New persona

First, I wanted to make it to St. Valentine's Day.
Next, I set the due day to March the 1st.
I missed both, but now, at last.  On my 44th birthday.

I made myself a knitting (and hopefully, crochet) designer.
I can't say "professional" because I'm not paid.  I just set up a website and a blog.  When I said "my new office is still under construction", the construction was being made by none else by myself, and only on the cyber space.

Atelier PawPrint
https://sites.google.com/site/atelierpawprint/

and its blog, PawPrint on the floor
http://atelier-pawprint.blogspot.jp/

It's my place as an artist-kind-of-persona.
And, I'll go bilingual, writing every post, every pattern both in English and Japanese.
I'm not going to teach anything.  So, no "basics" or "101s".  There are so many wonderful books and teachers in the fiber world that I guess I don't need to set a classroom myself.

Until now, I have been posting occasional "not by a pattern" projects here, but I'll make them into words and post them on PawPrint website from now on.  I will not abandon this blog, nor am thinking of making a fortune as a designer. I am not a "creative" person in my honest opinion, but a "make-doer".  I am not a person of originality, but of small ideas. I think original designs should be traded at proper prices, but my ideas are none like that.  At least for now.  That's why I'm not selling anything on PawPrint website but asking donations if any of the visitors want to pay for my works.  Not asking for money is an excuse, too, of not making them in a perfect package for downloading and all.  (It's a terrible pdf now, but this is the best I could make for now.)   I'll learn more to make them better, of course, as soon as possible.

Here, I'm a knitter who has too much stash and too much "other stuff".
There, I'll be an artist who can't stop expressing herself through fiber-ish materials.
I hope having these two places does me good.

PS. I noticed I have written many "not"s above.  What do I want to deny?

Running around

Finally. Finally, I got a time to sit down and write here. Write, about this;

The care package from Janet, that is. I received these goodies (and some more for my husband) about a month ago, briefly thanked her over twitter and just got caught by a swarm of meetings.

I am assigned to a board member of the parents' association at my daughter's kindergarten. Well, I think I am supposed to use the word "chosen", but that oh-no-inescapable feeling I got when I picked up the phone call from the teacher... I won't say I don't feel honored. But....

Anyway, with an exception during holidays (Golden Week, from the end of April to the first week of May, when we visited my husband's family), not a single week has passed without meeting with other board members (four of us, including me). It's a joy to work with these wonderful ladies - I'm already thinking of Christmas presents for each of them - but a huge portion of my mental power and time have to go outside my house.

And, I had to visit new Avril store at Sanjo, Kyoto, of course.

The store moved one floor above of old place and got a bigger space. My daughter and I had a wonderful time with my newly-met friends from Holland. As usual, I was overwhelmed by the variety and beauty of their yarn and bought only a couple of hair-tie kits.

It's an awful excuse, I know, but I just couldn't find time for the blog.

But again, this doesn't mean I don't have any time to enjoy the gift. Thank you, Janet - I think I'm going into a "lace phase" this spring / summer.

My plain leaf scarf got a blocking today.

I think I'm going to have less time with blog this year, but not so less time with knitting. Some of meetings shall allow me to have some extra knitting time. Hopefully.

2010

My resolution for 2009 wasn't so ambitious, but a little too much for me. This year, I will concentrate only on ... losing weight.

No, it's not a joke.

As the first step, I signed up for an online (on-cell-phone, more precisely) fitness program. It costs me only 210 yen per month, but it's not free. I think paying money (how little it is) gives me a good motivation not to drop out. I can do yoga or Pilates right here in my living room, right at the moment I got 5 minutes before picking up my daughter. I got no excuse not to do any workout.

For knitting, I decided to make NO plan this year. I'll knit anything I want, at any pace I'm comfortable with. I'll make no promise to anyone, including myself, to make something.

Only exception is to plan and attend once-a-month meeting with Kansai Knitters Meetup Group in Kyoto.

In short, "think small" is my motto for this year. Yes, I want smaller me.

impulse and planning

Recently, I finished two garments for my daughter.

Pattern based on; DROPS 112-38 Jacket in "Alpaca" and Kid-Silk" with long sleeves

Yarn; Omega Sinfonia, in various colors... please see my Ravelry project page

Needles; JP 5 bamboo circular, US 3 Knitpicks Harmony circular and 2 1/2 Knitpicks Harmony DPNs

Pattern; my own, just plain knit-in-round vest.

