This was a great year for knitting! When I was going through my photos I realized that as the year went on, there is a definite trend towards more usable, wearable garments that are actually flattering for me. That is something to celebrate!

I also started a knitting group with some of my closest friends that caught on this year. I have converted at least 4 people who are working on or finished with substantial projects and no longer think I've lost it for being so addicted to knitting. One of them even started her own knitting blog, but more on that another time.

I never would have made so much progress on my own if it hadn't been for the community of knitbloggers out there who were constantly inspiring and encouraging me in my fiber endeavors. Thank you! I can't wait to see what kind of great things everyone does in 2006.

Tonight I'm off to Ise Jingu, the biggest, oldest or most important shrine in Japan (I forget) to stand dangerously close to a huge bonfire with my friends and ring in the New Year. Then I'm off to my "Japanese family's" house to eat, sleep and relax with them until the end of my vacation. Happy New Year to you and your families, too!

Posted by Molly at 01:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

When I finished my Hourglass sweater, I decided it was finally time to break out the Flower Basket Shawl pattern and the Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that I had gotten for it when I was home this summer. I cast on and before I knew it, was moving right along.. very quickly! But it wasn't enough. Yesterday, on my first full day of vacation, I got down to work, doing calculations and brainstorming for a new project that I have had in mind for a while. It's really keeping my attention so far, and moving along nicely.

All I'll tell you for now is that lace, bobbles and some lovely laceweight Silk Garden are involved. I'm not sure exactly what is going to happen, but I think it's going to be good!

Posted by Molly at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Pattern: Last Minute Knitted Gifts' Hourglass sweater.
Yarn: 10 skeins of beautiful Cash Iroha.
Needles: Size 6 Addi Turbos, which I really liked.

I am very happy with myself for having finished this sweater. The hem and the cuffs blocked out totally flat, and the rest of the sweater looked great with only a light misting. I'm also glad that I decided to knit up the hem when I started the body and sleeves, a la nothin' but a t-shirt, so that I only had to seam the neckline at the end. I would NOT be wearing it yet if there was that much finishing! Even though I continued the yoke decreases further than the pattern instructed, I was surprised how big the neckline turned out to be. But everything looks better with a black turtleneck. ...and that oddly light-colored skein across the chest? It is MUCH less visible when not faced with the harsh flash. I have had this on all day now, and I think it is very wearable, unlike most sweaters I have made since I started knitting. Maybe this is the beginning of something good!

Tomorrow is the start of my official New Year's vacation, and I'm off until I have to head back to the office next Wednesday. I know they say that culture shock is a constant cycle, and I am definitely feeling a little overwhelmed about living in Japan right now, so I'm willing to believe it. Hopefully a few days off and away from all the people who are driving me crazy will be just what I need to remind me what made me want to stay a third year in the first place!

Posted by Molly at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

This book that I got for Christmas is a really colorful and fun presentation of crochet. I really liked these ideas, among others.

I'm starting to feel a certain affinity for Spiders.

I love the shot of granny in her kimono showing off the warm warmers that can be made from an old sweater.

I am trying to see this book from my friend/supervisor at work as a peace offering since things have been pretty tense between us lately. Ever since we went on a weekend trip together and she blew up at me on the car ride home, calling me childish for dozing off while we were sitting in 5 hours of stopped traffic and telling me never to knit around her again, I can't say things have really been the same. Does anyone have friends who refuse to be around when you knit? This was really just the beginning--there have been various other episodes since the first blowout, and it has really been stressing me out at school and in all the time that we spend together outside of school. Hopefully this is a sign that although we are still somewhat at odds, we can move on soon. I sure hope so.

In other news, I dragged out the floor cushions for a slap-dab blocking job...

I didn't realize quite how slap-dab it was until I looked at this picture. The pins have been adjusted and fingers are crossed that the hem will be flat as can be.

Posted by Molly at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It wasn't quite the blowout that I was fearing, but I did go to Osaka yesterday and my first stop was the Colors fabric store that my mom and I first went to when she came last year. I picked up all this good stuff, to make some pillowcases that are going to be late Christmas gifts, maybe a drawstring project bag or two, and hopefully I to make the floral print into a poofy summer skirt if the gods are smiling on me someday.

