Entropy

Entropy is basically the natural and inevitable descent into chaos.

There are times when I feel that life as we know it is simply pushing back at entropy.  Eat so you don't die and decompose.  Shower so you don't get filthy and stink.  Earn money in order to eat and keep the lights on in your house.  Clean the house so you don't live in a chaotic mess.  Procreate so the human race doesn't die out.  Buy a car to support the economy so that others can do the same exact thing.

Nothing is permanent, nothing at all.  Even the pyramids will eventually succumb to chaos.  But centuries before that happens, you and I and our houses and businesses and cars and cities will be long since forgotten.

So do things with your life that are more than just pushing back at entropy.  Fight it.  Do something that will last longer than you do.  Make something that will last.  Make something that will become an heirloom.  Paint something that people will still look at when your generations grand-kids are old and gray.  Write something that will collect dust in the Library of Congress until someone stumbles across it decades later and thinks it's the best they have ever read, like it was written for them.  Sing a song that has never been sung and winds up being hummed by happy people for ages.

Turn off the computer and go do something with your life.  Not everybody will be DaVinci or Picasso, but that shouldn't stop you from trying.

Pattern Recognition

Pattern Recognition, in addition to being one of my favorite novels of all time, is a valuable and oft neglected life skill.

Another way to explain this is with one definition of insanity, repeating the same action over and over while expecting different results.

My final example is a quote from Aerosmith who were paraphrasing Mark Twain: "If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got.”

Recently one of our stores was broken into and some of our equipment was stolen.  Bummer, but it does happen.  Such is life.  We replaced the equipment, repaired the front doors (rock through the glass, reach in & unlock) and went on our merry little way.  Last night, it happened again.  Broken glass, reach in, unlock, wander out some time later with our equipment in their grubby paws.

We failed the pattern recognition test.  We proved to the thief that there were no real repercussions and no changes in our awareness.  Minimal effort yielding adequate results.  Ten minutes of work and the net result is probably five-hundred bucks of stolen equipment.  Not retail value of course, but sell it for quick cash money.  Our cost to replace will be close to three grand.

Now, the next test will be, will we learn from this second break in?  Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me...Fool me a third time...ouch.

Next on the list

I really need to get it together with some photography.  I have a couple finished/nearly finished sewing projects that I wouldn't mind sharing with some of the online world.  However, I'm more interested in the process of adding new techniques to my repertoire and possibly a new machine to my table.

This weekend I finished up a pullover lounge hoodie thing in an homage to green lanterns uniform.  Its dark blue and dark gray with a general superheroic sort of design on the front, back and sleeves.  I'd put it at about 80%.  There are a couple flaws: a spot where the fabric folded a bit on the top-stitch and this stuff is NOT forgiving if you try to undo stretch stitching.  Also, one shoulder seam is misaligned by about a half-inch on the front, the other shoulder misaligned on the back, still a mistake but less noticeable.

Any new machine I get will need a couple of seam & flat feller feet (foots?) and a buttonholer.  I am in serious need of a buttonholer and better seam/hem making.  I have a shirt/jacket thing that needs a bakers dozen buttonholes that I just cannot bring myself to do by hand.  I made a vest with four buttonholes by hand and they turned out nicely, but 13 holes just seems too hard to get started on.  Now if I had a Singer 301/a, like the ones I have been tracking on Ebay, with the buttonhole accessory...oh buddy, look out!

I'm getting mildly better at hems/seams by hand, but they are time consuming and a bit fiddly.  There is always going to be a bit of extra effort needed to produce a garment that I will wear out in public, but at the same time I dont really want to spend half of the construction effort of a shirt on the buttonholes and seams.  Those are supposed to be details, not main points (or roadblocks) to construction.

Bureaucracy...what fun

Just a brief note.

I work for the IT department of a fairly well known organization that shall remain nameless.  Specifically, I run the point of sale register system.  Recently one of our stores had a server crash that took a few days to repair.

In order to rebuild the data from the days that were missing I called the store to get some subtotal information that they should have had readily available.

