Okay there was NO craftiness here at Hugs this week, where all my time was weighted toward house cleanup and long walks. Plus shopping for summer.
This lightweight floral cardi was an earlier purchase, but it needed some help if I was going to wear it to an event this coming week amid both heat and humidity. My favourite combo! Not.
It's super cute on and will top my coolest linen floaty pants with some much-needed colour. It's also designed for airy gaps between the crocheted buttons. And there is no. way. I am wearing a T underneath. No extra layers in a hot humid scenario!
So last night, unconvinced it was worth dragging the sewing machine out of its cupboard for an interrupted line of tacking, I curled up under a good light and hand stitched this baby shut between the buttons.
I did a blanket stitch for the closure seam...
SO RESTFUL.
...and then for good measure, went over the topstitching using a running stitch with back stitch thrown in. I don't know the name of that one but is also very pleasant to do.
Do either of the runs of stitches show? Yes.
Do I expect anybody to approach me with a magnifying glass? No.
Meanwhile, the hot weather has well and truly arrived here in Toronto. Some people love summer but for me it is the Time of Dread. I am a sweater weather person, ya know? Though I do appreciate the fact that most of our food exists because heat does.
As I write this our windows are open to let in all the remaining scents of blossoms and greenery released by an overnight rain. I say 'let in' but really I mean 'give in to' because it is gusty out there! But sunny and so much less miserable than yesterday.
To supplement our a/c this summer we bought a new table fan which is excellent (it's a Lasko Whirlwind, if you too need a compact but powerful fan that will oscillate or not per your whim.)
And to make our long ravine walks less uncomfortable than they've been with my heavier trail shoes, I bought a pair of really airy ones that got me home cool and pain free the first time I tried 'em! (Merrell Maipo 3 Aerosports, if you are looking for similar.)
Oh! and here's a tip I got from Tom Bihn, after the urethane lining of my beloved and much-used Daylight Backpack started disintegrating into dandruff that coated everything I packed into it, owing to my not realizing I needed to waterproof the outside again periodically: that kind of lining melts off if you use rubbing alcohol on it! No pix of that project because it's a boring black backpack, but whew. So glad to have this thing cleaned up and back in circulation. Now to buy the waterproofer.
Yesterday I overhauled our front hall, putting boots into the back of the closet, pairing up the water shoes and putting them in grabbable locations, and weeding out the running shoes whose soles are officially past their best-by date. The results: amazing! but also a little sad because man that is a lot of shoes we go through. Almost feels like justification for more Birkenstocks, which can be resoled indefinitely, and the cork sides resealed. Ahem.
(I kid. Even I am prepared to admit I have too many Birkenstocks.)
But I don't regret buying the pale pink suede Tulums that match my new cardi-top!
They look a little frumpy in this pic maybe, but with long floaty pants they are really quite elegant. And so, so comfy. If I can't have sweaters, I can be consoled with the comfy.
Hope you're having a lovely day with a good weekend lined up, and thank you as always for spending some time here with me. See you next Saturday when... let's face it, you're not gonna see blanket progress, that's for sure!!
