guy's stitch fix review

The wife's annual conference is coming up, and instead of shopping for a few new outfits she signed up for stitch fix. Well, guess who signed up off her referral so she could use additional credits? You guessed it, me. What the hell, I thought, maybe I'll get something to wear to an interview.

Now while I'm usually quicker to post about the DIY pizzas we're eating while she's away, or the project I got the kids to help out on, turns out my stitch fit experience wasn't awful. I wasn't crazy about anything in the initial shipment but if you're curious and don't mind paying for an article or two you might not absolutely need, it's worth a shot.

Especially when you don't know how to describe your style. For the past five years, my style has been "stuff I'd be okay getting throw up on" vs "9-5 business casual" with the occasional unfortunate overlap. Throw in my love of flannel, up-coming interviews, and clothes I can wear in the shop and that's a pretty muddy picture. So I didn't know quite what to expect when I opened my box.

Nice patterned shirt! Unfortunately a bit snug.

Happily, I loved the shirt that was in there at first glance. That had me really excited to see how everything went, but my top pick ended up a bit snug. There was also a henley, which I don't really like, a pair of khakis, a crew-neck sweater, and two pairs of socks. Everything besides the first shirt fit fine. The shirt was a slim fit, which I actually prefer, but this one was a bit smaller that I could wear. Not enough to make me change my style profile though. 

Instead of purchasing you can also try to exchange, but unfortunately my top choice was not available. Ultimately I ended up having to decide between the khakis and the socks. I hate henleys, and I'm waiting until I get a raise or a new job to buy a new ND crew-neck so that was out.

That's quite a range of affordability. Pretty reasonable though.

Price was a factor, and I felt silly using my styling credit to buy a $12 pair of socks. So I went with the pants, and they're fine. They're work-appropriate at least. Not overly stylish but a functional article of clothing. That's enough for me to try the process again in a few months.

In the end I'd give it a thumbs up. It's not as fun as digging through a bargain outlet to come up with something, but it's also more pleasant than going to a department store. I liked it enough to try again using their every two months option, and look forward to what they pull together this winter.

Grilled pizza break

It can't be all woodwork all the time. Sometimes there's grill work, sometimes there's pizza. At the best of times, there can be all three. Today felt like it should be one of those times.

I've gotten a pretty good handle on a papa john's copy dough, and it even makes for a decent base on making your own frozen pizzas. I should post on that too sometime. But today I was more interested in seeing if it would hold up as well on the grill. Sometimes it's just too hot to have your oven running at 515 degrees for any amount of time. Today is one of those times, but I'm a little dubious about pizza on the grill. Lunch for myself is a lot less risky to try out stuff vs dinner for everyone.

This dough is pretty sturdy:

1 packet fast-rising yeast (2 1/4 tps)
2 Tbs sugar
2 cups warm water
Mix and proof 5 minutes. Then add:
1/2 tsp garlic salt
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 Tbs oil
Mix until dough pulls away from sides of mixer.

I made it as soon as I got home from dropping the kids off at camp, which gave it about 4 hours to rise while I got a run in and then worked on the media stand. I took a break around the 3-hour mark to punch it down and let it rise again for that last hour. It made for what I would consider a great looking dough if I was using the pizza stone.

Prep work can be important when you're on the grill, so I got everything ready while the charcoal lit. This dough is pretty hearty so I was sure it could handle three ingredients without any issue.

There was also oil, sauce, and cheese ready to go.

Once things were lit, on to the grill it went. This was mistake number one. I should have moved the coals for more indirect heat. But it cooked up well before I flipped it and put the toppings on.

Raw dough on, only 3 or 4 minutes I think.

Notice the browns already on the outer crust after flipping it

No time for pictures when you're working with high heats, but things looked really good at this point. Unfortunately, the direct heat ended up charring the bottom almost to the point of being inedible. I'm not a huge fan of wood-fired crust anyway, and this was a deep black char across the bottom of the crust. Too bad.

But it was still a decent lunch, and I learned some lessons in case we ever want pizza but it's too hot to turn the oven on. I'd try it again at least. God I love these Fridays off.

Words to live by

I mentioned a while ago that I finally got my hands on a copy of "Good Clean Fun" after hearing about it from the man himself at a book signing for "Gumption" last year. It's a fun read, but there's one passage in particular from the chapter profiling Mira Nakashima that hasn't left my head since I read it:

"In hindsight, it's easy to examine the arc of a person's life or career with a discerning eye, but when we are actually living through that life-span, its destination is not so clear. Luminaries and legends as well as abject failures are often just trying to make their rent or get kissed (or both.)"
                                                 -Nick Offerman, "Good Clean Fun," page 140

This was a good read, not surprising since I enjoyed his other books immensely. But for whatever reason this passage grabbed me and hasn't let go. A silly blog might not be the best place for headier conversations about life but I liked seeing this sentiment when and where I did. I'm just trying to have fun in the shop while I keep food on the table, just like a lot of other people. 

Garage/reading room

I had some wood shelving that was up in the condo but hasn't found a home in the new house yet that I've been wanting to put to work, and the shop getting reorganized this week gave me chance to let inspiration strike. The wife got me a book on wood finishing for christmas, and I've been reading Nick Offerman's "Good Clean Fun" which is big into keeping clean and organized so inspiration most definitely struck. I was going to put the shelves up in the basement once we had things set up, but using them as bookshelves in the garage seems like a much better place for them.

