Counting Sheep

I have been popping onto my blog for the last few weeks with an overwhelming feeling. I've been promising myself that I'd update, but there are just so many things to tell. As promised, October and November went by with no posts, but a lot of progress. And then I flew back to the States for a month-long visit with my family, which has been like a lovely, lovely skein of your softest bulky--the closer you get to the end, the faster it disappears. And in three days, I'll be flying back to Japan to spend New Year's with my boyfriend and his family. I'm ecstatic to see my boyfriend, but, being in one place irrevocably means leaving another, so, as with any traveling, it's with excitement and melancholy that we make these transitions.

The last few months have been productive in many ways. But I've decided that, in order to keep my sanity, I'd break it up into a few posts. So this one is about yarn! (Every knitter loves it, no?)

One of my missions while I was home was to stock up on yarn. There's a great selection in Japan, by all means, but imported yarns are pretty hard to find there. (More on this in a future post!) So, let me share with you my new treasures! And, let me add, too, how STUFFED my suitcase is! The zipper looks like it'll pop right at the seams!

While staying with my family in the Buffalo, NY area, not only did I stop at A.C. Moore to pick up some popular standards, including some Patons Bamboo Silk, some Red Heart Heart & Sole and Patons SWS sock yarns, and a bundle of Sugar'n Cream cotton, but I also made several trips to The Elmwood Yarn

Shop on Hertel Avenue in Buffalo (luckily around the corner from my brother's house), where I found a couple of glorious skeins. I am in love with the Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande, 100% Alpaca and soft as a cloud. And the spin of the Filatura di Crosa Malizioso is just hypnotizing to knit with. I'm almost done with that project, and will post it soon--aren't you at the edge of your seat with anticipation? And there was also the Filatura Porto Cervo and Plymouth Sundae Swirl, which are nice, firm cottons that'll be perfect for another project I couldn't quite get to this month, but is in the near

future--more on that, too, in due time.

While state-side, I was also lucky enough to get up to Kitchener and Toronto, Ontario to visit my best friend and attend Toronto's City of Craft. It was a lovely, quaint craft festival on Queen Street, featuring some very talented artists, sewers, bookmakers, silk screeners, knitters, jewelry makers, and crafters of all kinds! For me, of course, I was there with an eye on finding some handspun yarn. And I certainly got lucky! I bought two skeins of the most gorgeous yarn from Pleasurecraft. Kristyn's yarns are to die for! The colorways range from peaceful to invigorating, and I

couldn't help but pick up two! They were all so beautiful, and it was a tough choice. I haven't decided what I'll do with them, yet, but just having them in my stash to hold in those curly little balls just inspire so many ideas. It's like saving

the last piece of cheesecake for a moment you have alone, the perfect moment, the perfect piece of cheesecake. As you can see, though, these two yarns are just glorious. I wish my camera could convey to you the luscious blues in the skein on top--and what a great combination they are, reminiscent of ocean waves beating up against the sky. And the other is a perfect sunrise. They'll be so great to knit up (secretly I did a couple of swatches just to see what it felt like, and I was really pleased--I can't wait to really work with it!)

After I left City of Craft, I had some time, so I meandered down Queen Street, and Lo! Another yarn shop. It was ENORMOUS! Glory behold! Romni Wools boasts one of the largest yarn selections in Canada, and it's easy to see why. Two floors, including unspun wools and spinner's wheels in the basement (if only I could have fit one of those in my suitcase, too...) and probably hundreds of thousands of skeins on the ground floor. I could have gone crazy and emptied my bank account, but I did my best to restrain myself, and only bought two 250 gram skeins of Cascade Yarns' Eco +, for a project you'll have to wait and read about when I finally get to it! Looking in Romni Wools, though, I secretly decided that I want a room of my house to look kind of like this. It's just heaven! I highly doubt my boyfriend would appreciate it, but, between his bass and other music equipment and my yarn, I suppose we should both have the opportunity to be surrounded with the things we love! To be honest, though, I have already overflowed my stash boxes, cabinets, and closets, so when I get back to Japan in a couple of days, it'll be a puzzle trying to find space for it all! And what a wonderful problem to have!

