{"id":158966,"date":"2020-04-29T16:40:48","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T23:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=158966"},"modified":"2021-07-06T12:49:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T19:49:53","slug":"gear-i-hold-dear-my-handsewn-puffy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/camp\/gear-i-hold-dear-my-handsewn-puffy","title":{"rendered":"Gear I Hold Dear: My Handsewn Puffy"},"content":{"rendered":"

A version of this story appeared in the summer 2020 issue of\u00a0Uncommon Path<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

When I run my hands over my red jacket\u2014now quite grubby around the\u00a0seams\u2014a memory of my mother pops into my head. It\u2019s the early 1970s, I\u2019m 12\u00a0years old and my mom, Roslyn, has gotten three sew-them-yourself kits from REI,\u00a0including this red puffy for me. She\u2019s pushing the feathers out of plastic bags and\u00a0into the jacket\u2019s baffles before the frantic chugging of her sewing machine seals\u00a0them up tight, crafting a portable hug that has lasted decades.<\/p>\n

I lived in that cardinal-colored puffy through every bitter Spokane, Washington, winter\u00a0of my teen-hood, and it was among the first things I squashed into my pack for a\u00a0year abroad, working in South Africa and traveling in Europe. Jocelyn, my favorite\u00a0travel buddy, nabbed my younger brother\u2019s sew-it-yourself jacket and we set off\u00a0together, both 21, in the dead of winter of 1981.<\/p>\n

\"Kay

Kay Thomas and her traveling buddy Jocelyn sport their DIY puffies on the slopes at Achenkirch, Austria. (Photo Courtesy: Kay Thomas)<\/p><\/div>\n

Our puffies were our armor on frost-filled days and our pillows on lulling\u00a0overnight train rides crossing the continent. One day, just before Christmas, we\u00a0arrived in Achenkirch, Austria, hunting for the magic of the Alps. It happened to be\u00a0the same day the friends we were meeting got hurt on the slopes. They could no\u00a0longer ski, so they let us borrow their gear and passes. On that bright, crisp\u00a0afternoon, with our puffies zipped all the way up, I taught Jocelyn how to plow\u00a0down the hills. Before long, she followed my red jacket down every hard turn.<\/p>\n

Over the years, I\u2019ve bought a new puffy jacket or two, but the memories stuffed\u00a0into this handsewn one won\u2019t let me part ways.<\/p>\n

\u2014Kay Thomas, REI Co-op member, as told to Aer Parris<\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A version of this story appeared in the summer 2020 issue of\u00a0Uncommon Path.\u00a0 When I run my hands over my red jacket\u2014now quite grubby around the\u00a0seams\u2014a memory of my mother pops into my head. It\u2019s the early 1970s, I\u2019m 12\u00a0years old and my mom, Roslyn, has gotten three sew-them-yourself kits from REI,\u00a0including this red puffy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":158987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,387,11],"tags":[2005,2006,1934,2024],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-158966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camp","category-hike","category-snowsports","tag-gear-i-hold-dear","tag-issue-3","tag-uncommon-path","tag-uncommon-path-issues"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/camp\/gear-i-hold-dear-my-handsewn-puffy","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Gear I Hold Dear: My Handsewn Puffy","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/camp\/gear-i-hold-dear-my-handsewn-puffy","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/camp\/gear-i-hold-dear-my-handsewn-puffy"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/Gear-I-Hold-Dear_Hero-2-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/Gear-I-Hold-Dear_Hero-2-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Camp","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["gear i hold dear","issue 3","uncommon path","uncommon path issues"],"dateCreated":"2020-04-29T23:40:48Z","datePublished":"2020-04-29T23:40:48Z","dateModified":"2021-07-06T19:49:53Z"},"rendered":"