Cool and Interesting
outdoor stuff and experiences
-
Coming over the Rothenturm high moor down to the Lake of Zurich Over the dam at the end of the lake Looking east towards the mountains Still snowcovered Cliffs along the Thur river Hilly farmland The farmer started turning the hay soon after I stopped here for a break. Good thing my hayfever wasn’t active! One hill was steep and a bit dangerous. The views were nice. My super useful Exped lunch baggy With brownies in it! Yumm! It gave me courage to go exploring closer to the river. This is where one of the top clasps of the pannier on the right side broke off after a bump in the dirt track Beautiful river views though Getting a bit lost I got to see these cuties a second time after coming back from getting lost Oops. A big bang and a snap and the pannier was on the ground The missing clasp allowed the bag to twist and then the repurposed IKEA bar wasn’t strong enough to stop the bag from getting caught in the spokes. Violently ripped off Good thing I always have some rope with me I took the road less traveled … Again. And encountered a beautiful snake! -
At the beginning of May I did a small bike trip and, not even 5 minutes after the start, I encountered a “no bikes between 06:30 and 08:30 allowed on the train” sign. It was 07:30.
At the start I was due to tranfer to an intercity train on which I had reserved a spot for my bike. So I didn’t want to get kicked off the local train. Good thing no one official came along but I did feel a bit squeamish. Not the best way to start the trip.
The second train, with mandatory bike reservation, because it can get overrun by bike tourists in the summer. I was feeling much more relaxed now. 
Mythen from the south 
The third train, without reservations, but with lots of bikes! I had to run up 4 train wagons to find a free bike slot! 
Mythen from the north Alternative solutions follow below. The link to the next part of this saga is on the bottom of the page.
On the way home I caught sight of this guy:
It’s just a bag, no bigger than the suitcases of some international travelers! 
For only 135 bucks! You can pay for a lot of reservations with that, but the bag would solve the “rush hour” and “no empty bike spots” problems 
Fortunately I have some “free” material in my cupboard It could double as a picnic blanket or emergency shelter. Two-way zips on either end? Loops for anchoring to the ground? Or to attach to a tree and keep the material off my face? What about the mosquitoes? And the slugs? Stop stop stop…
It’s just a bag … it doesn’t have to do everything!
But with cords closing the ends off it could also work as a hammock! No zipper that gets stuck or breaks! And they’re a bitch to sew. No, no, no, this is getting too complicated. Letting my imagination run away with me again.
The bike just needs to be able to go into the bag quickly, protect the front wheel, look as much like a “suitcase” as possible, and fold up really small.
Already much better A strap attached to the saddle and the handlebars would allow you to lift the bike directly, so the bag doesn’t have to carry the weight and probably split apart. It would also make it easier to I carry my 10kg bike up and down stairs with luggage.
The loose front wheel should be attached to the frame, with some protective material in between. This could serve as an overhang for the bivvy sack … Really? Am I going to wait out a massive thunderstorm covered by this thin material? Now if I had a comfy seat to sit on …
-
-
Unfinished ears I was “almost done” with the black leopard fur chair covers. The only points twitching at me were the ears sticking out. And I had to take a decision on how to finish up the bottom part.
Done! It took me less than half an hour to sew off the four ears, decide to let the bottom just hang the way it is, and hide the dangling ends of thread. Now they make the chairs cozy to sit in while protecting them from the sun.
And there’s a matching leopard skin blanket too! Having my sister coming over next week is a great motivator! Imagining seeing the house through her eyes… and reducing the noise in my head by finishing off projects that are busy procrastinating so I can enjoy the visit with less “urgent and important to-do list” pressure.
What’s next?
There’s a bag in here somewhere … 
Someone organized my pins! 
I ripped out the seams -
When the kids were still sitting in their black Tripp Trapps at the table, 17 years ago, I had made some pillows for them to sit on with a very nice butterfly pattern. There was some material left over that I had started making a tote bag out of. Now is the moment to finish it!
Black butterfly material – the inner pocket The inner pocket has a zipper at the top and is three-dimensional at the bottom so the outside material doesn’t bulge out and get stressed.
The other side: should I make a pocket here too? Long and flat for a phone? 
Matching shoulder straps 
… using packing crate straps to reinforce them Shall I reinforce the bottom of the bag too? Yes, she sometimes carries heavy things in it. This is not meant to be a super light bag so it might as well have extra features.
A waterproof umbrella baggy inside, lined with dyneema? That would be something … How to attach it? Just at the top? I have some umbrella covers somewhere …
Here are two – the same material so I can use one to upgrade the other one Straps to hold a bottle upright? Too much?
A hidden pocket at the bottom? I love them but they’re not really used. One on each side of the bottom reinforcement? Make the whole reinforcement double, meeting in the middle without sewing it together…
Like this? As soon as you turn things inside out, the inside is smaller than the outside, because the thickness of the material is not zero. So sewing is mathematical in 2.5 dimensions. This version of the bottom reinforcement just doesn’t sit well.