Hats and Transitions

Life is full of transitions. It's almost astounding how, once we seem settled into something--a routine, a feeling, a trust that things will remain the same, that we can revel in a certain security that everything is going to stay just the way it is--it changes. Even if we know things are going to change, even though we can with a pretty high level of certainty make a bet that things will indeed change by a certain date, it always takes us by surprise. At least for me.

But, first, let's talk about hats. I finished Kira Dulaney's lovely Couvercle, and, as promised, here is a picture. The seed stitch was fast and fun to work in (it's been quite a while since I've done any projects in it) and the crochet was a nice variation to the other projects I have going on, as I've been working mostly in the round with lightweight cotton. It's knitted in a nice acrylic mohair blend that I found at Yuzawaya--my favorite craft supply store in Japan--last spring. The whole hat took me a record three days--what a satisfaction! To think it took me longer to get around to taking some photos and writing about it.

As for my next project, I'm venturing into the world of socks. I don't know

if it's with pride or shame that, after nine years of knitting, I've managed to steer completely clear of socks. Perhaps it has something to do with all those nasty vocabulary words: heel flap, gusset, toe. Perhaps it just has to do with the forced use of double pointed needles and yarn so light it would blow away in the wind. Who knows. But I've managed to avoid them completely. Until now. I have just embarked on my first pair of socks. After four false starts, I've managed to get to a humble beginning. Because Christmas is coming, and my family has shown a fierce loyalty to reading this fledgling blog, no credits or links will be provided in this post, but after the holidays, be sure to check back for pictures and pattern credits!

And so we get to that idea of transition. First of all, I should mention that I have been reading and following a lot of blogs, many of whose are about knitting, scrapbooking, cooking, photography, and life. Even though I never comment, even though I'm quite quiet on the message boards of Ravelry and Two Peas In A Bucket, I often feel quite a kindred connection with other knitters and scrapbookers. Knitters especially. For me, I do a lot of thinking while I'm knitting. Have a problem? Knit a hat! Have a really big problem? Knit a scarf! Have something life threatening? Knit a sweater! By the time you're finished, you'll have figured it out.

So, today, as I was starting my new knitting transition, I was pondering how, on Tuesday, once again the rhythm of my life will change. It isn't anything major, really. I'm starting a series of new full-time contracts, teaching tax office English to Japanese tax officers preparing to deal with foreign, English-speaking tax payers. It's nothing new--I taught this last year. But it isn't easy, and it's certainly not fun. And it meant that I had to say goodbye to a really wonderful group of students that I've been teaching for over a year. Never a happy thing for a teacher.

However, there is the prospect of coming up with fun, creative ways to teach tax English, and meeting six new groups of students. It's intimidating. I'm not really a shy person around people I know, but standing in front of ten expectant faces at 9:00 in the morning isn't really my strong point, especially when I'm teaching something that isn't my specialty. Like filling out tax forms. I love my accountant!

Transitions, though, can be likened to knitting socks. I love working with worsted or bulky weight yarns. They're hefty. They have weight, and substance, and spunk. I'm good at it--mostly because I know what to expect, and the feeling of it in my hands has become second nature to me. Working with size two sock needles and wispy little fingering weight...er...thread feels like I'm trying to tweeze my eyebrows with a wrench. Or ride 10 km on a tricycle. It just feels strange. Like a giant sitting down to tea in an English garden with bone china teacups. I have a lot to learn. And yet, after the meager seven or eight rows I've managed so far, I have begun to feel a rhythm to it. There is, indeed, a chance that by the time I reach the heel, I may very well feel comfortable knitting the rest of it. It's possible. And then there is that inevitability that, if I knit up enough socks, next time I pick up my worsted wool and size 10 needles, they'll feel cumbersome and awkward. Maybe. Life, and transitions, are like that, aren't they. And it makes me start to wonder, whatever could be next? Fair Isle? Only after getting comfortable and being surprised all over again will I be able to answer that....

Hats Off To Knitty!

