Bee Block

COLOR FABRICS

Cut the following from 4–6 Main Color (number in parenthesis is how many used for each quadrant): 

6 (1.5)  2 7/8” square

8 (2)  1 7/8” square

12 (3)  4.5"x2.5”

4 (1)  6.5”x2.5”

WHITE:

4- 4.5” square

6- 2 7/8” square

Pairing 1 color and 1 white 2 7/8” , make 2 half square triangles. Press open, trim to 2.5". Repeat with the rest of the 2 7/8” squares.

Draw a diagonal line on the back of each 1 7/8” square. Place one on top of a 4 7/8” white square’s top left corner so that it is covering the white fabric, and one on top of its lower right, right sides together.

This photo refuses to turn, so IT IS SIDEWAYS. Please turn your head so that you see the squares on the top left and bottom right instead of top right and bottom left.

Stitch along your drawn lines. Trim, leaving a quarter inch seam. Press open. Trim to 4.5” square.

Lay one 4.5” strip over the white square’s right-hand side, right sides together. Sew with a quarter inch seam. Press open.

Sew one HST’s main color edge to the end of one of the 2.5” strips to create a long strip. NOTE THAT DIRECTIONALITY DOES MATTER, SO BE SURE IT MATCHES THE PICTURES. 

Stitch 1/4" seam along the righthand side.

Top: how way to match the 6.5" strip
Bottom: how to match both 4.5" strips

Press. Repeat with the other 4.5” strip and the 6.5” strip. Set the 6.5” strip aside for now.

Attach one 4.5"+HST to the bottom of the white square, matching the joins of HST on the strip to the main color strip that has already been attached.

Sew the other to the lefthand side of the white square, matching the HST to the bottom strip.

Attach the longer strip that had been set aside to the top of the square.

Repeat to make 4. Rotate blocks so that the main colored corner will not be attached to any other sides. Sew together by first sewing 2 sets of two and then sewing those together.

T Shirts!

A group of friends missed Kids Sewing Week last month, so we decided to have our own. But why limit it to just a week? So April has been dubbed Kids Sewing Month, and that seems just perfect timing as we head into a new season where everyone needs new clothes!

This time was all about the School Bus Tee!

A got a geometric pattern with lime green sleeves and an added kangaroo pocket. I originally planned to swipe the pocket from the Nature Walk Pullover, but when I took the pattern out of my library, I realized that it needed some major adjustments since the pullover is much wider and that pocket goes side to side and all the way to the bottom. So I winged the shape, and I think it turned out pretty good.

I fell in love with the fabric for Duckie's when I saw it, so I bought enough to make a few things for her. But in my head, this was the only thing I saw: a tee with a cute little peplum. After putting it together and seeing it on, I may just use the rest of the fabric for more of these in the next sizes up so that she can wear one until she is 4. Which she'd probably enjoy, as she refused to take it off when I put it over her head, side seams unsewn, to check on sizing.
I made hers a bit A line by extending under the arms about half an inch near the notches, which was where I cut off the main body piece. Then I measured that and cut a 4.5" tall rectangle 150% longer for the peplum, which I gathered with 2 rows of basting stitches.
... Then I discovered that Oliver+S's tutorial page has tutorials for both adding a peplum and for switching to A line. Oh well! I haven't looked at them because my methods worked out quite well, and I'm guessing they say basically the same thing!

School Picture Day

Whew! I decided to make the kids some coordinating outfits for school picture day. Probably a little extra stress than I really needed to take on, but I love seeing them in stuff I made and they like having something special.
I picked up a couple of digital copies, and I can see pros and cons of both. I spent time using InDesign to put the bigger pattern pieces onto ledger size paper so I could use some scrap paper from work and have fewer pieces to tape together. Took some time, but I'm happy with that decision. Plus, I could cram more pieces onto fewer sheets that way.

I started off with an Oliver+S Library Dress for Duckie. It seemed like a good choice because I could make the waistband out of a different fabric, so it would be easy to use that same fabric for a shirt for A without them being too matchy-matchy. I was also sold on this tutorial from the O+S blog about using the pattern for knits to mimic a dress from Tea Collection, a dress that I LOOOOVED when A was little and wished to have a girl for. I have plans for at least 2 of these in the future!

