Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Sew Grateful Week: Non-Humans

Okay, this is a little silly, but there are some non-sentient items that make my sewing possible, and they should get their recognition too. Besides the obvious, like my sewing machine and scissors and seam ripper and pins and all.

Probably #1 on the list would have to be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This is also probably (hopefully) the only time I will ever mention violent video games on this blog. But really, it's so great that husband and I both have hobbies that only require one person, and the other person has no interest in participating. This means that we both get our nightly fix of fun without feeling like we're depriving the other person of entertainment. I get to sew, he gets to shoot imaginary people.

Second on my list is Netflix streaming + the iPad2. This combination means that my information-hungry brain, which has a hard time uni-tasking (watch a movie while my hands are idle? horrors!), can learn while my hands and right foot are busy sewing. The only thing is, I can't watch visuals-heavy shows, like Downton Abbey, while I'm keeping an eye on my seam allowances, so I tend to choose documentaries. Most of those are talking heads, along with some bad "historical" reenactment, so I'm not missing much if I don't look at the screen. Thanks to PBS, National Geographic, and History Channel shows, I feel like I'm making up for not taking AP Euro or AP World in high school. In the month of January alone, I managed to learn about the Dark Ages, Auschwitz, the Salem witch trials, Jamestown, the ill-fated Greely Arctic expedition, conquistadors, and the colonization of Africa. Previous months have included castles, human sacrifices, medieval dragon legends, and the Civil War (and possibly all three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender...*shifty eyes*). So maybe it's not the most complete history curriculum, but hey, I've got to start somewhere in making up for three years of high school history classes spent passing notes and staring at cute boys.

You no can haz teh interwebs. Feed me first.
Lastly, I have to thank Teh Interwebs. Without the wealth of information, tutorials, and blogs out there, I would never have been able to get to where I am now. I have my one sewing book, the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing, but honestly, I'm more likely to look online for information. I'm especially grateful for the Burdastyle and Sew Weekly communities, and individual bloggers who've helped and encouraged me. Gosh, this is sounding like an acceptance speech. So, in conclusion, it is with great happiness that I accept the Rambly Blogger Who Doesn't Know When to Shut Up Award!

And as obvious as it might seem that I left Walnut out in my list of thank yous, I'm telling you, it's purposeful. This guy deserves no thanks for choosing to make biscuits on slippery fabric that took forever to get on-grain, or depositing tufts of his hair on all-black, super-staticky lining. I swear, he can decide to release them just like hens laying eggs.

He decided to take his bath here within three seconds of my setting the dress down.

Oh, I'm sorry, did my needing to finish that dress disturb your daily ablutions? Forgive me, your majesty. Carry on.

Yur new pattern book iz perfik place 4 mah butt.
Oh, cats. Getting in the way of silly hoomins since 8000 BCE.

Also, I just realized I lumped the real people/bloggers out there into the non-human blog post. Oops.

10 comments:

  1. LOL! Great post. :)

    My hubs prefers RPGs, which theoretically would be perfect (they're almost always single player) but the downside is I like to play along. He's in charge of killing stuff, I'm in charge of puzzle-solving. Which means things may be a bit light around my blog until we finish Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. :D Too bad he didn't like the stupid Batman game, I don't really feel the need to follow along for those...

    I favor podcasts and audiobooks for while I'm sewing, for the exact same reason---information without visuals. Although if I'm attempting something that requires actual concentration, it's really better to turn off the noise. :P

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    1. Yeah, I definitely hit pause when I get to tricky parts! I tried audiobooks for awhile, but I realized that I much prefer reading the books myself. For some reason, I can only do audiobooks of books I've actually read first.

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  2. The second I put fabric on the floor to cut it, the LITERAL second, Brother Cadfael sits on it. And proceeds to clean his whole damn body, like, what, dude, all of a sudden you mind how dirty you are? When there's yardage on the ground? THIS IS WHY I CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS. And then I go cry in the bathroom while he snickers to himself. Damn dirty cats..

    strugglesewsastraightseam.wordpress.com

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    1. See, this is where it's correct to use the word "literal." Yes, I frequently think YOU ARE WHY I CAN'T HAVE NICE SILKS at Walnut. Actually, it probably has more to do with my refusal to spend more than $5/yd on fabric, but still. I swear, cats of sewing ladies have their own little blog with tips on how to be the most annoying.

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  3. LOL I'm with you and @Tanit-Isis. I feel the same about the first three things (we don't have any pets bc I'm allergic). I also call by husband, "hubs" and he usually plays FIFA 2012, a few RPGs, Skyrim, any of the Portals, and (of the FPS's) Counter Strike.

    I also watch Netflix streaming when I sew in the living room (so basically every time I sew). I actually prefer TV series because it's not actually important that I learn what's going on - they'll usually talk about it again later. I feel like I have to pay way more attention to documentaries so I get all the nuance of what they're talking about.

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    1. Heh, if my husband played Skyrim I'd have to be there to watch, whereas I have no interest in watching him duck around corners and snipe.

      I actually started with TV shows on Netflix, then I felt guilty that I wasn't learning anything, so I switched to documentaries.

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  4. your handmade kitty is pretty awesome.

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  5. LOL. LOVE this! And that picture of your cat on the laptop is priceless!

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  6. Yeah, we spend our "together" time immersed in our own little hobby worlds. And we are equally puzzled over the other's obsession. Excel database functions? Ugh.

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  7. haha! that cat is ridiculously adorable! i'd probably let him sleep all over my nice fabric if he looked that cute all the time!

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