Hi.

I’m Victoria, and this site mostly has my sewing projects and science writing, with a sprinkling of older poetry & etc.

I’m a prairie kid, parent of two, celiac, and like lane swimming. I love to research. I did my undergrad in physics & English with a math minor. I’m now doing a Master’s in economics.

A note about the blog title: in math and physics, the prefix eigen means one's own. It comes from the german, but mostly I always liked thinking about a particle's eigenvalues, and thought I might apply the same thought to my excursions.

Crossword: Hungry to Sew

Crossword: Hungry to Sew

[.puz] [PDF] [Solution]

Well, I made a crossword! It’s sewing themed, because… uhh… it’s a lot of what occupies my thoughts?

Hopefully it’s do-able? There are some corners I am not super pleased with the fill on, but I opted to just get it done rather than bang my head against fill on such a learning experience puzzle. I started tweaking the Crossfire dictionary, thanks in part to Share the Wordlist and other sources, plus my brain, so next time, better time, we can hope!

Thoughts and spoilers (?) below.

So, I love love love my stupid clue at 67A. It’s mathy and maybe not for the rest of the puzzle’s target audience of sewing folk, but it’s for ME.

57A is not good at all - EUI. Nonsense acronym crossfire inbuilt library wanted included that i could have clued along the lines of the vowels or something, but this is what we have.

I like the theme - and i like themed puzzles generally to solve - and it was actually inspired by a possible themer I rejected for obscurity - the SLEEVEDUMPLING employed in the Perkins Shirt. But we have the much more common YOKEBURRITO to make up for it!

My problem in getting to another puzzle is that I’m not actually a punny person at all, nor I suppose all that into wordplay, and I really like these kinds of straightforward but quite strictly defined themes myself. Mom wants to make one about tea so maybe we will?

Oh also next time I’ll try out AmuseLabs for hosting, but I couldn’t bother myself to try a bunch for first go out. Really I should learn to be better at seeking advice, but it’s a personal failing of mine that I feel like I have to have some baseline competency before doing so, and I’m also not seeking to remedy that at this time. Love 2 learn!!!

I really don’t know how to make bras

I really don’t know how to make bras

Silk organza wrap top - 1945 Life magazine

Silk organza wrap top - 1945 Life magazine