The dress went together pretty uneventfully. I read that the buttons weren't necessary for wearing, so I sewed the back bottom half of the dress up on the inside so that I didn't have a whole row of buttons needing to be done up and just sewed the buttons through both layers to fake it. I could have gotten away with doing most or all of them this way, but I think it's easier to have the top 3 open. Fit-wise, I made a 12–18 month, and it's slightly wider on Duckie than I'd prefer, so I'll probably bring it in for the knit ones.

Next up was pants for A, and I went back to the Oliver+S AfterSchool Pants that I'd made him last summer. Last time, they ended up being a bit tight and he got too tall pretty quickly, so I made a size 3T with the length of a 4T by adding to the front and back leg pieces and the sides (I left the yoke alone). I missed something though, because the side panels were a good deal shorter than the fronts and backs, but thankfully not bad enough to be a problem. At least if there HAD been a problem, it wouldn't have meant cutting too much extra, since it'd just be the accent panel.
A seems to really like these, so I see more in my future. They seem to sew up really quickly for all the detailing they have! I'll probably blow his mind sometime by actually using an accent fabric.

For A, I went with the Oliver+S Sketchbook Shirt. I'd picked up the pattern a while back thinking I could make him "handsome shirts" a bit cheaper and with fabrics of my own choosing this way, but hadn't gotten around to using it. I really wish I had. This shirt was almost the death of me. I made the back box pleat backward (I left it). I mixed up the plackets for the fronts and had to rip them out. The collar directions were less clear than most O+S stuff, so I didn't understand what it was talking about until I was too far to go back and do things the way they wanted me to. The sleeves were the easiest part, and setting them in was about the first seam I didn't have to rip out, and that's really saying something, because really, sleeve-setting??? On top of that, I was sticking myself with pins left and right, and I was crying in frustration and fear that A would think I loved Duckie more if I didn't finish his shirt in time. The collar is a little wonky, but A likes it and I finished in time!

I managed to snag a few pictures of them on my own camera, but good luck to me finding the time to get them uploaded here. At least I've got this one of all of the clothes together.

City Lights Laurel

I had a work event last night, and I just couldn't figure out what to wear. That's not quite true, actually, I had the perfect outfit in my head. The problem was that the top just didn't exist yet. Fortunately, I already had both the pattern and the fabric picked out, so I quickly managed to whip out a Laurel Tunic overnight!


I was really excited about this pattern when I first bought it a number of months ago. I bought a few different fabrics that I figured I would use with different sleeve lengths, etc. Then I made a cheap test version in a size large. I made it with a slinky cheap knit that was a total pain to work with that was completely different than the good ones I had bought. Then I tried it on. And I was disappointed. It fit okay, but no WOW. I thought the seam where the bodice met the skirt was too low (I had used the long torso length thinking it might be an easy way to adjust for a larger chest). That would be an easy enough fix, but the sleeves were giant in the bicep and where they met the bodice was just... odd. And I don't really have enough experience in fit adjustments in sewing to figure out how to fix it. So I let the cheap tester sit on my ironing board as a reminder of its problems for quite some time. It's still there, in fact.

I bugged my friend across the country incessantly to tell me how to fix it (or even better, just do it for me!), since clearly she could do it from 2000 miles away. When that didn't work, I just had to suck it up and hop to.

I started cutting my pattern (all but the sleeves: I figured I could worry about those later), still in a large. It wasn't until I had it all cut when I noticed the first page of the directions listed the chest measurements. I had been breastfeeding when I made my tester. At this point, I should have been making a medium. Which would also make the sleeves smaller around. My friend pointed out that you can always make things smaller, so I went ahead and got to work. I've been reading through the Colette Moneta sew along blog posts as I prepare to make one of those, and I remembered that their suggestion for the bust alterations were basically to just draw a line from under the arm to the waist for the right size. So I just did that, narrowing it as I went down, and hoped for the best. I then realized that with any luck, my bodice (and therefore the armholes!) should now be in line with the medium, so I cut the medium sleeves. Thankfully, they fit.

I haven't made the skirt any smaller. I'd already attached the pockets, and I was racing against time. It fit into the bodice without any real trouble, so I don't expect I'll be going back in to change it, though I have considered just adding an extra set of pleats in the front and one set in the back (I'd chosen to make the flat back).

I also made the flat neckband, which worked out WAY better than I expected, even though you can't see it in the picture for the precise reason I chose to make it that way: I need to stop wearing so many clothes with cowl style necks because it makes it harder to wear scarves with them. I will confess to there being one tiny pucker that would be a snap to get out, but knowing myself, I'll probably never change it. It happens to be right in the very front, so I'm hoping it comes off as intentional.

