bought it in Provincetown many a year ago. It's gotten a little stained and battered over the years, but there's plenty of wear left in it. Or so I thought.

Of course I brought it to the motss.con in Ithaca (if a motss.con isn't an appropriate and/or festive occasion, I don't know what is). When I went to pack it for the trip home on Monday I noticed that it was rather damp, which I attributed to my having put it on more or less immediately after emerging from Cayuga Lake late Sunday afternoon.

Once home, I unpacked it and hung it up in its usual place -- it was still damp, having been in my suitcase all day -- and then I didn't have occasion to wear it for a few days. But I intended to wear it for our party the following weekend -- but, lo and behold, it was still wet.

I had other things to deal with, so I just put it back and wore something else. On Monday ir was still wet, so I put it out in the sun for a few hours. When I retrieved it it was nice and warm and dry (too warm to wear, actually), so I hung it back up in its usual place.

The next day it was damp again. This was getting seriously weird.

I've now tried putting it in the dryer several times, getting it good and dry. But then I leave it sitting around, and in a few hours it's all damp again. I tried checking it every 10 minutes or so to see which part of it got wet first, but I really couldn't tell. jwg thinks maybe there's some sort of reservoir of moisture in the visor. I wonder if somehow something has happened to the fabric so that it soaks up whatever moisture is in the air. Neither of these explanations really makes sense to me.

I just don't get it.

Comments

[drevilmoo.livejournal.com]

Could this somehow be payback for socks disappearing in the dryer?

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Have you ever checked to see whether it's the washer or the dryer your socks disappear in? One theory has it that socks get sucked in under the agitator.

Anyway, it's been a bad week for hats. I just noticed that the plastic size-adjuster on my teal brushed-cotton cap, which I purchased in the Castro 11 years ago and which has certain sentimental associations, is cleanly broken in the middle.

[drevilmoo.livejournal.com]

That has happened once. The 19 year old washer I had sucked a sock into the pump. Fatally.

The adjuster is easily fixed. If you're good with needle and thread. Just carefully snip the plasic out and replace it with a short section of velcro. Newer hats come with the velcro instead of the plastic. HTH

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Of course! Thank you. I don't why I didn't think of that. (Someone in this house is good with needle and thread, anyway.)

[drevilmoo.livejournal.com]

You mean I contributed in a positive manner?! Don't let that get out, it will ruin my reputation.

Actually, when I read your post, the first thing I thought of was the "gimme" cap I got in Kermit, Texas. It has a velcro adjuster. It's so much more comfortable than the hard plastic ones.

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

I learned where all the socks go in my laundry. Since I learned the secret, all the socks I have lost have been due to wear and tear.

[susandennis]

This is wild... do keep us posted. I cannot imagine what's causing it. Wild.

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

Also, it is clear to me that jwg is trying to drive you mad by soaking your cap in water (or perhaps he goes swimming in it every morning or so).

I am sure that it has something to do with being accused of standing in the middle of the kitchen.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Well, jwg, who is so much better at this sort of thing than I am, had an idea: Run the thing through the dryer, and then seal it up in a ziploc bag. "If it comes out wet, we've discovered a humidifer; if it comes out dry, but then gets wet later, we've discovered a dehumidifier."

Well, we checked it after two hours in the bag, amd it was dry. We decided to give it more time -- maybe overnight.

Stay tuned.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Left in the bag overnight; it was still dry in the morning. Took it out, left it on the dinig-room table. Came home from the Sox game this evening (just before 11:00).

The hat is damp.

I expect jwg to start writing up the patent application for a new type of dehumidifier any day now.