totchipanda

(incoherent screaming as the Oilers win the elimination game and we're going back to the Cup to KICK FLORIDA'S MOTHER TUCKING ASS THIS YEAR and ALSO THE FIRST GAME IS BEING PLAYED HERE!!!!!)

Jolly good game, well played, pip pip tally ho.

It was an extremely toasty 33C when I left yesterday, so first order of business was take off my work clothes (long sleeves and long pants). Second order of business was to cut out the bodice and stitch it together - done! That got me through one 45 minute episode of my true crime documentary and then it was time for the game! Even though I put it on at 6, puck drop is 20 mins later and I knew that, but whatever. It was a very important game (potential elimination game - if the Oilers won, Dallas was out) so I was all-in. Made myself dinner which was homemade salad dressing over lettuce, onion, avocado and alfalfa sprouts. The kitchen was VERY WARM already and I was not about to make it hotter by cooking.

After dinner I adjusted the skirt pattern by grading the waist to hip and then held it up against me to judge the length. I decided to leave it actually! At most I'll hem it a little higher if needed. Cut it out (worried about people in general as the emergency alerts came on first about wildfire evacuations and then about an incoming storm front with wind gusts of up to 130km/h - 81 mph) and headed to the machine to work on it while the game continued.

Pockets: Sewn. I placed them and then decided that they needed something to break them up amongst the print. Perhaps the rickrack I'd chose across the top? What if I tried to place it just underneath so that the top point stuck out along the edges? That was SO cute so I went with that. But the rickrack I'd chosen was small and it was difficult to place. The lavender, with the shortest yardage, was a little too large. I had two packets of pale pink in a medium size and that was perfect. I pinned the first pocket with the rickrack but for the second I just guided it as I sewed. Then I stitched up seams and pinned it to the bodice.

No photos online yet, but it is so cute! I do need to adjust the bodice yet, it's quite a bit too large. The 6-shoulder/front width to 10-bust is not QUITE there and I think I ought to put a sleeve on before poo-pooing it entirely. I think I need to shorten my front bust darts an inch or so. The side darts are... well if they're meant to be AT my bust level they are too low, and if the point is meant to stop within 1" of the apex they are far too short. I don't mind the side dart as much, it at least points in the right direction, but the front ones are causing pointiness and that's an issue.

But the game was over by then, which meant it was after 9pm, and no good decisions are ever made after 9pm.

Today I am wearing my Scout dress for the first time!! This one is an 8 F/G bust with the armscye scooped quite a bit inwards (I don't quite remember how much even though I made it only 2 months ago; I remember sticking the pattern line on one size and cutting it back to the smallest one I'd printed, possibly having intially cut the 8, then placing it on 12 and cutting back to 8 again). The armscye IS a little tight in the front of my arm but not distractingly so.

Weekend plans... Sunday is potentially a get-together with some awesome friends, weather permitting. Saturday M floated the idea of visiting the farmers' market downtown so that's a possibility too. Otherwise, eh. I'll dye my hair and whatever else takes my fancy.

Today though, to the mall for my prescription and a container of coffee cream! After that, we shall see.

On Saturday I said THIS IS THE DAY and I sat down to finish most of the sewing on the Scout dress. In the AM I put the facing on and pressed it all (it feels too wide; it'll sit nicely when on the body but holding the bodice up at any angle, it's wrinkle city) and then worked on and attached the sleeves. The right sleeve fought me a lot, so I took deep breaths and said "after this I will eat lunch" and then did.

Attached the skirt, which was probably the easiest seam ever, and then of course I had to try it on! HEEEEE so swishy!! I also put on my Ettie petticoat and rolled up the waist so that the flounces would be hidden under the skirt, and that gave it a lil oomph. Some notes: A) the armscyes are VERY close but not uncomfortable; unsure if I would find the feeling of them to be too binding or what when worn. B) there is too much fabric in the bust. My darts are very pointy and also very blousy on the outer half of each side. I can probably take it up with a re-jigging of the bust dart but I'll need to revisit the changes I made to the original. C) I need more thread in that colour before I can do the buttonholes and hem, I definitely do not have enough to finish it. It is currently hanging in the closet to let the hem stretch.

