Well, I'm sticking with the plan to try to complete at least one more of my works-in-progress before beginning another. I've made some good progress on the "That 70s Sock" (or so I am calling the Trekking XXL sock because of the combo of tan, burnt orange, and yellow striping) as I read chapters for this textbook review. (AND I am finding things the author needs to change, so I feel like I'm earning my money).

I've also added a few rows, over the past couple days, to the Kilimanjaro Kat shawl, although I have to admit I'm a bit bored with it at this point. And it's not good read-and-knit material, because you have to be looking at the stitches or you wind up in the wrong loop.

Oh, and Kristie, the poison ivy is getting better, thanks for asking. It's still kind of at the raised-bump stage but at least it doesn't itch any longer.

And this weekend, I have what is probably the second strangest sewing project (the first being the mesh bags for the seeds last fall) that I've ever done.

Last week, one of my colleagues (an ornithologist) stopped me in the hall.

"Erica, you do sewing, right?"
"Yee-esss..." I responded, wondering in my mind what fresh Hell is this? (it had been one of those days and I was envisioning getting all of this chap's mending to do).

He went on to explain to me that their "bird bags" (small cotton bags they confine birds in while they weigh them) were getting very ragged, and also he needed more. He wanted ones that were of a better design than what the supply house sold.

So I have one of the inferior bags in my posession, and I plan to go to Jo-Ann's tomorrow for cotton shirting fabric (I DID threaten him to get printed cotton with Hello Kitty or some such thing on it and he just laughed and said "the students would probably enjoy that"), cording, and bias tape.

The original bags have a ribbon - yes, a piece of satin ribbon - sewn on the outside and you use that to tie up the bag. The ribbon on the sample bag he gave me is all frayed to nothing, which tells me it's a bad design. So I'm going to make a simple casing about 1 1/2" down from the top of the bag (they need that "flange" on the top to hold the bag) using bias tape, and insert the cord. The bags themselves are just simple pillowcase shapes, which I will sew up with French seams (the original was, and it seems a sensible precaution when you realize there will be angry little birds with beaks and feet with claws inside the bags). I think the logical pattern will be:

Cut the bag as a rectangle.
Hem the top.
Sew on the bias tape casing, leaving enough space for the side seam
Sew the bottom seam
Sew the side seam.

I may do the side seam first and the bottom seam last, I'm not sure. I'll have to try a sample bag for this.

He wants a dozen of these and is going to pay me for supplies plus a reasonable amount for my time. (I am, however, doing it mainly as a favor. I hope I don't wind up becoming the bird-bag supplier to all the ornithology types around here).