Tokyo Knitter

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T07:52:00.000+09:00

The past 4 months since I got a new job has been pretty hectic, and I think I got carpal tunnel so not much knitting done. But here are some belated pictures from November and December.

We got dressed up for Hubby's birthday celebration at the Michelin 2-starred Michel Troisgros. I liked the raw cauliflower with walnut oil and very thinly shaved cheese:

The pumpkin veloute with bleu cheese and orange zest was my favorite.

Cutie appreciated the fancy butter:

But of course, he is still 6 and plays with the napkin holder:

We made these for Christmas this year:

In 2008, my knitting resolutions are to finish up all my projects on my needles, and to use up stash yarn before I buy anything new!

Blue Shedir

2007-12-02T22:43:00.001+09:00

My first chemo cap "Shedir" from knitty was knit in the round exactly according to the pattern, but somehow ended up very very big.

Rowan Calmer is so so soft, it was a pleasure to knit. The cable pattern keeps it interesting. I would definitely knit this again.

It has already been gifted to a friend's hubby who is fighting cancer.

Cutie models it here to show how big it is:

Clapotis for my Grandma

2007-10-24T21:06:00.000+09:00

Ever since I discovered the world of knitting blogs and knitty.com, I wanted to knit the Clapotis. When my friend S went to New York for a business trip, I sent her off with a long list of Lorna's Laces colorways that I liked, but purl didn't carry any of them in Lion and Lamb. After visits to Yuzawaya and Okadaya, I always came home disappointed that they didn't carry similar, silk 50%/wool 50% blends in variegated colors.
One day, I found a similar yarn at Okadaya that wasn't a variegated colorway, but had some sparkly silver in the yarn. The Diacouture Silklame is silk 40%/wool 58%/polyesther 2% with a gauge of 21-22 stitches per 10 cm. I figured that was close enough. I had also wanted to knit something for my grandmother, and decided this was my chance to try out the Clapotis pattern.
I LOVE knitting this. Dropping the stitches is fun to do. I knit this in Tokyo, Dublin, and Paris this summer. I will definitely knit this pattern again!!

I'm back!

2007-10-21T23:08:00.001+09:00

We lost everything on the hard drive, but I am back. Here is the Baby Bolero from One Skein, made for baby K, born in August. I had to improvise and make a few changes since the gauge was different, so the left side and right side turned out to be a little different, but it knit up very fast, and I am very happy with it!

Socks That Rock!

2007-03-11T22:01:00.000+09:00

There has been a lot of knitting in the past month, but our PC is down and sadly, we are told it is something serious and it may take a while to get it back up. I finished knitting Cutie's second red/white/black/gray Fjordlook sock. Also finished DH's scarf. I casted on a pair of socks for me, and another for Cutie.

The first package of the Rockin' Sock Club from Blue Moon Fiber Arts arrived today, and the yarn is a beautiful green/purplish gray colorway, and it came with a binder to file the dyer's notes and patterns, and a bumper sticker, and the cutest keychain! The pattern is called Inside Out, for a sock that can be worn either way. Should be an interesting knit!

Socks with self-striping yarn

2007-02-10T22:08:00.000+09:00

Yarn: Fjord-Look (100 g = 420m, 75% wool, 25% Nylon, color 716, Made in Italy)

Pattern: Six-stitch, top-down, with Slipped Stitch Rib, from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch

Needle: Clover Takumi bamboo size 3 circulars, 40cm & 60cm

Thanks to Fyberduck and sockknitters.com, and this tutorial, I learned how to knit 2 socks on 2 circulars. I LOVE knitting socks this way. It is very nice to have both socks done at the same time!

Since this was my first project with self-striping yarn, I knit a swatch to see how the striping came about, then used the ball-winder that came in this ridiculous box. This Japanese company, Royal, must have such a dominating market share that they don't bother shooting a new picture for the box.

After the swatch, I had 2 balls of yarn, 42 grams each.

The 6-stitch pattern was easy, and since these were for Cutie's little feet, I was done in no time!

There was still a lot of yarn left, so I have started another pair. The toe-up, 5-stitch version will be coming soon!

The power of knitting blogs

2007-02-06T15:17:00.001+09:00

Time flies and it’s already the second month of 2007. I hadn’t been checking the Red Scarf Project 2007 blog for a while, but realized the OFA must be busy getting the care packages ready for St. Valentine’s Day, and clicked to see what was going on at the knit along site. It turns out they got more than 7,000 scarves, way more than their goal of 2,500! It’s so nice to know there will be thousands of foster kids getting a hand-knit scarf on Valentine’s Day.
There was an article in a New Hampshire newspaper:

“hand-knitted scarves from all across the country and from as far away as Australia, Japan, and Turkey.” --- wow, I guess this means my scarf got there on time!

Felted Boxes

2007-01-31T21:43:00.000+09:00

I knit these boxes and filled it up with cookies and candy for Cutie's Kindergarten teachers as Christmas gifts. The pattern is from the Mason Dixon book. The yarn is Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, the same as the one skein felted bags. Cutie decided the pink one should go to Miss J and the green one is for Miss S!

Happy belated birthday, sis!

2007-01-18T20:04:00.000+09:00

I got a lot done in the past week. I finally gifted my felted one skein bags, with a cute ceramic rice bowl and a box of strawberry Pocky!
And I baked a marble cake with my new Kouglof mold from my beloved cuoca.com, another recipe from Tania's book. And I sent out a belated birthday present to my sister. This is the Shifting Sands pattern by Grumperina. 4 balls of Rowan All Seasons Cotton Cassis, including the fringe, with only a little bit leftover, knit in Japanese size 10 bamboo Clover circulars. It's the same yarn I used for the Red Scarf Project 2007. I sent both of them out on Monday via air mail, so it should arrive this weekend or early next week.

I've been tagged!

2007-01-09T22:01:00.000+09:00

I think I got tagged by Anonyknits while I was knitting by the beach in Tangalle, Sri Lanka.

RULES: "Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog."

So, here I go, even though I am very very late:

Six Weird Things About Tokyo Knitter

1. In Japanese, the term “knitting” is a word that covers both “straight needle knitting” (knitting) and “hook needle knitting” (crocheting), so until I discovered the world of knitting blogs and knitting in English last year, I was completely unaware that English speakers differentiate so much between knitting and crocheting. I know how to crochet but have never attempted a whole project, just to make cords or trimmings for my knitting projects. But I think I may try some crocheting projects from the One Skein book this year.

