10,000 Steps a Day

何年か前にフィットビットというワイヤレス万歩計をもらいました。
しばらく使ってなかったんだけど、去年の秋ごろから復活しました。
今年は一日1万歩を目標に歩こう！と思ってるんだけど、やっぱりなかなか難しいですな。

1月で、1万歩歩けたのは10日だけでした。
犬の散歩をしっかりして仕事中もちょくちょく動いているとそれだけで1万歩行くんだけど、先週は特に仕事中はほとんど歩くことなく一日中机に張り付いていたので犬の散歩長めにやっても1万歩にはたどり着けず。
ちなみに犬の散歩するだけで6000歩から7000歩ぐらいいくんだけど、犬の散歩サボると1日3000歩も歩かないということがわかりました。
やっぱり運動らしい運動しないので、犬の散歩は犬だけでなく私の健康の面でもとても大切ですな。

今月のグラフはこんな感じ。平均すると一日8千歩ぐらい。

I got a Fitbit One many years ago before they introduced the wrist band style. I wasn't using it for a while but I put it back on last fall, and I'm trying to walk 10,000 steps a day.

Easier said than done. During the month of January, there were only 10 days that I went over my 10k goal.
My dog walking takes about 6k to 7k steps, so if I move a lot during work, I can get to 10k.
Last week, I was pretty much stuck at my desk at work and sitting hours at a time, so even though I took the dogs for a longer walk, I couldn't get to 10k.

I don't do any type of exercise, so I really see how important it is for my own activity level to walk the dogs.

The Fellowship of the Ring

お久しぶりです。元気にしてます。
仕事場での役職が微妙に代わり猛烈に忙しいのと、仕事関連で地元の学校で夜間授業をとり始めたので（１教科だけなんだけど、週二日）あまり家ではやる気がおきません。

そんなことより。
今年の目標は、というかいつも目標にしていてあまり達成できてないんだけど、一月に１冊は本を読むということ。
そんな今年の１冊目は、映画「ロード・オブ・ザ・リング」の原作小説、「指輪物語」の第１巻、「旅の仲間」です。

映画を何度も見ているので話がわかってるのもあって、さくさくっと、私の中ではかなり早いスピードの３週間で読みきれました。（図書館の貸し出しが1回3週間）
今日図書館に本を返しに行ったら、ちょうど予約していた第2巻の「二つの塔」が借りられて、ナイスタイミング。

Phew, it's been a while. I'm doing just fine.
With my job duties changing slightly and taking a class at a local community college for work 2 nights a week, I just have no disposable mental energy to do anything at home these days.

Anyways.
This year's goal, well, it's always been my goal for that matter, is to read one book per month. I wish somebody invites me to a book club. Being a book club really forces me to read and read wider variety of books.
My January book is The Fellowship of the Ring, of course from The Lord of the Ring series. I have watched the Peter Jackson movie adaptation many times so I'm familiar with the story so it was much easier to read than I originally expected, and I was able to finish it in 3 weeks, which is pretty fast for my slow reading ability.

Having watched the movie helps picturing the world of Middle Earth. I like the pretty straight forward writing style too, since I was expecting the book to be written in some old English, like it is in, say, Sherlock Holmes. But I guess, after all, Tolkin is a modern writer.

When I went to the library to return the book, the Two Towers that I had put on hold was also ready to be picked up today, so it was a perfect timing. Let's see if I can finish the second book in February...

Men's Raglan Shirt Failure

オットに新しく買った型紙を使ってラグラン袖のロンTを作ってみた。
が、出来は大失敗だった。
首が。

I made MOTH a raglan long sleeve T-shirt and I miserably failed.

The pattern was Simplicity 1605. I guess the men's patterns don't come with variety of sizes like women's patterns do? The smallest size for adult men was size S, so I cut the size S.

The failure shown above is mainly around the neck, and front neck to be specific. And this was after I had hand-basted bodice and sleeves and he had tried on, given me an OK and I had sewn everything and even coverstitched the neck band and hems. I should have looked more carefully when it was basted.

I could not think of a way to fix it other than putting a dart in on the shoulder, which I did not want to do, so I ended up drafting the sleeve pattern myself.

I don't know if this pattern would work. Other than my Sewaholic Minoru jacket, this is the only other raglan sleeve pattern I have sewn so I really don't know what to do and how the sleeve should fit. Looking at the pictures above, MOTH has square shoulder compared to the guy on the pattern envelope? Is there such thing as square shoulder adjustment for raglan sleeves?