After the hot summer months, it's cooling off, and knitting season has begun! As I mentioned in my last post, I finished a bolero I had started late last winter and put away for the spring and summer in order to work on warmer-weather projects. Finishing a project always sparks the motivation to start another one (or two...), so, after promising my boyfriend a winter hat to match the scarf I made him last year, I thought it'd be a quick and easy way to launch the knitting season.

After finally finishing the lace pattern on the bolero, I wanted to do something embarrassingly easy. So I browsed around the sites, and, as it often happens, found myself on knitty.com. And there it was, the perfect hat in all its stylish simplicity: Tychus. The short rows made for fun and fast-paced knitting, and I enjoyed the idea of knitting a hat vertically. Something different and yet, when finished, so simple. Thank you Knitty!

Oops! And then I found another one I just had to make for myself... Couvercle. So off I went on a little knitting frenzy.

I finished my boyfriend's hat in about a week, but with several days off. The pattern suggested size 9 needles in acrylic, but I used size 8 with a medium weight 100% wool. My boyfriend doesn't complain about itchiness, and it makes for a warm, thick, winter cover-up for his bald head. I was pretty happy with the results. And, luckily, so was he!

As for Couvercle, I started it yesterday and I'm already working on the crown. I was wondering how mendoukusai (troublesome in Japanese) the double moss would be, but, in actuality, it's knitting up way faster than I thought it would. It's actually been quite a treat! I should be able to finish it today or tomorrow, and will post the pictures soon!

Some recent projects

Ribbed Lace Bolero

Yesterday, I finally finished knitting a sweater I had started ages ago. Actually, I've been working on so many other projects this summer, that knitting, often what I call a "winter sport" got knocked down significantly on the priority list. But the weather has been growing cooler, the damp days in the aftermaths of the September typhoons lingering, and dusk coming earlier and earlier to bring in chillier evenings has led me to want something warm wrapped around my shoulders. So I finally finished a lovely little knit lace bolero. I found this design on Kelly Maher's great blog, 10 Feet High. The design is simple and clever, and I was interested in testing out my knitting chops with this great lace pattern. Actually making the lace is not so difficult. I, however, am a bit of a rare item: the left-handed knitter. I've read plenty about "Continental Knitting" which kind of adjusts knitting for left-handers, but, having started learning with my right-handed best friend 10 years ago, I just picked up and starting knitting backwards and have never been able to change. It wasn't until last year or so when I knit a pair of gloves and realized that, while I intended to knit the right glove, I actually came out with the left one. And then I realized, in order for me to follow a pattern requiring a lot of shaping--increasing or decreasing stitches, I literally have to read the lines of the pattern backwards. And it works!
So this sweater was knitted with acrylic Red Heart that I had bought years ago while still living in the States. I loved the color. This sweater perhaps would be better in a wool or cotton, instead of acrylic, as it holds its shape better. Even though I blocked this, it's already stretched a bit under the arms, but that was my fault, as I should have paid more attention when casting off, as it's a little tighter than I would have liked it to be. But it still works, and it looked nice on my date last night! And the evening was the perfect temperature to wear it!



Sexy Summer Sarape

I found this great sarape pattern on another great blog, Weekend Designer. Unfortunately, after 100 posts, the author has decided to discontinue it, but I hope that she will leave it up, as her patterns developed from couture designs are fantastic, and I often get a lot of inspiration and advice from her site.
This sarape was so easy to make. If you follow the Weekend Designer's directions, it is so easy to make this project. The toughest aspect for me was handling the fabric. I picked a sheer rayon that frayed easily. Doing the hems was no problem, but making the bias tape for the neckline and sewing it on proved to be quite a test of patience. But all's well that ends well. It's been a great addition to my summer wardrobe, especially in the ridiculously hot, muggy, city afternoons.