2. When I was pregnant with my DS, I was disappointed that I didn’t have any bizarre food cravings. I was actually looking forward to finding out what I would beg my DH to go hunt for: pickles and chocolate chip ice cream at 2 a.m.? Or would I hate my favorite foods, or suddenly love Natto? But nothing like that happened. Bummer.

3. Last year, I tried out eyelash perm, and I liked it. I didn’t think I was vain enough to spend 3,000 yen ($25) on just eyelashes, but it is not bad for 2 months of not having to curl my eyelashes and skipping mascara most of the time. And the world seems clearer. I was kind of shocking to discover that when your eyelashes are all perfectly curled and out of your way, you can see better, without a grayish fog on the rim of your vision!

4. During college, I went on a long vacation in Thailand with my girlfriends for spring break. One night, we took a break from Pad Thai, Tom Yum Goon, and coconut ice cream and went to an Italian restaurant in Phuket. We shared everything, and everybody ate the same thing. But the next morning, I was the only one with with extreme abdominal pain. My first and only time I got on an ambulance, and the first time to stay in an hospital over night was in Thailand for food poisoning.

5. When I went to school in the U.S. (most of elementary school and senior high), I made straight A’s and was a top student. But in junior high in Tokyo, I was an obnoxious teenager who never paid attention to my English teachers (poor things) because I despised their bad accents, and barely passed my math classes since I didn’t study much. So I know how it feels to be both the teacher’s pet and a delinquent.

6. I hate math, accounting, numbers, and taxes, even though I used to be in investment banking, and still sit behind a desk in a finance-related job. Last weekend, I saw a hand knit baby sweater in a very very very easy pattern, in a nice, soft organic cotton yarn with a price tag of over 9,000 yen ($75), and it made me wonder if I can knit for money. I sooo admire people who make a living out of what they love to do.

I think that, after about 30 or 35, it is hard to find something weird about yourself, since you are so used to being you, and you don't care that much about how weird you are anymore. I had to read several other blogs with this meme thing, and then racked my brain to come up with 6 things. And these 6 aren't THAT weird. But it was kind of fun, so I guess my first meme was kind of interesting.

I’m tagging disdressed, smoking hot needles, splityarn, a strikke, fluffbuff, and tricoquelicot. Sorry!

Happy holiday season!

2006-12-16T04:51:00.000+09:00

We are leaving tomorrow for a beach vacation, so these are my Happy Holiday photos for you.
These 2 gingerbread houses were made, again, from Tania's book. (I am so flattered that 12 out of 12 amazon customers have clicked on behalf of my review.)
It basically took a whole day to make 2 batches of dough (just in case any of the pieces cracked, but none did), chill it in the refrigerator, cut out the pattern, cut the dough according to the pattern, chilling the dough again, baking the dough, making the icing, assembling the house, then decorating it with candy. Whew! It was a lot of work, but we had fun and the house smells wonderful. Thanks to my mom who helped with the assembling and decorating. The decorating was designed by Cutie: he decided which candies to put where. The left one turned out excellent, but the right one wasn't cold enough when I cut the dough and transferred it on to the baking sheet, so it was a little lopsided and needed some biscuits at the top of the roof. Cooking is an art, but baking is science, and it's all about precision!

Rowan striped baby hat with pom pom

2006-12-13T21:52:00.000+09:00

Meet baby H, 7 months old. I started knitting this hat when I visited him, and knit while I had a delicious pasta lunch and caught up with his mom, my girlfriend from college. H had lunch, a short nap, and was a good quiet baby the whole time, thanks to his Grandma. I got a lot of knitting done on the way home on the train, and finished it that same night!
Yarn: Rowan Handknit Cotton. Needles: Clover size 10 Takumi bamboos. Pattern: modified from the Yarn Harlot's watermelon hat.
It was a nice, quick break from Hubbo's socks, and fits the baby perfectly!

Bread Baking class #2: dinner rolls

2006-12-10T22:03:00.000+09:00

I baked 6 of these in my second class. The kneading went well. They tasted very good, but I rolled them too tight, and some of them cracked a little bit. So, I learned that it's important to roll them up very loosely, and not to brush on too much eggwash, or it will drip down and you end up with baked egg pieces.

At home, I made this. We Japanese LOVE purin. Otherwise known as custard pudding, creme caramel, caramel custard, or flan. I tried the Gatten recipe. It is one of Cutie's favorite shows on NHK. Because I used a caramel tablet before pouring in the egg mixture, when I flipped it out on a plate it came out like this. It looks like the moon! But the recipe is great since all I did was put in a dishtowel then my metal otoshibuta in my biggest Le Creuset, put in the purin covered with aluminum foil, and fill it up with boiling hot water so that it goes up halfway of the height of the ramekin. Heat it on high for 5-6 minutes, then turn off the heat, close the lid, and wait 25 minutes. It came out very nice and silky smooth.

My first pair of socks

2006-11-26T07:35:00.000+09:00

I finished my first pair of socks for my Cutie!
From Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch, these are a 4-stitch Garter Rib, knit down from the cuff.
It is a great book, with all the information necessary for a beginner to knit a sock, and told me exactly what to do.
It has patterns for many socks, rated Easy, Intermediate, and Experienced.
I started with the first Easy one, and am thinking of working my way up to Experienced.
Of course, Hubbo likes the big green sock on the cover.
Obviously an Experienced sock.
And like father like son, Cutie wants me to knit him "the No. 3 sock", meaning the black and white Maze sock on the cover, the third one from the left. Also an Experienced sock.
I told them they need to be patient with me while I learn more sock knitting skills!

