The notebook fell open and there it was.

Actually, not really. Arabellaesmerelda sent me a link to this incredibly evocative (for me, at least) illustration posted to Flickr, by the artist irtroit. But I like to think of this as the digital equivalent of flipping open someone's notebook at random and finding something like this.

It was in the Moleskinerie pool, and for those of you who don't know what a Moleskine is, it's a notebook, and it's a cult. Seriously. I'm just a low-level acolyte; I use mine (the lined kind) for the quotidian purpose of taking notes. But there are probably thousands, if not tens of thousands, of folks who use theirs to make art like this.

And even cooler, this artist, irtroit, is in Moscow. She's from Izhevsk. I had to look up Izhevsk, absolutely. It's where the AK-47 was invented. That's not the cool part; the cool part is that thanks to the magic of the internet we all get to see her work. What kind of distribution would there have been for Russian-made sewing-themed notebook art before this particular moment in the history of the world?

Besides, you all know plaid is my kryptonite. I am helpless before it (and it's a green plaid at that). Right now I'm weak, in a thrall in front of my monitor, and I won't get anything done until I summon the strength to change browser tabs.

One last thing -- if that small pattern piece is supposed to be the sleeve, as I imagine, that low curve is really easy to set in, and makes an absolutely adorable cap sleeve.