Yarn; SKI yarn fingering, colorway 1786 - one of my mom's stash yarns, used only 75g for the vest, 20g for swach, which means I still have four balls (200g) of it

Needles; US 2 1/2 (for rib) and 3 (for body) KnitPicks Nickel-Plated circulars

Note; about the yarn... My husband cannot wipe off the image of "Chinese stir-fry veggie mix with Jew's ear mushroom" when he sees this color mix. I'd go with "trail mix with lots of dried fruits".

Each started with my sudden realization of the temperature outside. My daughter was going to feel cold if I didn't make these.

Today, the low dropped down to low-40F from mid-50F of last week's. The school vest had been finished in a week and blocked yesterday. Phew.

Yesterday, I went sit'n'knit to a nearby café with my daughter. My knitting friend on Ravelry was coming, too, but she had to cancel. So the "meeting" ended up in mother and daughter time, with cappuccino (for me) and iced cocoa (for my daughter), We had a lovely time, though. I worked on my husband's socks (almost black but so comfortable to work with) and my daughter's socks (another colorful project). My daughter drew some pictures (and gave one of those to the model - squishy bear in café), knit 10 stitches, and took a nap.

It was just me and my daughter this time, but I and Betsy of Kansai Knitters Meetup Group hope this grows as the "Kyoto branch" of our meetup group. The main meetups at Sept Mignon in Osaka on Saturdays doesn't always work for me, as my daughter's swimming class happens on Saturdays.

I could be an assistant organizer in Kyoto. It's a very small step, but my first one to follow the great people who works to spread the yarn/fiber love, like all the podcasters and event organizers.

Spread the love. I feel I'm on a mission.

Summer is here.

Summer.

Slows down blogging. Slows down knitting & crocheting. I just joined worldwide mom's band of "summer break, what the xxxx." My daughter's summer break is not here yet (Spring, or 1st term ends on July 16th), but I can feel IT already.

I have finished HÉLÈNE SOCKS;

Pattern; Hélène Socks by Tuulia SalmelaPatt

Yarn; Osaka TOA Prism light fingering (from a company long ago gone. one of the inheritance yarns)

Needles; US 1 (2.25 mm) Brittany 5 inches DPNs

The pattern is written for US 10 size, with sport weight yarn and US 3 needles.. To fit my feet, US 5 1/2, I decided to use fingering and finer needles. I thought 2.25 mm needles go better with this yarn, but in retrospect, I should have used 2.50 mm - finished socks are very, very tight on my feet (wearable, though).

Pattern includes beautiful, speaks-out-itself charts. After the first heel turn, I didn't need to reference the main chart. I could have start reading what I've made at much earlier point if I had tried to do so. I was too lazy, and ended up using more mental energy than I needed. Foolish me.

I used wooly nylon thread for reinforcing heels and toes for the first time. The hardest part was to find the right thread, which is not really "hard" once I figured out which thread I should get. Maybe the close second hardest was to find out the right color. Wooly nylon was sold at my trusty craft store (Yoshikawa @ Kyoto tower basement), in 50 zillion colors or so.

Brittany needles are not really famous for their sharpness - if I want sharp tips, I'd go Knitpicks Harmony or Options - but working on complicated traveling & cabled pattern or picking up the stitches on gussets with them were not so frustrating. I love their bare wood finish. I love their length. I always think of switching to 6 inch Knitpicks DPNs only when working on the first several rounds of gusset decrease, most of the time just think and keep on using Brittanys.

Now, I got...

a BSJ with organic cotton yarn in my new knitting bag.

These are from my dear friend Janet in Texas. I can't believe we only saw each other in person just a few times - and I regret it. I was living so close to her home and her work. Again, I was lazy.

Our "visiting each other" happens now mostly on Flickr or on blogs, and e-mails. And, a little care package from time to time. It's sad we can't actually see each other often, but thinking of, finding goodies for, and sending packages to each other totally has another fun.

Her pictures on the blog and Flickr site always amazes me. I should learn more from her works; pay attention to lights and layouts when taking pictures, and consider well when choosing colors for projects.

When I saw her blog about getting new knitting bags, my heart pounded. She had told me she was waiting something for me to be delivered. Yeah, this beautiful green bag might be for me, oh, but... no, I shouldn't be greedy, oh, oh, ...

Big relief and joy it was, what I felt when I found the bag in her package.

Her love and care goes to my daughter, too.