I overengineered the bottom reinforcement There is no need to “finish” the seams by folding them over. It just adds bulk in the third dimension.
-
A pillow filled with fluff has a rip that’s not worth fixing as the material is disintegrating. Using the material left over from the physio sheets 
… cut off a 43*123 cm piece for a 40*60 cm pillowcase. 
This includes the selvage (1.5 cm on each edge, which was too much for the serged sides so the pillow is slightly wider now). 
Serge the short ends 
… right side up. Mark the right side with a safety pin as it’s sometimes difficult to tell. 
Measure the ends of the usable zipper, leaving a couple of cms of zipper tape. Make the zipper a bit smaller than the whole width so there’s no hard zipper in the outside seam, which causes holes through rubbing. 
Sew the ends of the material together properly from the sides inward, right sides together, 1.5 cm from the edge. 
… and baste the middle part with a long stitch that’s easy to remove. 
This keeps the ends nicely together. 
Iron it flat. It’s better not to cut off the thread ends as they could unravel and they’ll be cut and sewn over when the sides get serged together. 
Pin the zipper with the good side down to the wrong side of the pillow fabric. Mark the crossing at the point where the ends were sewn properly together. 
This is what it looks like on the right side. By not sewing the sides closed first, you can easily turn the fabric inside out 
… and your sewing machine has easy access. Start with the open, and more difficult end of the zipper. You can use a zipper foot or move the needle. 
Cross over and back a couple of times as this point will be hit when opening the zipper, after sewing to the end of the zipper and back. 
Sew across the other end a couple of times. 
The first pass looks good. Now for the second one, closer to the zipper. Move the zipper tab further down, sew a bit, lift the foot and move the zipper tab up past the sewing foot, and keep sewing. 
Looks really good! 
Remove the basted sewing so you can open the zipper. Note how difficult it is to open the zipper from the wrong side. 
Leaving the zipper half open (so you can turn it inside out again), serge the sides, starting at the zipper end 
Using a big needle, tuck the ends of the serger thread into the seam 
… so even the inside of the pillow looks nice and neat! 
Iron and push out the corners with a point turner 
Nice clean cover 
… with a hidden zipper, bringing the ends together nicely. 
Filled with fluff from the old pillow (add even more to make it thicker), it can support a sleeping head for decades to come! To do:
- Use a thinner needle for this thick high-thread-count bedsheet material.
- Find and use my zipper foot.
- Check if other pillows in the house need new cases.
- Ensure the tension is set correctly of both the sewing machine and the serger
- Measure actual selvage when serging and cut material to size accordingly. The zipper side selvage of 1.5 cm gives a good base on which to sew the zipper but the serged sides don’t have such a wide selvage.
- Sew open end of zipper closed for less fiddling
- Make sure the seam is opened properly across the zip
Update: I found a pillowcase that needed a zipper. Since the sides had already been sewn shut, I had to sew the zipper in while it was open.
Good pinning is very important to make sure the material meets in the middle and doesn’t move while being sewn. 
Close the zipper after pinning to check. 
A zipper foot gives more fine-grained handling. 
It looks good too! 
So does 
… the smaller matching pillow. 
Orange and yellow, to match the Minecraft duvet covers Aldo sewed 10 years ago. 
No zipper on this one. Just a folded over opening 
With a matching Minecraft face now! 
And another big pillowcase with a zipper! -
Disintegrating earphone baggy from Sennheiser. Many electronics use artificial and rubbery materials that disintegrate or become sticky. 
Can this be reused, maybe with jeans material? My earphones get tangled up all the time. My wireless earphones get lost. Is it worth it to reconstruct this baggy to protect my earphones?
What is the magic behind this cool closure system?
Just two pieces of bendy metal … But the right amount of bendiness. Not so easy to find. How was the baggy constructed? Would it be possible to turn the baggy inside out? I think that would be difficult and put a lot of stress on the seams.
Leave the middle parts undone, slide in the bendy metal parts and the close the middle of the seam – that should work. What if I use dyneema instead of jeans material?
Such a cool closure system! Let me think about what to construct with it while going for a bike ride.
A beautiful sunny cold day -
Here are some of the very old fixing projects haunting my cupboard:
Children’s Halloween gloves with the seams at the fingertips undone so they fit adult hands opening the door to trick-or-treaters. Need to stop seams from fraying. 
Coin baggy, oh no, it’s an earphone baggy, with a metal bendy closure, disintegrating. Is it worth keeping the metal closure? It’s a unique way of keeping a baggy closed. 
Failed attempt at making red linen trousers. Can the colorful cloth be repurposed for a hammock pillow? 
The failed grey fleece sweater – boring and ugly. Can it be repurposed as a pillow cover? 
Holes to be mended … Is it worth it? Will I wear it? At least I know where my brown wool turteneck sweater went! 
A surfing wetsuit top bought very cheaply on sale; needs a zipper in the front so I can kayak and sail comfortably in it. 
