In the interest of tuning into 24 before bed, I'm going to let the pictures do the talking tonight.

Posted by Molly at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I'm usually in bed by now, but a new Survivor/24 tape and a quickly growing yoga mat bag kept me up late. (No pictures as that would take away another precious 15 or 20 minutes sleeping time). I just had to read my late night bloglines updates, and came across something great that I think everyone should read if you haven't already.* It's about what other people think about you. Sometimes I let myself believe that I don't care what other people think. But most of the time I'm very aware of it and just want to stop caring for once! I think this post really drives it home. Hopefully it will inspire some of you the way it inspired me.

And, because it's no fun to post without a picture (not that I care what you think, bien sur), here is my favorite shot from a recent trip to Kyoto. It totally reminds me of a log cabin quilt. Maybe I'll make an orange and red one one of these days. You know, in my spare time.**

*Do you know Danny Gregory? My mom brought his book with her when she visited a few months ago, and after being rather snotty and poking fun at the self-help drawing book, I perused the pages and was quickly SOLD. This guy is great, and his writing and illustrations are really entertaining and motivating without being sappy or lame. And seriously, I have high standards. Anyways, my mom ended up leaving the book for me (really, wasn't that nice of her? even after I mocked her about it) and I flip through it all the time. His blog is great too. Ok, I've got to go to bed!!

**No, I have never actually made a quilt. But I did do a fair amount of strip piecing (or something like that) in my day on the Singer kids machine. I'll get back to it sooner or later.

Posted by Molly at 12:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Semi-FO
Pattern: Leaf Lace Shawl (I've misplaced the actual pattern)
Yarn: Elizabeth Lavold Silky Wool, color 23, three skeins
Started: December 24, 2005;

I used the Elizabeth Lavold Silky Wool when I unfortunately couldn't find enough skeins of a lovely maroon Koigu that I found in New York last summer. Even though this yarn wasn't exactly what I wanted, it turned out to be perfect for the shawl and the color is just lovely. Although I'm tempted to keep it for myself, I'm going to put it aside to give to my tea ceremony teacher next year when I leave Japan. 15 months early--this is a SERIOUS record! The last bit of the shawl was very slow going as I was knitting about one row per episode of Project Runway that my mom taped for me. I don't know if the rows were actually that long or if my eyes were totally glued to the TV. I loved every second of that show!

I love the look of the purl side of this pattern. It reminds me of old-fashioned egg cartons. (Are those paper cartons actually old-fashioned? Or do they just not have them in Japan?) The only drawback to knitting this big shawl is that the only place in my small apartment sufficient for blocking is my double bed. If the shawl were for me, I might be able to sacrifice a night of sleeping on the floor to block this as soon as possible. But seeing as I've got lots of time and the bugs are starting to come out of the woodwork, I think I'll stay in bed and wait to block it next time I go away for a weekend. Hey, I've got 15 months!

I was also lucky enough to get lots of cool stuff in the mail in the past few weeks. For one thing, my first candyswappers package, yum! Blogless (I think) Mya had me totally figured out, and sent some delicious regional candies (that was the theme of the swap) plus a few seasonal necessities. And fingerless mitts, too! As you can see I was totally spoiled. But the big shocker is that it's not all gone yet! It's the new me. (Mum, don't have a heart attack--I'm taking good care of my teeth!)

Finally, I decided to start a new project to get out of my recent knitting slump, and decided there was nothing better to start with than the yoga bag from Stitch n Bitch Nation. The pattern is pretty simple, but I changed it just a bit so that the stripes would be horizontal rather than vertical. Yes, this is the yarn that I bought to learn to crochet, but when it came right down to it, I decided that I don't really want a super bright crochet scarf so why make one? What I do want is a super bright yoga bag so that I can stop strapping up my mat in a bungee cord to go to yoga on Tuesdays. Plus, it's no fun when it goes bouncing out of my bike basket--a shoulder strap option is really in order!

