Don't forget these beans, and a belt.

Note to self: This is the BBQ bean recipe that I particularly like. I've posted it before but will do so again.  I don't have a smoker so I finished it in the oven.  We had them for lunch today and the only thing missing was ribs and some cole slaw. 

Other than that, not much new... a little spinning; some knitting is happening; I'm half way through threading my loom; and I have a belt ready for the hiking trip.

I'm going to talk about the belt a bit... The driver for this is that I'm long waisted (pretty much everything on me is long, being tall and all), and many pants are cut for folks that are shorter and wider, resulting in pants that didn't hit my waist and would either fall down or leave a chilly unattractive gap between my shirt and pants. I finally found hiking pants that are long enough in the waist, but they don't have belt loops, instead being slightly elastic. I tried wearing them multiple days in a row but the waist stretches a bit and I found myself fussing with pulling them up a lot.  

Also, I'm fairly serious about losing some weight. I'm down about 8 pounds and likely to lose more on vacation. Then I plan on losing a bit more. And I'd hate to just get rid of these pants because all they need is a belt.

Think of it as a visual resume

My solution was to put belt loops on the pants and weave a belt. I've been procrastinating for weeks because I have no idea how to make belt loops... Last night I finally spent time in the studio analyzing a pair of jeans and came up with a pretty good solution, but it's out of cotton and I'm not sure how durable it will be.

To make the belt loops, I cut strips of cotton 1.5" wide and sewed them into a tube with a 1/4" seam. Then I trimmed the seam (makes turning easier), and turned the tube so the seam in on the inside. I used what's essentially a large tie wrap to iron the tube flat (there are plastic pieces made for this) with the seam down the middle of one side. I then top stitched close to the both edges.

The pants have patch pockets on the front so I aligned the two front belt loops with the edge of the pocket closer to the front; one belt loop in center back, and one on each side halfway between the front belt and center back.

Then I wondered how the heck they make a tube and turn it using denim for blue jeans... a quick examination revealed that the fabric is folded in thirds and the top stitching also produces some sort of magic web like stitch on the back side. If you want an example, grab yourself a pair of jeans and take a look.

The belt, as I mentioned in the last post is cotton with nylon weft and nylon edges. I wore it for today's hike and the belt and belt buckle are not uncomfortable with the pack belt. Success!