Fireworks Quilt

I just started on a quilt that is WAAAAYYYYY beyond my skill level, but it's just so beautiful, that I went for it anyway. Fireworks, by Thimble Blossoms. But I was truly astonished by the amount of fabric it calls for. I found some no waste tutorials, though, here:
No Waste Flying Geese
No Waste Long Half Triangle (Tip: I finger pressed these 2 pieces in half in order to find the middle of each to line them up right!)
No Waste Corner Block All combined, these used maybe 2/3 of the originally listed fabric? I put together a cutting list for a single block.
From the FQ: 
(4) 2.5" square
(2) 4.5"x5.25" (accent color)
(1) 5.25" square
(2) 5.75" square (4) 2.5"x3" (as written, or 3.25" x 2.5"for full 1/4" seam)
(1) 4.5" square (accent color)

From the white: 
(4) 2.5"x3.25"
(1) 5.75" square
(2) 5.25" square
(4) 2.5"x7" (as written, or 7.25" x 2.5" for full 1/4" seam)
(4) 2.5" square
 

Baby bonnet

I keep forgetting to get Duckie a sunhat, so I finally decided to "whip one up" during naptime yesterday. It took a bit longer than I had hoped, but I had some leftover fabric from the Garden Party tunic I made for my niece's birthday, and managed to eke it out of that. I used Purl Soho's Baby Sunbonnet pattern. There were a few things I wish I had changed. 1. Understitching would have been valuable I think here. 2. I'm still mulling over this, but I think there's got to be a better way to do the brim. I expected to put the hat together and put the brim together, and then attach the two pieces, but that's not how it's done. So the whole thing is a bit loosey-goosey. Maybe some edge stitching where the two attach would help? I suppose I'll save judgment for after I TOTALLY finish it and try it on.

Sewing

I've started sewing, and I realize that I really wish I had a place to keep track of the things I make and the mods and whatnot. Similar to Ravelry, except that I think I am much more likely to make the same pattern over and over again in sewing, so I figured I'd revive my old blog.

granola

I made my own granola this week! we have been on a hunt for cheaper granola that is just plain, and isn't quite as pricey as the back to basics kind. after striking out on a number of different ones to try, I just made some from this recipe. alterations: I used peanut oil instead of vegetable, and I cooked for 10 minutes after I stirred. after taking it out of the oven, I promptly forgot about stirring it, and had to pry it all from the pan with a knife after it cooled. this did lead to some nice sized chunks, which I've been snacking on. it's really good. it reminds me of my favorite cookies while I was pregnant because of the cinnamon and oats and peanut oil(in the cookies, I subbed the chocolate out to use peanut butter chips to make the whole thing just that much more peanut butter-y. it was a good choice). it's made me want to try to find a way to turn this granola recipe into peanut butter granola bars. I'll have to play around some more to figure it out, but I think it should be doable. I read a tip somewhere that adding an egg before baking helps granola bars stick together, which makes sense. the granola is still slightly sweeter than we'd like for yogurt, but I can probably take away a bit of the honey and replace it with a little more oil.

painting a rug

in clemson, south carolina, one of the fraternities paints large paw prints on the streets leading into campus. it is surprisingly difficult to find photos of this (although a few do exist), so I recommend a trip down there at some point to see them for yourself.
I thought it'd be cute, then, to do something similar to the floor in the nursery. after purchasing everything I needed, I realized it'd have been better to use a runner leading into the nursery, but I need a rug in the nursery, and one in the short hallway outside would have been superfluous, so this is where we're at.



after reading a few different bloggers' takes on the process ( this one was the most helpful), I bought a woven rug from ikea. since the wall paint is acrylic, I figured I might as well use the stuff we bought so that it would match. I put down plastic between the rug pad and the rug itself, not sure if it would bleed through or not (depending on the tightness of the weave). surprisingly little seeped through to even the backside of the rug!