Failed foldable bucket project for personal hygiene while backpacking (in lieu of a hot shower). It just doesn’t hold water though. Waterproofing is hard. And Sea-to-Summit and Stoic make such buckets very well. 
Little baggies made of jeans material? What was I thinking? Easy discard. 
Little waist bags we made our children wear traveling when they were small 
Missing buttons to be attached; skirts and trousers to be hemmed. Would I still wear any of this? 
I found 20 bucks in one of the baggies! Bonus! How to spend it, and my time, wisely… How does spending time mending stuff compare with spending time with friends & family or exercising or doing something meaningful?
P.S. The term “life energy” comes from the book “Your Money or Your Life” by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. A great concept. She blogs about finding meaning in your life and social innovations.
Update: red linen tablet pillow done:
Black and white material Finally turned into pillowcases -
Energy production and use in Switzerland The graph above shocked me. I was aware that we are using much more energy than our grandparents in 1945, but 8 times as much? The graph is for Switzerland but I’m sure the orders of magnitude are the same elsewhere in Europe and North America, and have also risen substantially in the rest of the world.
What parts of my life require more and less energy? How does this compare to how my grandparents lived in 1945?
When I’m on a 5-day backpacking tour, I consume the energy to get there by bus, the food that was grown by others and dried by me, the clothing and equipment that was produced by others (and adapted by me). My paternal grandfather did a lot of backpacking in the Andes as a botanist. His equipment undoubtedly required much less energy to produce than mine. He was probably much less comfortable than me on my EXPED Down Mat.
When I’m on a kilometer-1000 bike ride (within 1000 kms from home) I take the train there and sleep in hotels and hostels, eating in restaurants. That consumes more energy than camping but is definitely more comfortable, even with modern gear. The hot shower after a long bike ride feels fantastic! (But the views are less interesting.)
Of course flying to Canada and Holland uses up an enormous amount of energy, keeping me and a hundred other people up in the sky for hours. As much as I love flying, I’m not very comfortable doing it anymore. I used to want to get my pilot’s license but have put those dreams away. There are other hobbies that are also fulfilling and less energy consuming.
Taking the night train to Holland has been wonderful. I’ve met so many cool women in the sleeping compartments.
Driving to visit family with all four of us in the car … How does the energy use compare to if we had taken the train?
I’ve bought some wool clothing lately, to be nice and cozy at home. I had an urge to wear colorful, happy clothing instead of the drab grey WFH sweats I wore for years. I’m sure I have way more trousers than my grandfather had. Not just 8 times more but rather 80 times more over my lifespan.
I do love optimizing things and acquiring the perfect new piece of equipment or clothing (or at least with the ability to be perfected). I buy many things second hand, but that turns quickly into too many things, stuff I don’t really need.
My studio feels better with less, allowing for more creativity. How can I have a cool and interesting life without using 8 times the energy that my grandparents did?
Mark Horrell has some ideas:
-
I’ve decided to call the room I used as my WFH office from 2012-2025 my “studio” now, to reflect the more creative work, rather than corporate work, I’m focusing on.
This provides a guideline to clean up the mouldering old projects in the cupboards in my studio.
For example:
Under-the-canoe-seat bags that didn’t really work The bags have been haunting me for more than a decade. I made four bags for when we canoed down the Loire river ten years ago in two canoes, a spectacular voyage, camping on the sandy beaches.
They were supposed to provide safe, easy-access waterproof storage under the canoe seat for items needed while canoeing, leveraging the scaffolding of the canoe seat to keep the bag off the inevitably wet bottom of the canoe. But the bags were too floppy, the zippers too short, they were not really waterproof and thus when they sagged down onto the bottom of the canoe, the stuff inside got wet. This was the opposite of what they were meant for. Fortunately we had no rain, so the bag failure wasn’t a big deal. But I’m always thinking about the worst-case scenario as I quickly get miserable when cold and wet.
So I’ve been meaning to “fix” them. But we won’t be going canoeing anytime soon, and if we do paddle down the Ticino River, I would just take a waterproof backpack with me instead of a single-purpose under-the-seat bag. I’ve decided that no more active brain cycles or guilt feelings will be consumed or induced by this project. It was a novel idea, with good intentions, but not worth spending more time to “fix”. Not cool and interesting enough.
Therefore they will be relegated to the “raw material” shelf.
One New Year’s Resolution candidate less. One step closer to having a creative rather than guilt-inducing studio.
Update: Repurposed as raw material containers, instead of getting even more IKEA containers. On the bottom right, light blue raw silk brought back from Thailand by my grandfather in the 1960’s, passed on to haunt each generation.
On the top left, wonderfully-light grey fleece that kept us warm in cold airbnb apartments … Until I decided to make an unfashionable sweater out of it.
Bottom left, blue jeans-colored fleece intended for another sweater but haunted by the failure of the grey fleece sweater.
Closing the zipper keeps the ghosts of projects past contained until I’m ready to deal with them.
Cool and Interesting 