Not to bring up a sore subject, but how did you deal with horror of Kavanaugh’s confirmation?

Personally, I spent way too much time reading news, texting with equally irate friends about the news, and contacting senators to voice my strong opposition to his confirmation. I am furious that Kavanaugh is now a United States Supreme Court justice. We will all pay dearly for this decision for generations.

That said, it is possible to be more than one thing at a time (blacked-out drunk and a good student at a fancy school, for example). I’m so angry about the state of our government. But at the same time, I’m overjoyed-grateful about my friend, Raejean, her invention of Summer of Craft, and that she invited me to join it.

Let me catch you up. Raejean and her wife, Saylor, used to live in the Bay Area. Raejean and I worked together as appellate attorneys for several years, and fortunately, our enviable working relationship spilled over into our personal lives so that Raejean, Saylor, Marc, and I all became really good friends. Raejean and Saylor moved away shortly after Wyatt was born, and by now, they have likely adjusted as much as anyone can to the extremes of desert weather where they live. Raejean’s solution to excruciating summer heat has been to treat it like a harsh winter: Stay inside and keep crafting. Over the last few years, Raejean has become an extremely skilled sewist and a bag engineer (a “bagineer,” if you will). She basically declares “Summer of Craft” when the temperatures reach for the triple digits.

Around the time Raejean invited me to join Summer of Craft 2018, I was deeply hating the handbag I had been using. I liked the general shape and size of it, but loathed everything else, especially its noisy, grabby velcro closure. One day, I texted Raejean to ask if she’d be up for helping me create my dream bag. And by “helping,” I meant I’d tell her what I wanted in a bag and purchase supplies, but the rest would be on her. I was so pleased when she said she was game.

We went back and forth with patterns, revisions, must-have features, closures, fabrics and more. Somewhere along the way, it occurred to me to ask Raejean if there was anything knitted that she or Saylor needed. “Slippers!” she responded. They were down to their last pair or two, which Raejean’s mom had made, and they were anticipating skirmishes over who’d get to wear them when winter finally returned. I immediately got to work designing slippers they’d both like.

Raejean and I made and mailed each other prototypes. And then we made revisions before creating our final pieces. We kept really good notes of what we needed to change, Raejean sewed elegant solutions to complicated bagineer problems, and I kept knitting.

One of the most fun parts of making a thing is choosing the supplies. I have been looking for a project to use Wooly Moss Roots buttons, and they were perfect for my bag.

Summer of Craft broadened unexpectedly towards the end of the summer when Wyatt realized his apron had gotten too small. I asked Raejean about possibly making him a new one. She readily agreed and offered to make him a wallet, too. Overcome by his good fortune, Wyatt offered to weave Raejean and Saylor four potholders in exchange for the apron and wallet.

Raejean made the excellent decision to mail us our things at the beginning of “FBI Week.” I followed her lead. The box she sent arrived on Wednesday. The box that we sent arrived to her on Friday. And can I just tell you, Christmas in October never felt so good.

Wyatt loves using his apron (with the perfect selvedge edge hem and the ties that Raejean let him choose) and feels like a grown-up now that he has a full-sized wallet.

I cannot get enough of using my new bag. It is everything i wanted it to be, and more.

Raejean and Saylor are very pleased with their slippers. Just the right size, just the right amount of squish, and just in time for fall and winter. (And my test knitters are helping me finalize the pattern as I write this post!)