From segment, fragment, he can reconstruct the whole

I'd call this "The Ort Report" except the rhyme began to annoy me about 10 seconds after I thought of it. I can't think of anything better though: The Scrap Brief? The Niggle Chronicle?

Bah.

Sewing:

I have been sewing. I am taking it slowly in part because I'm out of practice and in part because I'm still getting used to the new machine. And, because I am out of practice and getting used to a new machine, I've spent as much time picking stitches back out as putting them in. This leaves me with not very much to show off.

I like the new machine. The Toyota threads and winds bobbins much like the Singers I have known. In fact, it threads and winds like my now-deceased Singer, but the bobbin loads identically to Maman's early 1960s Singer. However, the Toyota has loops and hooks where the Singers would have an eye. That is, the thread is passed through more open guides than it would be on a Singer. This makes it easier to thread, but also easier for it to come unthreaded.

If I can make myself sit down for a couple of hours tonight, I'll have a new blouse. There are also a couple skirts close to completion and then I have a choice. Do I make this 1948 sundress (I found a copy of the pattern on Etsy) or do I make Rooibos?

I have fabric suitable for both, and I could wear both to work, though Rooibos is better suited to the downtown briefings that have been my unhappy lot recently. The sundress will require some serious pattern grading but once the grading is done it will be easy to make. Rooibos, on the other hand, will only require the usual fitting but does call for details like the pockets and the piping (those are, I think, half the charm of the dress, so it's no use saying 'well, make it without them'). Opinions? Or should I flip a coin?

My Sewing Circle is a new site that may just fill the need of 'Ravelry for sewers.' I'm eager to see how it develops.

No knitting lately. I'll probably pack up the in-progress projects and haul them off to the beach again in August, but right now it's too hot to sit with a lapful of yarn.

Cooking:

The baker who comes to the farmers' market sometimes has an onion-dill bread that I like very much. I don't want to replicate the bread so much as I want to replicate the onion-dill combination in my own bread. Does that make sense? It's not the texture of the bread that grabs me so much as the flavour combination, which I think ought to be transferrable to other breads. Attempts to date have not been wholly satisfactory, especially on the onion side of things. The onion flavour is not coming through strongly enough, though the amount of onion in the bread seems right. Are they doing something sneaky with onion powder or onion juice? More investigation is needed.

Work:

Suddenly everything is a priority for the department, so it's important that we get this published in this fiscal year and we are all chained to our oars, struggling to keep pace with the ever-rising tempo of the drum while the lash whistles over our heads.

It is worth remembering that factors other than the efforts of the galley slaves, or the amount of wind, or the horsepower of the engine, affect the speed of a vessel. It is worth noting, too, that the good ship Regulatory Process is an ungainly tub incapable of making more than a few knots even under the most favourable of conditions.

Robert Francis, Collected Poems 1936-1976