I drew a stencil of the clemson paw and cut it out of cardboard. I actually used the cut out version, for 2 reasons:
1. I didn't have to worry about lining up the different pieces just right, as the outline had it already.
2. any extra marks I would make accidentally would lie inside the part I was planning to paint, and therefore would get covered up easily.

using a pencil (stupidly; I don't know WHY I didn't think to use one of those sewing pens that disappears in 24 hours) I traced my stencil. I used a foam brush to paint and it went rather quickly, even at 7 months pregnant (though I wouldn't do it much past that; I was exhausted at the end!)

the top is a little bit rough, so ryan wants me to take some sandpaper to it, as suggested by a few of the bloggers, but I haven't bothered yet, as it really isn't that bad. I will eventually though, which has the potential to require some touch ups.

tigers should be common jungle animals

we always figured that if we had a boy, ryan and I would decorate the nursery with tigers for clemson. there's so much safari and jungle themed things out there, we figured that we would focus on tigers, but that it'd be an overall jungle theme.

typically when one hears the word jungle, I would expect one to think:
lions and tigers and bears; oh my!
you'd be surprised, then, as we were, that tigers are NOT central to a jungle theme.
apparently, the most common jungle animals are: elephants, giraffes, monkeys, lions. occasionally a zebra. more common than tigers? a turtle. this is particularly perplexing to me, because, as a designer, it is VERY easy to take a lion or a zebra and make some minor changes in the shape to create a tiger. so easy, in fact, that I did it.


we had been thinking about using the bedding "jungle tales", which DOES include a tiger, but something about the colors was a bit depressing to me, and the only way to get the quilt was to buy the whole set. this actually is often the case, but this set came with a whole slew of things I wouldn't be using, such as bumper pads and a diaper stacker.


so we settled on "nali jungle", which does not feature a tiger.


I managed to create a tiger to match, and he has been painted along the walls. this set comes with a rather plain window valence, so I'd like to applique (read: I would like to get someone else to applique!) my same tiger onto the right side of the valence. hopefully that'll put enough tiger into "nali" that no one will even notice that he isn't part of the original!

crib shopping made difficult

first I had a nightmare getting my crib. I spent a lot of time poring over the different choices for something that both ryan and I would like and researching various woods. after finding a bunch of options, I discovered that ryan actually liked a different look than I had originally been given the idea of, so I went back and spent more time finding possibilites.
we settled on one, I placed the order online at simply baby furniture and...
I got a call 2 hours later saying that it was discontinued unfortunately. as we didn't have one specific backup, they offered me 5% off a future order and refunded me. well, we picked from the previously rejected cribs, and now the same site was offering guaranteed christmas delivery if ordered by december 14. GREAT! I called them to be sure that this crib was in stock, and they had a stock sheet from only the day before—plenty of them. FANTASTIC! so, I placed my order on december 13, which said it would ship in 1-3 business days. when I didn't get a tracking number on day 4, I called them, and...
it had been discontinued, and between when checking stock and my order, they had sold out of it. wonderful. I complained loud and long about them ruining my christmas (they didn't know I'm jewish!) and that I deserved them to deliver a crib by christmas; otherwise, what the heck is guaranteed??? they laughed me off the phone. I dislike them.

not offered through this site, I discovered the same crib by the parent company, for $200 more. as nuts as it sounds, I actually considered it.

ryan and I found another crib we liked, though, and this one was available through buy buy baby, and they list cribs as "in store only" purchases. I like the idea of being able to walk into a store and walk out with your item the same day (and no one seems to offer that anymore), so I called up the closest one (45 minutes away) the week of christmas (yep, I was that customer) to see if they had it in either finish (virginia cherry or chocolate mist) if we wanted the cherry (which we did), we were in luck, they had one right then. if we wanted the chocolate, they'd have to order it to the store.
so I call the next day and asked them to place it on hold. being a reasonable person, I can understand if they had sold it as a christmas present, but the saleslady tells me that they don't have a cherry one, just the chocolate... and the cherry has been—you guessed it—discontinued! so who knows what the person the day before had been talking about. the finishes aren't really all that different, and I was starting to get desperate, so I wanted it. fortunately, they put it on hold, and though they only usually do that for 24 hours, they were willing to hold it until after the long weekend for us.
nervous that some other clerk would sell it out from under me, I sent ryan and his dad on a 45 minute drive on the friday before christmas after work to pick it up. they deserve a medal.

thankfully, it's all put together, and it's in our nursery. it's officially ours.

argyle wrist warmers

pattern is now available at a website near you!

argyle mitts

it appears it has been quite some time since I last posted, but today is going to be all about knitting.

