Blame It On the Yarn Harlot...

 Ha ha!  Not really, but maybe...

So if you're reading this you know that I have all of the fiber addictions.  Fabric.  Yarn.  Thread.  Beads and buttons and patterns and rulers and all things crafty.  Paper too.  Cards and stationery dating back to when people used to write actual letters and send actual cards.  

But as far as my yarn went, I shopped at the chain stores and bought the most inexpensive yarn I could find.  My mother and I were Red Heart fans.  NOT that there's anything wrong with that! It comes in lots of great colors, it feels nice in your hands, and it's readily available in all sorts of quantities.

But when in my sewing life I came across American Sewing Guild and was introduced to the concept of using the best materials you can afford, and saw what a difference it made in the things I was making, well, that sort of life-altering concept can transform you.

I researched and found a local yarn shop or two in my area.  A couple of them have since closed but my favorite one, Cream City Yarn, is still in business.  It's a tiny little shop with lots of personality.  It's also where I learned to knit socks the right way(s) and where I learned to do colorwork.

I cannot remember exactly how or when I stumbled across a blog called Yarnharlot.ca on the web.  Probably more than a decade ago... but who's counting?  Anyway, she is Stephanie McPhee, a Canadian knitter of famous proportions, who excels at explaining things to people in clear and concise language which in turn makes them better knitters.  You can tell I'm a fan, right? 

After discovering the blog, I also discovered she's a writer, and I bought and devoured many of her books.  AND she teaches knitting!!  I'll bet you could see that coming.

She has taught (before Covid) at knitting conferences, some of which she runs with friends in Canada. I narrowly missed getting into a class before I retired (not quick enough to react before they were full...)  And now, she teachings via the Web on a site called Patreon, to which you can subscribe during this not-getting-together-too-much time.  I subscribed.  After all, what else was there to do besides watch bad TV and YouTube on any subject known to man and some unknown (and should remain so!)

Also about this same time I discovered Roxanne Richardson, who is a Master Knitter and very knowledgeable and who has a YouTube Channel and a Ravelry thread called Rox Rocks.  Which led me to Clara Parkes and Suzanne Bryant and Barbara Knits and, well, you can see where this is going.

ANYWAY, back to blaming.  These knitters have one thing in common.  They know a LOT about yarn.  Especially Stephanie and Clara.  Clara may be the and I mean capital THE yarn expert.  She now has a place called the Wool Channel.  A. Maze. Ing.

Watching Patreon after reading the yarnharlot blog for years changed my yarn shopping a bit.  I started buying better quality natural fiber yarn, and most of that yarn comes in hanks.  This is a different sort of configuration than they have at the chains.  You need EQUIPMENT!  

You can see that this nicely wound hank of Malabrigo yarn is lovely, but if you tried to knit directly from it, Tangle City.  Take my word for it and don't even try.

You can untwist the hank and hang it over the back of a chair if you want.  In the 'olden days', a child or spouse might be convinced to hold the skein while you wound the up to 500 yards of it into balls for knitting.  Therefore, a yarn winder is required.  Well, not required, but it speeds up the process.  The winder creates what's called a cake (see the top of the picture, the blob in red) which can be used from the outside or from the inside.  A cake tends not to roll away from you or attract your cat.

Using the winder from yarn slung over the back of a chair was somewhat challenging, although I did that for a while.  I graduated to winding from chair to ball by hand, and then winding from ball to cake. (You put the ball in a box or a bowl to keep it from escaping.)  That then, led to finding an alternative to the back of a chair, since my spouse/children/grandchildren were not available for the holding.  My aunt had a yarn swift, made for her by my uncle, who was also unavailable for holding the yarn.  

I searched sites for something manageable both in size and in price.  I found this type.  *It should be noted here that my local yarn shop will wind anything that I purchase there at no additional cost, and so will some on-line dealers although some have a winding fee and many do not choose to do that.

My swift is easy to assemble, use and disassemble, and stores in a flat box in my closet.

The next thing I wanted was a yarn bowl.  It holds a ball or a cake, and the yarn goes from the slit on the side to your needles.  Control is gained, and cats are discouraged.   I had my eye on this shape below for so long... and finally one Christmas my son bought me one.  Until then, I'd used a number of things, including a plain old bowl, a flower pot and an orange juice carton with the side cut out.