Then I sat on the couch and dissociated for a bit. You see, my one social group was having a Lunar New Year dinner at a local restaurant. I had been unaware of the date, but assumed that I was not directly invited by anyone else bc my mother would be there, but Dad asked me to come and offered to spot me the cash for the meal. So, I decided to go. I needed to leave the house around 330 and I had initially planned to take transit two stops and then walk (it is VERY local) but not only was -buttfuck cold, but the train wasn't expected for nearly half an hour. (the advertising tvs said no delays reported, but then wtf was this??)

I cleaned off the car and managed to get it out of my icy well with 6" of snow on top of and around it. I was really anxious, I had many visions of us having a drag out fight where I walked out of the dinner after telling her what a terrible mum she was/is, but it was fine. They made some noises about how they haven't seen me in 5 years and I said yup, that's about right, and that was it. I was invited to their timeshare for a weekend in June (specifically for the weekend), and told about some local-ish events. I will NOT be going to the timeshare, and if i do the semi-local events, it will be on my own terms and my own schedule.

My therapist would be so proud. We had discussed me not letting my mum's presence at this gatherings deter me from going to things I really want to go to, and I'd even said to her then that my mum is not the kind of person who'd have a drag out fight about it, she'd just make some pointed comments and that was that. So I will consider going to some other wider events through the year and potentially saying hello at the Broadway shows. POTENTIALLY. Absolutely not to close quarters weekends. Not yet, maybe not ever. I need to figure out how to get to "this is a person i am friendly with, even though I don't particularly LIKE them. Alas, we are related."

OH she also had news of my grandpa, her dad (I call him Geepa). He has at least 2 kinds of cancer (skin and prostate) and was recently diagnosed as having autism (my sister had told me that at Beetlejuice, my response was "U DONT SAY".) He is not going to undergo treatment, as he will be 92 this spring and the treatments are worse than the disease at this time. I wanted to get out there to visit him, and now that I know when my mum is going (after his birthday, which is the day after mine), I will endeavour to go sooner.

After dinner on Saturday, I discovered that Amazon (boo hiss) had put up several new seasons of my ambulance show, so that's the next few weeks' watching sorted. Yesterday I did cross stitch a bit while I rotted and watched, but didn't do much else. That's ok :) Winter is for hibernating. And I made potato soup, which is so yummy.

I did not sew last night, I tried to knit only to discover halfway through a 400-stitch row, I made a mistake in about stitch 8 and now need to back up across the whole dang thing to fix it. The kittens (especially Calcifer) wanted to help, a LOT, and they also spent a lot of time dashing back and forth in the apartment. I wish I could capture the sound of their lil peets in the carpet, it is such a joyful sound.

I did accuse them of being menaces (they are), but realized that I was probably hangry, and also I promised to love them extra bc one fandom friend lost her cat yesterday, and another one is losing hers today. I wouldn't trade their fuzzy antics for anything.

I think I have a plan for the Scout dress. I have several yards of a chocolate brown cotton sateen which I had purchased with intent to make (at least part of) a Jedi outfit, but in looking through the directions of the dress, it talked about making a sash for all the merit badges and I remembered that I have all of my Brownies gear, sash and badges and pouches. The brown sateen would be an excellent background for that lol. When would I ever wear my old Brownies accessories, I have no idea, but it's cute and I like it. I should have some Girl Guide buttons saved, too. So that at least is decided.

I desperately trying to avoid printing out the skirt pattern as it's just SO BIG. 38 pages, which I know bc I thought if I just printed the hem and waist areas, could I get away with just filling in the middle with blank paper? The middles take up 20 pages, which the upper and lower parts are 18. I don't know if that's really feasible. Either way, I can start with the bodice. Do I just shorten the bodice and charge ahead, or make a mock up first? (Answered my own question, I will shorten it and forge ahead! #yolo!!)

( overthinking is the only kind of thinking )

( TMI: )

Two weeks until our concert!!!! I think I will dye my hair this weekend so it has a chance to settle before we go :)