MOONSTITCHES

40

Hi there.
Back from a three day weekend which I spent in my craft room for (re)organizing it... Finally all books together on one shelf, the growing yarn stash sighted and more storage boxes bought to make sure there will be no harm to the yarn even if it stays for some time. Fabrics neatly folded, being remembered of all the things I wanted to sew this summer... well, autumn has come. Other fabrics will be piled, waiting to be transformed.

Last week I told you I hadn't one single place where I keep all my important passwords, which can be very annoying in case your computer suddenly ceases service and has to be reinstalled... So finally I  wrote them all down, very clever, in the back of my creative notebook, which I always have somewhere around me...
Last Friday I couldn't find that book when I wanted to login to my IMDB account, not knowing my password... of course. Of course I didn't know and of course the notebook had to disappear right after I fed it with all that important information. It appeared to be nowhere at home. But then, where else could it be?!
I thought. And shortly later made the most hurried trip to my local yarn store where I suspected it having spent the last three days... I must have had forgotten it there. Like a busy squirrel collecting acorns I had been returning to Yuzawaya in Machida a couple of times last week to prepare for a long winter... new big crocheting project. Feverish, because the yarn I was going for had been on sale and is coming in 80 150　(that is why it is called Rainbow 150... just found that information on the Yuzawaya website) colours... no way I kept a clear head... I was like "Today the browns and yellows, only ten skeins!"...please so many colours - on sale - are just too many to stay calm and care for your belongings properly... I got the book back, it had been found in the yarn section of the store. Again, lucky me. Wish I had been so lucky to spend three days and nights at Yuzawaya, though... suppose my notebook doesn't really appreciate its stay.

So, about that new project... it started with me falling in love with the cover of this new crochet book.

For about a week I thought it was the scarf... so I got my first batch of that yarn I mentioned above but had to put start crocheting on hold because I was knitting a very important birthday present and that had to be finished first. Later it occurred to me that it wasn't the scarf at all, I think I dreamed of having hair like that and rosy cheeks and being twenty years again...
Coincidentally the same week I got the book (which is nice but not essential like most of these cute, little Japanese craft books) I finally found a reasonably priced copy of Nanny McPhee and, while watching it with Dagny, felt the growing urge to eventually make an actual granny square blanket.
Like this:

And off went the squirrel into the woods...

I said, the yarn was on sale.
At home the squirrel did this:

And began crocheting.

I have been trying covering the ends by crocheting but that just doesn't work for me. So I am collecting these loose ends again, but I will try weaving them in as I go. As Louise recommends. Otherwise I will be ending up like Lyn, and declaring a wholehearted NEVER AGAIN would be too bad if I had not finished my hexagon blanket before...

Speaking of hexagons, I am amazed how the hexagon love is spreading, there are already a lot of wonderful WIPs and even finished objects to see over at Hexagon Love, so inspiring! I am getting extremely itchy to keep on working on my blanket again.

40 squares done. One week's crocheting. Around 9 more weeks like this needed to get them all done. 
Smile, Alex!

Have a good week!

Edit: Rainbow 150 is called Rainbow 150 because it comes in 150 colours, finally understood that... Have a pleasant weekend!

Scarlett goes random#2

As much as I love eating good food and my coasters and place mats and sitting down at a nice table with a view or something to read, I don't mind doing things straight and with no frills.

Like eating  untoasted white bread with mustard and Ikea cheese straight from the counter or drinking cold instant coffee(!) directly from the jar which I used for shaking it (so much quicker than stirring), freezing the rest of the coffee overnight and drinking it slowly the next day while it melts. A little tricky because the block of coffee tends to suddenly move towards the opening of the jar, and if you wait until rather large amounts of fluid have been gathering you should consider undressing before drinking.

Just for the record, a photo of my summery crocheting efforts while waiting for my child to finish its activities on the kindergarten's playground in the afternoon. My respect for everybody who is making one of these giant granny square blankets... I suspect crocheting these long rounds can be pretty boring. But certainly they have the advantage of much less threads to be woven in... tempting... nevertheless, this might just be the largest square I will ever have made - impressing 30x30 cm.

Enjoy your weekend!

And was never seen again...

This morning on the way to the kindergarten, trash pick up point.

Hi, Scarlett is back. At last. By now the eight random facts about me should have been long told but I was saved from daily posting here by a weird acting and then not acting at all computer. Collecting all needed passwords (no, them I do not have nicely stored in a Ziploc bag) before the big reinstallation kept me busy and I swear I will get better organised...
Then I was without my photos, emails, got no notifications about comments from Typepad... but more than everything else I was ridden by a new obsession which stole all my attention, lots of merino yarn in all colours involved.
More about that after the second random fact which will be posted later today.