The bowl is nicer.  But sometimes you're knitting more than one project.  (What?  You're a monogamous knitter?  OK... skip this part.)  So I became a collector of nice yarn bowls, and I now have, ummm, more than two.

So in my yarn collection I now have yarn, a winder (or two), alpaca yarn, one swift, a couple of bowls, wool yarn, many different types of needles (which might be a future post), also a million knitting markers of different types, cashmere yarn, knitting gauge tools, cotton yarn,, needles gauge tools, mohair yarn, patterns, a Ravelry account where I keep a stash list more or less current, and crochet hooks.  I subscribe to several favorite YouTube channels and a have couple of Patreons I follow.  

My youngest grand has taken a lot of my chain store yarn and is learning to crochet.  She's doing great and her great-grandma would be very proud, as am I.

I also at some point bought a hand-made yarn spindle.  It works fine for cakes but not for balls.  As you knit from the outside of the cake, the spindle turns and viola! No yarn tangles!

If Stephanie McPhee hadn't explained to me the various types of things in her stash, and why to choose one fiber over another, would I have all of this stuff?  Well, probably yes, but it would not have the quality or the value to my knitting that it does if I had not learned the whys and the wherefores.  

So, Steph and Rox and Clara and all the rest, I'm not so much blaming you as showing you homage as I knit on wool and blends and yes, sometimes even my beloved Red Heart.

Knit on...

  

Managing Stashes - Enablers

It's not always my fault.  Really, it's NOT!

Last night my daughter stopped over for a chat.  She had a big tote bag with her which her father was eyeing with suspicion.  After we talked for a while she said "I brought you some yarn."

I said "Oh, gosh" or words to that effect. Eye rolls from hubby.

Understand that my daughter is a talented person.  She does cross stitch like a pro, and knows how to sew but chooses not to.  She also does not cook.  Well, frozen pizzas and stuff in the microwave, but she is best described and most comfortable with the title of career woman.  Lucky for her she married a good cook and her older daughter likes to cook too.  And she hates to shop!

I know...right?

She always tells me it skipped a generation.  So when she tells me she brought me yarn, it could be great but it could be anything!  And she works in a hospital so where did she get yarn??

She took this bag out of her tote. 

"My coworker had to get her mom into assisted living or a nursing home and she was cleaning her house out.  She brought some stuff in, and I said I'd take the yarn."

It's NOT MY FAULT!  The stuff just comes to me like iron filings to a magnet!

She said she only took the stuff that looked new with labels on it.  There were some loose skeins and some individually wrapped packages of kits, yarn and patterns, from Annie's Hook Club.  Like Book Club but for needleworkers??  LOL!

Here's a pattern for fall veggies, beets, carrots and what I can only assume is an eggplant. 

 The package contained green, purple, orange and red yarn.

Then there was this grocery tote bag pattern:

With this lovely green cotton yarn inside:

A purple shawl pattern:

With Caron Simply Soft yarn in the shade of Grape:

A placemat kit, obviously in holiday colors:

Three loose skeins of Cuddle yarn from Joann's in mint green, it's sport weight, so for a baby project, or maybe socks??

And two more skeins of Simply Soft, one in pastels and one in green:

 

More Annie's yarn... this is one brand I did not have in my stash previously.  (I did a google search on Annie's Hook Club, and it appears the value of these kits is about $20 each!) This is worsted weight and feels a bit rough on the fingers.  I wonder if it was supposed to be a kit.  There was a piece of cardboard in the plastic bag, but no pattern.

And last but not least, a big skein of sort of a dusty aqua with no label.  It feels like a Red Heart Super Saver yarn, maybe a 12 or 16 ouncer, one of those "Big Saver" things.  Or maybe it's an off brand, but it is very soft.  The color is truer at the top of the picture.  It was dark when I took it so the camera was working hard in artificial light.

So at least she didn't bring me any UFOs.

Knit on!

One UFO Finished!

I wasn't actually counting UFOs this year.  WHO am I kidding, right?  I never will have a UFO count of zero, that's just wishful thinking.

Remember that stocking I was knitting for the grandson of a co-worker? 

I am happy to report that is it DONE!!

Yep, finished.  Sewn together.  Ends buried, clipped and hidden!

I delivered it yesterday morning, and granddad is pleased and impressed.