I just completed a pattern that I am really proud of. they're argyle wrist warmers, which started out as socks nearly 3 years ago. I am excited about these because I think they're really well written, I took good notes on what I was doing, and well, frankly, when you use the wrod "argyle" people tend to go nuts!


I just put out a request for testers, but I hope to have these done and published by mid march. that means figuring out a few things... I need to actually create a layout for branding (and update my other pattern to match) and decide whether to charge or not. I guess I have a month to figure it out, so for now I'll just enjoy my new design!

green garlic soup

for the last year I have been on a mission to find a green garlic and potato soup recipe, preferably served chilled, but hot is acceptable too. I have also been on a mission to find green garlic. I have failed miserably on both counts until now. my friend sarah grows garlic, so she pulled one for me on thursday so I could try making soup. they are still really young green garlic, which only means one thing-- I have plenty of time left to get it before it totally matures into regular garlic!
I found this recipe for green garlic soup, so thought it'd be worth a try. I was hesitant about the cheddar and the chicken broth for two reasons:

• when I attempted this earlier in the year (substituting with elephant garlic and using a different recipe), the chicken broth pretty much rendered the soup unedible; I can't really explain it past that, but it sat in our fridge for about a month as I can't bear to throw away food.
  
• the cheddar negates some of the pure garlic cream taste I have been searching for ever since we left sonoma.
  

I was wrong about the chicken broth (yay!), but right about the cheddar (darn.) it is still quite delicious though! and, I always like to follow recipes pretty accurately the first time(okay, so I used my immersion blender instead of transferring half of it and slopping it all over the kitchen on the way to the blender), and make improvements later. I suspect I will try this again soon with more potatoes, a little more cream cheese, and no cheddar.

sock wars zombie shootout

one of the prizes for sock wars goes to the knitter with the most kills. well, this year, there was a tie between two of the competitors, and there was a discussion about how to handle it. the decision was for them to each knit one sock starting at the same time (saturday afternoon) and post a picture when it was finished-- first one posted would be the winner.

well, on friday, the coordinator decided to host an extra contest: anyone, regardless of whether or not they participated in the war this year, could knit alongside these two deadly assassins. the one who posted a picture first would be the winner and proud owner of a skein of cocoa beach yarns' newest 100% cashmere sock yarn.

I loved the idea but didn't really expect to do it; I've got enough knitting to be working on. but then I figured I would see what was going on at the time the pattern was to be posted. I checked for the pattern 15 minutes late, but luck was on my side- they were having difficulty posting it, so no one had started. I figured 'what's to lose?' so I cast on around 4:30 pm yesterday...

at 12:19 this morning I had a completed sock. and I am soon to be the proud owner of 100% cashmere yarn.

a dog of ill repute

as we returned home yesterday afternoon, a mere hour and a half before ryan's mother and grandparents were due for dinner, a dog raced from behind the house across the street and into our yard. she's small; some sort of terrier mix. she's a girl. she is sweet and (for the most part) seems to like henry (who in turn likes her-- for the most part). she is well fed with a healthy coat and seems to be housebroken... yet no collar (or imprint of one) and long toenails. she does NOT belong across the street. we're not naming her right now because we're hoping she won't be here long, but it isn't looking great. ryan thinks she needs a name like hester or jezebel.

we've reported her as found all over the place, but at this point, she may soon end up belonging here. a guy came and looked at her this morning, but sadly she isn't his, so it's back to the lists, and the flyers. we don't want her to end up in a shelter because she seems to be such a good pet.

and just when we thought we were going to stay a one dog family... ::sigh:: and our second dog was supposed to be a westie...

jewish easter (with some goyshe help)

ryan didn't want to go up and see his dad's side of the family today, which was going to be a bit awkward since they asked us last week if we had easter plans and we said no. we didn't want to be rude to his grandmother, because she has a hard enough time understanding the 'no pork' guidelines, and so passover would surely go completely over her head, and then not eating might be offensive. I told him that it was his call, because it was his family's holiday.
"you know, if we spend the day with my mom, then at least I have an excuse, and I don't feel so bad about not spending easter with them" was his logic, so we called her up.

enter ellie's easter plans: take us to siebenthaler's to buy us some spring plants, and get working on the garden. the three of us spent 5 hours out there on what we had anticipated to be a small project. but once we decided to take out a couple of dead and ugly bushes, suddenly the misunderstood and badly shapen spruce by our bedroom window seemed none too difficult, and we had picked up a cute waterlily magnolia to put somewhere, and the spruce's spot seemed as good as any. add that to all of the bed defining and creating (we stopped after making a little one around a tree and realizing how difficult it is), and you get a full afternoon's work for 3 people!

