That was a whirlwind. Knitting was done, doctors were consulted, families were visited. I have no photos to show for it, as I left my camera cord in Philadelphia. It's amazing how dependent one can be on a few wires enclosed in plastic. No worries - it's on its way home. As soon as I have it in my hands, I can't wait to give you a tour of the play room/art studio!

I thought I'd take the opening provided by a photoless post to announce that I'm looking to hire an illustrator who will be in charge of producing hand-drawn diagrams to go along with my pattern instructions. Also, I'm putting together a pool of pattern testers that can be called upon to test future patterns. The job descriptions and qualifications can be found here. 

Thanks so much for your interest, everyone! I've received hundreds of responses, and it will take me at least a week to get through them all. Be looking for an email from me come Jan. 20th.

We are currently doing a ton of behind-the-scenes work on Sew Liberated so that it can function somewhat independently of me and Patrick, allowing us the time to focus on Lachlan and his care. I'm designing like a mad woman - trying to get four new designs in the pipeline before mid-February. It will feel nice to only have my hands in the designing aspect of the patterns. My niece, who's in college studying graphic design, is taking on all of our graphics and layout work, and Kim will be in charge of drafting instructions from my chicken scratch notes, sewing samples, and coordinating the pattern testing. Patrick has given up his dominion over the website (look for an amazing new site/look come February!) and only has his hands in the accounting and other technical issues. He will also continue to be my personal assistant, baking cookies on demand and bringing them to me along with a glass of milk. He claims he'll be resigning from this role once the baby is born. I think he should stay on. It offers a great opportunity for career advancement - he could move on to fudge, pies, and even cakes!

All that to say - it's good to know when it's time to start delegating and letting go of the control of every single aspect of running a creative business. Lachlan's diagnosis pushed us to consider this sooner than we otherwise would have, but we're grateful for that. It's been a busy, busy month, but the craziness of getting everything running smoothly will hopefully pay off soon.

Now ... I think I need a cookie to help me formulate my thoughts as I write up construction notes for one of the new patterns. Patrick? A mug of hot chocolate would be nice, too. Thanks a bunch. Mwah.