My meathead hat with Doraemon

2006-11-24T00:15:00.000+09:00

This is my meathead hat for Larissa's knit along. Cutie chose the Doraemon attached to the brim. I wanted to embellish it with something a little more classier, but my LYS had very little to choose from, and it wasn't like I could knit or crochet a cute flower for him..... Because I followed the pattern for an adult size hat, using double strands of Lamb's Pride Bulky and 10mm needles, I didn't bother to check about gauge, and it came out very small. I didn't realize I knit THAT tight. It is almost too small for Cutie, but he likes it enough to have worn it to Kindergarten yesterday: The main part is Oatmeal, and the stripe and pompom is in Brown Heather. I had fun using a pompom maker. It was a very quick knit; done in one night!
Kiddo has a great time bobbing his head back and forth, "I'm making a ball bounce on my head!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-23T17:24:00.000+09:00

Even though Thanksgiving is an American holiday, and we don't live there now, I wanted to celebrate it since Cutie learned about it at Kindergarten. Today was also a holiday in Japan. Very similar to Thanksgiving Day, Kinrou-kansha-no-hi is literally, A Day To Be Thankful for Hard Work. It's November 23rd every year, not the fourth Thursday of November. But this year, it turned out to be the same as the American Thanksgiving Day. So, what a perfect excuse to roast a turkey! I had to order an American frozen turkey at the supermarket in advance. 3980 yen ($34) for an 8-pound turkey. It is probably an insane price, but I don't remember what turkeys cost in the States. The people in the meat department at the supermarket seemed VERY happy to get this for me. I thought they would get a couple orders, but I guess not. It came out like this:

and tasted very good! This year I made mashed potatoes, roasted green beans & radicchio with garlic, and wild rice stuffing with apples and cranberries. All the recipes are from epicurious.com. And turkey gravy (Lawry's), and canned cranberry jelly spiked with a dash of Grand Marnier, and store bought bread. The cute Crate & Barrel placemats with colorful buttons were a gift from my sis (correction: my sister's husband, then boyfriend. Sorry Garrett!). The striped ones are el cheapos from Ikea.

The wine was this year's Beaujolais-Village Nouveau, from a Domaine Bel Avenir. I have been hearing good things about this year's Beaujolais, and I agree. I liked how it was full of fresh and fruity flavors and aromas, the beautiful bluish purple color.

Cutie made dessert! Fruit Parfait, following the recipe he got from an event at his cooking school. Here he is in action, mixing raspberry jam with lemon juice, after cutting the kiwi fruit and counting the pieces to see if there were enough for the 6 of us.

The tooth fairy left 100 yen (about 85 cents)

2006-11-18T14:13:00.000+09:00

The highlight of Cutie's last weekend was that he lost his first tooth. He was VERY happy, since most of his friends have already lost a tooth or two. After I took this picture, he immediately asked me to "put it on the blog". He seems to enjoy seeing pictures of himself on the computer.
I thought about how long it has been since the last benchmark of him growing up. In the first 2 years of a child's life, so much goes on: they sit, they crawl, they eat, they walk, they talk, they start potty training. But I realized that it had been a long time since such a big parenting event had happened. He started kindergarten in September, but it didn't feel like such a big deal since he had been going to the same preschool everyday for the previous year, and everyday life didn't change at all.

He modeled his first sock for me last night, while watching Gatten, one of his favorite shows on NHK. He showed an amazing level of concentration watching the show, which was about how to make delicious egg custard. You will probably be seeing the photos pretty soon.

Bread Baking Class #1

2006-11-15T21:21:00.000+09:00

I recently signed up at ABC Cooking Studio. They offer classes in cooking, bread, and cakes, and I am going to learn how to make bread from scratch, without using any mixers or blenders. What I like about this cooking school is that they offer classes every day, every 2 hours from about 10 am to 8 pm, and you just make a reservation online or by phone, whenever and wherever you like. Out of the 83 branches throughout Japan, there are 16 branches in Tokyo, all in convenient locations near the station. Maximum 5 students per class, and everyone makes their own bread by themselves, from measuring the flour to kneading the dough, so it's really hands-on, which I thought is necessary to really learn how to do this. The classrooms are clean and bright and nice and new, and most of the staff are (relatively) young women. (During my free trial lesson, I asked why they don't take male students, and the teacher said there were several episodes where the male students "came for purposes other than learning how to cook".)

The cost for Bread Course Class A, (if this were an American cooking school, it would be called Bread making 101) which are 7 basic classes that everyone must take first, is 28,350 yen (about $240), but I got 50% off that, yay! However, what pisses me off is that they charge 12,600 yen (about $106) for the nyukaikin (a one time only admissions fee, or a membership fee. Literally, "money to enter the club"). I HATE this system in Japan. I mean, what am I paying for? What do I get for 12,600 yen? I would be much happier if they got rid of the nyukaikin, and raised the price of each class by 1,000 yen or something. If they are going to give me a 50% off discount on the tuition, why do they charge full price for the stupid nyukaikin??? My guess is, if I decide not to take the classes, they are required by some kind of consumer law to give me back my money for the tuition, but they can keep the nyukaikin? Japanese companies are SO behind the U.S. on concepts like transparency, accountability, and disclosure, it makes me sick. Anyway, I regard this nyukaikin system pretty much as legalized fraud, and definitely do not support this!

This school CLEARLY targets beginners, as you can see from the recipes they hand out:

I am OK with the illustrated step by step instructions,but the style of the drawings and the handwriting make me feel as if I am back in junior high. I don't like how the recipe leaves a blank space, on purpose, for the temperature of the oven and how long you are supposed to bake the bread. Again, as if I am in junior high and such a gimmick is necessary to make me pay attention during class, duh! So for this Almond Crown, the teacher told us to write this down: 14-17 minutes at 190 C for an electric oven, 9-12 minutes at 180 C for a gas oven, and 13-16 minutes at 190 C for an internet oven. I thought, what the heck is an internet oven? I can turn it on and preheat it on my way home with my cell phone, so it's already hot when I arrive with a raw chicken or something??? I have never actually seen or heard of an oven like that, but I can easily see that happening soon. The technology is already here, it must be just a matter of cost and demand. Either way, that sounds like an electric oven, not what I have. So I ask, what about gas convection ovens? The teacher didn't seem to know what a convection oven was, and asked me if it's the type of oven that hot air circulates inside. I said yes. She said those are internet ovens, so 13-16minutes at 190 C. I knew, from the free trial class, that the teachers here are not real cooking professionals, but just female home chefs like me, and I went into this expecting nothing more. But I expected the bread teacher to at least have HEARD OF a convection oven. Oh well. I see it as a great way to learn different types of bread,and getting hands-on practice of kneading dough. Yes, I could do this at home, but I know I won't. It's the same thing as paying for membership at a gym. You could just run, or do pilates with a dvd at home, but I rarely, if ever, do that. The guilt that comes from paying good money is a big motivational factor. Anyway, I think I did a great job, considering it was my first real class. :)

Next class is butter rolls. I think it's amazing how they organized everything so you are done in 2 hours. I'm going to see how the first 7 classes go, and decide if I want to continue to the next 7 lessons in Class B.

