Happy [Lunar] New Year + Valentine's Day! I made some ties for my little valentines last week, just in time for J's music program at school [which by the way, was so fantastic!]. I followed Purl Bee's little boy's tie pattern which was super easy to follow and came together relatively quickly. I used a crisp cotton lawn fabric I picked up in Korea. The wonderful thing about this project is it does not require a sewing machine, so I was able to do the hand sewing while waiting to pick up the boys after school. The ties were a huge hit with the boys and they have already requested several more to add to their wardrobe. I'm thinking a cute green plaid tie for St. Patrick's Day. For some reason J reminds me of Alex P. Keaton when he is wearing his tie and I am so tempted to get him some penny loafers + a briefcase. Oh, and for the next batch of ties I will make sure to add a little loop on the backside of the tie so the inner tie flap can tuck inside the loop. [Hope that makes sense, in other words, I want to avoid having the skinny tie part flapping around in photographs as demonstrated by exhibit A and exhibit B.]