Morning....
a nice sunday alone.... been puttering around, managed to realize I
could use the top off a broken bike water bottle, to glue onto a
stainless thermos liner bottle, and make a functional hybrid water
bottle out of two pieces of junk.... So I did, glue drying... looks
pretty cool....
also began searching online for info on hooded capes, thinking to
make one out of blanket material, for use camping here at higher
altitudes, and to have for nuclear winter, as it seems our wise men in
government think a nuclear war is a good idea.....
personally I have a hard time figuring out where they can be coming
from mentally? greed and vanity must be more powerful motives to some
egos..... starting a nuclear war is the absolute last thing any
sane person would do... meaning those in government arent sane....
are you? if you suck up their logic, I suspect you arent sane
either...
I'm sane, because I know better.. only winner in a nuclear war is the
grim reaper.... and anyone who starts one and survives best have
their track shoes on afterwards, as automatic lynching is whats in
store for them, or a firing squad if its more official..
anyway didnt find much on capes... Plenty of folks would like to sell
me a pattern, and thats why I was online; trying to not buy any
patterns... luckily I do know the little secret to cloak design,
that they are round when laid flat... so back to plan B, that I
sketch out my own pattern for hood and yoke, and gore up a nice
circle for the body proper....
I suspect I'd need two blankets..... which will take some budgeting....
what I may do is try it w/cheap blankets now, and then when I've
learned from the prototype, get some surplus wool blankets and do up a
serious blanket cape....
the reasons I want a cape, are practical... a longer cape eliminates
the need for a sleeping bag.. its also nice on horse back, and
fine for working around the campfire etc....
one thing I have learned repeatedly, is going retro most often has
benefits... those sleazy salesmen have stuck it to us so many times,
we're lost puppies... the back trail, is the better trail, when
trying to recover from their help....
I'm also thinking about other sewing projects, thinking to buy some
camo cloth, and do up some more jungle clothing... I have a pants
pattern I've developed from a karate uniform, that has the diamond
gore in the crotch for movement etc.. and have some shortened "boot
pants" worked up, that dont have too much legs to bunch up, or get
wet etc...
also thinking to do a vest, likely blanket lined, and with plenty of
pockets... I used to wear pocket vests daily, and for a survival
situation they would be better than too many pockets on the pants.. I
think US Military procurement screwed up there... Bulky pants with
cargo pockets arent good in tropical or hot climates... need a
lightweight pants, and closer fitting/less cloth top... the extreme
example might be traditional Spanish costume, with the form fitting
pants and tight/short vest... There were reasons for that design...
freedom of movement in a warm climate... check out the matador...
has a cape for shade, cool weather etc. and the rest of his outfit is
a track and field uniform for when the bull figures out his game....
what I might head for, is the Karate boot pants, the pocket vest,
then a short jacket sized to go over the vest, thats also lined...
cover this with blanket cape, add my self made leather riding boots,
and I'm good to travel.... eventually if I learned enough about
capes, work up a rain cape out of lightweight rubberized tarp as a
shell to cover the blanket cape...
one thing I've also realized is I can borrow from sailors
traditions... Sailors made their own gear out of common materials....
the Pea Coat is a wool blanket at its heart, the rain gear made of
tarp, the deck shoes were also made by the sailor, Yuppies in Nikes
dont know that......
and his seabags and sailor's trunks were also self made, as was his hammock....
and often so was his knife and sheath......
being industrious is something long forgotten by modern TV Neanderthal
sports fans...
making your own gear is a rite of passage to accepted manhood...
sailors new to boats often made their first impressions with the gear
and clothing sewn etc. by themselves... I make things constantly...
Its the human thing to do... & I like the idea of starving
salesmen.....
Starve the salesmen, and government becomes a moot point.... the
only reason the corporate Fascists pay the government election bribes,
is because there is money in using extreme legislation to twiddle all
the buying idiot's brains...
notice I'm not worrying about paying for mandantory health
insurance... Barrak and his insurance salesmen cronies can jump
off tall buildings as a social service....
and I suggest the Pentagon have a bullseye painted in its center...
give those ring knockers something to think about when they get their
hormones too worked up saluting the shit out of each other... silly!
grow up! a bunch of incompetant morons... cant beat goat herders if
the terrain aint right......
an improvement would be including a drone in drone aircraft.... like
German buzz bombs, but you get rid of a buearocrat every launch....
anyway, having fun this morning...
during my search for hooded cape info, I ran into SCA heads, (society
for creative anachronist)
which I was happy to see, that some people are still into silly
reinactments that pay serious dividends in survival potentials... I
see those types as instrumental in the reclamation of western style
sword battling, armor reproduction, some archery, much clothing,
music, and group spirit....
I feel the time period we're going into is very much a dark ages, and
a sword still defends, if thats what you got... heard recently of a
man in england arrested for defending his home from an attacker/thief
with a sword... I think the person who signed his arrest warrant
needs to be arrested and tried for impeeding justice.. and suggest
that a support group be formed to help the swordsman...
anyway, the point I wanted to get to, was the importance of making
things, especially your own gear... if you make your own stuff, you
can also repair and replace it, or teach others.... I suspect if
the nuke war is even mildly limited, and the Ranchers dont show up,
the SCA types will be one of the groups who actually are able to do
some good... being already retro leaning...
one of the big realizations I've had making gear, is that its a
finite list... when you get it really figured out what you actually
need, its a short list...
the salesmen will happily sell you all kinds of shit.. but think
about the medieval wanderer; what did he most likely have? was it a
monster backpack, goretex clothing, yuppie hiking boots, swiss army
knife, plastic water bottles, sleeping bag, groundpad/air mattress,
tent, water filter, GPS, Titanium cookware, designer sunglasses,
gas stove, spandex or poly propalene undies,
Topo Maps, and a parking permit for his car?
I think not...
I suspect he had a knife and stone, flint and steel, a warm cape,
leather over knitted clothing, maybe boots or even wooden clogs,
maybe a bow and quiver of arrows, and enough sense to build a quick
roof of poles and thatch if he needed one...
likely he had a hand axe.... and maybe a pot to cook in, and perhaps
a spoon... everything he owned would fit in his sack or on his
person... and he traveled long distances happily....
who appears practical, and who are the fools?
most of surviving whats coming is letting go of the bullshit in time....
and I'd much rather have the retro gear... including a sword and a
spear... than an empty assault rifle...
theres hardly enough metal in an assault rifle to forge out a dagger,
spear head, and arrow heads out of...
lately I have been working on a knife blade design, for a leaf shaped
blade, like a doctors lancet... kind of Elfish looking design, but
what strikes me is it's multi-tasking abilities...
continued;
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