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By in politics No Comments

I haven’t been as political on here this year because constant outrage wears you down–a tactic I think the ruling party counts on. (And I’ve been worried about my mom, which takes energy away from worrying about the dystopian nightmare happening daily.) (She’s doing fine. I just worry like it’s my job.)

But separating children from their parents, using them as a bargaining chip to pass legislation, using them to make sure you are still making headlines, having no plan to reunite them with their parents, is SO WRONG I can’t even put it into words.

I know Carl Sagan and Doc, my two inspirations, would try to make someone who believes that this practice is OK see a different point of view and convince them with kindness why they’re mistaken.

But you know what? People who think it’s acceptable to forcibly remove children from their families don’t deserve the time of day, in my opinion. They don’t deserve to think their own children are somehow more virtuous. The people who started doing this, the people who enforce it, the people complicit in it, deserve less than the time of day; they deserve something out of Dante’s Inferno.

Call your representatives. Write your representatives. Tell them they and their party have lost your vote. March. Donate. Speak up. Words matter.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Make Nine Project #5

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[Alternate titles: “When You Gamble And Lose,” “After This Long You’d Think I’d Know Better,” and “Internet, Look At Me Point To My Chest.”]

This is the Grainline Studio Willow Tank I put on my 2018 Make Nine List to fill the hole of “easy summer tops that aren’t boring t-shirts or overly-revealing tanks.” It looked perfect on paper, clean-lined and high-necked, and because I’ve had such success with Grainline patterns in the past I broke right into the good fabric (some heavy linen I indigo dyed last year).

You know what’s coming….

In this case, it’s bust darts that are nearly two inches too low for my actual bust, leading to gaping armholes and overall bad fit.

“WTF, Grainline?” I muttered, more than once. How have I made several perfectly fitting Archer shirts, Linden sweatshirts, and a Tamarack jacket from the same company and had no issues? Turns out, none of those had bust darts. Before I broke into the good fabric, I did look for reviews online that mentioned any red flags–but everything I saw raved about the pattern so I thought I was ok. It wasn’t until it was done that I found this review from IndieSew, who mentions casually that she raised the darts by 1 3/8″ and, “This is a normal adjustment for me on all Grainline patterns.” SIGH.

I guess when I’m wearing it it’s not really obvious there are fit issues–the low darts just add a weird “bubble” element to the A-line shape. But it could be so much better. 

Like performing Mozart, sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to get right.

The War Of the Ironing Board

By in Toby No Comments

Sunday morning I got up early and started to sew. Despite having two cat beds and a blanket on the floor, Toby only wanted to be up on the ironing board. Thus began the great Sunday Morning Ironing Board Battle.

Here he is after the initial attack, deploying his reserves of cute so I don’t notice that he’s 1.) getting cat hair all over my project and 2.) stopped all progress. 

Here he is about 30 minutes later, having unwillingly ceded the project fabric to a kitty blanket rescued from the floor. He’s not happy; I still can’t iron. A low point of the battle.

And here’s the happy ending: In a sneak attack, I slid him and the kitty blanket to the other end of the ironing board, giving him my ironing hams to use as a “pillow.” After the initial shock and awe, he decided that was acceptable and proceeded to roll around and get more cat hair everywhere. I was able to iron on the other end and we all lived to fight another day.

Friday Links

By in Friday Unrelated Information No Comments

1. This is scholarly and perfect and I love it and want to do a version for the elusive “lady bro”: Jeah! We Mapped Out The 4 Basic Aspects Of Being A ‘Bro’.  (Whispers: “Jeah, bro.”)

2. From The Paris Reveiw, Six Books We Could and Should All Write:

Every single thing I’m about to describe, you wouldn’t need any talent to produce it. You wouldn’t need any talent, and you wouldn’t need any understanding. All you’d have to do is stick with it. A little mimicry would help, but that’s really it. That’s why this list is good. Door’s wide open; everyone is invited. And you know what? You’d be producing something of value. At the very least, you yourself would value it. These are your models. Your versions will not be as good as these books. But they will be good just the same.

3. From Kottke again, Mr. Rogers would re-shoot parts of his show as needed to make sure they were still current.

Reading About Money

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I still need to blog about how transformative Your Money Or Your Life has been; I’ve paid off credit cards and am about to start seriously saving for a chunk to invest per “The Book’s” instructions. So this longer piece on the “20 psychological biases of money” (I think found via Kottke? I’ve been clicking around a lot lately) fit right in with what I’ve been thinking about.  Some quotes:

There are over 2,000 books picking apart how Warren Buffett built his fortune. But none are called “This Guy Has Been Investing Consistently for Three-Quarters of a Century.” But we know that’s the key to the majority of his success; it’s just hard to wrap your head around that math because it’s not intuitive. There are books on economic cycles, trading strategies, and sector bets. But the most powerful and important book should be called “Shut Up And Wait.” It’s just one page with a long-term chart of economic growth.

and

Wealth, in fact, is what you don’t see. It’s the cars not purchased. The diamonds not bought. The renovations postponed, the clothes forgone and the first-class upgrade declined. It’s assets in the bank that haven’t yet been converted into the stuff you see.

[…] When most people say they want to be a millionaire, what they really mean is “I want to spend a million dollars,” which is literally the opposite of being a millionaire. This is especially true for young people.

A key use of wealth is using it to control your time and providing you with options. Financial assets on a balance sheet offer that. But they come at the direct expense of showing people how much wealth you have with material stuff.

Wednesday Words

By in quotes No Comments

Kottke.org has been posting about Mr. Rogers a lot lately and pointed me to this video, where he tells people about his mother making his sweaters. This quote really stood out to me:

It’s a lot of work. But that’s one of the ways that she has of saying that she loves somebody. 

 

Never forget that crafting can be someone’s love language.

Tuesday Project Planning: Summer of Basics 2

By in sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup No Comments

I credit Karen Templer’s first “Summer of Basics” makealong last year to really give me that final push into making most of my clothes (and buying a serger). So I have to join in again this year and make three “basic” things my closet is lacking–even if I already have my 2018 Make Nine list going.

This year’s three pieces are meant to fill in some holes: hiking pants, comfy-but-not-pajama pants for working at home, and a chambray-ish shirt to replace a too-small one from J. Crew (l-r).

I’ll use the Hudson pattern and some stretch nylon and ribbing for the hiking pants (because look at these for $80–they’re pretty much exactly the same!); the Arenite pattern and some brown linen for the casual pants; and the trusty Archer pattern for the shirt (which I cut out last year and then abandoned…to make pants for the first summer of basics).

I actually want to get these all done by mid-August, when we have some travel planned, so I’ll probably put the Make Nine projects on hold and focus on these.

Sewing and lists: some of my favorite things!

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