Reaching out of my comfort zone

2006-11-15T00:26:00.000+09:00

After reading the Harlot's books, and seeing and reading so much on other knitter's blogs, I decided I want to give sock knitting a try. I've knit a couple of hats, so dpns don't scare me, and I like knitting in the round. But scary terms like "gusset" and "turning the heel" made me shy. First, I searched for some books on amazon. There are several knitting books about socks, and I read all of the reviews on both amazon.com and amazon.co.jp, and chose one book. What amazed me is that there are NONE, absolutely no sock knitting books in the Japanese language. So, after watching videos on knittinghelp.com, and reading the Socks 101 tutorial on knitty.com, and seeing my knitting buddy S's beautiful socks, I decided to give it a try. This is my Class Sock from Sensational Knitted Socks.

I get it now. There are some parts that are a little uneven, and I haven't washed it yet. But I knit a sock! Needless to say, I am VERY proud of this one sock. I like how there are so many techniques and patterns to knit, but how it's small enough to finish relatively quickly. I was thinking of knitting a pair and giving it to Mia, but I changed my mind. I am not making the second sock, and I want to keep this one just because it is my FIRST . Mia will not be walking for at least 11 months; she can wait with the big blankie while I knit a couple of socks, non?

It has been a little over a week since I added the Neo Counter thing in my sidebar that shows what country my blog readers are from. Right now, it says I have had 124 visitors from 13 countries. I have no idea how this works, but it is SO cool to see so many different flags, and to see the numbers change everytime I look! I think it must be counting everytime I visit myself, since I cannot believe I really had this many visitors. Thanks so much for dropping by! I would love it if you left a short comment!

Julia Roberts to star in a knitting movie

2006-11-07T15:54:00.000+09:00

This piece of news caught my eye today on Yahoo!:

Julia Roberts Busy on Friday Night
by Natalie Finn Thu Nov 2, 12:27 PM ET
Los Angeles (E! Online) - Since she helped make knitting chic again, it's only fair that Julia Roberts gets the chance to spin a good yarn. The Oscar winner, who incidentally was one of the first celebs spied knitting between takes before it became "the latest thing," has signed on to star in The Friday Night Knitting Club, Daily Variety reported Thursday. Roberts' Red Om production company will also share producing duties on the Universal drama, based on an upcoming novel by Kate Jacobs about a single mom who runs a Manhattan knitting shop where the regulars gather once a week, Steel Magnolias-style, to chat about life and work on their latest projects. Building an indomitable support system in the process, we assume. While Roberts has taken time off from the joys of motherhood to lend her voice to The Ant Bully and present pal George Clooney with the American Cinematheque Award last month, Phinnaeus and Hazel's mom has been largely absent from theaters since Ocean's Twelve. Pretty Woman fans will be happy to hear then that The Friday Night Knitting Club is just one of three projects in the works for Roberts. She's currently in Morocco shooting the political drama Charlie Wilson's War, costarring Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and was recently tapped to star in the film version of the memoir Eat, Pray, Love, which Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy will adapt for the big screen. But first, another Roberts teaser: Charlotte's Web, with the actress voicing the sage title character, hits theaters Dec. 20.

I’m not particularly a huge Julia Roberts fan, but I have seen and like most of her movies, and it seems like it will be a fun, Ya-Ya Sisterhood kind of a chic flick set in Manhattan, with lots of knitting! Sounds like a must-see movie for moi. So I went to amazon, but the book won’t be out until January 18th. It would be great if this movie is a big hit, and more people take up knitting!

I have also been eyeing the book Eat, Pray, Love since this spring, but I am so behind on my reading list that I don’t think I will ever catch up! I am almost done with Julie and Julia, a book I borrowed from my friend S. But first, I will be spending some sleepless nights catching up on Season 2 DVDs of LOST that I just borrowed!

A day in Kichijoji

2006-11-04T11:39:00.000+09:00

November 3rd is a national holiday, "Culture Day", in Japan. But Hubbo had to go to work, so my Little Man and I went on a date to a park in Kichijoji.
He played at the playground, went to the small zoo section and checked out an elephant, lots of monkeys, deer, ducks, squirrels, racoons, goats, fox, and some other not-so-exciting animals, and nervously held a marmot in his lap.

After a 100 yen ride on the bullet train and some other rides in the amusement section of the park, I was able to negotiate an hour of real "culture" time inside the sculpture museum. They had a special free concert since it was Culture Day! You can't see her face in this picture, but the harpist came all the way from Belgium! They played 10 pieces, varying from classical music to songs from the Ghibli film, Tonari no Totoro, and ended with the Japanese folk classic Akatombo. We listen to music all the time at home, but it was so nice to listen to live, acoustic, professional music! I try to expose Cutie to such events as often as I can, but after about 30 minutes, he was bored and wanted to leave so he could steer the cycle boat. His legs were way too short to reach the pedals, so I was the only one who got a good 30 minute workout for 600 yen. After a late lunch and ice cream, we went someplace for me: Sheep Meadow has beautiful hand dyed yarns. They don't have a lot of bulky yarn; most of it is pretty fine, and they are all quite pricey, which means the total price ends up to be a lot. But the colors are so beautiful! At this point, Cutie was pretty tired and I couldn't spend time ooh-ing and aah-ing and mentally drooling over these yarns, so I just asked them for 2 more balls of a cotton yarn that I had run out of, and took some pictures and went on to Avril. Avril and Sheep Meadow are about only 3 blocks apart from each other. Avril is where I made a felted iPod shuffle case with my knitting buddy S back in May. I found these variegated 50% wool, 50% silk blends that I thought might be good for Clapotis, that I would like to knit someday. I'm very proud of myself for not having bought anything at either Sheep Meadow or Avril! Must finish up current projects first!

