Month: November 2021

Tuesday Project Roundup: Megafleece For Me

Karen

After I finished Doc’s Catagonia fleece and I posted about fashion fleeces, it was inevitable that I made one for myself. This is sherpa fleece from Joann and nylon supplex from The Rain Shed, with long prong KAM Snaps and wide foldover elastic (from Etsy) for the hems.

 

I used the Green Pepper Polar Pullover again, traced off in a small. I figured out there’s 9 inches of ease in the sizing–my measurements would have put me in a medium, but the small is still fashionably oversized.

The pattern has some nice finishing details that I didn’t show in Doc’s, including a covered neckline seam and a hanging loop:

This baby is WARM, almost as warm as a coat, so I’m not wearing it in the house yet since the weather is still pretty mild. But I can wear it out on walks or hikes and people will think, “What a cool Patagonia!”

Max Week

Karen

We’ve cycled to another week of trying to get new weight maxes at the gym. Between the extra sleep and all the pie last week, I’m feeling STRONG–I got 155 for a new squat max this morning! Sure, another woman got 260 and the young dudes are hitting 330, but I’m still proud:

 

Light weight, baby!

Friday Links

Karen

1. Strike news: John Deere employees approved the third contract offered to them, ending a five-week strike. What did they get?

Sing it with me: There is power in a union

 

2. Radiooooo is billed as a “musical time machine” and it’s pretty cool: pick a decade, pick a country, and hear a song from that time and place. (via Laura Olin)

 

3. I’m taking next week off so I won’t be posting. I need to make myself do adult things like research new tires and schedule a meeting with a financial planner, but I’m also going to SEW. Because this is me right now:

Thursday Poem

Karen

This was in the Writer’s Almanac newsletter this very morning, and wow did I feel “after another year of days” (it’s been a long week).

 

Simply Lit
by Malena Morling

Often toward evening,
after another day, after
another year of days,
in the half dark on the way home
I stop at the food store
and waiting in line I begin
to wonder about people—I wonder
if they also wonder about how
strange it is that we
are here on the earth.
And how in order to live
we all must sleep.
And how we have beds for this
(unless we are without)
and entire rooms where we go
at the end of the day to collapse.
And I think how even the most
lively people are desolate
when they are alone
because they too must sleep
and sooner or later die.
We are always looking to acquire
more food for more great meals.
We have to have great meals.
Isn’t it enough to be a person buying
a carton of milk? A simple
package of butter and a loaf
of whole wheat bread?
Isn’t it enough to stand here
while the sweet middle-aged cashier
rings up the purchases?
I look outside,
but I can’t see much out there
because now it is dark except
for a single vermilion neon sign
floating above the gas station
like a miniature temple simply lit
against the night.

Buy It Or Make It: Fashion Fleece

Karen

I got served the jacket below in an Instagram ad and discovered the world of Free People fleece (Free People is from the same parent brand as Anthropologie, so expect inflated prices and questionable quality.) They’re all a high-pile fleece, with a contrast nylon trim and snaps, and I’m sure I could adapt the Green Pepper pattern I used for Doc really easily.

This is “Luxe Fleece” from Joann, so not quite as fuzzy, but with some orange-y red trim I think it could be pretty convincing.

I was really tempted to buy this for the print, but I cannot with $148 for a pullover. Also, I saw this sherpa fleece at Joann–the print is more similar to the jacket above, but the colors are similar, especially with an accent of peach:

I would love to find a placed print like this, but until then, this chartreuse high-pile fleece is name-brand Polartec, and could look really sharp with some neon accents:

It’s Monday: Chase The Sun

Karen

The resident sun-follower hopes you have a good start to the week and reminds you to prioritize what makes you happy:

(Yes, he’s on a fleece sweatshirt I was wearing. Guess it’s Toby’s sweatshirt now.)

Friday Links

Karen

1. I just learned about the Japanese concept of “fuubutsushi” (via Austin Kleon’s newsletter, excerpt here from an album review):

Seasons change in the mind and the body before they change in the world…The Japanese word “fuubutsushi” refers to this gap, capturing the feeling of longing for a new season at the first signs of its emergence. After months of life looking like one thing, fuubutsushi marks the moment when you believe it may begin to look like something else.

2. This was funny and angry and cathartic and really makes you consider the lede (“It’s hard to live in the modern world without feeling like you should start committing some felonies”):  The Joe Manchin Trolley Problem

3. I’m sorry, this nearly made me die laughing the first time I saw it.

@j23burnhamUK wildlife is top tier ##fyp ##foryou ##uk ##fox ##wildlife ##garden

♬ Goodnight Sweet Possums – From “Ice Age The Meltdown” – John Powell

Misogyny, Mentoring

Karen

Anne Helen Petersen’s latest newsletter was a free-form list of things that are part of “The Subtle Look and Overwhelming Feel of Today’s Misogyny.” Number 7 (“I survived it, you can too”) got me–I don’t think this way but I loved her take on mentoring (emphasis mine):

This sort of rhetoric — particularly when it comes from more senior women in regard to office behaviors, amounts of maternity leave, attitudes towards toxic work environments, and work flexibility — is Lean In status-quo reinforcing bullshit. To mentor does not mean showing another woman how to navigate your path. It’s highlighting what was broken about the path you had to navigate, and then using your accumulated power to try and make sure that others don’t have to replicate the suffering.

 

Now I just need to get another woman on my team to actually mentor…