Month: June 2021

Wednesday Project Roundup: Hiking Kit

Karen

I’ve been trying to use up some remnants and had a big piece left from some space-dyed spandex I bought for gym tights, so I made some new hiking shorts. Of course, then I bought fabric for a top, negating any benefit from using what I have, but hey! look at my new outfit!

The shirt fabric is a deadstock Under Armour “cooling jersey” and it’s the best technical fabric I’ve used to date. With a lot of my gym tights, the fabric says it’s wicking but it really isn’t. But this stuff was magical–I could feel a breeze through it and the minute I started to sweat, it was cool (but also didn’t show sweat on the surface? magic!). I used the Waimea Rash Guard pattern from Greenstyle and, like all Greenstyle patterns, it went together beautifully.

The shorts are the Venice Beach Shorts, also from Greenstyle, and this Elder Millenial loves the late 70s/early 80s summer vibes. I used the free “Contour Waistband” download on their site instead of the waistband as drafted and they sit great under my pack. I also added inset zip pockets instead of the regular slant pockets and made the pocket bags out of mesh for more ventilation.

Like I said Monday, we’re not hiking as much lately–but a new outfit is a good reason to start again, right?

Friday Links

Karen

1. More about making remote work equitable (I can what she describes happening easily at my company) and what’s wrong with traditional office culture from Anne Helen Petersen (I’ve preordered her book!):

People have all sorts of reasons for wanting to work remotely. It might make them better workers. It might allow them to maintain their physical and emotional well-being in a way that’s incompatible with full time office work. It might provide relief from micro-aggressions, or actual aggressions in the form of yelling and abuse. It might just allow them to live better lives. But those decisions, at least currently, are poised to have long-term negative consequences.

The majority white managerial class’s internalized biases will reproduce a majority white managerial class. Extroverts who revel with being in the office five days a week will excel. Leadership will remain snowcapped. Disabled workers will be second-class workers. Salary gaps will widen.

 

2. Related:


3. Me heading into the weekend:

This Is Not A Drill

Karen

As I write this, water is falling from the sky and we’re getting the first rain we’ve seen in…maybe 8 weeks?

If you’re a certain age, you’ll remember this from Sesame Street–the pigs are an entire mood and I’m right there with them.

Fresh New Memes

Karen

Get em while they’re hot!

 

I’d like to actually paint this on a wall:

All too accurate. (My friend just introduced me to Chuck Draws Things!)

Yep.

 

Toby remembers it all. (They Can Talk Comics is a good follow.)

Never, never let a job tell you you’re “family.” Jobs are an exchange of labor for money, that’s it. (I find that the more I treat them like that, the happier I am.)

(T-shirt art by Cooper Foszcz)

Tuesday Project Roundup: Slipcover All The Things

Karen

I had built up the patio slipcover project in my head as something that would be annoying and hard, based on my experience sewing lined drapes for the house 10 years ago. Well, I have 10 more years of experience now and a lot better tools, plus I found a tutorial to do the math for me, so this actually ended up being a fun and easy project.

I wanted a slipcover to be able to wash it throughout the season and I wanted it to be reversible for even wear in the sun. I found this calculator and video tutorial from Sailrite and it was fantastic. I ended up with a perfect fit, just snug enough, and look at this slick zipper installation:

The tutorial calls for continuous zipper tape but I used a spare separating zip I’d bought for my parka project. It worked well enough but if I make more slipcovers, I’ll get the continuous tape. Because this was so easy, I’m already looking at the rest of the furniture and thinking, “I could slipcover that.”

PS, the pool is a delight as we contemplate a summer of 100+ degree days:

Happy Summer Solstice

Karen

We started going to Great Salt Lake for sunset on the solstice when I was in high school, I think, and it’s become a pretty solid tradition. It’s where Doc met my brother and his family for the first time; Mom even made it out there when she was in the depths of chemo.

Not getting Seasonal Affective Disorder because of my meds has really made the Summer Solstice feel less poignant and panicky (things are less panicky now in general, thank you meds) but it still feels right to stop for a second and enjoy the heat and the light and watch the sun go down.

Learning About Words

Karen

It’s always good to remember that language evolves and thus you really don’t need to be a pedant about grammar (and as a former pedant, it feels really good to embrace the opposite approach).

 

“You didn’t just survive a pandemic to put up with this”

Karen

I get the free newsletter from writer and former journalist Lyz Lenz (I’ve talked about her here bef0re). I deeply, deeply love how angry she is, and how she can skewer what’s wrong with the world on the point of her anger

Today her newsletter talked about dating (which, thank all the gods that I don’t have to do that and I have a partner who believes in mutual respect and a fair division of labor). It’s funny, it’s angry, but this part stopped me:

I recently found myself…in a situation where I didn’t want to be…And I found myself in the situation of once again doing a mental and emotional calculus: What do I put up with? What do I just handle? How long can I suck this up and deal with it before I break?

And my dear friend Katie texted me to tell me, “You didn’t just survive a pandemic to put up with this. You didn’t go through a year of hell to put yourself back into it.”

I think so many people are going through this right now–with jobs, with politics, even with the little things around the house that have always bothered you but you just didn’t change. I know I am. And so every time I think, “Well, it’s not terrible” or “It could be worse,” I’m going to instead switch to: “You didn’t just survive a pandemic to put up with this.”