 

The pattern was from the Mary Maxim catalog.  Probably purchased in the 70s by his mother.  She knitted the entire family stockings beginning with him, his wife and three children.  She added the in-laws (sons- and daughter-) and then the grands (her greats).  But she developed dementia and is unable to knit anymore.

So I pitched in so the last grandson wouldn't be left out.

My knitting is a different gauge.  My KLEIGH stocking came out much larger than her last 'KREWE' stocking, by about 2 inches.  But at least Kleigh is no longer left out.

I'm feeling kind of virtuous.  I know, I should get over it.

In return for all that knitting, I am the recipient of mom's stash, or at least a good portion of it.  She had about six UFOs of her own.  I'm blown away by her fair isle knitting.  There are several projects with very intricate patterns.

• A blue cardigan with Raggedy Ann and Andy knitted in
• A brown cardigan with an owl
• A pink sweater with beautiful cables
• A pink carriage robe in a lace pattern
• A purple vest
• A white rug with an eagle outline in blue

My daughter voted that I should finish the last one.  We'll see.  Maybe after I read the pattern through.  I will consider it.

So my dears, the lesson here is this:

TRY to finish up some of your UFOs!  You don't want the people who are going to have to deal with your stash to have to take a chance on finding someone who will appreciate your stuff!

So Ruth, when you get to the other side and you know what's what again, know that I appreciated your work.

Knit on...

Stash Update

Oh my goodness... I am truly horrible at keeping track of my stash.  I need to make this a priority!

On the half-square triangles, I took fabric from my stash and cut off chunks from 22 or 23 pieces.  I cut a four and a half inch strip from each, width of fabric.  That totals about 100 inches, or 2.75 yards.   Then I used about the same amount of white for the other half of the HSTs, plus about a half yard for the corners.

I wanted all the same white background because the blocks are so scrappy.  I can't remember if this is one of my 2014 acquisitions or not.  I think I purchased six yards, because you always need whites.

So six yards out of the stash this week!  Who KNOWS how many are left???

The church quilt group needed backings and solids, so I went into the blue bin and the brown bin and took out eight cuts that were two yards or more and put them in the supply closet.  Sorry, no picture!

Feeling rather virtuous for having moved at least 20 yards OUT of the stash...  I know, don't let it fool you like it fooled me.

I was thinking about getting some more background stuff for the church group, and I visited one of my favorite places, Connecting Threads.  And there was my MARCH 28 order, staring me in the face!  In March of this year I purchased 8 yards of pink stars and 16 yards of two different blue dots.

Yikes!  I forgot I had those!  Wonder where I put them???  Did I intend to donate them?  WAAA!

At the very best I'm down in the count by a couple of yards, at the very worst I've come out even.

That's what I get for being proud of myself!

Sew on...

Stash Report

OK, I am never going to actually tell anyone how much fabric I have in my stash because

honestly... I have no idea!

Seriously, no idea.

I know I have one large bin of each of blue, green, red, black/white, tan/cream quilting fabrics, and the green one overfloweth into a couple of small bins. I have what for me is a tiny bin of yellow, purple and orange.

I have what probably amounts to one large bin of Christmas fabric, and one more of multi-colored things that just could not be categorized.

There's a small bin of fruits & veg, and another one with florals I was always going to use for a landscape quilt. Honest. I bought the book and everything!

There's a half-sized big bin of batiks too. That came in handy when I took the class with Jan Krueger in Reedsburg a couple of years ago. Hey, I should get that top quilted, it's quite a stunner...

Honestly, I am never going to be this organized... wish I were!

Oh, I have a big bin of tops that are either ready for quilting or might need a final border before they're ready for quilting.

This is why I never count my stash.

I'm not going to tell you how many bins of garment fabrics I have. One of these days I have to get back to sewing for myself. Things I make fit me so much better than things I buy. Well, it is officially spring (according to Miss A) so it's probably time for cleaning out the closet anyway.

I spent so much time sewing and knitting doll clothes this winter that I am afraid my own spring wardrobe will suffer. Although in Wisconsin, we're still wearing winter coats every day. Some spring, huh? Who thought we could get so excited about 53 degrees!!

I did embroider the rest of the communion linens over the weekend, and while the embroidery machine was running I cut pieces for my eventual Flying Geese quilt, and also used my new template/ruler from Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, The Crumbler, to cut some tumbler pieces.

