An Expert Is Someone Who's Seen It Once Before

If it's Saturday I must be off to work on a tailored suit muslin. S and I are going to try to push through to get her first muslin alterations done, to review my second muslin (reflecting alterations from last week's marathon). Plus, hopefully, marking up the adjunct pieces to the 8 from the shell, given that we've made wholesale changes just about everywhere and none of the notches (after altering those pieces) will line up between lining, interfacing and body.

I cannot tell you how much I loathe marking up the muslin. Eight pieces will take more than 2 hrs to mark accurately and with all the lines required (including seam lines?!)

I REALLY hope that, after this weekend, I'll be ready to prep and cut my fashion fabric. Of course, there's no point getting excited. It's going to be what it's going to be.

In the meanwhile, allow me to remind you of my fundamental insanity. I finished the cashmere sweater (it was a HIT, peeps) which, the entire time I was constructing it and dealing with challenges, was the theoretical obstacle to enjoying life focusing solely on the suit.

I kept telling myself that if I could figure it out and get it done I would happily focus only on the jacket, till its completion, and make socks as my quiet, calm-down craft.

Well, I am making simple socks:

I'm getting faster at these...

 ...but I cannot stop thinking about making another sweater. Or a pair of high-waisted denim leggings with that new denim stash I bought. Or a new dress with my navy wool jersey.

I even bought the hilariously-titled "Sockupied" online-magazine to dream about complicated things I'll have to figure out on the fly.

OK, on the topic of making socks, I'm completely converted. They're so methodical. Now that I've memorized the simple pattern, I can just pick up from where I've left off. And, having washed my just-made socks and having worn them just about every day in this freezing weather, I can say that I don't mind the waffle-feeling (which has toned down substantially, if not entirely) and they really do stand up to everything. Plus, people think they are the cat's ass. I love being popular!

I'm actually going to teach a work-mate how to knit socks in the next couple of weeks. She saw me making mine and, though she could care less about knitting on the whole, she cannot stop thinking of wearing her own socks. It takes all kinds, peeps.

Plus, it's pretty hilarious that I'm about to teach someone how to knit.