It's a girl! (and Giacosa makes a mean Dolcetto)

2006-10-25T20:33:00.000+09:00

The recipient of the Rowan baby blankie was born this morning! Both T and the baby are doing well.
I decided to celebrate by opening a great bottle of Dolcetto D'Alba that I was able to procure via H, who has a friend in the wine business.
The first thing I noticed was the sweet, fruity, wonderful aromas. But it's actually a very dry wine with not alot of residual sugar at all. I guess the dolce part of the Dolcetto is about the grape, not the wine!
The color is a beautiful, enticing, clear violet ruby-reddish purple. It has a lemony acidity to it that is very refreshing, since it's very well balanced. I just had a glass with some crusty bread and cheese, but I think it's a great wine to pair with any kind of a hearty meal like steak and potatoes. I love red wines that are light but not watery, shows off the characteristic of the grape, but not too heavy (or expensive!), kind of like a very good Beaujolais Cru. I think this is my first Dolcetto, and I like this varietal enough to try some others.

The Clutches Part II

2006-10-23T22:56:00.000+09:00

My second try at felting. I decided to throw in these, one pair of shoes for one bag. I used about twice as much boiling hot water, and much, much more detergent this time. I set it on the lowest setting, and put in about 6 or 7 liters of boiling hot water. It was a little scary pouring it into the machine. The machine still continued to add some hot water, only it's not really that hot. It's only as warm as the hot water in the bath, probably less than 40 C. When the machine was done adding water, it was still hot enough that I could only touch it for a second. The water got very sudsy, and brown.

After 2 cycles of washing, voila!
They are felted!!! I am very happy with how they look. Thanks to Jan for the advice in her comments! Not only are they felted now, they are also a lot more smaller.
I didn't expect them to shrink that much in a second washing. I guess that means the first time really did nothing to it.
You can see how fuzzy and felted they are here.

The green one is still a little big larger than the pink one. The green one shrank from about 18cm tall to 15cm, the pink one from about 17cm to 16cm. The width also shrank about 2cm for both.

Sweet potato mania

2006-10-22T21:02:00.000+09:00

This weekend we went sweet potato digging with Cutie's daycare. It's what every Japanese preschooler does in the autumn, and this is our 3rd year to participate in this annual event.
You can see here how small each lot is, with people's butts right in front us!

Look, Mommy, this is the biggest one I dug up! Cutie is wearing a Tigers baseball cap. That's Detroit, not Hanshin! Because we had a rainy summer this year, the potatoes were very small.

Crafty Mom on the right is demonstrating how to make a wreath with the sweet potato vines.

Crafty Mom wearing her third or fourth wreath on her head.

So this was all we got this year. Probably a little over a kilo. Two years ago, we probably got as twice as much from the same size area.
This is its pre-washed state.

This is after washing and scrubbing off all of the dirt (and with it, some of the skin) away. Following is what we made:

I sliced the small ones and soaked them in water. Cutie helped and changed the water about 3 times. He then put them out on paper towels to dry.

Great chips!

Imo youkan. This is mashed sweet potatoes that's set in kanten. Kanten is like gelatin, but it's made from seaweed, not cow's spine, (or whatever gelatin is made of.) They were not quite as good as the real thing, but pretty good nonetheless.
Daigaku imo. This is deep fried, then dressed in a sweet & salty soy sauce caramel, sprinkled with black sesame seeds.

I think I'm maxed out on sweet potatoes for this year!

P. S. Mom, the chips are all gone, but there's a lot of imo youkan and daigaku imo for you!

Pommard Domaine Lejeune 2002 Les Poutures

2006-10-18T22:15:00.000+09:00

This was a gift from my friend Y when she visited us this summer from Boston.
I do not have the proper vocabulary to do justice to this fantastic wine, but I wanted to post this picture since it was soooo good, and very my kind of Burgundy. Very elegant and smooth, with lots of fruit. Thanks again, Y!

One Skein Clutches

2006-10-16T23:03:00.000+09:00

I decided to give felting a try. These are The Clutch You' ll Never Give Up from One Skein by Leigh Radford.
I used Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky Chocolate Souffle, Limeade and Victorian Pink, which my friend C brought back for me from the States. I used 2 strands of yarn instead of 1, with Takumi Clover Bamboo size 12 circular needles.
The first 2 photos were taken before my first learning experience with felting. I even added about 3 liters of boiling hot water to the washing machine, but it didn't really felt. Just got a little fuzzy is all. I was really disappointed, since I expected them to come out looking like this. So, I put the wet bags in a plastic bag with some dishwashing soap, and rubbed while watching TV in the middle of the night for about an hour or so each until about 2am. Directly rubbing it did make it felt a lot more than the washing machine. After rinsing out all the soap water and drying them out on a towel, this is where I am now, with the last photo. The knitted stitches are still very clearly visible. Next time, I will use more hot water and more soap, and more jeans for more agitation.

Meanwhile, my little cutie was very sweet and said the bags still look cute, even if they aren't felted the way Mommy intended them to be.
They are for G & L, 2 little daughters of our friends who will be moving to Tokyo soon. What should I fill the welcome-to-Tokyo bags with? Perhaps some Hello Kitty things? Or traditional Japanese origami? I will have fun planning and shopping until January!

Autumn bouquets

2006-10-10T20:34:00.000+09:00

6 of my girlfriends from college, along with 2 hubbies and 8 kids, got together at my place this weekend. It was a long time that so many of us had gotten together all at once, and we had lots of fun over some wine and cheese. The kids had just as much fun, and boy, were they loud!

Everyone brought nice gifts, and most have already been happily consumed, but here are 2 pictures of beautiful flowers I received.

Wanted: "Trackback for Dummies"

2006-10-09T22:45:00.000+09:00

My red scarf is on the Red Scarf Project website! See a different photo here, since Blogger's help section is not helpful at all, and I cannot figure out how to do a trackback, or what Blogger seems to call a backlink.

Can you tell how big this is?

2006-10-09T11:04:00.000+09:00

My knitting club got together for our monthly meeting. S and T sewed up all the strips together while I knit more of the border. Almost done! It is going to be a really big blankie. The baby can use it for a long, long time!

Red Scarf Project 2007

2006-09-29T21:46:00.000+09:00

Last week, I was surfing knit blogs, and stumbled upon this, which led me to this, which led to this:
Sweetie was happy to model it for the photo, even though I told him it wasn't for him, and he was kind of hot to wear a scarf, right after his bath :)

This was knit with 3 balls of Rowan All Seasons Cotton 223 Cassis, using a pattern from Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I used my bamboo Clover (Japanese) size 10 circular needles.

I need to finish up all my other projects, but got cute little buttons for my kid's sweater. I promised myself I will not start knitting it until I post FOs of the Tempting II sweater, the washed towels, and the baby bibs.