Oh, and because I used red thread instead of white (bad direction or a personal hearing problem, I don't know) on a dozen I have do to make some more, so I ordered a couple of yards of white linen from Fabric.com. See, the stash grows even when I'm not intending it to grow.

Now I need to schedule some vacation time to sew. And sewing would go so much better if I could spend some time straightening up my room. I was cutting and making kits for the church sewing group, and it gets kinda messy when I'm doing that! I know, clean up as you go, right? Easier said than done sometimes.

Plans are coming together.  I guess spring is here, mentally if not physically!

Sew on...

Stash Enhancement over the Weekend...

I finally finished DD's quilt a couple of weeks ago and am ready to send it off to the quilter, or so I thought.

I needed to find a backing, so I thought I'd just buy some extra-wide fabric. That is until I measured it! Extra-wide fabric is usually 108" wide. The quilt top is 110". You have to have four inches extending beyond your top in order for the quilter to get it on the long arm machine.

So either I have to reduce the size of the top or I have to piece a back. Or both.

If you remember, I had a big brown border on this quilt. I guess I must have thought I needed an extra four inches on the FRONT... duh.   So I can trim it down by about eight inches.  Now it's going to be 102" wide.  OK, that will JUST about fit.

Then I got to thinking, I have a couple of big pieces of the strippy blocks left over, why not put them in the backing?  It's not like I'm going to use them in another quilt. So I tried to go to Joann's on Saturday to pick up the main backing fabric (which I never buy with the quilt fabric since most of the time I'm working from stash).  (Anyway, who has five yards of double-wide fabric in their stash without a reason --  no, no, don't tell me, I'm sure someone does!!)

Saturday was either a good day or not so good a day to go to Joann's.  They had a 25% off coupon  that ended Saturday.  The cutting line was about 25 people deep, and the girls were waiting in the car.  I couldn't subject them to that long a wait.  So I went back Sunday.  No coupon, but what the hey, I'm only buying one piece, right?

Right.

The line was only about 10 deep on Sunday.  The bolt was pretty heavy.  I was number 16.  They were serving number 8.  I had to wait in the calico section.  Right next to the Christmas fabric.

Oh yeah.  You guessed it.  I'm now up five yards of red and green.  Oh and I also picked up three yards of Wonder Under.  It's a good thing I'm not keeping track!

Sew on!

Friday Night Sewing

The aunties and cousins and I get together almost every Friday night for sewing night.  If you visit me often you probably already read about Becca's project.  She's nine, and she does a bang-up job!

Last Friday there was no sewing, and it was kind of a mystery as to why for a while.  But our hostess was off doing some other stuff.  I had taken off early in the afternoon because I knew I was hosting the two next door grands until later in the evening.  So we had our own sewing night.

Of course Miss A organized us all and laid out the dolls who were also attending.  She set up her 'desk' with doctor's office things and took care of several broken appendages with colorful bandages.  She had us all read our contracts and sign them to admit our injured babies.  Boy, does that girl's mind go a million miles an hour!  She's like a Philadelphia lawyer...

The babies with their leg injuries...

I have a system with scraps that provides instant materials for times such as this.  Face it, with two adolescents in the sewing room, I'm not actually going to get any serious work done!  But I have my two inch strip drawer and my 2 1/2 inch drawer and my 'scraps to cut into usable pieces' basket, so I was all set.

Previously I had assembled some quilt blocks using the 2 inch strips.  I made the block that is sometimes called Jacks in various kiddie prints and whites.  Miss A decided that she was going to do the sorting and snipping of threads and Miss E would do the pressing.

Surprisingly, well actually surprising to no one BUT me, Miss E decided that she would press, and she wasn't one bit afraid of the iron.  Her mom later said that in her Girl Scout group she was the only one who knew how to use the iron.  Goes to show they're growing up while I'm not looking again.

Anyway, Miss E pressed all the blocks I had done, then was looking for more.  So I started sewing my 'sorted' two inch strips together with the whites, and made more sets, which then turned into more blocks.  Miss A reacted in amazement when the blocks were pressed open -- where did that pattern come from??!!  Really, those strips turned into that pretty design??  WOW!

This is how so many new quilters react when those intricate patterns turn out to be nothing more than strips and squares when you break them down.  I have a pretty large pile now, I should be able to put some flimsies together this weekend.