pictures later (we didn't finish until 8:15, and then we ate, and then it was dark. but ryan's antsy to get some good shots with his slr)

so I guess my only question is... anyone know exactly how to get the city/ waste management to haul away the yard debris? (after all, we all know the city and I are not typically on speaking terms...)

passover seder

overall, everything went well. along with things mentioned in the previous post, I made truffles a la sasha (and this recipe)- vanilla and coffee. half the people raved about the coffee, and the other half raved about the vanilla. I used ghiradelli's 60% baking bar, which was a good call, although I might try the vanilla with something a little less dark next time to try to bring out more of the vanilla flavor.
I also made this lemon cheesecake from gourmet.com. I added some mushed raspberries to it and then topped it with the raspberries as well. I didn't use a springform pan; just a regular cake pan, and it was fine (no flour to make it stick). the recipe tells you to place in a baking dish, but nothing about a water bath, so I thought they had accidentally omitted that part and I did it anyway. it didn't set, so after I discovered that, I stuck it back in on its own for another 20 minutes. I also spoke to theresa about it at the bakery and checked cookingforengineers.com, and the recipe tells you to flip it out waaaayyy too early. I should have let it thoroughly cool, then stuck it in the fridge and not taken it out for a good 5-6 hours. I have high hopes that the recipe would turn out immediately if you don't use the water. I also think it'd be really good in mini muffin tins (what dessert isn't made better in convenient bite-size?) placing the crust only on the very bottom and topping with one raspberry before they cool so that the raspberries will stay in place.
unforunately, ryan didn't get pictures of the food, so I'll have to make it all again I suppose. =)

pesach

passover is coming up, and we're hosting the first seder again. when I was in college, I used to go to my brother in law's aunt's house, where she had made her own haggadah with their favorite readings and relevant pictures from their family, etc. I thought it was really special, and last year had considered doing it myself, but had short notice and didn't expect it to become a yearly thing. now, I am doing it, despite the short notice. I realize that I really enjoy the seder service much more than I ever realized and that I look for specific parts of it every year. as I flip through the haggadah we used all my life, I can hear bob leventhal's voice in all the parts labelled "leader".

after much deliberation, I have decided to serve lamb with sonoma mustard sauce (from the girl and the fig's cookbook) alongside my uncle's infamous potatoes and fresh roasted asparagus (originally I wanted to make baked greenbeans and onions with garlic slivers drizzled with balsamic, but I thought it'd interfere when I settled on the mustard sauce). I haven't decided on dessert... I'd like to make the lemon-lime tart, but I am afraid of the substitutions needed in the crust. and naturally there will be LOTS of chicken soup with homemade matzahballs (my mom will make those; I usually use a mix because I can't be bothered, though the soup will be all mine). I looked at a couple of gefilte fish recipes, but chose not to go to the effort; if anyone wants some, they can make it themselves.
the cooking seems a little daunting (including the not aforementioned charoset and eggs), especially considering I am working the day of, but I plan to get stuff together next sunday and be well organized. I had thought about taking the day off, but unfortunately one of the other cake decorators is in the middle of a family crisis, so I haven't bothered asking.

I suppose it's time for my every few months spurt of updates...

henry is enrolled in school, and is not doing so hot. he's really good at the commands, but he doesn't want to show them at school that he can do them... I think he doesn't want to show up the other dogs. he then proceeds to bark and bark and bark- usually another dog instigates him, but then he goes nuts. today I took him to daycare in hopes of wearing him out a bit, but no such luck. they informed us that he is "iffy" to graduate, though they assured us that he'd still get a "valiant effort" certificate. I like to compare henry to einstein- he's so bored in class that he'll flunk out.

my art class at sinclair is going well. I am disappointed that most of the people in my class are art students and not design, because I've managed to find a few that I really like and can talk to, but I'm going to have to start all over next term.

sock wars... I got a kill, so that's something at least. sadly, my assassin knit a pair of socks in A DAY AND A HALF. I have no idea how. I'm still in awe of my own 5-day pair. at least I am back to my sweater(s) and working on reducing my stash so ryan can stop complaining and I can resume yarn buying-- good thing we found a work-around to chris' new year's resolution!