July 30, 2010

Excitement

Last post/photo for tonight before going to bed.





















Last Sunday a friend of mine invited me to a small local festival at a shrine in Tokyo.  It was an event with Japanese drums, saxophone, and dance.  Unfortunately the event was cut short when it started raining, but we really enjoyed it.  Hot, humid, but such a beautiful evening.

The event is annual at Omiya Hachimangu 大宮八幡宮 in Koenji.

View

Tomorrow is the last day in our current office, and we will be moving to the other building.  We have been in our current building only for 2 months, but I liked it is sad that we have to move.  The great view of the work-in-progress new Tokyo tower, called Sky Tree.  It's now about 400m and it's only 2/3 done.



Antiquity

My grandpa was a navy officer during the WWII, and he used to say that the navy was all about elegance.  After the war, he brought back several things from the ship, such as silverware, and the other was this wristwatch.
When he gave it to me several years ago, I often wore it around, but the winding parts got broken.  A few weeks ago I finally got around to bring it to a local watch repair.  They told me the parts do not exist anymore so they might have to replace it with a new one.  But, voila!  They actually replicated the old rod and from outside, it's the same old watch.
This pre-war period watch is the most antique item that I own.  It surprised me that the navy at that time distributed this expensive-looking watch to officers, and that the watch is American.  
The glass is pretty thick.  As you can imagine, it's heavy and loud and all, but I still love it.



July 28, 2010

Discovery

Last night I met a new friend over dinner.  She is from France and we met over a knitting community called Ravelry, which I am so addicted to.  I have Facebook and Mixi (Japanese SNS) accounts, but I rarely log-on to them, and I am always on Ravelry.  The only setback of Ravelry is that it is a predominantly female community, so there is little romantic discovery (at least for me)  ;-). But as you can imagine, I am making tons of new friends.

The French guest and I met over a message board of Japanese knitters, for she was looking for a house exchange during her visit to Tokyo.  I really wanted to go to south of France, so I instantly contacted her.  But what with recent turn of my life and all, eventually I gave up on going over to France all by myself.  Nevertheless, I still wanted to make new friends and also I studied French so I thought it was perfect.

Anyway, so last night we had dinner together at my favorite Japanese Isakaya place in my neighborhood.  Unlike some non-Japanese people I know, she was curious to try everything I ordered.  I discovered that in France they have a very similar thing to our Wasabi (a spicy garnish for Sushi or Sashimi), and learned about some different way of cooking things that we eat every day. 
At the same time, it always surprises me how Japanese products are popular in overseas market, when we Japanese always try to buy things from Europe, especially France.

I will be seeing her again in 3 weeks and we will go to the Fish Market together (first time for me, actually).  I am so excited to make a new discovery in my own hometown.

July 27, 2010

Bookish

久しぶりの更新です。最近何をしているかといえば、色々なものにどっぷりと突き進んでいます。
例えば、
HEROES 数年前、妹に面白いと教えてもらったドラマなのですが、なんかいかにもマンガチックなので観ていなかったもの。とはいえ、わたしSupermanもStarwarsもStartreckもBatmanも大好きで、まあアメコミだからといって観なかったのは不思議。
数週間前のある週末、ケーブルテレビでシーズン1~3のイッキ見をやっていて、見始めてしまいました。う~ん、面白い。沢山沢山キャラが出てくるのにどれもが魅力的で、そして結構深い家族や友情ドラマで、飽きさせません。それに、シーズン3まで見て分かったのですが、最初から最後まで一続きに構成されて複線が張り巡らされたつくり。これから完結編のシーズン4を観るところです。
コバルト文庫 懐かしい!なんだか突然読みたくなってしまって、藤本ひとみさんのティーン向け文庫を古本で20冊以上大人買いしてしまいました。すごく大人になったな、と思った瞬間。子供の頃、はまっていた期間は短いのですが(小5~中1くらい?)、今考えてみると結構影響を受けたな~としみじみ思います。もちろんティーン向けなので、いかにも少女らしい(そして大人になると不必要に思える)感情描写がかなりRedundantに感じるけれど、話の筋や背景がやはり良くできているのです。今ではすっかり歴史小説・ミステリー作家になってしまわれた藤本ひとみさんですが、なるほど、片鱗が最初からあったのだな、と関心。わたしが歴史モノが好きになったのも、ここが原点なのかな。
でもって、ティーン向けなのでキスシーンくらいから先に進まず、なかなかモドカシイ展開で20冊くらい続いています。なんだかとても懐かしくて嬉しかったです。

