So it's November...

Somehow the past six weeks got away from me.  It always seems that way in the fall, though.  The weather has been mostly delightful this fall, and cooled down much quicker than expected.  We've had a few muggy days here and there, but nothing sustained and the temps have mostly been moderate.  I'll take it! 

I pulled my cukes and watermelon vines after the nighttime temps dropped and the plants were withering away and found this monster of a cucumber hidden next to the wall of the house.  I peeled it before using, but it was perfectly fine!  I've been putting off everything else in the garden as one of my pepper plants is still fruiting (!!) and we've not had a hard freeze yet.  I've got spring bulbs to plant and compost to spread, however, so it needs to be done one of these days.

We visited friends in DC over the Columbus Day weekend and enjoyed truly delightful weather.  Our kids and their kids love to write and put on plays when they are together, and this year they decided to make a movie instead.  It was a mash up of Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet (with a little bit of Star Wars thrown in for good measure) and it was hilarious.  

Piglet and Birdie very much enjoyed chasing their 16 month old around all weekend.  Piglet celebrated his namesday right after that.

Finished some knitting that has been on needles for some time.  I started the Beamer shawl in the summer of 2021 and let it languish, but decided to finish it this fall.  I omitted the last repeat since I wanted something slightly smaller than the original, but I'm wondering if that was a mistake.  I may frog the D chart repeat and go ahead and make it according to the pattern size.

I also finished Boo's scrappy sweater at the end of the summer, but finally got around to weaving in the ends and blocking the thing last month.  He wanted short sleeves since he says he gets hot all the time (although he spends most of the winter wrapped up in a blanket, so...kids are weird).  He picked the colors from my stash and specifically wanted that bright green stripe at the top.  It allowed me to use up a bunch of odds and ends that have been hanging in my bins for a while and I think he is happy with it.  I used the Doocot pattern and made it longer in the body and only a few rows of sleeve beyond the separation point.

A dear friend of mine went to get her curly hair done at a salon that specializes in curly hair and her hair looked so good after, I decided I wanted to try it.  It took me nearly a year to get over the cost, but I went at the end of September and had The Treatment.  The appointment took more than 2 hours (they tell you beforehand to expect that on the first time).  The stylist cut about 4" of thin wispy stuff off the ends and then did a bang up job shaping and moisturizing the rest of my hair.  I've been doing Curly Girl stuff for a few years, but I changed my routine slightly after the appointment and my hair seems to be more manageable now (if shorter!)

We have had a fair bit of sickness in the house, however.  Piglet's year has had a rocky start with much more homework than we ever anticipated (or has been historically the case) and we are struggling to adapt.  He basically comes home, works until dinner, bolts his dinner, works until bedtime (or well beyond, as happened last night), showers and goes to bed.  It is nuts and I find myself in a drill sergeant role with him a lot right now and I don't like it.   

After some years of mostly good health, Birdie has had a tough year physically, and we've got a lot of medical appointments in the next weeks to explore options.  We've tried a few things since August, when we saw her pulmonologist, but nothing has worked very well.  Not that it slows her down much.  She managed to sprain her wrist pretty badly at a roller skating party two weeks ago!

My parents were here for a week in October and Piglet got very little time with them because of his homework load and was super sad about it when they left.  But when he was still behind on homework later that week, he said with the saddest, smallest voice ever: "Maybe I shouldn't have spent so much time with Grandma and Papou."  It just kills me.  His stress affects me, as you would probably guess, and he has been getting sick most weekends.  

My dad is doing pretty well post-cancer, and his scan this week was completely clear!  He still has a chronic cough, and might always have it, but considering the alternative, and how sick he was a year ago, we'll take it.  

Just before my parents arrived, Birdie and I both got a horrendous cold and mine dropped into my lungs almost immediately, so I was a bit of a sad sack while my parents were here.  But so it goes.  I'm still struggling with massive fatigue and have been taking naps during the day and am still ready for bed at 9:00, which is extremely unusual for me.   

But!  I did finally replace the sad saggy couchlet that has occupied our living room for almost 11 years (and it was very used when we inherited it from Birdie's godmother).  While I was at it, I rearranged the living room to make the seating more productive to conversation and I'm very much enjoying the change (and a loveseat that doesn't make my back hurt!)