I totally exhausted my brain power for now so the sewing will resume later. I don't have enough contrast fabric so before I can cut the sleeves, I will have to unpick the coverstitch and serger seams and see if I can salvage the existing sleeve.

Nausicaa

何年かぶりに「風の谷のナウシカ」を見ました。ナウシカは私の中では宮崎映画の最高傑作。
もう泣かないかな、と思ったけど、やっぱりラストシーンでジーンときた。
ちなみに時々、久石譲のジブリコンサートを聞きながら裁縫したりします。

I watched "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind". Also found this Nausicaa and Force Awakens mush-up video.

Nausicaa is an animated film made by an Academy Award winning director, Hayao Miyazaki. This is by far my most favorite Miyazaki movie, and one of my most favorite movies ever. It is just a great movie.

It had been many years since I last watched it. I thought I would not cry this time, but I still got watery eyes at the end. When the movie first came on TV, I was 8 years old. I was so wanting to watch this movie, and I was so excited at 9 o'clock at night when it started on TV. To this day, I clearly remember that night when I just could not stay awake after 20 minutes and fell asleep.

I've never seen it in a dubbed version but apparently some famous actors (including Uma Thurman, Mark Hamil, and Shia Labouf) did the voice-over.

Matchy Matchy Renfrew

オットのロンTを作った残りの布で自分用にカットソー作りました。
型紙はカナダの会社のSewaholicさんとこのRenfrew。この型紙使うのもう何度目？

オットとペアルックにならないように気をつけないとね。

Since I re-cut MOTH's long sleeve T shirt when I raised the armhole and I was left with big enough left-over fabric, I made myself a matchy matchy shirt.

The pattern is Sewaholic Renfrew.
The fabric is rayon jersey with Lycra. The thinness and the drape is perfect for the cowl neck.
I cut a size 6, shortened bodice by 1", but lengthened sleeves by 1" (for winter weather).

I love this pattern and I have made a few Renfrews in the past. Actually, this pattern was my very first sewing pattern purchase a few years ago: the pattern that started my garment making attempt.

I'm pretty sure size 6 is where I should be and I am pretty comfortable and really like the fit.
HOWEVER, every time I make this shirt, I get that whisker wrinkles from the armpit above the bust. I am totally fine with all the excess fabric at my lower back (I'm not going to do a sway back adjustment for a T-shirt) but I do not like the whisker wrinkles at the front.

My fitting knowledge is limited and I do not know what to do with it. I'm thinking that the front bodice armhole is too long? The Renfrew's shoulder curve is symmetrical unlike the normal shoulder curve which is longer in the back. Do I need to go up a size?

Men's Long Sleeve T-Shirt

あけましておめでとうございます。
今年もよろしくお願いします。

クリスマス休暇からかなりぐうたらが続き、しばらくテレビばっかり見てました。
でもクリスマス前は頑張って、オットにロンT作りました。
型紙は私の好きなカナダのJalie。ちなみに布は以前タンクトップワンピースを作った余り。

Happy 2016.
I have been a bit lazy since the Christmas holiday and been watching NetFlix a lot.
But I did work hard before Christmas and made a long sleeve T-shirt for the Man of the House.
It was actually finished on Christmas day so I gave it to him as a Christmas present. Our Christmas shirt tradition begins! (if I don't forget next year)

The pattern is Jalie 2918, men's T-shirt pattern. I actually bought a bunch of Jalie patterns at once to qualify for free shipping. I wanted paper patterns for my patterns, but I opted for PDF patterns for men's patterns (I also bought Jalie 2212).

Anyway, the pattern. I made the simple long sleeve shirt.
I cut a size U.
Shorten both bodice and sleeves by 1 inch. (He's 5'7")
I compared with the Strathcona I made for him before and noticed that the armhole was lower than my modified Strathcona (I raised the armhole quite a bit on Strathcona).

But I ignored it, and sewed up bodice and sleeve and tried it on him.
Well, as I suspected, MOTH did not like the fit of the armpit area.

So I raised the armhole a little over 1 inch by using the armhole of size Q (just swiveled it to hit the width of size U chest). Then I also used the size Q shoulder curve for sleeves.

The fabric is rayon jersey, left-over from my Jalie 3024.
Other than a request to make the sleeves a tad shorter, MOTH gave me an overall OK for the fit.
Looking a the photo, though, I'm thinking the shoulder may be too wide? I guess he is like me, a very rectangular shape.

You know what. I like making clothes for men. The shape is much simpler than women and I can do the fitting on somebody else, which is waaay easier than doing the fitting on myself (especially without a dress form). More men's T-shirts to come in the future.