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Posts by Karen Kaminski:

Friday Links

By in Friday Unrelated Information No Comments

1. The Stages of Listening To Classical Music by Danny Ortberg.

2. I was really tempted by a $20 Target dress this week (let’s hear it for stress shopping!) but then I thought of this interview with the author of  Fashionopolis: The Prices of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes and didn’t buy it.

After the stock market crashed in 1929 and all the rich people lost their fortunes, Hattie Carnegie, the retailer, to stay in business, started an off-the-peg ready-to-wear collection for the middle market called Spectator Sports…And one of those suits or dresses from Spectator Sports cost $19.99 — and this was in the early ’30s. And that’s the same price you pay at H&M or Zara [despite inflation over the decades].

Is anything else we buy today the same price as it was at the height of the Depression? Of course not. Is anything we’re buying today the same price it was in 1928 before the crash? Of course it’s not.

 

3. Accurate.

(Via)

Life Advice For All Of Us

By in children's literature, quotes No Comments

I can’t mention Mole without having to go back and read parts of The Wind in the Willows again–this time, the parts where it’s getting to be winter and they’re settling in to rest:

No animal, according to the rules of animal etiquette, is ever expected to do anything strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately active during the off-season of winter. All are sleepy—some actually asleep. All are weather-bound, more or less; and all are resting from arduous days and nights, during which every muscle in them has been severely tested, and every energy kept at full stretch.

I would like to adopt this way of life, please.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Mitts For Sky

By in knitting, Tuesday Project Roundup No Comments

Earlier in the year (a lot earlier, like February), my nephew asked, “Karen, can you knit gloves?” Because I like to be honest with him, I told him that making individual fingers was beyond my skill level but that I could indeed knit fingerless gloves. He thought about that for a little bit and then asked, “Can you knit me some fingerless gloves that are blue with a green stripe?”

Reader, of course I did.

The body of these are in Lion Brand “Basic Stitch” acrylic because he reported that the scarf I made him “was a little bit itchy.” (The green stripe is leftover Wool-Ease from that project–no complaints about the itchiness yet.) The Basic Stitch yarn is marketed as anti-pill, which seemed like a good feature for little kid gloves. I just did a Ravelry search for a suitable pattern and found this one for free.

He’s the only kid in my life and now that he’s not a baby, I don’t make many things for him (because he has his own style) but wow is it gratifying to make things for small humans. He was thrilled.

Thursday Article

By in essays No Comments

Thinking about being busy but also too overwhelmed to do anything but a puzzle reminded me of this article from ManRepeller, about those same things: The Modern Trap of Turning Hobbies Into Hustles.
Unstructured time—especially spent alone—is phenomenally rare in my life and I feel an overwhelming obligation to make good use of it. I should get some laundry done. Meal prep. Ask each item in my dresser if it brings me joy. Figure out how to fold a fitted sheet. Paint my nails. Work on the play I’m writing. Do a face mask. But instead, I deal with my option paralysis in the least helpful way possible: by scrolling through my phone alone in the dark until I run out of battery (literally or figuratively) and put myself to bed feeling like I’ve lost something valuable and hating myself for it. I can’t be productive, and I can’t fully relax, and I can’t possibly be alone in this.

Puzzles

By in Uncategorized

Growing up, my family often had a jigsaw puzzle out on the table behind the sofa in the TV room. I really enjoyed sitting and working on that while people watched TV, in the action but also outside of it. I remember getting lost in the details of an image while you fit the pieces together.

I grew up and moved out and didn’t think about puzzles again until Mom was going through chemo–the cancer hospital here has puzzles everywhere in the waiting rooms (because it’s a metaphor, get it?) and they got tainted with that experience. I didn’t touch them in the hospital and assumed I’d never want to see another puzzle in my life.

But fast forward to the last six weeks, when work has been so busy. I get home so fried I’m not able to sew (because I don’t have the brain power) or knit (because I’m too wound up) and instead just default back to looking at a screen.

So I went and bought a puzzle.

Thankfully, I don’t think too much about the cancer hospital when I’m doing it. I don’t think too much at all, actually, and that’s wonderful. I can still feel productive but I can also zone out and I’m not straining my eyes or looking at things I don’t need but want to buy. Highly recommend.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Nightgown Edition

By in sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup

On Instagram, it seems like everyone and their dog on is making the Wilder Gown by Friday Pattern Company–yes, that’s “Wilder” like Laura Ingalls and “gown” like nightgown, or “big shapeless dress.” Obviously I had to jump on that bandwagon, too.

Pros:

  • Easy pattern
  • Great instructions–anyone could make this
  • Looks good on lots of people
  • The neck gathers make for a nice fit in the bust, even without darts
  • Extremely on-trend
  • Comfortable, like a nightgown

Cons:

  • As drafted, I think the casing for the neck tie is a hair too narrow, leading to lots of folding and bunching of the tie
  • The combo of raglan sleeves and unfixed gathers around the neck means that the neckline is prone to a lot of shifting when wearing. I tacked my tie at the center back and at both ends, but essentially the entire weight of the dress is hanging from the neck gathers. Combine that with a lightweight fabric (just some poly crepe from JoAnn) and you get a neckline that moves around a lot.
  • No pockets as drafted (I added some)
  • If you make it in a dainty floral print, it may be indistinguishable from a nightgown

 

Am I happy with this? Yes. It’s very FASHUN and good for twirling. Will I make it again? Maaaaybe in a big floral for spring. But we’ll see what the next hot pattern is for 2020 first.

 

 

 

It’s Monday

By in Toby

Approach it with the calm focus of Prince Toby in a sunbeam, making sure his manicure is correct:

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