(Am I the only one that has mixed feelings about this?)
By Kitty
Well, that was…different.
Most of us have some choice things to say on the subject of the year 2020, many of which are not fit to print. Everyone experienced drastic changes. Lives, jobs, and sanity were lost, the world became an utterly different shape, and the weirdness is far from over.
But still….
In some ways, it was a pretty good year in Kittyland. That seems like 1) an awful thing to say, given the terrible things that have happened to so many people, and 2) a very strange thing to say, since I lost pretty much my entire income and became professionally unemployed.
Obviously, I’m not saying it was a good thing that the world went barking mad, or that the consequences of the pandemic (and everything it unearthed about what’s wrong with society) are anything but horrifying.
I’m speaking purely from a personal philosophical place. This is the year I spent sewing what feels like (and probably actually was) thousands of face masks, half of which were donated to essential workers and assorted shelters. The year I found out that making money can be less important than making a difference. The year where we grew tomatoes and squash and beans instead of our business, and learned that produce is easier to share than products.
When or if it becomes safe to have conventions again, we’ll no doubt return to the making and peddling of fancy dress. But a part of me will remember with fondness a year in which my sewing skills and materials went toward making the world a little safer, not just prettier. There’s a lesson in there somewhere, and I hope I’ll remember to take it with me when life approaches normal one day.
For a while there, it did feel as though I was playing hooky if I wasn’t spending every minute of the day churning out masks. Now that mass production seems to have caught up with the demand for masks and vaccines are a real thing, I feel like we can indulge in a spot of frivolity.
So here are some things I hope to write about in the near and intermediate future:
- Bums. Not the kind of bums that involve unemployment, but the kind you sit on. I have gone on at some length in the past about the trials and tribulations of owning a non-standard bosom, and how to get clothes to fit around it (here, for instance). Now I mean to branch out into the other curvy bit that can often be stroppy on a woman. Even into the dreaded realm of pants fitting.
- Feet. More specifically, the atrocious things you might be doing to yours without even knowing, and what you can do about it. The majority of foot problems are self-inflicted!
- DIY tutorials. One of the things I’ve learned last year is that we all could stand to be a bit more self-sufficient. This is probably true even when the world isn’t going to pot, right? Instead of just talking about things I’ve made, I mean to start showing you how to make them yourself, if you’re so inclined. Maybe starting with a simple, no-fitting-required sewing project, progressing on to a T-shirt that actually fits your DDD cups and/or spectacular booty, and perhaps even going all the way to basic corsetry, if I don’t get lost in my garden first.
Until next time, Kittens, stay safe and enjoy the fresh, crisp new year!
