Misogyny, Mentoring

By in feminism

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…

Tuesday Project Roundup: Catagonia Fleece

By in sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup

Now that I don’t need office clothes (or any more clothes, really) I can sew practical things…for other people! Doc and I were at Joann when he saw this fleece and asked for a shirt. I’d been thinking about Patagonia fleeces and looking for pattern dupes so asked if he wanted something like the classic Patagonia “Snap Pullover.” He said yes and this project turned out better than I even hoped:

I used Green Pepper’s Polar Pullover, which is pretty much identical to Patagonia–but with a far more generous chest pocket under the flap. It was really well drafted with thorough instructions (even if you don’t have a serger).

I found new-to-me plastic KAM Snaps for the placket and I was really pleased with them–easy to set with their hand tool and a very “ready-to-wear” look when they’re in:

And yes, my favorite part of this is the “branding.” I impulse bought the minimum order from Dutch Label Shop and just picked the font that was closest to the Patagonia mark. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Do I love it? Yes.

Doc usually runs hot and this fleece is WARM, but he wore it to “Feline Friday” at work where it was hailed as the most epic cat shirt yet. I have to agree!

Golden Days

By in weekend report

The weather has been lovely in the valley–sunny, with the trees still pretty colorful. We went to the local arboretum yesterday to enjoy the sun and the trees…and to see an orchid show that their calendar of events promised. There were no orchids anywhere (we never did find out when it was actually supposed to be) but we saw grasses and autumn crocus and a very Bob Ross waterfall. Definitely not a wasted trip.

Friday Links

By in Friday Unrelated Information

1. This was such an excellent interview with a financial planner, by Anne Helen Petersen. I have savings and a 401k but definitely don’t feel like I know what I’m doing, and reading that the system is designed to be like that was really revelatory (emphasis mine):

So many of us have tried to do some seemingly simple financial thing — open an IRA, set up our 401k, call a credit card company, get life insurance — only to get stuck part way through and just stop. We think it’s our fault — how hard could it be to fill out a form?? We blame ourselves, feel embarrassed, tell ourselves we failed, and don’t talk to anyone about it. […] The deck is stacked against us, and it’s so high, we think living in a silo is just how it’s supposed to be. In fact, the system as it is thrives on our belief that we need to do this alone.

(So yes, I am going to use those questions about hiring a financial planner that come up later in the interview.)

 

2. Want to learn about the history of the diamond “tennis” bracelet? Here you go.

 

3. I could watch this forever:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Pablo Rochat (@pablo.rochat)

 

4. All of this (source):

Thursday Poem

By in poems

I haven’t shared any Mary Oliver in a while, so let’s fix that:

 

Song for Autumn
by Mary Oliver

In the deep fall
don’t you imagine the leaves think how
comfortable it will be to touch
the earth instead of the
nothingness of air and the endless
freshets of wind? And don’t you think
the trees themselves, especially those with mossy,
warm caves, begin to think

of the birds that will come — six, a dozen — to sleep
inside their bodies? And don’t you hear
the goldenrod whispering goodbye,
the everlasting being crowned with the first
tuffets of snow? The pond
vanishes, and the white field over which
the fox runs so quickly brings out
its blue shadows. And the wind pumps its
bellows. And at evening especially,
the piled firewood shifts a little,
longing to be on its way.

Practical Sewing

By in sewing

We got word last week that the company is going fully remote, so all the dresses and blazers I was pondering for a hazy “maybe I go to the office sometimes” future don’t really need to get made now. (Note to self: You absolutely cannot buy any more fabric for things like that.)

But I still want to sew–because what else would I do with myself–so now what? I think it’s either tailored coats and quilts (both time-consuming) or I lean more into technical outdoor gear. I am working on a faux-Patagonia pullover for Doc using a pattern from Green Pepper and they have a reversible insulated vest that I know I’d wear a lot (I even sourced actual down insulation!):

 

Looking for knockoff Patagonia patterns led me to this vest from 5 out of 4 Patterns, and this would be fun to do in a print: 

And I found Waffle Patterns, who is making beautiful outerwear patterns with an astonishing number of functional, professional pockets, like this cargo vest:

I mean, I’ve never even considered making a hood that zips into a collar before. That would keep me busy, right?

Tuesday Project Pondering: Shacket 2.0?

By in sewing

If you recall, this time last year I made a shirt-jacket (or SHACKET) out of some plaid wool blend from JoAnn:
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I really liked the shape but as I’ve pulled it out of the closet and put it back again over the last year, I’ve realized: It’s so itchy. The older I get, the less I can tolerate wool, and that wool/acrylic blend looks nice but feels terrible.

It’s also just kind of blah, color-wise…which is why I’m pondering in re-making it in THIS:

It’s also from JoAnn, but it’s cotton on the outside and cozy poly SHERPA FLEECE on the inside:

It feels a little excessive to make something twice, but if I do Shacket 2.0, maybe I can find a home for 1.0. Then everything gets worn and it’s a happy ending and not wasteful at all, right?

Spooky Things

By in Uncategorized

Bare trees and snow on mountains:

 

Dark foreboding mountains:

 

Contact tracing on your phone:

I’d forgotten I had that enabled but I’m glad it was: Just to be super-safe, we canceled taking our unvaccinated nephew out trick-or-treating last night and I got a self-serve test (per the state recommendations; I felt fine). Results came back negative this morning and I have never been so glad to be vaccinated in my life. (Just think how much scarier this would have been a year ago!)

Friday Links

By in Friday Unrelated Information

1. It’s darker at night now and my tennis elbow is currently allowing me to knit a little, so that means we’re watching things again. We never finished The Mandalorian, but reading about “The Western and Samurai Influences of ‘The Mandalorian’” got me exited to dive back in.

2. In strike news, this thread from a salaried worker at John Deere is excellent reading:

I find it horribly ironic that Deere, a company that constantly reminds us about how instrumental they are to “feeding the world,” can’t even be bothered to feed its most critical employees.
3. A mood this week:
4. And finally, Happy Samhain on Sunday, the Celtic/witches’ new year. Think about what you don’t want to carry any more. Light a candle for those who have gone before you. And eat some candy.

Newsletters About Clothes

By in fashun

Both Virginia Sole-Smith and Anne Helen Petersen sent out newsletters ruminating about loving clothes on your own terms, how fatphobic most fashion “rules” are, and how to keep (or get back to) the joy we all felt as kids when we out on an outfit we loved. (Plus, they both include descriptions of those kid outfits that are perfection: “My middle school aesthetic fell somewhere between Punky Brewster and Rayanne Graff, if they were also very into rainforest vibes.”)

Sole-Smith’s newsletter hits on how dressing for joy almost inevitably becomes dressing to blend in (and the thin privilege thereof), plus the intersection of navigating all of this as female:

Every creative kid goes through some process of deciding how much they want to stick out and how much they need to blend in, in order to survive their tween and teenage years. What once felt special, personal, and unique suddenly becomes “attention seeking,” which, we learn early, is one of the worst qualities a girl can have.

Petersen’s newsletter links back to Sole-Smith’s and talks about unpacking the years of blending in:

What does it look like to dress with the same joy as you did before you became conscious of your body? Is it possible to choose an outfit with the underlying supposition that the body is beautiful in it, is lovable, is sexy, simply because you have decided it is? What would it look like to talk about clothes without talking about bodies — which is to say, without talking about “flattering”?

They’re good bookends to each other. At the very least they’ll get you remembering your favorite outfits as a kid.

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