When we opened her package, my daughter, delighted, used the new crayons from "Janet - uh, MISS Janet" to color her then-working drawing ("Mom and Dad and me going to the zoo") right there. My daughter loves drawing and painting. Now she has any color of crayons she wants, and has learned mixing colors when she paints. This shooting-star, rising-sun artist has got a power.

Her package gave me some firm strategy to wade on this summer. Macaroni cheese for lunch. Small knitting(socks?mittens?)/crocheting (how about granny squares?) while she paints, draws or plays at playgrounds. Glasses of tea and lemonade.

Happy Birthday, USA.

I am not.

I took a quiz about knitting addiction.  Here's the result.

You scored only 47%. Either you are a beginning knitter, or you just don't have an addictive personality. If your family accuses you of addiction they are insane. In fact, you are so non-addicted, I'm surprised you took this test!

Ok.  I'm NOT addicted.  Still my husband will say I'm a patient of incurable disease.  I'd say incurable, but coexist-able.  Or chronic.  Yeah, I'm old enough to have one or two chronic diseases.

Making errors

In the last post, I wrote my mother "doesn't care" about discoloration of the angora yarn.  What I really meant was,  that she "doesn't mind" it.  

I'm not a native English speaker.  After those many years of English classes at schools and 5 years in The Woodlands, I'm not scared of being spoken in English.  I can buy things (mostly yarns and knitting books) online/in person in English with no problem.  Still, I feel I'm making improper, if not totally wrong, choice of words all the time.

I don't feel good about it, but I don't care.

On Ravelry, I see a lot of Japanese members make a statement that they are not good at English, being sorry for their poor English, blah, blah, blah. 

I was like that, too, in my first month or two in the USA.  Now I force myself not to be apologetic about my English skills.  That doesn't make any good.  If the reader of my comment and this blog or the person I'm talking with finds out any incorrect/wrong choice of words, phrases etc., they will help me to make my point clear if they really want to talk with me.  Or so I believe.  I don't want to waste my time and their precious time in an empty (and often poor) apology.  I don't want to become an expert of saying "I'm sorry".  I want to become good at making myself understood in English.

Everybody knows that there are a lot of people whose first language is not English.  English speakers are not mean nor narrow-minded.  Imperfect English is OK.  Wrong English makes yourself misunderstood, and that's it.  In many cases, you can correct the misunderstanding later if you don't give up making yourself understood and learn to speak better.  Knitting and speaking English looks similar, thinking of that.  Knitting is easier because you can frog a whole project and make a fresh start.  

I joined Knitters in Japan group in Ravelry because I need knitting friends I can talk with about Japanese yarns and all.
I don't participate in the Japanese Knitters Ravelry group, where they communicate only in Japanese.  Not for now.  Because I feel more comfortable in English than in Japanese when it comes to knitting.   And because I'm a snobby, stubborn little girl who's scared of being told so in her first language.

Blogging and Twittering in English takes more time than in Japanese to me, of course, but I enjoy it more.  Maybe it's because being aware of speaking imperfectly makes me feel easier to admit my fault in English.  Perhaps English speaking O'Chica is a better person than Japanese speaking O'Chica. 

the day after

Mom's surgery went well.  She is still under anesthesia, but the doctor is happy how the surgery went.

I got tons of knitting time yesterday, in the train and at the hospital.  Today, too, I hope.

My name is O-chica.  I am a Knitter.

Like grandma, like mom, like daughter

On Ravelry, I met tens of  great knitting friends.  Some lives pretty close.  I went out for a S'n'B last month and had tons of fun.  My daughter came with me, and was a very good girl throughout having a glass of chocolate milk and draw all of my friends there.

 

She is not a very social type, but looked so comfortable just being with us, drinking and eating, minding her own business.  Wow.  A perfect S'n'B member at the tender age of four.

Last Sunday we had this month's S'n'B.  I had told about it to my mother.  The cafe we gather is verrry close to my mother's house (where I grew up), like 15 minutes on bicycle (not "Tour de France" type bike, but "commuters in Beijing" type).  She wanted to join us, weather permitted.  She could get there on subway, but adding up walking to the station, transition, walking from the station, it would be faster just walking there, 30 to 40 minutes or so.

The weather was not perfect, but OK for her to take her trusty old bicycle.

On Saturday, the day before S'n'B, my mom had called me in the morning. 

Mom; Uh, honey, I have a confession.  I guess I don't want to wait until Sunday.

Me; Uh-uh?

Mom; ... I bought yarn.