The baby blankie edging is coming along fine, with 3 balls worth done. We will sew it up at the next knitting club!

Big progress on the Rowan baby blankie

2006-09-18T22:14:00.000+09:00

I finished my 2 strips of the baby blankie, and sewed them together. The trimming is a pattern of 12 rows, and I am starting to wonder how many repeats it will take to go around the whole thing. It took me 7 minutes to do one repeat, and it is now about as long as the height of the strip. It hasn't been sewed on yet, I just put it on top for the photo. I switched to circular needles, and things are going a little faster now. Clover Bamboo Takumi Japanese size 10.

The wrong side is not very pretty, and a fabric lining would make it very nice. But it is fairly large and I'm not sure how much heavier it will be if we add a lining to it.

Even though it's only 2 strips out of 7, now that it's sewn together, it looks and feels more like a blankie now!

Handmade pottery from the Katsunuma trip

2006-09-08T16:37:00.000+09:00

These finally arrived from our trip in mid-July to the wine country. I like how the cups came out like me-o-to jawan (husband-wife tea cup set), and the white glaze is a nice color.

Cutie's dinosaurs and beetle trio didn't come out as we thought. It's very hard to tell that there's a picture of a dinosaur/beetle on each one. We needed to draw the pictures and letters bigger and deeper. And the flat plates seem higher in the middle, so we can't use them for anything that has a watery sauce. I guess it will be fine for eating something like scones and cakes.

New project: baby blankie

2006-09-03T16:31:00.000+09:00

Yesterday, I went to the Rowan shop with my knitting buddies, S and T, to pick out a pattern and yarn for T's baby due in December. We are all going to knit together a colorful blankie made of 7x7=49 squares. We will each knit 2 strips of 7 squares, and think about what to do next when we get there. (Quite a brilliant plan, considering all the education we have between the three of us.)

Because we decided to substitute a different yarn, the knitting sensei at the shop and S figured out the math. We are to cast on 25 stitches instead of 30. (I forgot I used to be in investment banking. I can't do knitting math.) The Rowan Handknit Cotton DK feels really nice. It's the same yarn that I used for the dinosaurs, but the colors are so vibrant that it seems different. I finished my first strip today!

This morning, I baked a coffee cake from Tania's book. I followed her recipe exactly as in the book, and it came out so light and fluffy. Cutie loved the cinnamon topping, and Hubbo liked how it's not too sweet.

Cutie starts Kindergarten tomorrow!

Ultraman Mebius

2006-08-22T20:01:00.000+09:00

My Little Man is going to summer camp this weekend. His first time away from Mommy & Daddy, except for sleepovers at grandparent's houses. Just 4, 5, and 6 year olds with their camp leaders, off to the mountains in Nagano!

I had to sew a big name tag for him, and we went to a fabric store together. He simply HAD to have this fabric, with his favorite, Ultraman Mebius, @1,200 yen / meter. We got the minimum 30cm, and with the same fabric I made him a little bag to put his jammies in, and a reversible mini-coaster. (See the blue and red Ultramans in the two photos?) I don't have a sewing machine, so I hand sewed everything, and crocheted the cords. Huuuuuuge sense of accomplishment!

Moss Grid Hand Towel and financiers

2006-08-19T12:00:00.000+09:00

I finally finished the Hand Towel from the Mason Dixon book. I used a cotton/linen blend instead of the Euroflax called for in the book. This is its pre-washed state.

I'm very curious how it will change after washing, and how absorbent it will be.
It took me forever to memorize the pattern, but it was pretty interesting. I might knit it again.

I baked some financiers today. I don't have the rectangle shapes, so I made them into little hearts. Very crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside!

The Yogamat bag - 5 months late

2006-08-07T19:51:00.000+09:00

The yogamat bag for my girlfriend is finally done!
DH presented it to her at her going away party, since she will be moving to the bay area next week (lucky!), so it seemed like it was a going away present. It was actually a birthday present, 5 months late!　

I tried to knit something round for the bottom, but it was more of a square-like shape. I picked up stitches from all around the sides, and knit with a circular Clover Takumi size 10 needles until it was a little taller than the yogamat.

Then, I made little holes by doing a yarnover, then k2tog, k, all around. Since I am so lazy and mathematically-challenged, I didn't bother figuring out how many holes that would make, even though I recognized the 50/50 chance that I would have one hole too many (or too less, whichever). Lo and behold, when I put the 9 stitch I-cord through the holes, there was one hole left! Oh well. This is why I usually follow a pattern.

If I ever make this again, I will make the I-cord first and attach it to the bottom, or attach some kind of reinforcement so that the I-cord can be attached later. Yogamats are pretty heavy, so I think it needs to be reinforced to carry the weight without falling apart.

I baked banana bread with Tania's recipe from her book, which I made a comment on at amazon. 2 out of 2 people said my review was helpful. I hope I am helping sales a little bit :)

Like her recipe for scones, it uses bread flour. It called for 1 tablespoon of vinegar, but the idea of putting in vinegar for a sweet baked good didn't appeal to me, so I used 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, which she mentions in the book as a substitution. I was expecting a dense texture because of the flour, but it was very light and fluffy. DH liked it a lot, and thought I should use this recipe all the time from now on.

At the neckline for Tempting II

2006-08-06T09:25:00.000+09:00

My Tempting II is coming along, but I'm not sure if I like it. I made the sleeves longer, and that went fine. I did the gauge swatch in stockinette, and it was perfect. However, because the yarn is so spongy, I think I knit it too loosely, and it seems too big. Not tight-fitting like the picture in knitty. But I am almost done, so I will finish it anyway and see how it comes out, for the Sexy Knitters Club knit along deadline on August 31.

green dishcloth trio

2006-08-01T22:19:00.000+09:00

Finished the third green dishcloth today.

Same ballband pattern, same green cotton yarn as the baby kimono, and the white linen/cotton blend yarn as the purple trio.

I am thinking of knitting socks next, but sock yarn seems hard to come by in Japan. Will do some more research. Until then, maybe I will try other dishcloth patterns for my commute.

English scones for breakfast

2006-07-29T10:52:00.000+09:00

My first try at baking from Tania's new book.
I didn't have any 5cm circles to cut them out of the dough, only ones that were about 7.5cm in diameter, so the scones are bigger than the ones in the book.
Left them in the oven a while longer, and they came out fine.
Very yummy! Goes so well with berry jams and tea.