Unless, of course, the girls decide we need another 'sewing night'!!  Then I'll have to wait for direction from Miss A.  :-)

Sew on...

Stash Busting

A couple of weekends ago I decided it was time.  Time to spruce up the wardrobe, time to make a dent in the apparel fabric stash, time for some new pants! 

I have a wonderful Great Copy pattern that I have used a lot, my very favorite.  Then I have a go-to trousers pattern from the Today's Fit line from Sandra Betzina.  Last but not least, I have a lovely Palmer-Pletsch pattern that was personally fit to me by Marta Alto at a seminar in Platteville, WI one summer.

What to do, what to do?  Which should I pick?  And what fabric?  The choices nearly paralyzed me for a while.  Finally I remembered how much I love moleskin fabric and how nice it is to sew.  AND how good it looks even after many washings!  I dug into the stash and came up with light gray and dark brown moleskin.  On the way I found a lovely dark stretch denim.

Pulling patterns -- remember my post about putting things away?  Hmmm, must not have found the Great Copy pieces, because the folder is not in my circle of activity.  OK, Great Copy is Missing In Action.

Sandra -- where are you Sandra?  Must be stashed away somewhere with a piece of designated fabric!

OK!  Choice made, on to the PP.  I cleared off the table and laid out the gray fabric.  This one has all the adjustments made and should be just about perfect in the moleskin, with its slight stretch.  Pockets or no pockets?  None this time, and no zipper.  Actually, my hips are relatively small in the scheme of things.  Even the snuggest waistline just skims over the back and bottom of me without unzipping.  Easy peasy!

I cut and snipped and got three pairs cut in one afternoon.  Out came the serger, and one we go!  I had white thread in, so I did the light pair first.  I can sew nearly the entire garment on the serger, the only exception being hem and waistline.  I cut three lengths of my favorite noon-roll elastic, and got down to it.

I have a Babylock Serger, with the pneumatic looper threading.  I love this machine!!  I used to hate changing thread colors.  I would sew everything with a kind of a dirty gray just so I wouldn't have to change looper threads.  And me breaking a looper thread was not a pretty sight!

Anyway, I did all three pairs of pants, top stitching the waistbands and pressing up and sewing the hem.

Good News:  I used 8.5 yards of fabric from my stash.

Bad News:     I forgot to adjust for length again, and all THREE pairs of these wonderful pants are about three inches too long!!  Just like when I buy them from the store.

Only they actually fit everywhere else.  Darn.  I should alter the pattern right now!

Sew on!

Stash Busting! Quilters Organize!

Hey, have you seen this in blogland?  Stash Busting is an actual initiative among quilters who want to work through more than they buy.  Who knew?  Not me, well not at first.

Used since last report:                   0.00  yards
Used year to Date:                       xxx yards

Added since last report:                 2.875 yards
Added Year to Date:                   xxx yards

Net Used for 2012:                        XX yards

I went out to visit a couple of my favorite blogs and saw these wonderful reports... hey I need to get on this.  It's too late to count 2012, unless I declare a Fiscal Year beginning Sept. 1, but maybe I should get started!  I have added a page to this blog called Stash Busting.  I'll see if it helps.

I also noticed that people title days, and blog a specific thing on a specific day, like Design Wall Day or Linky Day or UFO challenges.  Hmmm... that one sounds like it's for me!



UFO Number one million or so...  LOL!

Maybe we garment sewist should organize a UFO challenge.  Well, I guess I'd better check on what's going on at ASG, I'm sure I can find someone doing something onto which I should get on board.

Keep on sewing!

Oh No, Did I Really?

I had to stop in at JoAnn's the other night for something.  I don't remember now what it even was...

Ohhhh, yeah... it was 50% off!!  And pretty, don't you agree?

Resource Center Musings

I found this notepad in my stack of paper when we were moving all of our stuff from the garage back to the office.  I think this says it all... and I'm a contender!!

A notepad from my desk

In previous posts and in my blog header I've talked about my stash.  I've discussed the reasons why I believe a serious sewist should have a stash. 

1. When your colors are out of season, or the stores want to sell brown and you like black, you can shop where the proprietor stocks what you need.
2. When you want to sew at 11 p.m. or 5 a.m. and the stores aren't open yet, you're good to go.
3. When you have to make a blue monster costume on Sunday night for Monday morning, well, you get the picture!!