Me; Uh- Okey.  OK.  What's that yarn like? (I thought she gave up knitting and crocheting, but maybe she dug out her old needles and hooks to make something small....)

Mom; ...For you, honey.

Me; WHAT?!  What's the yarn like?

Mom; It's lovely pink and gray or blue and pale pink varigated, SO soft and the price was good.  What's more, a lady asked me if I really want that 10-ball pack because she would like to have it if I don't.  I just decided I HAD to have it the moment she asked me like that, and, ....

Me; ... repent thyself.

And I think I am as sinful as she is because I rejoiced to have free new yarn.

The yarn she bought is this;

Sorry, it doesn't show the yarn itself so clearly.  I found a color card here (color number 401) .  It's 100% merino, sports-DK weight.  One ball weighs 40 grams, I got 10 of them.

S'n'B was fun, as the last time, to see two of new friends.

I knit several rounds of Christmas Socks #2.  My daughter and mom had fun rolling up some fleece into felt balls and make bracelets with them.

Hurricane Ike

Galveston 200806
Originally uploaded by O'Chica

This picture is taken in Galveston, TX this past June, about two and a half month before Hurricane Ike hit there.

My friends in The Woodlands, TX are suffering from power outages for about one week now.

Friends, my prayer is with y'all. Just don't know what else to send. A dozen AA batteries for each? Nah, it's not a time for a joke.

When I grow up....

Today (June 14th, 2008) is World Wide Knit In Public Day.  I thought it is like Cinco de Mayo (no matter what day of the week it is, the date is fixed), but looks more like a Fathers' Day (set as particular day of the week of the month, like second Saturday of June in case of WWKIP day.)

Anyway.

I couldn't make it to the nearby event.  It's not that I had an emergency hospital visit or anything.  I just couldn't find out enough reason in my participation to the event, to take my daughter, who was already tired from visiting farmers' market earlier (not so early, like 9:00 to 9:30) in the morning, to the crowd.

I really wanted to go, I actually brought my knitting bag to the farmers' market, intended to go to the event directly from there.  But, I found a basket of beautiful blackberries I wouldn't leave in the car on a sunny June day in Texas, so I had to go home to put it in the fridge (or at least on the kitchen counter).  When we got home, I remembered I had a load of laundry to take care of and bananas to be baked into banana bread (they were way past over-ripen, I threw out two of them because they smelled like banana liquor.)  And my daughter didn't want to go out again even to have lunch at the park, which is very unlikely of her.

My husband?  He had gone to golf.

I guess I am not in the stage of my life to go to a knitting event.  I can't wait to grow up (as a knitter).

Hope everybody who went to WWKIP event had a blast.

New gadget setups

Setting up my new MacBook is still going on, almost done, though.

I consider this is one of rare chances of getting rid of clutters in my digital life.  Like moving houses.  My main strategy is, bring minimal necessary files along and once my usual routine rolls on, initialize old iMac and external HD.  I may lose some of my data and regret initializing, but, nothing is really important after all.

I wish our moving goes like that.

To blog or not to blog..

That's the problem.

Now I have a "note" function on my Ravelry notebook, for each project and each yarn, I don't really need this place to organize and put a note on my finished project. 

I don't get a single comment here, that means I don't have a lot of people who come to read this.  So, actually, nobody needs this place, including me.

Well, anyway, I don't want to quit anything only after a few month.  Let's see a little more if I can whip up a way or two to make both meaningful.

quiz

Ravelry forum (Yarn) had a thread about "What fiber are you?" quiz.
First time I was Angora. Second time, when I answered with less thinking, I was Camel.

Anyway.

I remembered there's another quiz. "What yarn are you?"- And I am....

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Dishcloth Cotton.You are a very hard worker, most at home when you're at home. You are thrifty and seemingly born to clean. You are considered to be a Plain Jane, but you are too practical to notice.

hmmm. Dishcloth Cotton/Camel blend? Do I felt?

Ravelry

Blogging and registering to Ravelry looked like , at least for me, come hand in hand. This pair means you want to be "active" in knitting/crocheting world.
Anyway, I got my invitation to Ravelry.
My username there is chicain. I thought I would register under the same name as I use here, but I was a little too excited when I got the invitation that I totally forgot that. Uh-oh. I thought of re-registering with "O'chica", but that means I have to wait another month to use it to organize my knitting stuff. I am not that patient. So, I got kinda double identity in knitting world already. I managed to remember to use same picture in profile for here and Rivelry. That would help someone to recognize me enough.