Thank you all for your comments on the bag story. Let me say, this bag is only one of many, many occasions I encountered the amazing friendliness and generosity  of Japanese people.
It is a great country I am living in, not only because  of all the fabulous craft supplies!!! Or the food. Or the potteries. Or architecture, fashion, nature, cute stamps, speaking beverage vending machines...

Till later!

Scarlett goes random

My mother used to call me Scarlett from time to time, as in Scarlett O'Hara, because while I absolutely think that today is the day, at the same time I totally have in mind that "After all, tomorrow is another day!" and hope that that might be the day everything is gonna happen, at once...

But I should have seen enough days to understand all days consist of  pretty much the same ridiculous amount of only 24 hours and given my lack of discipline and enormous willingness of being distracted by whatever from whatever I am doing, there will never be enough time to let me get in the mood of attempting to write all 200 mails back to back or get all parcels ready to be shipped  (how difficult can that be, there are only about 10!) or all crafty projects done simultaneously, or all blog posts written that are lined up in my head...

I try something new, practicing it since the beginning of the week... like doing the dishes just whenever they start filling my kitchen sink instead of waiting for that horrible  day when  things have piled up to an overwhelming height...
According to Erich Kaestner, who said there was nothing good unless you did it ("Es gibt nichts Gutes, ausser man tut es") I will start with telling you eight random things about me Sheri of simplyolive has tagged me for, two weeks ago... starting with the first, today.

A beginning.

In August 2005 I was riding the train and obviously admiring noticeable the handmade bag of the woman who was sitting next to me, because she then asked me if I liked it - which I could nothing but confirm because I really did! - and then started to unpack the bag, putting all her belongings into a plastic bag she had on hand and, apologizing for it being not freshly laundered, giving me her bag as a present. She said she loved that pattern of Oshare Kobo so much she could not stop making bags like this one. Lucky me.

Two weeks ago I found that certain back number of the magazine which is a sort of explanatory notes to the show on NHK in a Book Off... it's from 2003, pattern sheets still attached, never used and maybe never will because I already have that bag.
Take care!

Fitow

Getting ready for typhoon #9, Fitow.

The rain got really heavy by now and it is quite a wind out there, but of course we stay indoors from now on, so don't worry.

Edit: Sorry for keeping you waiting... we are fine! The storm went over our area during the night, felt strong but inside the house we really were safe.

Thank you so much for your concern.

Hope you have a pleasant weekend!

Neck Cozy

Good I do not buy any Japanese craft books anymore... otherwise I would have brought home with me this cutie last week... and some super soft and cushy yarn like Zara (Filatura Di Crosa) and maybe then I could have made this here, using a pattern from the book...

But really, I didn't. I have enough books already (as I said here on various occasions, you might remember) and yarn... no need to get more of that either. And then, I can't even remember that I made this neck warmer...

Well, I guess my hands work quicker than my brain and I did in fact make the thing. It's awfully cute and frilly and I totally think 29 degrees Celsius/ 84 degrees Fahrenheit are just fine for wearing a neck warmer... love it!

The book is adorable and nice to look at but absolutely not essential. 9 projects plus variations, not very different to this one here. So, if you happen to have that one... stay calm.

It's not expensive though and I do not actually have the other one (it was supposed to be sent to somebody and is safely stored... more on that topic another time, maybe), and fell for the neck warmer pattern as I flipped through the 64 pages of the book, so I did buy it, weak as I am.

It is claimed the projects in the book were easy and would take only three days to make and I have no doubt that is possible. The neck warmer was finished after maybe two evenings and so simple.

Another thing that is supposed to have happened yet I do not feel any difference... the end of the holidays. Today I was stuck in the kitchen because I had discovered some unwanted house guests in a rice bag... had to go through all kitchen cabinets, check, clean... It took me all day and kept me away from the desk where I initially wanted to be today. Tomorrow then...

I got a ton of questions about a pattern for the owls and want to apologize for not answering (in most of the cases). The pattern I use is from a Japanese craft book so I cannot give it to you. But I know there are others, similar ones for little stuffies like my owls... even uploaded onto a crafting site and really easy to be found by a search engine like ... I won't link to that pattern now because I don't feel comfortable  doing so any more. Sorry. I hope you understand.

Thank you so much for all your nice words about the sweater. I totally forgot to add the data about the sweater to the last posting, still not used to the natural bahaviour of a knitter... will fetch that tomorrow, then,  I hope, your questions will be answered  and I am one step closer to be a proper knitter.

Hope you all have a good start into the new week!

Take care.