The store called the finance department because they didn't keep the reports from those days like they should have.

The finance department called me about getting the missing days rebuilt because the store called them to get some subtotal information.

This is me smacking my head against the wall with more effective results than dealing with these people.

Next Projects

Yesterday I felt like making something.  I have a good amount of fabric for a set of jammie/lounge-wear bits.  I'm figuring on a set of dark gray and blue pants and hoodie combo.  But, I didn't feel like working from someone elses instructions.

Ok, materials check, I still have a good amount of 500D Cordura from my first purse/bag projects.  I have about a yard-ish of twill from my vest and shirt/jacket project.

Hmm, I also have a closet full of clothing that definitely includes some never to be worn again garments.  What happens if we decide to make an outer shell of Cordura and line it with material salvaged from a pair of khakis that have an oil spot on the front?  Let's find out shall we.

I'm working on both my baseline sewing skills and the ideas of pattern drafting.  So, I drew a few rough sketches of what I wanted and measured a few bags that I already have and started drawing pattern pieces. I already have the parts cutout, a front-flap applique (skullhead!) and about 50% of the bag completed.  Tonight may see it's completion.

Note to self: You need a desk that has more room than your pattern paper, not less.

Back to Normal

Normal, what a horrible and limiting concept.

I'm back at work after an extended weekend.  Despite the emails and phone messages left in my absence, the world did not collapse.

Personally, I'm still slightly in recovery mode.  There was an inordinate amount of social contact during my weekend.  I met Manson for crying out loud.  There were crowds, fans, bouncers, assistants, more fans, more fans, drunk fans, photographers and general populace abounding.  By the end of the weekend all I wanted to do was put on jammies and hide under a blanket with my Kindle.

I am an introvert by nature.  Even this anonymous blog, unseen  in the vast reaches of inter-web-space-stuff, is more social contact than I normally prefer.  I decided a year or so ago that occasionally it would not hurt me to be more social.

You know the face that a child makes when they have to take medicine or go to bed earlier than they want?  Yeah, that's the face I make when I think of being social with my fellow human beings.

So, baby-steps.  I force myself to talk with co-workers, even when I really could not possibly care any less about what their children ate or watched on TV this past weekend.  I have practiced at keeping a pleasant yet neutral expression on my face, instead of the default expression of faint annoyance.  I swear that I am not actually that bitter and grouchy, it's just how the muscles in my face relax when left to their own devices.  I could be having a perfectly fine day, but if I don't actually make a concerted effort to put a pleasant expression on my face, people think I'm pissed.

So, here I am back at work.  My back to the rest of the office, repairing other peoples mistakes and accounting for their errors.  And I will not allow myself to curse them, swear at them, or even scowl at them. Because that would be rude and unprofessional and anti-social.

Dear internet...If my head explodes will you clean up after me?

WHAT?!

Yesterday I did laundry, washed my next batch of project cloth and ironed both it and the pattern pieces for my next couple garments.

Today I went and met Marilyn Manson, got his autograph twice, got a picture taken with him, saw the concert from absolutely great seats.  Tomorrow, my wife is getting his double-M sigil tattooed on her shoulder where she got him to sharpie it.

One day I'm planning sewing patterns and wondering if I have enough of the right color thread.  Next day, watching a girl screamo band, the Butcher Babies open for Manson.  I almost typed this post in all caps to mimic the extra loud talking cuz I cannot hear over the ringing in my ears.

My like is more WTF than ever before, but I am having fun and just living with the experiences.

First Project Post

I completed my first wearable garment sewing project today.  I made a wool hoodie using McCalls M5252 pattern.  I wanted a casual garment that was comfortable, however, I wanted to start updating my wardrobe to more 'real' and 'adult' clothes.  That means steering myself away from t-shirts and sweatshirts and more towards slacks and shirts.

So, for this project I picked a light suiting weight black wool.  It turned out quite nice I think.  Since it's a suit wool it has a decent weight and will probably be a good layering garment over a shirt and tie.  It still needs a bit of tweaking, in that I need to hem the sleeves by an inch or two and if I use that pattern again I may snug up the waist and sides to slim the line a bit.

