I'm not "normal" - and I like it that way!

A few days ago I used one of Wirth's algorithm books from the 70's for bedtime reading; it was pretty good, gave me a brief period of high brain activity before a good night's sleep. Yesterday I did the same thing with the Blue Book (Postscript Language Tutorial and Cookbook) - ah, the joy of stack-based languages!

Would a "normal", mainstream kind of person do and/or enjoy that? I don't think so.

Apropos enjoyment, apparently Aussie blokes rarely enjoy sewing: I did get a few odd looks today, being the only male person at Spotlight (homewares and fabrics shop) when I bought a pack of machine bobbins, buttons and 1.5 m^2 of navy twill. I Smell Discrimination! ;-)

Since moving to Australia I didn't have any access to a sewing machine (except once briefly), and so numerous small fix-it jobs accumulated. A week ago I finally bought me an early 80s Elna Elnita 150 - fully mechanical, heavy metal body, useful selection of stitches (15 or so, 4-step buttonhole). It cost me $100, and it was well worth it. I fondly remember my mum's Elna Lotus on which I learned the little sewing that I know, and this one is just a tad younger.

Since this acquisition I've already fixed four curtains (hemmed them up a tad), added buttonholes and buttons to a number of quilt covers that always lost the quilts, and today I repaired my trusty old Mammut jacket.

This purple fleece jacket, already a good 14 years old or so, caught a few sparks too many last time when Conny, Rob and I were camping (remember: Nylon = spun petroleum. Fleece = spun petroleum but with Even More Surface). Obviously I don't want to wear a jacket with burn holes - I'm not normal, but I'm not a complete slob!

So I decided to create a reinforcement/patch over the shoulders, front and back. I have never before sewn anything more complicated than curtains or small rectangular stuff bags for hiking.

Still I think I did it mostly right: made a pattern from paper, didn't forget allowances for hemming, measure-twice-cut-once, pinned it up with gazillions of pins and apart from one minor slip-up it ended all symmetrical without ruffles or other problems. I like the result and that I managed to create the reinforcement from one piece despite the odd round shapes everywhere.