Saturday, December 3, 2011

Saturday Plans

I think I'm sorta starting a Stitcher's Guild 6-PAC, but I tend to sew/buy in "PAC"s anyway, so it's not going to be anything unusual for me. SWAPs and I don't get along, but I love me a 6-pack. Er … ;-)

Another Magic Pencil Skirt is still on the short list, but there's a few items ahead of it only because of fabric choice (non-stretch) and sewing for money (I have 2 wallets on order).

Backing up a bit, I went to Beall's last night to return the $$ jeans I didn't keep. And, of course, I browsed. And tried on. I really wanted the b/w houndstooth skirt I found, but it was not to be. The 16 fit great in the waist (even a little loose) and length, but was a little too snug across the hips. The 18 fell off me. I could've bought the 16 and waited (or heaven forbid — exercised!), but where's the fun in that? I'm all for instant gratification in my wardrobe choices. It was also not the most wonderfully made, but that's to be expected and only a stitcher would notice these things — even though it was off-grain enough that the checks were going uphill at the bottom edge hem. I pouted a little but I put it back and consoled myself with a pretty ivory/metallic cardigan, a coordinating ivory sweaterknit tank, a purple sweater I'm still on the fence about, and a gray/ivory floral lacy knit tee which I hope matches a gray RTW skirt I've been holding waiting to either sew or buy a coordinate. These purchases were free, of course, since I had just returned the jeans, returned the ruffly cardi to Walmart, and also sent boots back to Zappos. In fact, I think I may even come out ahead. Does anyone else do shopping math like this? ;-)

So, while the houndstooth I really wanted was big and contrast-y (and if anyone knows of some fabric somewhere, let me know!), I knew I had a small houndstooth in my recently-acquired pile of fabrics.


But since it's not stretchy at all, I opted for the TNT Burda pencil skirt instead of the Magic pattern. I'm also going to make the Vogue/Marci Tilton cascade cardi in the brown ponte knit. This will coordinate with the houndstooth and also exactly match the Magic Pencil skirt made from this fabric before my trip. I haven't actually checked to see that I actually have enough knit left so this plan may be modified. I hope not, because I've been wanting to make this MT cardi since I "found" it in an old Threads. I'm in the middle of cutting out the skirt, single layer, and will return to that after I finish this post.


Here's another pic from our trip. Tyler and Alex braved Walmart at midnight on Black Friday to buy a BA (Big @$$) TV, which Tyler already has set up in his barracks room and connected to cable and internet and the new PS3 he bought during the week.


Speaking (sorta) of technology, I'm happy to report that my Kindle Fire was everything I wanted on our trip. I downloaded some movies onto it for Alex to watch while I drove and it performed flawlessly and the downloads were very quick. I think I can fit 5-6 full-length movies on it at one time. You can switch between on-device and Cloud storage if you're going to be watching more than 6 movies in a sitting. I can guarantee that I will never do that. My butt and brain would fall asleep.

I also enabled my Droid phone to be a mobile wi-fi hotspot which was extremely easy and the Fire found it just fine. I was going to blog while away, but it was just too much of a pain to deal with photos. I need to investigate better methods before any future trips. For those who are wondering, with Verizon, the wi-fi option for the phone costs $20 extra per month, but you can enable/disable it per month so you don't have to pay for it when you're not going to be using it.Tyler was also using the wi-fi to Facebook from his laptop.

So far, the only "cons" with the Fire are (1) e-books are expensive and (2) my library only lets you keep borrowed e-books for 2 weeks and there's a waiting list for most of them. I'm complaining about the 2-week limit only because hard copies can be borrowed for 3 weeks at a time and I think it should match. Otherwise, it's really pretty adequate. I've got about 8 free books and some magazines loaded on it right now and it's not like I'm hurting for reading material. Does anyone know if you've purchased e-books, can you lend them among friends like hard copies?

