new toy

 I was gonna say it started with this:

...and, while that's not UNtrue, it probably really started when I got this leader jersey:

I shoulda got a medium; I got a large, and it's baggy. (When I got the ne from the following year, I got a medium, and it's still baggy.)

Then I saw the video above. And then I found, in no particular order, the follow-up video:

And then this guy:

And then I ran into this series:

(She's got a bit of a 'tude, I think, but she's got great info...)

And then there was a number of other videos... and the next thing you know I'm shopping online, and looking at the Singer 4411 at Joann Shops. And then, I don't give a damn about umpteen extra stitches (you only use about five or six anyway, and that includes buttons and buttonholes), but I still want an automatic needle threader and one-step buttonhole, because neither my eyesight nor my tremor are getting any better, so I take a long look at the Brother ST371HD...

... and the day after Christmas, The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I are down at the Joann shop in Lawrenceville picking one up.

I'd seen this project:

... and I got a similar mask for Christmas from my sister, so I modified the pattern, and came up with these:

The tartan in the upper right is the one that was a gift. The blue was my first effort; it's full of mistakes, but it holds together enough that it will be my bike-ride mask for now. The other one is a bit better. I'm learning all the mistakes you can make on a sewing machine, so far without drawing any blood.

The next project will be to alter some t-shirts (and maybe turtlenecks) to fit; then to alter my jerseys. The long-term goal is to make jerseys for myself, and maybe others. I've found a pattern online, but cutting and sewing lycra is beyond my poor powers at this point.

But I plan to stick with it. And maybe someday I'll be sewing up team jerseys, or altering your off-the-internet jerseys so they custom fit (TEW complains regularly that the jerseys she sees are either ridiculously expensive [I'm lookin' at you, Terry Jerseys] or just too bleah). Good stretch lycra is about $8/yd plus delivery...