Hurricane Season

The past few weeks the weather has remained fairly gross--high humidity, highs in the mid to upper 80s.  The redeeming factor was that the nights were finally dropping into the upper 60s and low 70s, so the mornings were tolerable.  Sort of.  I did have a week there of being able to have the windows open most of the day, but then we had a stretch of days that felt more like mid-August than mid-September.  

Thursday, a storm blew through that was the tip of whatever hurricane is moving up the coast currently, and the heat and humidity finally broke.  Yesterday and today have been downright chilly and I love it!  My windows are open, I'm borderline cold without tights, and finally feeling like I can think straight again.

My garden has been producing steadily this month, but I think with the cooler weather it will slow down now, and I need to start thinking about winterizing the containers.  I transferred the hydrangea into one of the five gallon buckets that previously held my potato plants before they died in the heat.  

I put the rose bush into the other bucket and clipped it to train the sprawl to fit into the space between the two containers.  I also moved the wild flowers into a larger pot and combined them.  They seem to have weathered the transplant okay.

Finally picked this puppy today since the leaf above is well and withered.  Hopefully it is orange and ripe inside!

There are still watermelons on the vine (it suddenly started producing again after I put some fertilizer in the ground last month) but I think only one will make it to maturity.  It's like the little watermelon that could!  I saved seeds from some of the earlier fruits to maybe try planting next spring.  

There are three still ripening here.  There was a fourth but I accidently pruned it when thinning things last week.  It was small and unlikely to reach maturity, so no harm done.

I clearly did something wrong with my original blueberry bush last fall, so I'm hoping I can figure out what to do differently to make it fruit again next spring.  

As the weather stayed stubbornly humid, I did some last ditch sewing for the season this week and made up three quick linen tops.  All use my nearly-self-drafted woven t-shirt pattern, and it is just the thing to wear in hot temps.  It is cool, non-binding around the arms, and I generally like the look of it.

Mostly, though, the last few weeks have been all about jewelry making.  I've got some new pieces that I really love, and am still poking away at the beads, experimenting with this or that.  It is creatively satisfying.  The pieces in the collage above are sets that coordinate but aren't matchy-matchy.  I don't know if it is the (negative) influence of the 80s/90s or what, but I prefer to make sets that don't quite match, but go well together.  (Speaking of the 90s, I'm having a Moment.  I bought a midi-length black leather skirt and Doc Marten combat boots off ebay recently and have been listening to music from jr. high and high school.  Looking forward to going all stompy and grunge when the weather really cools).

I'm not quite ready to contemplate my cold weather projects yet, so jewelry making is a nice transitional craft.  (Although I have been knitting all summer, just not with any kind of determination...a bit here and there while traveling or sitting in waiting rooms, or whatever).  

This morning we went apple picking for the first time in the area (I haven't been since I was a kid and a parishioner invited our family to pick on their home orchard).  We probably picked way too many, but considering that we can go through more than 10 pounds of apples in a week's time during the fall and winter, it should last us a little while anyway!  

I'm making a St. Pharnourios apple crisp since I owe him several breads, and cannot at this moment contemplate making a dense recipe.  We put a cross of chocolate chips on the top and I said a few prayers for his mother, so good enough, I say.  I think he'll understand.

Salvage (or not)

As in previous summers, I've struggled to find a dress pattern I liked (forget about loved).  The Anna dress was a clear winner this summer, but it isn't really a dress for everyday.  The Hinterland was a rank disaster, my knit dress hack from last summer feels too hot.  Hot flashes and knit cotton jersey are not a great mix in the summer.  The SewHouse7 Tea Dress wasn't for me (although I wonder about making it in a rayon challis, as I think I might like it better), and my very hacked and modified Simplicity 1080 annoys me.  I kept the Bluebird iteration because I can't seem to let it go, but it is my "I literally have nothing clean" dress, so not a distinct favorite.  

The Terrace dress from last summer is fine, I guess.  I let out the side and shoulder seams and cut off the pockets last month since it didn't fit well any longer (if it ever did, to be honest) and it fits better.  The Obi belt is a cool feature but I prefer the dress as a shift in the heat/humidity.  My Wildwood Sorrel is nice, but again, not for every day.  The Driftwood dress is just...okay.  The original iteration already went back in my bin to cut down for something else, and the second one is kind of languishing in my closet even though I've worn it a couple times.  I like the fabric, but am finding the print a bit much in dress form.  

