[Recycled from 26 October 2004]
1. The Sweater That Would Not Die. Some 17 or 18 years ago, I bought a tie-dyed thermal shirt off a travelling Deadhead. I loved it. It was the most colorful piece of clothing I'd ever owned. When it stared to wear out, I could *not* find a replacement for it, so I patched it and kept wearing it.
In order to attach the decaying fabric to the patches, I had to sew it down, and the stitches were bound to show, so I used brightly colored yarn and embroidery floss, and made the stitches part of the decoration of the garment. Also, often I had nothing thermal-like to use for a patch except for my worn-out black socks, and I stitched gaudy yarn over the black patches to make them blend in better. And then I started stitching on extra strands just for decoration.
The result is a truly unique work of art, if I do say so myself. I shudder to think how many hundreds of hours of TV-watching and talking-book "reading" have gone into maintaining and advancing this garment (I call it a sweater these days).
It's my celebrity shirt -- it gets me noticed, and being a paunchy middle-aged man with a graying beard, getting smiles and compliments is just fine by me.
2. My red plaid wool shirt (the Wallace tartan, I believe). It's so marvelously warm in cold weather, and it's the second most coilorful thing I own. The top buttonhole is frayed, so I don't use it, and it looks really swell when I wear it with my purple T-shirt.
3. My engineer's cap. I got in the habit of wearing a hat, preferably a cloth cap with a bill, when I was in the Navy, and Kathe really likes the way I look in a hickory-striped trainman's cap, so that's the one I have settled on. These days, I get them made for my weirdly-large head at the Hatterdashery in Seattle. The Hatterdasher himself was in Corvallis for the Fall Festival last month, and I ordered two from him (I was feeling flush that month, and it's always a good feeling to know you have a backup hat in reserve).
4. My Commander USA long-sleeved T-shirt. With a goofy superhero costume printed on it front and back, all I have to do is add Waldy's red leather domino mask and I've got an instant masquerade / Halloween costume.
5. My Sandman Mystery Theatre T-shirt, with the Sandman, in his gas mask and fedora, printed in gray and green on a black T-shirt. I like that one so much that I reserve it for special occasions. I'm very pleased by how it's holding up. I'll be sad when I notice it being more gray than black.
I would like to say I love wearing my black monochrome Chuck Taylors, which are as comfortable as the "white man's moccasins" always are but can pass easily for respectable office-type shoes. Unfortunately, my current pair are so badly worn that even black socks have a hard time concealing the holes that have appeared. I need new shoes. But we're not feeling very flush this month.
[Update: As soon as we were feeling even a small trickle, I bought a couple of pairs ahead. But now I'm starting nursing school, and I need respectable nursely white shoes. I'll have to check around and see what I can stand to wear.]
//The Magic 8-Ball says, "Don't be too concerned with outward appearances."\\
1 comment:
Black 2XL or 3XL Hanes sweat shirt with a black and white Marvel Comics
Fantastic Four patch. Black sweatshirt with a white circle with the number 4 on
the chest, in other words.
Bought it early on during the time I worked at The Book Stop. I'm sure it's at
least fifteen years old. part of the collar came loose along the seam in the
back (made a good loop to hang it from) and it developed dozens of moth holes,
cat claw snags holes, etc. One day I spent a few hours mending them with needle
and thread, but in places the fabric is very thin.
Since cotton shrinks (and I wash, then hang dry to minimize that, but still...)
the sleeves are a couple inches short and never need pushing or rolling up
unless I'm washing dishes. The waist is barely down to the waistband of my
pants, and wouldn't stay tucked in if I tried, so I only wear it with black
sweats and over a black T-shirt.
I have an old Polaroid my dad took of me wearing that shirt that I used in a
collage that I then copied and used to send to people who wrote me asking for a
signed picture back in my more active small press days.
I visited my pal Jay wearing it once a couple of years ago and his buddy Andy
said "Hey, cool shirt!" and Jay mentioned "He was wearing that the first time I
met him" which was many, many years before.
Not all of the mainstream public is as familiar with the Marvel characters as
they are with the DC heroes, though that's changing post-Spider-Man. I've had
fast food clerks and strangers in stores ask me "Who are you, Mister Four?" and
I tell them "I'm the ForeMan" and then, indicating the shirt, "And this is my
fore-skin."
Although it's everyday garb, I have worn it on Halloween at least four times.
I've had many favorite garments over the years (remember the Donovan song "I
Love My Shirt" from the Barabajagal album?) but I don't think any ever lasted
the way this shirt has. Yes, I still wear it. I think it's hanging up in the
kitchen drying at the moment.
(still unable to post at your blog - is anybody? - but wanted to get in on this
topic.)
Posting non-anonymously, Randall Hugh Crawford
"And I'll call myself... Mister Fantastic!"
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