Last week, I finally finished the basketweave section of my Hanami. I say finally, but I am in no rush to finish this as it is a goodbye gift for my tea ceremony teacher and now I know that I'll be around for more than another year. But it is a fun knit, and good to knit lace again instead of just zoning out on the stockinette and crochet projects that I had been working on previously.

I really love this sachiko section. The lace pattern is interesting but easy to remember so I really didn't have to do any ripping or stressing about mistakes (if you see any, just don't tell me!). Now I'm on the falling petals sections. It involves a lot more stockinette but the "random" petals are getting more and more frequent so the knitting is getting fun again.

I wish I could balance my projects more evenly, but I always find myself hooked on one thing for a few days and then hooked on something else after that. I want to get back to Ms. Marigold soon so that I can actually wear it before it gets too hot!

Posted by Molly at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Yesterday was the end of a fantastic three day weekend that I really needed after a busy week. I had gotten back from my snowboarding trip late Tuesday night and was thrown straight into a two-day conference that I was organizing for work, with houseguests for added fun. When the conference ended and my friends rolled out for their snowboarding trip on the three day weekend, I didn't know what to do with myself. I even felt kind of lonely! But those feelings were fleeting and after Stitch 'n Bitch on Saturday afternoon with the handful of people that were left at home, I was happy to come back to my apartment and just relax. I unpacked, cleaned, organized, weeded through old clothes, started to repack for my next trip (Australia, next Thursday, wheee!) and got mentally ready for my impending move. There is really going to be a lot going on for me in 2008.

Somewhere in there I found time to sleep until noon and knit while watching Oprah (thanks, Mum!) so it wasn't really strenous at all. I finally got to spend some time working on Hanami, which I had finally cast on for in the hopes of bringing something light with me to work on in Hokkaido. The lighting in our bed and breakfast was poor at the best of times though, so I had to write off knitting on that trip and give in to other vacation fun. Ever played Puyupoyo? Anyway, working on this end of lace pattern this weekend was FUN. It has been a long time since I worked on a lace project like this and I love the mental groove I get into when I am working through all the YOs and decreases. I decided not to do a beaded cast on because the yarn is not so delicate looking... actually, I just didn't have any beads and I wanted to get started. I think it looks nice this way though, and as it is being made as a gift for my tea ceremony teacher, I don't think it needs the extra bling. It's still nice and light so it'll be coming to Australia, too!

I realized that even in the light of midday, my apartment gets no good light for taking photos (something to cross my fingers for when I move). Ripple is coming along nicely and it is fast as ever. I just can't believe the amount of yarn it is eating up. I am pretty hooked on crochet (haha) and I just want to make it longer and longer. A main reason for making this was to use up yarn that I had, so buying more yarn to make it bigger does kind of defeat the purpose.

That's all I've got for now. I don't know who slipped the caffeine in my drink today, but I am going to use this energy to be productive tonight!

Posted by Molly at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a quick peek at my new project for the springy Fleece Artist that I was dying to use. The triangular shawl business really wasn't working for me so I decided to use a simpler lace pattern and am trying to make a bigger stole-y scarf--something to cuddle up in on the couch or to wrap thickly around the neck on a cold winter day. Not much to show at the moment but will hopefully have some downtime soon to really engross myself in the lace and start cranking it out.

And the squares, oh, the squares, are still coming along. I'm officially 3/4 of the way to finishing all of them. This monster (although really, it's not even that big) will be done by fall if I'm lucky! I thought of starting to seam the squares together early, but I realized that I will definitely want to lay them all out, fiddle around with the blocks and piece them together only when I've found the perfect order. Wonder where I got that tendency... sound like anyone you know?

Posted by Molly at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Zapped of enthusiasm, that is. I have been in a serious knitting slump! I am making lots of progress on all my WIPs, but I have been totally uninspired to start something new and exciting, which is really unusual for me. I am usually aching to start the next project on my to-knit list, and thinking of what social engagements I can cancel to stay home and knit. I blame all the plain knitting I've been working on lately. Stockinette is a nice break when things are busy but I am ready to start something more exciting. But what?

Last week I decided to cast on for a new Leaf Lace shawl. I made one as a gift last year and was mesmerized by the lace pattern. I had been aching to use my bright new Fleece Artist (thanks again Becky!!!) but something about it just isn't right. I have something new in mind now so I'll be frogging and looking forward to seeing how that plays out...

There are a lot of new ideas and patterns out there but nothing has been speaking to me lately like Eunny's new designs. Is she superhuman? I drooled over every photo in her entry last week and today I have decided that I MUST knit this someday. Isn't that colorwork just beautiful? Thank god there is a lot of inspiration out there in the blog world, since there certainly isn't much in my knitting basket at the moment. Once I work through the less exciting things I have going on now, I might just be able to let myself splurge on the yarn for another exciting new project.

Until then, the blanket squares beckon!

Posted by Molly at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tomorrow I'm going to a full day of work, and then I'm driving a van of 10 people to the mountains of Nagano for our big, weekend-long soccer tournament. So what did I just HAVE to do tonight?

Block this leaf lace shawl, of course! I finished this ages ago, but there was no rush to block it as I was going to give it to my tea ceremony teacher when I leave Japan next year. But now the dearest friend and co-worker, who has been nothing short of a savior to me the whole time I've worked in Japan, is getting married. It's all very low-key and being done at city hall on Sunday, and I just know that she will die when she opens this wedding prezzie at work next week. She absolutely fawns over any handknit item I wear to work and is always full of positive energy (and gossip!). How could I NOT give it to her?

Ship over that next batch of yarn Mum, just T-minus 10 months to get the next one finished.

Posted by Molly at 12:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

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)