A (Mostly) Finished Tamarack

I was able to finish the Tamarack Jacket yesterday, although I have not yet attached the snaps. I know better than to attempt those kinds of tasks late in the day when I’m tired.

From a construction standpoint, I am pleased with how this turned out:

From a fitting standpoint, I have some issues. Usually I would make a muslin, first, but this is a class/store sample. I always try to make samples exactly as the pattern describes so I can find potential pitfalls both in sizing and in construction. The jacket fits well except at the back and shoulders—they are too narrow for me. I can’t bring my arms forward comfortably. This seems to be a common problem for me with Grainline patterns, because the Scout Tee fit the same way. It fit well in the bust but was tight in the upper bodice. If I went up to a jacket size where the back and shoulders fit me better, I think the bust area would be enormous. The bust area is perfect at this size. The jacket sleeves also could be longer. When Kate, owner of The Confident Stitch in Missoula, made her Tamarack, she lengthened the sleeves by 3". That should have been a clue for me. Mine could be at least an inch longer.

Would I make this again? Yes, but I would alter the sleeves and upper bodice to fit me better. I also think I would quilt the fabric before cutting out the pattern pieces.

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Have you seen this piece from a guy named Robert Sterling? (He is @RobertMSterling on X.) This has been making the rounds of social media recently:

I don’t want to connect my coffee machine to the wifi network. I don’t want to share the file with OneDrive. I don’t want to download an app to check my car’s fluid levels. I don’t want to scan a QR code to view the restaurant menu. I don’t want to let Google know my location before showing me the search results. I don’t want to include a Teams link on the calendar invite. I don’t want to pay 50 different monthly subscription fees for all my software. I don’t want to upgrade to TurboTax platinum plus audit protection. I don’t want to install the Webex plugin to join the meeting. I don’t want to share my car’s braking data with the actuaries at State Farm. I don’t want to text with your AI chatbot. I don’t want to download the Instagram app to look at your picture. I don’t want to type in my email address to view the content on your company’s website. I don’t want text messages with promo codes. I don’t want to leave your company a five-star Google review in exchange for the chance to win a $20 Starbucks gift card. I don’t want to join your exclusive community in the metaverse. I don’t want AI to help me write my comments on LinkedIn. I don’t even want to be on LinkedIn in the first place. I just want to pay for a product one time (and only one time), know that it’s going to work flawlessly, press 0 to speak to an operator if I need help, and otherwise be left alone and treated with some small measure of human dignity, if that’s not too much to ask anymore.

The level of “friction” in life is getting to be ridiculous. Simple tasks that used to take a few minutes now cause projects to grind to a halt. I needed to ship books to Amazon yesterday to fill an order. I went to log in to my UPS account to prepare the shipment and got a message that “this request cannot not be fulfilled,” followed by a phone number to call for help. I called the phone number. I got a recording instructing me to leave a description of my problem and a number where I could be reached. I did so.

No one ever called me back. I had to take my package to Staples and send it from there. Today, I will have to repeat the process all over again until I can get an actual human being to help me.

And don’t get me started on QuickBooks. 🤬 They harassed me with daily phone calls from my newly-appointed “account manager” while I was in Seattle.

“Progress” is not always positive. I hate inefficiency and I seem to encounter it at every turn these days. And behind that inefficiency often lurks some version of a modern-day mafia that will fix your problem—in essence, bump you up to a more frictionless level—if you just give them more money. It’s maddening.