I went to John King Books yesterday and found several of the Art of Sewing titles. I have to pace myself, however, and only bought two: Basic Tailoring and The Classic Look. I also bought a Better Homes and Garden sewing book. Alas, there were virtually no knitting books and certainly not any Elizabeth Zimmerman. Also, while driving down Woodward in Royal Oak, I found a new fabric store that I will definitely have to visit at a later date.

I would like to catch you up on another project that I mentioned in previous posts: my Prada bag. I have the material, lining, and buckram, but have been stumped on the leather trim. Here is a refresher photo:



There is a whole craft world of leather working and stamping. You'd think that I would be able to just buy straps for the purse, right? Well I can, but not the ones that I want. I am gong to have to create them from scratch with big pieces of cowhide which is incredibly distasteful to me. Not only that, I am going to need special cutting tools to work with the leather. I am just not sure I am that dedicated to having this bag. I do have 10 days off coming up during the holidays and this sounds like a good project for winter break. I will have to think about it.

As you can see, for those who pay attention to these sorts of things, I have added a new link to my link list at right: DomiKNITrix.com. I recently bought the book, "DomiKNITrix," by Jennifer Stafford who maintains the website. I really enjoyed this book. The projects are fantastic and the book is written in a way that makes it easy to understand. I highly recommend it.

Another publication that I have recently taken to is Blueprint, from Martha Stewart's formidable publishing house. I don't have the first issue (if anyone knows where I can score a copy, that would be great) but the second issue totally rocks. I know that people have a problem with Martha, but I just love her. She has taken crafty pursuits to the mainstream and although I probably won't get around to making my own Christmas cards, I love her for showing me how easy it is. I also subscribe to Living, which has celebrated its 15 years of publishing this year with a look back at all of the projects and tips over the years.