Another option I've found on the Fire is that not only is brightness adjustable, but you can set the "page" to be off-white with less-contrast-y text. I think this would work fine for those who don't want to read a screen and maybe it's similar to eInk?? I don't know as I still haven't seen what that looks like, but this setting seems to be very book-like to me. There's also an option for a black page with white text if that's your thing. It isn't mine. ;-)

Parting Shot: The Marine sporting his favorite things: (1) white dress cover; (2) Spiderman anything; and (3) his new Cap'n Crunch tat (his nickname is Cap'n from years ago). He thought he was going to surprise/shock me with his new (and first) tattoo when he saw me, but my mother's intuition told me he had already done the deed and I guessed it before he had a chance to unveil. Seeing his face when I guessed out of the blue was priceless. Hahaha. I know that "kid" so well. Now that's he gotten the first, I expect a Marine moto or Spidey tat to be added soon. But the Corps mandates that any new tattoo not show while wearing the issued PT (physical training) uniform (short shorts and a tee), so whatever he gets will still be covered unless he's shirtless or shortless.



9 comments:

  1. Re lending on the Kindle - I assume the Fire works the same way as the regular Kindle - you can "loan" books if the publisher has enabled it. Go to the "Your Digital Items" link from Amazon Home page. Click "Your Kindle Orders" and enter your password to access. You'll see a list of books you've purchased. To the right of each is a drop down labeled "Actions" - if loaning is enabled you'll see "Loan this title" as an option. You need to know the e-mail address associated with the Kindle you want to loan to.
    I did this from the web - don't know if there's a way to do this from the device itself?
    I know this b/c I just loaned a YA title with my niece. She received an e-mail saying the book was available - she had seven days to accept the loan, and after accepting, 14 days to read the book. Meanwhile, once she accepted I got an e-mail saying she had the book, and also a notice on my Kindle that the book was on loan and I could not access it while she had it. Last night I got an e-mail saying she had finished it. Not sure how she released it?
    Anyway, hope this helps.

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  2. If you are on Goodreads, there is an entire board to swap / loan books for e-Readers (I have a nook). I got my tatoo at 18. My mom never knew until we went to the beach one year. I still like mine 10+ years later. Oh, and I'm generally irritated the ebooks don't cost less. I think they should be less than physical books. Especially once you can buy a used book for pennies to $5. Paying full price for an ebook just annoys me at that point.

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  3. That was exactly the info I was looking for about the Fire - still not sure I'm going to get one, but now I know more about the settings that might mimic e-ink. Hmm.....

    Ebooks are expensive, well many are (and I definitely believe none should be over 9.99). I'm self-published and my book is priced much lower than most (because I don't have to share the profits with many folks and because I'm "undiscovered"), but I will say that many, many self-pubbed writers have books out there for cheap and, well, sometimes you get what you pay for. Yet, it's fun to discover new writers that publishers overlooked. I suppose that's what the free samples are for! BTW, if you check the Kindle Daily Post you'll often find sales. I just bought The Art of Racing in the Rain for 3.99 and just finished it. I also cried like a baby!

    Happy sewing and shopping!

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  4. http://dailycheapreads.com/

    The plusses -- none of the books they mention are more than $5, and they spend the time to troll Amazon to find them

    The minuses -- many of the real cheapo books are by otherwise unpublished authors, so the quality varies widely. Also, they seem to have some sort of sex is ok, violence is bad filter which means that not all cheap books get mentioned.

    I haven't had ANY trouble keeping my ipad full!

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  5. That's a pretty big first tatoo!

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  6. Hi from a longtime admiring lurker who doesn't get much sewing done after reading and learning soooooooo much. So, here is my payback: go to www.kindlenationdaily.com every morning and click on the link to the free kindle books. There is a paid sponsor each day and then a listing of the most recent additions, going back in chronological order. I have put so many free books on my Kindle I have only purchased 4 in over a year. Jeannine in Iowa

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  7. I know nothing about Kindles but let me give you a tip re that Marcy Tilton pattern. It's incredibly short! Short, short & short!! I added 10cm (4") when I made it and I'm 5'2". YMMV. :)

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  8. Don't know much about the Kindle, but if you can download "Apps" to it or your smartphone, then I have two recommendations.
    1) Overdrive - check out digital books from local library system, free. I use it on my iPhone and iPad.
    2) Blogger has an App which can be used to blog from a smartphone. It is rather rudimentary, but works ok for a basic post.

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  9. Marines and tattoos petty much go together! It's been part of USMC culture for decades :)

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