Sinfully Simple A-line Skirt

This was actually my first sewing project on my new sewing machine. I didn't use a pattern, I just measured and chalked the fabric. I had to do some adjustments on the waistline towards the end because I didn't like the way it sat on me, but, other than that, the project was so unbelievably simple. I just measured my waist, hips, and decided on the width at the bottom. (I wanted something that wouldn't be as tight-fitted as a pencil skirt nor as loose as a circular skirt.) Then I measured out the waistband, sewing one side of the skirt first, attaching the invisible zipper. I found a great tutorial on Sew? I Knit! After that, I sewed on the waistband, and that was it! It was so easy, even my mom, the sworn anti-sewer, could do it.



Paisley Pouch

I was shopping for fabric at Yuzawaya with a friend of mine, where, at the register, there was a basket of remnants on sale for a hundred yen ($1) a piece. There was this magenta cotton that was just so vibrant, I absolutely had to have it. Coincidentally, there was a nice striped pattern there as well that turned out to be a perfect match. At the time, I wanted something I could carry my embroidery hoop and thread around in (I absolutely must have something to do on the train, and sometimes I just don't feel like crocheting). So, in the "thread" of embroidery, I thought I'd decorate the bag a little.
The pouch itself was really quite simple to make. I just measured and cut the fabric, and then did the embroidery. After that, I sewed it together on three sides. I folded it in half, and sewed up the sides. I liked the effect here, because a little bit of the striped pattern showed through the seams. My sewing machine is just awesome, and has a lot of decorative stitches, so I used one of them on the seams in a contrasting, blue thread. I planned on making a drawstring by creating a double crochet chain out of some blue cotton yarn, but instead, I used some nylon rope that came on a plastic drawstring bagI had bought flip flops in. Recycling is always good!
The embroidery was actually quite easy. I really love Southeast Asian design, Indian and Thai particularly, so I just drew out a simple paisley design with a pencil on the fabric and followed it. I only used four stitches: split stitch, lazy daisy, satin, and stem stitch. I am no expert on embroidery, but I found with knowledge of a few versatile stitches, you can actually do a lot. I always use "The Sewing Stitch and Textile Bible" by Lorna Knight as a reference. It's a great book, and has helped me with not only embroidery, but also mending and fabric information, too.



Beaded Curtain

The truth is, I started knitting more than ten years ago, but I never bothered learning how to crochet. The pretty flowers and round patterns one can make with crochet were enviously elusive, and seemingly unapproachable. As I mentioned, I like to keep myself busy on the train, so, for a while I was knitting on my way to work. But I came to realize that, sadly, no one wanted to squeeze in next to my clickity-clicking needles gyrating past my elbows. So I thought maybe crochet would still keep me busy without alienating myself on the train. So I bought a book, and started browsing the internet for patterns. I found a charming book called simply "Crochet | Handmade Style" by Stephanie J. Milne, and in it, there was a great beaded curtain. My best friend had some beads hanging in strands (they were lovely, but not enough to call it a curtain exactly), and I always remembered them. So with my love of beads, and with a desire to perfect my chain stitch, I made one. It went by surprisingly fast. Actually, I spent more time searching the shops in Tokyo for cool beads, than I did making the project. And actually, buying the beads was a joy. An expensive joy, but still. Here are a couple of details of some of my favorites:











The marvelous thing about beads is that they are tiny little works of art, each with its own personality, but when put together, especially in a setting like a beaded curtain, they create a lumious chorus of color. Since I made this curtain, I have spent many quiet moments watching them dance in the breeze from my window.



Button Up Ipod Sweater

I love my ipod. It goes absolutely everywhere I go, and I'm almost always plugged into it. I couldn't imagine a life without music, so without my ipod, I'd be doomed to a very quiet existence. So I want to take good care of what is now my third ipod. So I designed this case for it.
The design is really quite simple--I made two panels of stockinette stitch with size 2 needles with a nice cotton yarn. I knitted it tightly because I wanted something that would really protect my ipod as it gets jostled in my bag. After that, I crocheted a simple circle with a double crochet stitch until it was about the size to fit on the front of the case, and stitching it halfway around, made a perfect pocket for my headphones. After that I pieced the front and back panels together using a double crochet stitch, and weaved in a final chain of single crochet to attach to the toggle button. It was finished in about a week, and my ipod is now warm and safe.

The Cute White Blouse is shaping into something...

