pinku

U. S. of A.

Pinku's going on a little holiday - little in terms of time NOT distance. It's gonna be fun as it was pretty much last minute!!

I'm going from here (Shinjuku, Tokyo)

to here (Beaver, Oklahoma)

and then to here (San Francisco, California)

and finally I'll end up back here.......(crazy tokyo)

Look out for trip photos soon!!!

Yarn swaps - just do it!!!

Is there anything better than coming home to my tiger shaped carpet, and some new hot pink, purple, and red sock yarn PLUS Reeces Miniature peanut butter cups - I don't think so. Jenn was kind enough to partake in a yarn PLUS candy swap with me - it was fun. If anyone wants anything from Japan let me know - but beware all swaps must include candy!!!

Happiness

It's 25 degrees and sunny here in Tokyo. Pinku is not usually into corny poems or soppy hallmark cards, but I thought this was pretty good:

Treasure Every Moment

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, when we are able to go on a nice vacation, or when we retire. The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to ourself and decide to be happy anyway. Happiness is the way.

So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with... and remember that time waits for no one. So, stop waiting....

... until your car or home is paid off

... until you get a new car or home

... until your kids leave the house

... until you go back to school

... until you finish school

... until you lose 10 lbs.

... until you gain 10 lbs.

... until you get married

... until you have kids

... until you retire

... until summer

... until spring

... until winter

... until fall

... until you die

There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So-work like you don't need money, Love like you've never been hurt, And dance like no one's watching.

Crafty update

Right now I am working on Carla from Rowan's It's a Tape Thing. Unfortunately I have no photos, but she is progressing nicely after a few rips (you know how it is). I am enjoying working with cotton tape - it is wonderfully light and soft to touch - perfect for summer. Check out Clara's blog, Reverie Knits - a very pretty webpage full of very classy knit-related photos. Clara is also knitting Carla (now there's a tongue twister for you), so you can check out her great photos and imagine that my Carla sort of looks the same but in a different colour - yay, a two person Carla knit-a-long!

I also plan to knit the No Purling Allowed top from Lanaknits - it is also featured in the Interweave Knits Summer 2004 issue. I have already bought the yarn from Elann - some red sock yarn, so the top will be all nice and fitted.

Some photos that I do have are of lacy legwarmers that I was working on for quite a while. I think they are a cute, non-bulky option to those big, thick ribbed legwarmers, and to tell you the truth Japan is all about the lacy legwarmer/ballet flat or kitten heel combo. I used light blue Lang Mustang yarn - I believe it has been discontinued (which is a shame), but I think it shows up the feather and fan stitch pattern nicely. I also knit up a pair in Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK - they'll be cute for fall.

close-up of the feather and fan stitch pattern

To recreate:

Choose a yarn that is about 100m/50g. You will probably need 2 to 3 skeins depending on how long you make you legwarmers. To make legwarmers with a circumference of 26cm, your gauge will be 20sts/10cm.
These are easy to knit on double-points (set of four) - I used US 5 or 3.75cm.

Cast on 54 stitches, and then place 18 sts on each needle.

Row 1 - Knit
Row 2 - Knit
Row 3 - * (K2tog) 3 times, (yo, k1) 6 times, (k2tog) 3 times; repeat from *
Row 4 - Knit

It's that easy.

Food, Glorious, Food!

Since I am digicamera-less at the moment, I thought I would go through some old photos to find something I wanted to post. It was then I realized that I take a lot of FOOD photos. One thing I can say that my parents taught me was to savour and appreciate all types of food. Since I have been in Japan, I have been super lucky with my job as I have been able to do a bit of travel. Some of these photos are from those trips and others are from personal trips BUT they are all of food. Bon Appetit!

This peking duck from the famous Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant in Beijing did not disappoint - it was literally mouth-watering

good ol' fish n chips eaten at restaurant in Brighton, England - near the pier a couple of weeks before it burnt down!!

my mouth is watering just looking at this pic - delicious blueberry pancakes in a San Francisco diner

there's nothing like a home-cooked Japanese meal. My host mum cooked this delicous sukiyaki on a trip back to Aomori last year. I love this photo coz the tv remote control is in the pic. Anyone who has lived with a Japanese family knows that dinner is nearly always eaten with the tv on!

After visiting Bangkok last year, my new favourite fruit is officially the mangosteen - pictured top left

Seoul was all about the Korean BBQ!

