the dickies double-front duck carpenter pants.  the poor working woman's alternative to carhartts, with much the same failings, but at half the price!  $35 for your choice of 3 colors, and no inseam options.  6/10  the deets: ok.  so they're pants.  ostensibly, they're not hateful; they have functional pockets, a real hammer loop, a tool loop, multiple side pockets, and doublefront knees for when you have 45 minutes to try and cram a kneepad in there.  and they make my ass look pretty ok.  but those are the extent of the plusses.   upon initial donning of the pants, one leg at a time mind you, the front is somehow too tight while the back gaps out away from the body.  throughout the day, the crotch sags and bags in only the way duck pants can, but ... they function as pants.  my standards get lower day by day.

where to begin with these pants.  the website  shows a model donning the pants with some rather hideous open-toed stack heeled boots cos you know, women amirite?  thats all we care about.  but sexist pandering aside, these pants are pretty alright, especially given the cost - originally $45, now on clearance.  7/10 the stretch canvas isn't overly-immediately-fall-off stretchy, but it is a bit thin.  i don't know that they'll last very long, but they do allow for full range of movement, with actual functional back and front pockets and a hammer loop.  no pencil/tool pocket on the side though, which is a downfall.  as i continuously bake and eat during quarantine, i predict the visible bulges in the front waist of these pants will be more and more apparent, but through no fault of the manufacturer's.  the legs aren't awkwardly tight or twisty, and the inseam is accurate. as these are more fashion than function pants, they aren't re...

after the milwaukee vest fiasco, and the promise that the boss would buy us christmas heated gear, i went directly to amazon.  naturally.  the ororo line has both men's and women's cuts, in a similar price range to milwaukee.  but, the battery - palm sized, flat, and sits on the hip.  9/10 definitely superior design, and rather than the wordy product description , a picture! after hemming and hawing over the size chart [everyone's favorite part of online shopping..] i ordered the xl.  i figured, correctly, larger would be better since i would be wearing it over a workweight hoodie in the winter.  back in the pre-pandemic days, i received my vest 2-day-shipping, and of course, immediately tested it out.  the heated portions are in the front core giving you functionally heated pockets, the upper back, and in a fucking stroke of brilliance, in the neck.  the battery wears comfortably at the hip in an interior zippered pocket, and since i sized...

photo from the milwaukee website.  cos i didn't buy this vest.  and will never.  from what i remember in our brief encounter in the newly remodeled eldredge portland store, this vest feels weatherproof, is around $125 without batteries, and runs about 2 sizes small.  5/10 for warming functionality only.   product description  also from the milwaukee website: so.  the vest holds an M12 battery, the little triangle sized ones that are about half the size of a regular stapler.  now imagine that crammed into your ribs, always pointy side in, and then zip it up tighter, over a hoodie, cos it's winter in maine.  and then bend over to pick up a tool, squat to measure something, or you know, breathe like a normal person.  based on the website reviews 2.8/5 mostly saying its too tight when you sit down, i assumed eeeh these aren't working women reviewing the vest; one said she's worn it everywhere for the past month. [also due ...

the leggings that believed they could.  long ago and far away, i had a "lifestyle" blog - recipes, fashion, sewing, tutorials, all the old lady activities i love to do, written about in a tone and language that offends the greatest generation.  much like my very existence, but as usual, i digress.  when a friend recommended these leggings as "work pants" i thought back to my rants about leggings as pants, and how i would never; but times change, opinions grow, and for $60, i tried carhartt's "utility" leggings, as previously and briefly reviewed in my tools of the trade article.  solid 8/10 for these bad boys.   website deets : oh.  pig farming.  cool...  i did voice my internal debate regarding leggings at work, albeit a construction site, and my boss in his dulcet tones, noted "i used to have a guy that wore sweatpants everyday, so i dont give a fuck what you wear".  i took this to mean, as long as i was meeting osha's loose req...