Wardrobe Refashion

The Pledge

I Sanity, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 / 4 / 6 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed Sanity.

Some explanation, rules, and sign-up can be found here.

A new beginning

So...living in a new 3 bedroom apartment. Have most things unpacked. Have I mentioned before that I hate hate hate moving? I hate it even more when a 3rd floor apartment is in anyway associated with the equation. Most of the new place (thankfully on the 1st floor) is arranged and ready to be lived in. SO why do I feel so out of place? Is it because we've got the mom-in-law living with us? I'll admit, that does take a bit of getting used to, but I'd rather it be Silver's Mom, than mine.

I suppose it shouldn't surprise me, with the economy the way it is, it's becoming more and more common for extended families to live together. I'm reserving judgement on this, though. I love our new place, I love the change that has come over the kidlet having grandma look after her after school (although that could be a side effect of the Gluten-Free, Casein-Free diet. Whatever it is, it's worked wonders and her good days are starting to vastly outnumber her not-so-good ones.

So why am I in such a funk? WHY do I feel so restless?

Finished Project, finally!

Several months ago, so long ago, in fact, that it was over a year ago, I think, I came across a rather spectacular find at the local Goodwill up on 35th ave and Greenway. I found a pair of what we refer to as "bondage pants" for $15. Marked down this nicely, near as I can tell, because they are missing the chains that clip on. Well, I can't wear the chains at work anyway, and I can sew, so I can create more chains for them...I snagged them since they were my size and seemed MADE for me. This sparked discussion from my wonderful Silver, who is 6'5" and 300 some odd pounds, that he wished they made bondage pants and his size. And if they did, that they didn't cost so damn much. At the same time, he was lamenting the lack of cargo pants in his size, since he puts a lot of stuff in his pockets. We scoured the shelves at our local Hell-Mart, only to find the biggest pants they carried were a 40 inch waist by a 30 inch inseam. Ok, so the only people with large waists must be short? This logic is flawed, for anyone who has seen the last 2 guys I've been involved with, as well as many of my ohauna...So, since pants flys are my nemesis, we bought the pants that were 40x30, had Silver try them on to see just how much I would need to take them in... And that was where they sat for the better part of a year, before I did anything with them.

Fast forward to last week, when the wee one had fall break (thus a vacation from the split shift I've been working) and I was able to pull the pants out and start working on them. Added a panel to the bottoms (kept the original hem, added length at about mid-calf) to make them a 38" inseam (add room for his boots so he doesn't look like he's waiting for a flood), and added 5 inch panels on either side to make what WAS a 40" waist a 49-50" waist. While I was doing this (since I had to pull the pockets off anyway to add the panels) I added trim and D-rings to make him his own version of bondage pants, as seen here. And yes, those chains going around from front to back, those are his poi leashes. He can spin whenever he wants now. And I fully expect that the twill used on the panels will soften up with washing, and fade to match the rest of the pants.

from the front:


Side:


And the back:

[3] 525,600 Minutes

"How do you document real life when real life's getting more like fiction each day?" Mark Cohen, Rent

A little over 2 years ago, I made the decision to move to the city named for rebirth. I felt I needed a new beginning, a do-over, as it were. And while not all the decisions I made upon that move were good ones, things have, for the most part, worked out. I'm part of a kickass performance group, SINaesthesia, I've been accepted for who I am by my wonderful Ohauna, I have a beautiful six year old daughter, and a wonderful husband who loves me for who I am. I've made great strides of improvement in my musical ability, at least according to the husband. I start a new job on Monday, and with a new job comes a new start away from the things that went wrong at the previous job.
But one thing seems to be missing. Seventeen long months after a horrid miscarriage at almost 12 weeks and fifteen months of actual trying, and we have nothing to show for it. There are some things, in that 15 months, that I am getting really tired of hearing, such as:

"You're trying too hard"
"It'll happen when you least expect it."
"God has a plan"

It's the last one that really irritates me, though. Firstly, don't presume to know what my Higher Power does or doesn't have. My beliefs are none of your business, and the the last thing anyone wants to hear is that something they so desperately want is out of their control. I am already well aware of this, and I really don't need your reminder of this fact.
Studies have shown that little worries, like whether or not you will ever conceive, do not affect your conception chances. Bigger stresses, like moving, getting married, or being out of work do, but for once, this cycle we were surprisingly not stressed. So fourteen days of elevated temperatures and four days late mean absolutely nothing. And after fifteen months, there is a small part of me that is starting to feel as if maybe I'm making penance for some karmic sin I've committed. Is this my punishment for September 2006? Or for getting divorced? Is this my punishment for the debacle with King Hookah?
And if you're going to tell me to be patient, well, I'll leave you with this quote, "I can't control

My destiny

I trust my soul

My only goal is just

To be

There's only now

There's only here

Give in to love

Or live in fear

No other path

No other way

No day but today...