*I've been listening to the OK Go song "A Million Ways" a lot lately and was really disappointed to see that the lyrics are actually "A million ways to be cruel" and not "a million ways to be cool." Don't you just hate it when the right lyrics give the song a whole new meaning? It's still a great song though.

Posted by Molly at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

My new hard drive FUH-hinally came today* and it seems that I am back up and running! Unfortunately there is some virus that keeps downloading itself to my computer faster than I can update my virusscan software. Who knew you could pick those things up so fast? But anyway, I know that computer problems = boring, boring, boring blog fodder. Forgive me, I'm feeling a little rusty!

Want to see what I finished during my sejour in the dark ages?

Friends don't take pictures of friends at this angle. I was trying to look fierce but we concluded it was more of an alien abduction look.

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That's what I'm talking about!

Two beautiful sesames! Becky and I both used KnitPicks Merino Style, and while the fabric is nice and the guage was spot on, I think that the recommended yarn probably would have made for a firmer (read: functional) button band. I still don't know what I'm going to do about it but now I'm leaning towards sewing up the front of the sweater and slapping the buttons on the front to go for a faux-cardigan pullover. I think it'll be more wearable that way, and still look like a cardigan without having super stretched out button bands. I have still worn the sweater a few times completely buttonless and I don't think anyone noticed.

More knitting excitement, deep thoughts and much, much more on the way soon, if I can ever remove this virus that just keeps coming back.

*Considering I live on the other side of the world and it was all shipped through my mom it did come really fast. It just FELT like an eternity.

Posted by Molly at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

If you've wondered where Molly's been lately, she's asked me to let you all know that she's suffering from a malady known as severe blog separation anxiety and will be away indefinitely due to a computer problem. With the help of a coworker, she's been able to narrow down the diagnosis. Now her challenge is to convince the manufacturer that it is indeed covered under her extended warranty. And do that without internet access while living on the other side of the world. Although that would put her geographically much closer to the techs who man the phones at said computer company, wouldn't it?

In the meantime, Molly gave me *full creative license* to write anything I want, which would be quite tempting if it wasn't for a little thing known as blog photo blackmail. Since most of you come here to see her projects, I decided to share my favorite of Molly's in-progress pieces.

Although she's quite good about finishing things now, this little self-designed purse has been waiting patiently, needle at the ready, for about 15 years. I think it's the sweetest, funniest little piece (permit me, I'm her mom) and of all of Molly's childhood *stuff* that I have saved, I think this would be the last thing I'd part with.

Do you think there's a Japanese word for moola?

Posted by Molly at 03:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

To celebrate the beginning of Project Spectrum April today, I stopped at Loft in Nagoya, my favorite store that is full of stuff that I never knew I needed before. I actually had my haircut nearby and was initially determined not to go into the store but just to snap a shot of the sign. Next thing I knew, I had found some pens and a notebook that I needed. And a few other things. But here is more to be excited about (besides the fact that it is going to be cold and rainy at outdoor sumo tomorrow. You know what that means, right? I might be able to break out the thrummed mittens this season after all!).

Last night I finished my mini-clapotis! Perfect timing, too, because it snowed this week and was just cold enough today to justify wearing this on my little jaunt in the city. Turns out that it's not quite as mini as I imagined, and it has all the length and just a little less of the width of a full-sized specimen.

Project specs (I really had to dig in my yarn basket for this stuff)
Yarn/Pattern: Kate's Clapotis in Silk Garden (Fine), color 101, a little under three balls (it's not itchy!)
Needles: size 7 clover bamboo circs (it's a good thing I measured these because I just noticed that I switched my leaf lace shawl from size 6 addis to said size 7s by accident. Why is everything I want to knit on size 6 needles these days!?).
Time taken: Hardly any!

So to recap, shopping at Loft + snow at the end of March + new scarf and a new haircut = glamour shots in the bathroom at Starbucks. Got it?

Have a fun weekend!

Posted by Molly at 08:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)