Subs

Before I came bak to Japan, I was nervous and worried about a lot of, well, nothing.  Like, "Can we find a good pediatrician for my daughter?" (There're two pediatrician's offices within 5 minutes' walk.  The one who happened to be open when my daughter cut her palm during obon holidays is excellent.  Very open , informative, gentle and energetic.  It's totally my daughter's problem that she have to cry every time she sees him.  Overreacting.)  Like, "Can I find good cheese or baking supplies that I got used to in the USA?"  (Except for bacon, I can find good stuff, if I pay a little more than I used to. Or have no problem with Japanese product. Oh, Texas-thick bacon, I miss you so much.  So-called "bacon" in Japan looks like Spam with fat.)

I can get Quaker's oatmeal at nearby grocery store (Kyoto Co-op. Oh, they don't have English contents).  I can't find those rainbow colored Jell-O nor Mac'n'cheese in that blue box, but I don't miss them so much.  My daughter has a different opinion, though.

Anyway.

Now, it's time to go and find good "To-Go" yarns.

I think I have to find a good substitute for;

1. Cascade 220

2. Lily Sugar'n'Cream

3. KnitPicks Palette

and, 

4. Good and cheap acrylic yarn that I can knit/crochet Tawashis and toys without thinking how small my budget is.

A candidate for 1. is, Woolland 7 or Woolland 9 from Nikke Victor Yarn.  7 is a little finer and 9 is a little thicker than Cascade 220, but they have OK color variation (20 or 22 each) although not so bright as Cascade 220 (but, honestly, do I need that much color choice? Not really.)  I think I can manage with proper size choosing (like, making size L with thinner Woolland 7).

The real problem about 3. is, all the Japanese yarn looks too smooth and soft for Fair Isle style colorwork.  Maybe not.  I am going to try Hamanaka Junmou Chu-boso.

4. is not so hard to find at 100-yen shop, if you don't care about colors (usually very bright and crying out "I AM CHEAP!!").  Or, I would hit some online stores to look for a bargain price for  Piccolo or Bonny from Hamanaka.  

The hardest thing to find is, to my horror, 2.  So far, I have no luck.  Every yarn on Japanese market is either too thin or too "green".  I don't say no to organic yarns, "Go Green" movement nor caring the Mother Earth.  I use my cloth shopping bag for the groceries.  I just say NO to pay $7-$8 to get 120yards (one skein of Sugar'n'Cream) of cotton yarn.  I think it's good ecologically, because I am seriously considering to tear old T-shirts into strips, knitting bath mat and others with it.  Yay to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  Thanks to Mason-Dixon Knitting.

Tomorrow, I am going to Yoshikawa (on B1 floor of Kyoto Tower - very odd place for a craft store, I would say.) to see those to-go-candidate yarns in person.  My daughter will be a good girl, because I promised to make a itty-bitty witch finger puppet for her.

Gotta make a shopping list.  Lengthy one, I am so sure.