I should start by saying that, for me, sewing is just a matter of experiment most of the time. I guess in Japanese you would call it tekito, which I suppose you could translate as "how you see fit" or, as I prefer, by the seat of my pants. Even though, this time, I'm making a shirt, not pants.

Things have been progressing along nicely though, so I thought I'd share my process. I'd like to note, too, that, I don't intend at all to teach anyone how to sew, as I am just really learning myself, but if you find yourself reading this, I hope that, if you do sew, you can relate to my errors, frustrations, and, if nothing else, get a laugh out of my strange way of doing things, shake your head, and say to yourself, "I'll make sure not to do it that way...."

So, first off, I make a pattern! Of course! And what else better to make a pattern out of than The New York Times Sunday Style section!? Although I did download a pattern from burdastyle.com (as mentioned in my last post), other than the sleeves, which I also modified a little bit, I find it frustrating trying to follow patterns--mainly because I have to adjust the sizes anyway. So for the most part, it's just me trying to measure myself with the tape, and adjusting from there. Rule number one: always cut things too large. For this pattern, I gave myself a few extra centimeters on all the seams--it's so much easier adjusting them later.

After I cut out the pattern, step two was sewing the shoulder seam. I don't really know what the traditional steps are for piecing together a pattern, but, for me, if the shoulders are sewn, it's so much easier to try it on and adust the other seams.

After that I pinned together the armholes to get an idea of how things would sit, and I made the darts at the bust. That was fun...er...no it wasn't. Measuring the placement of the darts wasn't so bad, but getting the angle the same on both sides was a little bit of a challenge. But it worked out.

After that, it was just a matter of sewing the side seams, finalizing the arm holes, and making the sleeves. Making the ruffled sleeves was easy--you can find plenty of tutorials at youtube.com or just by doing a search on Google. The hard part for me was actually sewing the gathered sleeve to the armhole! (My seam ripper is my best friend!) Amazingly, though, I managed to sew both sleeves onto the body and neither look deformed, and they match! Yay!

Finally, I trimmed the bottom of the back piece (I cut it too long) and hemmed all around the bottom. No problems there! I find it much easier to pin and measure out things on the floor. I can stick the pins directly into the rug so things don't move around so much. I always see people's posts and pictures of their fancy sewing rooms, but, I live in a small city apartment, so I do just about everything on the floor, including sewing. (My sewing machine sits next to my computer at a low coffee table, so literally, I even sew sitting on the floor.)

All I have left to do is the cuffs on the arms and the button panel at the front. I hope to finish it over the weekend, but opposite of "normal people," I sew mostly during the week, as I work on Saturday and stay at my boyfriend's sewing machine-less apartment the rest of the time. Ah, well. Patience, patience. But so far, it looks like a shirt! What a relief!

Tuesday morning conundrum

I'm about to start another project...but the question is, "How do I go about getting this one underway?" I want to make a shirt with puffed, capped sleeves, a scoop neck, and I want to use the flower buttons I bought yesterday! So that means, in the process of making this shirt, I need to teach myself how to do the following: making a neckline that will come out even, make ruffles and cuffs, sew buttonholes, and measure everything so it comes out straight! I'm looking forward to getting started, but with a little bit of trepidation. (Maybe I should just spend the afternoon working on the recipe book --shhh!--I'm making for my brother and sister-in-law for their anniversary/Christmas...hmmm...but then again, maybe I'll do that on Thursday!

So, anyway, I bought this really cute English lace yesterday in Nippori (the BEST place to buy fabric in Tokyo!) The man who owns the store I got it at really seems to like me, probably for my clumsy deluge of Japanese, and my enthusiasm about his cute cotton prints, so I always land up going back there again and again... Next time, I want to go back wearing the shirt I made with his fabric, so there's my motivation! (The fabric is shown here hanging out to dry, with my kind of sad looking pineapple sage.)

So I'm off to study patterns. (I don't know what I'd do without Burdastyle!) I'm going to go off their J.J. blouse, using the pattern for the sleeves, but I'll go the rest alone. Looking forward to getting out my measuring tape, so here I go!