Me Want COOKIEEE!

2006-07-27T09:36:00.000+09:00

You Are Cookie Monster

Misunderstood as a primal monster, you're a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth.

You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you'll eat anything if cookies aren't around.

You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and usual way of speaking

How you life your life: In the moment. "Me want COOKIE!"

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

baby kimono

2006-07-24T20:30:00.000+09:00

My girlfriend from college just had a baby boy in May. This Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono from the Mason-Dixon book was knit with 2 yarns held together on size 8 Clover needles. I shortened the sleeves a little bit. It came out very different from the book, since the yarn is different. Next time, I will make it a little longer and wider, since it's small even for a newborn. I liked the way this pattern has very little sewing to do!

Bronty: Dinosaur #3

2006-07-23T13:18:00.000+09:00

Bronty the Brontosaurus is the third and last of the dinosaurs.
See Bronty eat a plant.
Bronty is also a herbivore.
Eyes and mouth were stitched on with the same Rowan Cotton Handknit yarn.
Little Man sleeps with his 3 dinosaurs!

Halfway done with Tempting II

2006-07-21T21:59:00.000+09:00

After all the dinosaurs and dishcloths, I wanted to make something to wear, and something for myself. Tempting II seemed to be a perfect project, since I wanted to try a different yarn from Rowan, and I also wanted to try knitting in the round. This Rowan Calmer yarn is very soft and squishy and spongy since it is a cotton/microfiber blend. I've joined the Sexy Knitters Club, and I hope to finish this by the August 31 deadline!

Purple ballband trio for Grandma

2006-07-18T20:12:00.000+09:00

I knit 3 ballband dishcloths from the Mason-Dixon book for my grandmother. She can use them as washrags in the bath, or use it as a hand towel, or as a dishcloth to wipe the counter or a table. I hope she likes them! A closeup picture is posted on the knit-a-long.

Plum syrup

2006-07-10T23:19:00.000+09:00

My Little Man has a good memory. He reminded me today that Tanabata-sama is over, so the plum syrup should be done. So we made some plum soda with the syrup and some San Pellegrino, and it tasted wonderful! Those special plums from cuoca.com were very worth the wait. Next year, I am definitely making more!

Triceratops: Dinosaur #2

2006-07-09T21:39:00.000+09:00

Hello, I am Triceratops! I was made in only 2 days so I could join my friend the Stegosaurus for the Knitting World Cup. There was only about a yard of yarn left when I was done, even though my tail is a little shorter than the Stegosaurus. I probably weigh about 49g of Rowan Handknit Cotton DK, and was knit with size 7 Clover Takumi.

Finger knitting

2006-07-07T10:41:00.000+09:00

After months of watching Mommy knit on the sofa, on the bed, in the train, and at the cafe, something must have rubbed off, and my Little Man said, "Can I knit too? Will you help me?"

Sure ya can! So yesterday, we went to the LYS (Local Yarn Shop) together and he picked out red, green, and white yarns because he wants to make, get this, a BATHMAT of the ITALIAN FLAG! What a great first project is all I can say.

He wanted to start with the red yarn. I got him a little book of finger knitting for kids, and followed the directions from that with the yarn on his left hand. But he is left-handed, so after a couple of rows, we started over on his right hand so he could knit with his left hand. His eyes lit up when he ripped away his work. He showed an amazing level of concentration, and look how proud he is of his progress!

And how coincidental that there was a feature article on Knitty about finger knitting?

Ferrari the Stegosaurus

2006-07-03T21:26:00.000+09:00

I present you Mr. Stegs, renamed "Ferrari", by my kid. With and without flash.

Ferrari is the fastest dinosaur in the whole world!

GrrrrrrAAAAAAhhh! I am a herbivore! I have 17 spikey things on my back! I have 4 spikes on my tail that I use to smack big carnivores! RRRRRRaaaaaah!

Almost done with yoga mat bag & Mr. Stegs

2006-06-23T12:27:00.000+09:00

The yoga mat bag is almost done.
I just need to figure out how to close it, and knit an I-cord.
Most of this progress was made in 2 nights while watching the first 9 episodes of Lost Season 2.

I ran out of yarn for Mr. Stegs while knitting his third leg.
I found a site that sells Rowan yarn with a 20% off sale, and it should arrive very soon, hopefully tomorrow.

Pommard Les Rugiens Domaine de Montille 1998

2006-06-23T12:08:00.000+09:00

I enjoyed a quiet wine and cheese dinner last weekend all by myself.
I chose this only because it was the only Burgundy bottle in our house.
(Hubby likes Bordeaux wines.)
I don't remember much in detail about this wine except that it was very good, since I was watching Pride & Prejudice while drinking.
Oh well.

So much for my first wine post.
I had lots to nibble with this great wine: prosciutto, olives, a big slice of Brie, artichokes, and cranberry/hazelnut bread.
Keira Knightley was beautiful, as was the cinematography, and Donald
Sutherland was good, but I thought they need to try harder in finding better looking guys to play Darcy and Bingley.

In the news

2006-06-18T18:36:00.000+09:00

It seems there was an article about the Knitting World Cup in the Houston Chronicle!
Although I am not named in it or anything, I feel like I was, since it does mention Japanese bloggers. :)

While browing knit blogs, I stumbled upon this, and when I showed it to my little man, of course his eyes lit up, and so I have started on Mr. Stegs with the pattern from Xtreme Knitting.
The green yarn called for in the pattern is exactly the same yarn from the watermelon hat, so I didn't even bother to make a swatch, and I am almost done with the body.
The knitting looks easy, but I think I will hate sewing everything together...

MIL was very pleased with the dishcloth.
I hope she uses it, because she kept saying it was mottainai.

Dishcloth in light blue and gray

2006-06-17T15:11:00.000+09:00

I finished another dishcloth today.

This one is for my MIL, since DS requested I make one for her.

It matches her kitchen which is in a smoky blue.

I think those of you addicted to knitting these things will probably notice that something is missing.

I changed colors from blue to gray a row too early the first time.

I realized what I had done wrong when I changed colors the second time, but I am not a Type A knitter, and decided not to rip it and repeated my mistakes all the way through.

They still look OK, don't they?

Here it is wrapped up all nice and pretty!

The blue yarn is a cotton/linen blend, and the light gray is cotton 100%.

I used Clover Takumi bamboo size 6 needles.