Part of me wonders why I even care.  I have a lot of nice me-made and thrifted separates that are fine for church and every day wear.  But honestly, sometimes I just want the ease of a simple dress.  Maybe I just need to let it go.  I have one dressier dress (the Anna), a couple of church-appropriate dresses, and plenty of separates.  In any case, I'm out of steam for garment sewing this season and recently thrifted a white dress for the white summer feasts (at last!  This has been on my list for ages).  I've got a lot on my plate before school starts in a few weeks and can sweat through all my clothes in a week and still make the laundry cycle. Et finis.

Anyway, the Isla wrap dress was another dress that just didn't fit or suit.  I felt like a whale in it, and the waist tie annoyed me a LOT.  (Incidentally, that was what annoyed me most about my final S1080 iteration, and probably what I don't like about the Tea House dress).  Even though waist ties give a lot of flexibility, they can also bind uncomfortably as the day wears on.  

The bodice was a good fit, however, and I sort of liked the fabric, and didn't want to waste it.  (This summer has been a series of hard lessons about what I want to wear vs. what I enjoy looking at).  

My first thought was to just deconstruct it and cut a simple woven tee out of the skirt pieces, but after taking off the bodice, I wondered if the bodice could be worked into a top because I'm so short-waisted.  The length was okay with a very narrow hem, so I thought maybe it was a save.  

I wore it twice before deciding that the thing that annoyed me about the dress (the waist tie) was also annoying me in the top version.  I put the skirt pieces in my bin to reassess at a later date.   So not a success.  But it's okay.  

This summer has also been one of seriously purging the house; I missed it the last couple of summers because: Pandemic, and with six people, the house was uncomfortably full.  I do what I can in taking care about what comes into the house to begin with, but again, six people in a small row house with little storage and there are going to be problems no matter how you slice and dice it.  Particularly after remote schooling and 18 month lockdowns, etc.  So.many.puzzles.  It was also true that the kids had outgrown a bunch of toys and books, and so it was good to move those out to make better space for the things they do play with and read.  It was the summer to get rid of the "I might do something with this someday" bits and bobs, things I've held on to for a decade or more without looking at them, as well as assess and purge those places that are generally undisturbed in the house for years--you all have them, I'm sure.  

Those corners in a cabinet that hold the detritus of a house; detritus you stop seeing after a while, and maybe forget is there.  Stuff that was organized one way a decade ago but no longer reflects how you actually use the space or the stuff.  You know, that stuff.  The basement still has some unexamined corners that I intend to keep poking away at, and the kitchen needs to be gone through more carefully, but overall, it has been a good season.  The house feels lighter, I feel less burdened by chaos, and I think the kids are more contented, even though there was some dissent at first.  (But I might want that again someday!)  Thankfully, my kids are extremely used to my refrain of "we can't keep everything or we'll drown" and the regular sorting/purging of stuff and clothes they have outgrown.  

Now on to write some lectures about Marxism and apocalyptic millenarianism to present to the 12th graders this year!

Easy Breezy

As I said in an earlier post, my nearly self-drafted woven tee pattern has been a wardrobe staple this summer.  Made up in linen, it is cool and comfortable, and I can sweat through it and it will dry quickly.  I drafted it to wear untucked, which gives maximum air movement through the garment and am very happy with it.

I ordered two half meters of linen from Blackbird Fabrics in late June to make these shirts.  One was the everyday linen, and the other a custom pattern exclusive to Blackbird.  Blackbird has nice linen but it is considerably more pricey than my usual, and I knew I could get a top out of a half meter if I skipped the self-bias binding.  (As an aside, I notice a lot of sewists I follow on Instagram make fabric-hungry patterns from their linens and other fabrics, and I wonder how anyone can afford it?!?  The two half meters cost as much as a dress length of decent fabric from my usual places).

While I was waiting for the fabric to arrive, I got an e-mail from Blackbird to say that one of the colorways was having trouble with dye-fastness and included hand-washing instructions.  They offered apologies, but no refund or discount on a future purchase for my trouble.  To say I was not thrilled would be an understatement.  