Everything I bought had a very specific purpose in mind, so I am considering my shopping day a job well done. I of course had to stock up on fresh coffee and some other things that can only be found in the big city, but this Rilakkuma bear was the only totally unnecessary thing that hopped into my bags. I couldn't resist. Until now I have been relatively unchanged by the excessive cutesy stuff in Japan, Hello Kitty included, although I have indulged here and there. I cannot get enough of this bear who loves to relax! [Click if you want to see him lounging in bed and enjoying the flannel sheets that I got from my mom and dad for Christmas].

And a holiday wish from the top of the Christmas cake I'm about to dive into...

Posted by Molly at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

How do knitters with families and jobs do it?! I've been really busy in the evening after work lately, and it really cuts into my knitting time. This week I went to see the new Harry Potter, had an extra tea ceremony practice, did a bunch of last minute Christmas shopping, and then last night went to my school's end of the year party where I had too much beer, sake and scotch (nice combination) to handle seaming when I got home. I haven't actually made any progress on the hourglass neckline since my last post and discovery of that great natural light photo spot. So instead of showing you a different view of the same thing, I thought it would be better to see how the sweater looks in my brand new, life-changing tote bag. Is it not the greatest thing you've ever seen?*

It was actually kind of scary when I found it because how much I love it is just proof that the line between my mom's** personality and interests and my own has become blurred. When did that happen? I almost felt guilty buying it because there was only one and I couldn't get one for her too.

Even though I haven't been doing much knitting of my own, I did receive some beautiful swap socks in the mail from Supergirl. Aren't they perfect?

I know that I can knit cables too, but the thought of knitting them in socks intimidates me. These look so nice though, that I just might have to try. They will be keeping my tootsies warm this weekend when I can finally enjoy some time to lay on my couch, finish up some knits and dive into tapes of the second half of this last Survivor and a whole lot of ER that just came this week.

*Some friends tease me because they say I always speak in hyperbole. But I NEVER speak in hyperbole.
**YAY! Now that everyone I know doesn't read this, I can link to my mom's blog all I want without worrying about spoiling things for her. Have I mentioned how much I am loving this?

Posted by Molly at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last night I came really close to finishing my hourglass sweater, but at the last minute I decided to leave it until tonight. I have a really bad habit of setting a totally unrealistic deadline for myself when I get to the end of a project. When I found myself close to finishing on Monday night, I decided that I would have it blocked and ready to wear by my office party on Thursday. But is that really necessary? I could just take my time, enjoy the sewing down of the neckband and the seaming of the armpits and block this without that frantic feeling that I tend to get before deadlines (even self-imposed). So I don't know what I'll be wearing to to the office party tomorrow night, but it's certainly not going to be this sweater. The hourglass will just have to be unveiled when it's good and ready.

Thanks for all the welcome comments to my new blog home. I am still combing old comments and emails from bloggers to make sure that I let people know about the move and haven't gotten to everyone yet. I don't have the intention of excluding any knitbloggers, so I hope that word gets to everyone eventually.

Posted by Molly at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I started my good, old knitting blog about a year and a half ago and didn't have a clue how much things would evolve over the course of time. I was moving to Japan so I wanted to start a blog to 1) keep in touch with my family and friends at home and 2) be able to show my mom (and anyone else who cared) what I am knitting. My brother, and I assumed others, didn't want to have to scroll through knitting to see what kind of "actual, interesting things" I was doing over here, and so two separate but closely linked blogs were born.

Fast forward a year and a half to the blogs' current state. I never would have guessed that I would "meet" and keep in touch with so many interesting (not-necessarily-knit)bloggers all around the world! I also find myself in a tightly-knit community of foreigners abroad, who know much too much about each others' business. More than once I have found myself in a social situation with people who I was meeting for the first or second time, and they bring up my knitting blog. How do they know!? I hate the fact that knowing about all these lurkers affected what I wrote on the blog, but it definitely did. How was I to know when some random person would bring up something personal I had written on my blog in real life? And so I started to censor what I wrote.

Especially lately, with all sorts of drama at work, I have been dreaming of a real, semi-anonymous knitblog that I can actually use for knitting and personal purposes without having to worry about what some co-workers or my grandparents might think if they happened to read any particular entry. I'm sure it will take me a long time to figure out Movable Type and all this fun stuff, but it's just the kind of thing that will hopefully keep me entertained at work during winter vacation. So change your links and tell anyone who cares, because I won't be updating my old blog anymore or posting any forwarding links.

Merry Christmas to me!

Posted by Molly at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)