The finished watermelon hat

2006-06-16T22:32:00.000+09:00

Today's Show & Tell: This is my watermelon hat.
My mommy made it for me.

DS finally brought it home today after what seemed to be a very short Show & Tell, so here it is!
It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but I did 3 seeds in white, and rest are black.

My Umeshu is coming along just fine.
Here is what they look like after exactly one week.
All of the sugar has dissolved, but the one with honey still looks kind of murky.
At first, I thought the containers were too large, but boy, was I wrong.
So much of the juices have come out of the plums and there is now much more liquid than I started with.
The umeshu takes 3 months before it is drinkable, and aging it for a year or two makes it better.

The syrup only takes a month.
So vinzoo, you gotta wait until mid-September!

Watermelon hat is done!

2006-06-14T15:45:00.000+09:00

I finished fixing the watermelon hat in 2 nights!
The hat was severed into 2 parts: the red top and the green & white rind part.
I then added 12 rows in red to the rind.
Then I stitched them together.
More seeds were strategically placed to hide mistakes and in a somewhat useless effort to draw attention away from the adjoining “line.”
My DS took it to school for Show and Tell today.
But he left it at school, since they didn't have time for Show and Tell.
So the pictures must wait.

Meanwhile, the ballband dishcloth for MIL is coming along just fine on my commute needles.

U-me-shu - Japanese plum liquor

2006-06-12T20:21:00.000+09:00

This year I decided to try something new: making umeshu.
DH was one of the fast and fortunate ones to get 2kgs of special plums from cuoca.com.
Turns out they sold out in 10 minutes!
I washed them carefully, wiped them dry very carefully, then plucked off the brown tops, and let them dry for a day.

Then they were washed with gin, which supposedly takes out the tannic flavors.

Then, I put them into these containers.
The one on the left is rum & rock sugar.
The second one is brandy & honey.
Third one is brandy & rock sugar.

The right one is just plums & fruit sugar to make ume syrup, for my Little Man.
The plums for the syrup were plucked with a toothpick 20 times each.

This is what they look like today, 3 days later.
The one with honey is kind of murky, and the plums aren't floating yet.
A lot of the plum juices have come out of the ones plucked with toothpicks for the syrup.

The watermelon hat is done, but not enough height.
This picture was taken before the seeds were added.
I am redoing it.
Hopefully it will be done during the Japan vs. Australia match.

The watermelon hat & shirts from Firenze

2006-06-11T12:28:00.000+09:00

Here is the watermelon hat halfway done.

The Rowan Handknit Cotton is very nice.

This is my first experience knitting with Rowan yarn, and I understand why they enjoy such a great reputation.

These are the shirts that DH and I ordered when we went to Florence in March.

They have FINALLY arrived.

DH thinks they were done weeks ago but the guy probably forgot to send them.

How Italian.

The extra buttons and the plastic thingies to put inside the collars (what are they called, anyway?) came in a cute little envelope.

The left wrist is slightly larger than the right,

to allow room for "big Italian watches."

Not that I own any of those huge, chunky, expensive watches, but I thought that was a nice touch.

The Knitting World Cup begins!

2006-06-10T09:23:00.000+09:00

Making progress with my commute needles. This is the third bib, this time in purple and a variation on the Mason-Dixon version. I made a couple of mistakes, but think this basket-weave-like design is turning out pretty good.

Yesterday was my kid's year-end show. He did a very good job of shouting "Can We Fix It? Yes, We Can!". After lunch with DH & MIL, we headed to Rowan and picked out yarn for his
watermelon hat. They didn't have the same colors as the yarn harlot's, but he gave his approval for some Handknit Cotton DKs. I am knitting this hat for the Knitting World Cup!

Knitting club goes on a field trip

2006-06-06T22:35:00.000+09:00

My knitting girlfriends and I visited the Rowan store
for a "field trip" at their knit cafe. It's not a big store, but lots of light from the big windows and yummy yarns and cute FOs on display in the window. I finished up my green garter stitch baby bib, and sewed up the sides of the baby sweater at the knit cafe. Only the sleeves left to sew up!

I am really liking the short needles that I'm using to knit the bibs. Perfect length to knit on the subway! I have named them my commute needles.

Meanwhile, I have cast on the yellow bib in seed stitch on Friday and finished it on Tuesday, and cast on a purple bib today. Notice the yellow one is smaller since it was done in seed stitch although I cast on 40 stitches for both. Will post on the MDKAL after I find some cute buttons.

And at home, I cast on a white linen/cotton blend yarn for the Moss Grid Hand Towel from Mason-Dixon Knitting. And I got new circular needles for the yoga mat bag. So much easier than dpns! I don't know why I didn't buy them earlier. So working on 3 projects at the same time: bib on commute, towel and yoga mat bag at home.

I baked these Earl Grey cookies for the first time. They have Earl Grey tea leaves grounded into powder and the tea in them, as well as a tea icing on top. Oh well, I learned one thing. Taking appetizing photos of a brown cookie is very very hard.

The other warshrag

2006-05-28T14:02:00.000+09:00

Photo taken by my kid. The warshrag is very soft, and is getting rave reviews from kid and hubby. This is the other one in the same colors, but different combinations.

I have started on the yoga mat bag for my friend. This is my first attempt at knitting without a pattern. For the bottom part, I used 2 yarns and CO 8 stitches, then increased a stitch on both sides for every other row, working up to 20 stitches, then decreased back to 8. It did not come out to be as round as I imagined. Working up the sides with dpns using 1 yarn. Everything is in seed stitch.

Completed 2 warshrags

2006-05-27T17:50:00.000+09:00

Here is my nekkid kid modeling my dishcloth

First warshrag completed!

2006-05-24T00:42:00.000+09:00

Finished first dishcloth! Started a second one with the same 3 colors, but this time CO with the navy blue. It took me roughly an hour to CO and knit 24 rows.

Starting first warshrag

2006-05-22T22:39:00.000+09:00

I went to not-so-local yarn shop on Saturday and bought Way Too Much yarn. So much that I had to return a few skeins at the cash register so I would have enough money for the train ride back home. Sunday, cast on a beautiful green cotton yarn for the ball band dishcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting Book, and knitted one pattern (12 rows). Turns out I made a mistake on one row, but never mind, it's only a warshrag. Not worth ripping out. Today (Monday), did some KIP on the train home from work, then some more watching TV.