Form vs. Function

I made a garrison cap last night.  Why, do you ask?  I really had no specific plan for its use.  I've always liked them, even have one leftover from my military days.  I made the new one out of leftover fabric from a vintage military greatcoat.  Heavy gray/green wool, very cold-war.

It brings me to the topic of form versus function.  Form being the appearance and style of a thing and function being the use and operation of the same thing.

In this case, the form of the garrison cap worked well.  I managed to get some good seams and a bit of piping on the border and the whole thing looked like a piece of military surplus from some long-forgotten Northern European naval unit.

Function, however, is another story.  I guesstimated a bit on the size and got it wrong.  A garrison cap is not supposed to fit loosely and come down over the tips of the ears.  If it doesn't fit like it is supposed to then it will not serve its function as a hat.  Simple.

I dislike when the balance of form and function is off.  Too much of one or the other is a bad thing.  Cases in point:
High fashion super-model runway shows where stick thin women are parading around in car parts and peacock feathers.  Never will you see that outfit in your local supermarket or on a bus.  Nobody ever actually decides to wear those outfits because of how flattering they are.  They are all form and no function.
On the flip-side there are the mechanics jumpsuits.  Pure function of covering your regular clothing away from the dirt and oil surrounding you.  If absolutely nobody cared about fashion, these garments could completely replace every bit of clothing we own.  Pure function and no form.

Coke

I don't feel well today.  Something I ate yesterday made me spend the evening curled up under blankets acting like a twelve year old.  I just wanted to watch cartoons and be miserable.  I crave Coke when I'm sick, not ginger-ale.  Coke (slightly flattened) was what my Dad would get me if I had an upset stomach as a child.  Some things get imprinted and pop up at random, decades later.

But, I'm back at work today, still not feeling great but not bad enough to call off.

It takes two weeks

According to common lore, it takes two weeks of repetition to turn something into a habit. Let's see if I can turn a blog into a habit.

Last night I stitched up a new case for my Leatherman Super-Tool 300. I just didn't care for the one that came with it and I had various bits of strapping and seat belt on my work table so... About a half dozen episodes of Pawn Stars later that evening, I'm an hour overdue for getting a full nights sleep but I have a cool new holster-case.

Plans for my upcoming five-day weekend:
  -Head up to the Rust Belt Market or antique stores
  -Check out a new fabric shop I read about in Royal Oak.
  -Start laying out my hoodie pattern

Oh yeah...go to a meet-n-greet with Marilyn Manson. Not kidding, my wife is a huge Manson fan-girl and since he is doing a Meet-n-greet at the Philmore, we are going to well, meet him and greet him and such. We get photos and autographs and then probably hearing loss at the concert itself. She (the wife) made me promise not to hit him if he grabs at my crotch. Apparently this is a serious possibility based on previous Meet-n-greet photos.

I'm an almost forty year old man. What life turns did I take when my weekend plans involve sewing and mentally preparing for the possibility of having my crotch pawed at by Marilyn Manson?

A New Beginning...Again

The only certain thing, is uncertainty. I'm pretty sure somebody has said that before, and probably with more eloquence. Whatever.

This is the beginning of my new blog. I have attempted a few before this on a variety of subjects and well, judging from the fact that I am creating a new one, you can guess how they went. The thing is, I miss having my own tiny little dusty corner of the internet. I miss the creative side of the web. Once in a blue moon I get the urge to create and express myself. This is one of those times.

Recently, I have taken up sewing and as an offshoot, pattern drafting. While this is not exactly a common pastime for a nearly forty year old man, it's what has my fascination at the moment and I'll roll with it. Plus, the idea of actually being able to create garments and objects out of decent solid materials that fit and will not disintegrate like whatever Wal-Mart pablum is readily available, appeals to me on several levels.

Ladies, Gentlemen, and whatever else is out there...You may call me Darkling. I am not here to entertain you. I am here to entertain myself. Watch, learn, read, follow...or don't, it's entirely up to you.