でもって、この時期は恐らく人生の中で一番本を読んだ時期でもありました。
今日なんとなく本の検索をしていたら、「信兵衛の読書手帳」というウェブサイトを見つけました。この方、膨大な量の小説を読んでいて、すごいのです。ジャンルもものすごく幅広い!
わたしは実は海外文学しか余り読んだことがないので、でも海外のページだけみると自分の読書暦や好みとものすごく近くて、見つけて嬉しかったサイトでした。なので無断で紹介してしまいました。
特にこの方の「好きな既読リスト」の一番下にある「児童文学」「タイムスリップ」などはどれも好きな本ばかりで驚きました。

ではでは、今日はこの辺で。

July 10, 2010

Tribute


Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock in Ink color, 0.8 skein
Needles: size 0 (2.0mm)

My sister modeled for me, because there is no way I can photograph my foot at a proper angle.  It's a lovely pattern and it's free! Please follow this link.

Although the design is pretty intricate and looks complicated, the lace pattern is easy to remember.  I finished a pair in almost one breath!  I had been sick in bed so it kept on knitting when I was well enough to sit up.

The original design is made with white yarn, but I don't think I can wear white lace socks.  This dark ink color is just as perfect for this design as cream white.  Love it.


I went to my sister's place this afternoon.  Her husband played with my new camera and took many fantastic photos of everything.  Start with his BD cake :)  The color should look brighter than this.


Wooo, cute.


And ....


Yey!

Crooked Path


Pattern: Crooked Path by Melissa LaBarre (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: Madelinetosh Vintage in Glazed Pecan
Needles: US 5 (3.75mm) US 8 (5mm)

I made this in just a few hours.  Such a beautiful and clever pattern!  I am making it again, I think.  No modification required.  Quick and satisfactory project.

The actual is brighter.  The setting in this blog or blogger transforms/fades the real color.

Jen


Jen by Kim Harvreaves
Yarn: Madelinetosh Pashmina in Mineral, 1.5 skein
Needles: US5 (3.75mm) US2 1/2(3mm)
Size: M

Please excuse me for a vacant expression on my face.  I finished this sweater a while ago and it's so far has been my absolute favorite.  The color is very beautiful.  
Pashmina from Madelinetosh became my #1 favorite yarn.  It's soft and elastic, very easy to knit with. I had 3 skeins so I am searching for a good 1.5 skein project with sport weight yarn.
I usually choose XS or S for myself, but this time I went up a size or two and picked size M.  Because the yarn is so elastic, the button bands would not stay put and closed if I pull them too much.  Glad about my choice.


The gold buttons are from a local craft shop.  It's an old mama-papa type of tiny shop, and what I love about it is that they've got all those semi-antique buttons.  You can imagine, not many people go in and buy buttons from them, so the boxes are there forever.  They've got some of the intricate plastic buttons that we don't see any more in big chain craft stores.

Anyway, that's it!

July 09, 2010

SAW, I am Going!!!!!!!

Again, it has been a while, so how have you been?
The only reason I haven't been updating my blog for half a month is that I had been knitting. Really hard. It almost felt like a physical training at times, when I still kept going while my arms got exhausted. I am hoping to photograph some of the works properly this weekend, to finally post them here. Please be patient!

The big news I have is SAW - Squam Art Workshop. I found out about them through Ysolda's blog (my knitting goddess!), when she attended a yearly Knitting/Textile workshop. I decided not to wait until next year, and to go to their Fall visual art session. I am soooo excited!

The workshops are held at a camp site / mountain lodge in New Hampshire, right beside a national park area. I have never been to that part of the States, only up to Boston, so this is my very first time. I heard that it's beautiful there in September.

If anyone intend to attend the Fall workshop, I wonder if we can share a ride from Boston area... that is, give me a ride. I can't drive, but I will pay for my share of costs. Please let me know!