Nevertheless, when the fabric arrived, I prewashed the green and cream one by hand and the purple one in the washer and dried both in the dryer. That seemed fine, so I made up both shirts in an afternoon. The green and cream one has seen heavy wear, and I dutifully washed it by hand several times, rinsing it immediately. Each time the fabric came out the same as it went in.

 

I should say, in case anyone is interested, the purple one is similar in weight to the IL019 at fabrics-store.com, and the green one is like IL020. It has a really nice hand.

One day in mid-July, however, I was doing five things at once and left it in the little tub I use for hand-washing for about half an hour instead of rinsing immediately.  

Well. The dye ran badly and was mottled on the ivory. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. I wore it a few times like that, and then just ran it through the washer like my other linen tops, which evened out the color, although the ivory is more seafoamy now.

Not a terrible thing since my wardrobe palette is heavy in that color.  All's well that ends well, I guess, but I'll think twice before ordering from the exclusive Blackbird line again.  The top has gotten a lot of wear this past month, though:

I do like the everyday linen a lot--it is very smooth without the slubs I've gotten accustomed to from fabrics-store.com.  I'd be interested to see how the washed linen compares.  

To be clear, I understand that the lower price point at fabrics-store.com means short-staple linen instead of long staple, hence the slubs, but it doesn't bother me.  It also seems like the dye-fastness on the everyday linen is a bit better than my usual linen too, so here's hoping the purple one will continue to look good!

Administrivia

Popping in with a brief note to say that my comment settings were changed without notification (what else is new in our black box tech landscape...) I've changed the settings back to what they were, so if you have tried to comment without success, my apologies!  It should work now.  I love getting comments, so please chat away!

(Pics are funny stuff I saw on a special trip with my sisters last week.  The 2020 shirt was very tempting, but I resisted).

I mean, really.  If there is a Barbie box just standing there on the sidewalk, you have to take pictures, no?

#Maverick

Go Big or Go Home

So, remember this handkerchief linen Remy I made last summer?  I wore it quite a bit, but always felt that the 3/4 sleeves were not helpful overall.  Because: hot flashes.

It was a nice at-the-lake-swim-coverup, but generally, I couldn't wear it at home because of our swampy mostly-AC-less existence.   (By way of example, it has been 82 degrees inside the house for the past several weeks.  And that was a great improvement over the temperature outside).

In the fall, I cut the sleeves to short sleeves and rehemmed by hand, keeping the cut-off sleeve pieces together in my bin.  I almost cut into them several times for other things, but my hand was stayed each time.  

Fast forward to May, and I wore the short-sleeve version on a hot day, which was just the thing.  At the time, I was plotting the first embroidered linen tshirt, and had in mind to embroider this one similarly when I finished that one.  

I faffed about with the design for quite a while before figuring out what I wanted to do.  I stitched the red one in between and then started this one on the flight home from visiting my parents in June.  

The initial embroidery went quickly, and I washed out the stabilizer, but it looked a little...unfinished.  So I took one of the designs I had made when deciding and incorporated it into the back, wrapping the embroidery around the whole neckline.  I also added a few more elements to front to fill it in better.  

The extra design and stitching took a few more weeks, so I didn't finish this until mid-July.  Then I decided I wanted to add cuffs to the sleeves to make them look a bit more polished, which took additional time to get to and complete.  I resewed on the sleeves, thought for a hot minute about leaving them 3/4 length again, but realized short sleeve is more useful to me at the moment.  This tutorial was helpful for retroactively adding the cuffs.  

I admit, it does feel a little "precious" now, but I am reminding myself that clothes exist to be worn.  Plus it is very pretty! 

I really like how the color scheme worked out--it is a little more peachy than the other white one, so at least the palettes are slightly different but still work with a lot of my skirts.  

I wore it a couple of times in July for church. Our church has AC, but it is an old building and rather humid in the choir area, so I'm always hot.  This was the perfect stay-cool-while-standing-in-close-quarters-for-two-hours blouse.  I realize the untucked look is maybe not the most flattering on my figure, but at the moment, my hot flashes + the weather mean that I kind of don't care.  It's good to have air movement in my clothes--probably something I should have figured out long ago, but there it is.  Some things you only learn in your 40s.  Ha!