Testing...

and confirmed. Yup, that'll work.

So instead of evacuating while the lacquer fumes evaporated like I probably should have, I put one over the drafting table's new spot. I liked it so much the other one got put up too. They still need a coat or two of poly that they never got since we were staging and getting ready to move when these first went up but I think that will work. I'm still not sure the table is going to stay, but having move shelves in the garage means more storage space for non-tools that were taking up valuable real estate.

Now all I need is a broken down recliner and a mini-fridge, and I'll never leave the garage. I'm half joking, but being forced to re-organized has made it a lot more comfortable in there. It's a good lesson to learn and again, I'm amazed at how things are still rounding into shape after more than a year in the house.

I voted early

Two stickers doesn't mean I voted twice, unfortunately.

Not DIY-related, but I usually posted something election-based in the old blog, and this is no different. My dad drove home how important it was to vote when I was young, I still remember going to our podunk polling place as early as the Bush/Dukakis election in '88. I'm trying to do the same to our kids now, minus dragging them with me to the polling place. But this is obviously a turning-point election for the country. 

We moved too late in 2015 to get registered for the primary elections at our new address, but I was going to make sure I voted in this election. So sure in fact, I took some time to go to City Hall and vote early. I appreciate knowing my ballot was counted, unlike the last one where I’m pretty sure a busted scantron meant my 2012 ballot went into a lockbox and never got cast. Ah Chicago, democracy at its finest. 

Going early actually took so much less time than I expected that I’m going to be tempted to do this from now on. Drive in, register, electronic ballot, done. I was half-thinking I would get turned away, as I had applied to get a mail-in ballot (like I said, I really wanted to make sure I voted this election), but hadn’t gotten it yet. No problem, they just called the precinct headquarters and re-set my application. 5 minutes later I had voted and I was walking back to my “voters only” parking. I love it.

Sometimes this "suburbs" thing isn't so bad.

Go vote!

Scrap wood crates

Since my initial plan to use plain 1x4s for baseboards didn’t pan out, I had a bunch of 6 footers laying around as scrap in the garage. Granted they were pretty nice scrap, but still scrap. I didn’t know what to do with them until I was coming home from work late last week and saw the horrible mess that had become our garage shelves. The idea of slapping some crates together seemed like a good idea, and a quick glance at the scrap bin said I had plenty of material around. So I snuck some time while the Bears were on to throw some together. 

Okay, that looks like it could work.

Sizing them up with some other scrap looked good, and since the garage shelves are 17” deep then I had dimensions to work from. 5 6-footers meant I had plenty to chop up, I was shooting to get three crates out of everything.

Lots of cutting, lots of noise w/the kids napping.

These were pretty nice scrap to be working with so things came together pretty cleanly. There were some off joints on the first one since I used two other scrap pieces for the front and back but they were still sturdy.

Hmmm, I don't think I planned those bottom kregs too well...

Thank goodness I had the other scrap too, b/c I ended up with enough to have bottoms and sides for three crates but only front and back for one. The other two got other scrap, and even got nails instead of screws b/c I ran out of those too. Nothing like going into a project and finishing with what you find lying around.

Glue and two nails, good to go.

It’s not like these crates are going anywhere, so as long as they can hold what I put in them and keep them semi-organized we’re good to go. These will help on the organization front but the shelves themselves probably need a second or third look at how to get cleaned up.

Jeez, an hour's+ work and barely a drop in the bucket.

But now all the random tools I’ve got for specialized jobs like painting, drywall, and tiling all have a specific spot, which sounds like it would be pretty important to staying organized.Hopefully I can finish the fireplace without buying any new tools.

so many choices

The decision paralysis that’s snuck up on me on some of these projects has come up before. Even with a small project like the media stand I want to make damn sure I wrap things up by putting the right finish on.

This is getting ridiculous

Through trial and error, I’ve accumulated a decent spectrum of finishes to choose from. Like for the patio table, I had some left over walnut stain but wanted something a bit different for something going outside. Thinking the same thing, the wife talked me into trying a natural stain to go with the red mahogany I had picked up. They were both terrible. I admit I felt a small twinge of validation when the wife admitted they both looked awful on the scrap I test-stained, and she said I was free to pick something else on my own. Although to her credit, I ended up using the natural on the sandbox and it made it look like I’d used much nicer wood than I actually did. A point for using stain in general.

What to do, what to do...

Eventually I found one I liked, and now have a range of stains around to try to use on other projects. Natural went on the sandbox, the darker mahogany on the lounge chairs. Each of those was something new that worked, but that’s the thing about these projects…you can think all you want but you never really know until the rag hits the board. Today for the stand I went back to the reliability of the walnut stain I’ve used on most everything else, paired with painting the legs white to make lighten things up a bit. I think a good seal coat on this will wrap things up.

A good stain can make all the difference, which is why I worry about it so much!

This wasn’t a sponsored post, and it’s a little out of left field considering what I’ve been working on lately. But I’m hoping to get the baseboards and ledge shelf in soon and I’ll be picking a stain again, so I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Every time I head into the shop I see another project or idea I could write about. This one just felt like it could help put the finishing touches on the basement.

Purchase list:

Minwax walnut stain (console, already had it)
Minwax gunstock stain (patio table, bench)
Minwax red mahogany stain (lounge chairs, shelf, possibly)
Minwax natural stain (sandbox)
Minwax Helmsman clear gloss spar urethane (everything)
Glidden semi-gloss pure white (molding)