We Are Montanans! — Janet Szabo

It’s only -18F this morning. We are supposed to warm up to 12F by Tuesday, and then into the high 30s a week later. No doubt we’ll all be running around in T-shirts and flip-flops by then.

This was part of a text conversation amongst our worship leader group yesterday:

I laughed. And even if only the worship leaders are there in person, we will be able to provide a worship service for everyone on Zoom. I’m ready to get out of the house anyway.

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I quilted some yesterday, but most of the day was spent going through my patterns and re-tracing and refining the ones I love most. The Toaster Sweater pattern had to be lengthened. I need two versions of Burda 6315—one shorter, one tunic length—and I want the dress length version of Simplicity 9018, although not as long as the one in the pattern.

While I worked, I watched Michael Snyder and some of his buddies livestream from Vista House, which is east of Portland along I-84, up above the Columbia River. They were clocking winds of 90+ mph. At one point, the hood of the car of another storm chaser up there blew off the car. That was wild. Portland (and points south) got hammered by that storm off the Pacific. I hope my friends who live there are doing okay.

I also caught up on Gail Yellen serger videos. YouTube algorithms annoy me. I am subscribed to a number of channels, but I have to go searching for their content because YT keeps wanting to show me things it thinks might interest me. You know what interests me? The channels to which I have subscribed. Apparently, Gail Yellen released a new product last fall (October) called Thread Fusion, which is a multi-spool thread stand that fits sergers and sewing machines and allows for the use of multiple spools of thread for thread blending.

Let’s say you want to use four strands of embroidery thread in the upper looper. There is no place to put those extra spools. This thread stand slips over the spool pin and voila!—four spool pins instead of just one.

I totally missed this product launch. I’ll be ordering one of these.

[Yes, I am aware that I can hit the notification button on a channel. However, I tend not to want to do that because I get way too many notifications as it is. Also, I usually watch YouTube on the TV in my cutting room, and notifications don’t show up there like they do on my computer.]

Gail Yellen also has a new YouTube series called Serger Savvy. The first episode was released last week. I’ll probably watch that one this afternoon.

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The husband and I had a conversation yesterday morning in which he made a comment that I’ve been chewing on since. He makes no bones about the fact that he thinks I self-censor myself too much on the blog. He said—I am paraphrasing here—that I have a platform and he believes there are a lot of people who want to hear what I think and that I should stop holding back.

Some of you are thinking, “She is one of the most opinionated people I know!” but you would be surprised what I don’t say. Part of that is because I have a lot of friends on the left-leaning side of the social and political spectrum. I may not agree with them, but I respect their right to their opinions. I don’t always get that same respect in return, so sometimes it’s easier not to say anything.

Part of it is because I have caused minor anxiety attacks in a few people to whom I have expressed my opinion. (That sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s not.) I don’t see the benefit in attempting to black pill my friends if it causes them discomfort.

And finally, I don’t enjoy conflict or drama. I don’t enjoy people attacking me because they disagree with me. (See comment about respecting other people’s opinions, above.) Civil discourse has gone extinct in this country.

You can let me know what you think, either in the comments or via e-mail. I can’t promise that I am going to let everything hang out, but maybe I’ll be a bit more open about certain topics.