School Daze.... 1 & 2

I'm baaack! Lemme catch ya' all up on the last couple of days. The first photo is of the ever popular, often sought after FIDM tote bag. Anyone who lives or spends any time near downtown S.F. has seen these bags, usually in packs of 4 or more at a time. In fact whenever someone asked WHERE I would be going to school & I told them FIDM, one of the first things out their mouths would be, "OH WOW! You are going to be one of those hot chicks that carries those cool bags!!" Yep, that pretty much sums ME up, "hot chick with a cool bag". The photo on your right is one of the FABULOUS (Stephanie, that was for you!) views from our FABULOUS balconies at school. FIDM occupies the 4th, 5th, 6th, & 7th floors of a big ole building in downtown S.F., Union Square, i.e. the shopping mecca. I took this photo while I was waiting for my first class to begin, that is I took a break from knitting to take this pic.
So here is the rundown: (note, each class is 2 hours & 45 minutes long)

• Fashion Sketching I -Thursdays @ Noon, Room #730, Instructor Teresa Lehane...

I hope that you all know how much I love you, and that is the ONLY reason I am willing to humiliate myself by showing off my first "fashion" sketches. I have never really sketched anything before. I had to draw a dozen or so garments as part of my application project in order to get accepted into this program, I have doodled, and.... Yeah, that's pretty much it! So these pathetic excuses for "fashion" sketches are in fact my FIRST attempt at sketching with any kind of instruction. NOTE>>>these are "fashion" sketches, i.e. they are SUPPOSED to look like aliens, it's called the "nine head figure"<<< I will admit, I was nervous in class when the instructor asked how many of us sketched or drew everyday, & 1/3 to 1/2 the class raised hands.... UGH! BUT... My new friend Stephanie (If you're reading, Hi Stephanie!!), who is amazing in the realm of sketching, is in the same class!! So I felt much better having her near by. She offered to teach me to sketch in exchange for me teaching her to knit! No Problemo!! When I left class that day, I was feeling a bit concerned about my potential. A day later, I stand back & look at my maiden voyage into sketching & am pretty happy about my FIRST go at it. There is a sketching tutor that I plan to spend some with. I KNOW that I can do this, & do it well DAMMIT!! The instructor is very nice, she played the soundtrack to "Pulp Fiction" while we worked. btw... Our first homework assignment, sketch 20 figures in a week. Was anyone counting how many times I used the words "sketch" or "sketching"?

• Success Seminar -Thursdays @ 3 P.M. Room # 601 Instructor shall remain nameless...

the short story here.... I am going to do everything in my power to get out of completing this course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is no photo for this class, just close your eyes & picture a HUGE deep paper cut, squeeze the juice of an entire lemon into it, then sprinkle some salt. So anyway, I went into this class with a very open mind, thinking, yeah this might be cool. NOT!! It is designed to help new students assess themselves & identify & strengthen their study habits, learn to balance school, social life, work, and manage stress. I have been school before, I have worked as a manager in the adult world for 15 years . This class is a fat waste of my time. I am pretty sure that I am older than the teacher, & I use the word "teacher" ever so loosely! The other students in this particular class.... I won't go there! Anyway......

• Textile Science for Fashion Design I -Fridays @ 8:30 A.M. Room # 414 Instructor Julie Stonehouse...

I really enjoyed this class today! The photo below is of my text book (the big ass blue binder), my textile swatch book (172 swatches, which we all had to affix into the book & then write in the info about each & every swatch), my picker (which is the magnifying glass thingy with a gauge type ruler to count individual threads), & my textile dictionary!
I was GIDDY!! The instructor is super cool, & she grew up in my hometown. She "collects" movie clips that reference textiles, so she played a clip from the movie "Young Frankinstein". Anyone have any idea which clip that would be??? I will reveal it in my next post! The other students were friendly. Julie asked us to introduce ourselves & say what our super power would be if we could choose. Most people wanted to be invisible, fly, or read minds, all very cool things. But one gal said that she would want to be able to heal people because she hates to see people sick or in pain. I nearly welled up & cried right there, it just don't get any sweeter! Overall this has been the most pleasant class yet, I am in LOVE with the subject matter, & I don't have to stress over sketching anything! ; )