All the warm nights
sleep in moonlight
keep letting it
go into you
do this
all your life
do this
you will shine outward
in old age
the moon will think
you are
the moon
Swampy Cree narrative poem
trans. Howard Norman (1972)
May 2018
Wednesday Project Roundup: Afghan Jacket Lives!
Sure, I sewed the fronts on backwards, but I didn’t let that stop me from finishing my second Wiksten Kimono Jacket. I wanted this fabric on my body!
This is a magical cuddly cotton jacquard from Stonemountain. I wanted a blanket-y summer weight jacket, one to take to overly air conditioned movie theaters or scrunch up on a plane, so I didn’t line it. (The jacquard would probably have been happier to have a lining to stabilize it a little but I can throw it in the dryer if it sags out of shape too much.) I did tape all the seams, sew them on the regular machine, and then finish with the serger, just to reinforce it where I could.
I lined the undercollar with plain navy sateen, since I didn’t want to deal with getting interfacing to stick to jacquard and I didn’t want a quadruple thickness of an already-thick fabric up around my neck.
The fabric and the shape are so forgiving you can’t tell I sewed part of it backwards–I love it when sewing has a happy ending. It’s slouchy and soft and makes me feel like I’m wearing one of those woven couch throws from the late 80s.
The Story Of The Weekend
Friday night: “What’s that you say, Mom? A long weekend? Prince Sir Toby approves.”
Saturday: “What a pleasant day to be color-coordinated on the deck.”
Sunday afternoon, on an urban hike: “Is this stupid or genius?”
Right after we got home Sunday afternoon: “Wow I’m glad we didn’t go for a real hike”
Not shown on Monday: Getting some help at the gym with my lifts and then sewing and organizing allll daaaaay (aka The Best Day).
Friday Links
1. I usually don’t include bras in donations of clothing but it sounds like I should: The Huge Impact of Donated Bras
2. We get a long weekend! I’m so looking forward to not having an appointment or a class or a spring cleaning project. On Monday I’m going to sew and read on the deck and then top it off with knitting and a ridiculous movie.
Thursday Read
To continue turning this blog into one big sports metaphor, here’s an essay by journalist Debra Hotaling about trying to find “her” sport her whole life: Sixty and Climbing (via this week’s Lenny Letter).
After weeks of failing to reach a ridiculous hold, my arms suddenly connected with it, as if I’d always known how. Where did that come from? I wondered. How did I do that? My 60-year-old body still holds surprises.
Which makes me think: What else could I do if I were able to stop silently asking permission? Or if I ignored what I thought I knew about what might happen next?
Climbing has re-taught me that there is only right now. I may not have this strong body next week or next year, so I better get moving. I don’t have time to be shy or embarrassed or worry about what anyone else thinks.
Behind The Scenes
I had this text exchange with my friend yesterday:
So I am taking this opportunity to say emphatically I’m no unicorn. I can barely feed the two of us*, sleep is iffy, I haven’t been to the gym since my class ended, that running picture yesterday was taken like three weeks ago, there’s a corner of the yard that’s an absolute wilderness, and even just getting myself ready and out the door every morning feels nearly impossible sometimes. So parents: You’re doing great. We all are. Let’s all get ourselves a sandwich today (and not worry about making food)**.
*True fact: Target had a cereal sale and I brought home four boxes of it yesterday. Doc saw me unloading the bags and I told him with an absolutely straight face, “Here’s our dinner plans for the week!”
**Suggestions on vegetarian recipes/cookbook inspiration welcome.
Tuesday Project Roundup: Muscle Tank Test
Back when I was making underwear at the beginning of the year, I ordered some of Spoonflower’s stretch polyester without getting a swatch (you know where this is going…). Turns out it’s not stretchy enough for undies (sad trombone!) but I used it to test out the Fancy Tiger Adventure Tank pattern on my Make Nine list.
I cut a straight medium; next time I will go down to a small since the body is just a hair too wide, especially in a drapey fabric. But this is a seriously great pattern–only uses a yard of fabric, goes together in under an hour, has a high neck, and covers the tops of your shoulders so they don’t get fried out in the sun. I’m wearing this poly one for running/gym times and finished another test one in bamboo jersey that I wore hiking Sunday.
I am also trying to blend into this honeysuckle vine here? Is this how running and muscles work? Don’t mind me.
Hiking, Cleaning
Just a normal sort of weekend around here: some mountains, some laundry, and some bathtimes (for Toby, that is).
Friday Links
1. What a week. Let’s watch this teaser trailer for a new biopic. As the headline says, Rami Malek Is Very Hot and Glamorous As Freddie Mercury (and that headline is not wrong, my friends).
2. The Guardian interviewed a bunch of writers for their “10 rules for writing fiction” and I loved this one from Hillary Mantel:
“First paragraphs can often be struck out. Are you performing a haka, or just shuffling your feet?”
Writing tips aside, I’m going to have to work that question into everyday life as much as possible.
Roger Ebert On Drawing
Thanks to Austin Kleon, I now know that Roger Ebert kept a sketchbook for years. There’s a post about it on Ebert’s old blog and it made me want to go buy a blank notebook (and also miss his writing style):
“…everyone can draw until we are told or convince ourselves that we cannot. We start out drawing everything we see until that day comes when it is pointed out that our drawing of a dog, for example, looks nothing like a dog. Then we begin to believe we cannot draw.
[…] Begin with a proper sketch book. Draw in ink. Finish each drawing you begin, and keep every drawing you finish. No erasing, no ripping out a page, no covering a page with angry scribbles. What you draw is an invaluable and unique representation of how you saw at that moment in that place according to your abilities. That’s all we want. We already know what a dog really looks like.”
(Image up top is one of Ebert’s, again via Austin, with more to look at here.)