So you probably weren't surprised when I showed my stack of bins...

or my boxes of patterns...

But did I tell you that I ran completely out of muslin??  Or that I somehow have failed to store even one single black zipper of ANY size?  How does this happen?

I recently decided to take inventory of my sewing supplies, just for curiosity's sake, and perhaps to give a list of things to my insurance man for a rider on my homeowners policy.

I have approximately $300 worth of sewing machine needles. 

I have six different kinds of straight pin and three magnetic pincushions.  And before you comment, yes I DO use the various kinds of pins.  Maybe not daily but they gather no dust!  When I decide to cut patterns out, I will sometimes do as many as a dozen projects, and I leave SOME pins in each piece, so some are out of circulation, in the baggies I use for my 'ready to sew' kits.

You've seen these before...

I spent some time in the resource center trying to finish up DD's quilt so I can move on to other things.  I have a blouse to put button holes into, and another one that needs some interfacing.  I have about oh maybe 45 yards of interfacings in my resource center.  When I find it on sale at 50% off I buy 10 yards of the light weight or medium weight, and any time I find the stuff that's sold by Palmer & Pletsch, I get several packages of each weight in black and white.

Recently I donated two baggies of flat buttons to our preschool for craft projects.  I barely made a dent in the button collection.  But I did thin out the singles and the big buttons that didn't really appeal to me anymore.  I'm happy to make some 3 and 4 year olds happy.  :-)

What I didn't realize was how many SCRAPS I have saved over time!!  I used to make doll clothes, in fact I started my sewing career making clothes for my Barbie dolls.  I have an affinity for things Barbie.  I loved her professional outfits, I get a fluttery feeling in my tummy thinking about an outfit I bought her way back when, with its Chanel style jacket and matching purse and heels!!  My Barbie was stylin'!

SO I sorted out my scraps into a couple of piles -- Barbie-sized pieces, 18" doll sized pieces and baby doll/Cabbage Patch pieces.

You know those big plastic bins that hold however many gallons??  You know, the ones up near the top of this blog??  Well, there are two that are full of potential 18" and baby doll outfits, and the potential Barbie outfits fill a half-sized bin.  I guess I'd better get to work!!

Know any naked Barbies??  I guess you could send them my way...

Laughing out loud ---

Keep on sewing!

I'm On The Five Year Plan

I spent some time in my sewing studio this past weekend, working on some projects.  I think I must be on the Five Year Plan in my garment sewing life.  Why do I say that, you ask?  Well...

Yesterday I sewed part of a blouse.  I only sewed PART of a blouse because when I cut out said blouse, somewhere within the last five years, I unpinned it from its pattern. 

I put the pieces into a gallon sized zip lock bag.  Good thinking, right?  Keep the pieces together so you can find them when you need them.  Nothing organizes better than gallon sized bags!

See, I had good intentions...  from front to back:  jacket, blouse, vest, vest, jacket, blouse and jacket.

Except I forgot to include the pattern envelope and the instruction sheet!  I have the brand and the number, but if you've been in my sewing room, you know that I have a TON of patterns in various boxes and bins, and that pattern could be in any one of them!

Lucky for me, I remember the picture/drawing from the front of the envelope, so I have a chance of finding it just from that, instead of having to read the numbers...

So I sewed the most obvious pieces -- front yokes to lower fronts, matching the notches, and back yoke to lower back.  I stopped at putting interfacing onto the facing pieces because it was getting late and I need my beauty sleep more and more these days.

Left and right fronts, waiting for facings.

Before I go too much further I need to find the pattern envelope.  Oh, and some light weight interfacing.  The fabric is a light weight linen blend from Joann Fabrics.  The pattern is kind of a loose fitting top with asymmetrical hems and a cross-over front.  There were some trousers included.  I didn't cut those out.  I still may, if I can find a coordinating fabric in my stash.  This linen was purchased at least 10 years ago, but teal is back...



I think I may be able to find something in here somewhere...

How do I know I'm on the Five Year Plan with this outfit?  DH and I have been living in this house for five years now, and I know this pattern was in my stash when I moved in!  So it's at LEAST the five year plan -- that is, if I finish it in 2012!!

Keep your fingers crossed, and keep sewing!

Oh, and keep good thoughts on the pants fabric, OK?  I'd hate to have to do more fabric shopping...