India was all about spice - so delicious BUT hard on the tummy

Lane rage

I was exchanging emails with my beloved brother the other day, and I am not sure how it came up, but I started talking about my swimming regime. Unfortunately after I re-read the email I realized that I had used the word 'hate' a lot. My brother identified this as lane rage. I admit it - I suffer from lane rage. I swim regularly at the local gym during my lunch time (one hour) - which means that after walking there, changing, etc, I have a maximum of 20 to 30 minutes to get my heart pumping. It is a three-lane pool - one for walking, one for stoppers and starters, and one for people that swim laps continuously (that's me). I won't go into details, but I do kind of hate it when slow swimmers don't let faster swimmers pass at the end of the pool (I promise that if someone swims faster than me, I let them pass - I hate being tailed anyway). I also hate getting hit in the pool - some people really do flail. It is here though, on pinku that I promise I will try and control my lane rage. For more information about lane rage, please read this article from the Sydney Morning Herald - it cracked me up for sure.

Apart from lane rage, Tokyo - a city of 12 million - breeds train rage. I have seen fights, screaming, lots of pushing, wailing, etc. It's not pretty. It's not humane. It's really miserable. Now I really know why Japanese people sleep on the train - anything is better than living with the reality that your on a miserable Tokyo train.

The last area in which I experience rage (sometimes) is elevator rage. I swear that I have never experienced the last two types of rage before coming to Tokyo. I work on the 20th floor of the building with 21 floors. My elevator skips the first 9 floors and stops at all the rest. Some petty little things that drive me insane are: when people from the 19th floor get on a elevator going up when they want to go down just to secure a place; when people don't press their floor immediately (thereby getting my hopes up that we won't have to stop on that floor); and when people who need to get off last, stand at the front thereby slowing down the elevator by having to get off and back on the elevator to let people off. Wow, just reading this makes me feel silly. How can these little things annoy me so much? It is much better since I started swimming during my lunchbreak - a great stress realease. I even started doing yoga poses (no, not the dog - the inconspicuous mountain pose) in the elevator to take my mind off the reality.

Well, that's enough about rage. Thank goodness I don't drive. Gotta get back to my relaxing Tokyo life!!!

Sure this looks like an innocent swimming pool in Korea - I wonder if they have lane rage there - I bet they do

Tokyo is muggy for missy!

Don't know when it happened, but Tokyo got humid. Personally I don't mind the warmer weather at all - rather I relish it, BUT the sweating (from the humidity) is a totally different story. Last night I went to the fun as always Tokyo S+B. The highlights were:

* Watching Rae work on her washi bucket hat
* Having Chris, a new crafter join us
* Watching Minako work on the neckband of her Audrey
* Watching Audrey (no not the sweater) work on her cute preppy Nordic Memories sweater from Interweave Knits
* The Pink Cow's mushroom stroganoff

Check out these cute bentos (from Not Martha via Boing Boing)

So the latest news from Tokyo is that Japan's second typhoon for the season known as No. 2 (original, huh!) is heading this way - should be here on Friday, and that Missy Elliot is playing her first show tonight (oh god I wish I was going). It costs over $100 to go (which is just too much) and she is playing at Zepp Tokyo, which just happens to be completely out of the way in Odaiba - Missy, why?? Eminem's show was cheaper than yours BUT I really want to hear you sing Toys - that's such a great song.

I know we would have gotten on Missy - it's obvious you like pink!!

Little Miss Purple finished!

ok. right off the bat I should let you know that Pinku's digicam has gone on a holiday to Oklahoma with Darin, so for the next couple of weeks I will be taking my photos with my keitai (mobile phone). Quality is......ummm limited. If you have any nice pink photos that you would like to see on pinku, then please email me.

So, I have finished a little purple top that I found in a Japanese magazine, and this is how it is supposed to look. I actually started it a while ago and knitted Pia in between, but have finally gotten around to finishing Little Miss Purple.

I had some multi-coloured purple Lang Polar Color lying around so I decided to use that yarn instead of the recommended one. I actually went back to Avril on Saturday and finished it there under the eye of Japanese yarn professionals - I FELT SAFE and WARM! I absolutely loved being able to ask questions (if I had any), and they showed me a couple of cool finishing techniques. Both of the ladies design for the shop and they are talented. Very inspiring indeed.

Here is how mine turned out.

Details:
Lang Polar Color (purple), pattern from Japanese Magazine, Teami daisuki (Autumn/Winter 03-04), size ll needles, single crochet edging and doubled crochet chain threaded through holes in front piece

And here it is on. I knitted according to the Japanese pattern - all the patterns in this magazine only come in one size. I just crossed my fingers that it would fit. It actually fits really well, BUT the shoulders are a little bit small and it is a little short. Most of the clothes I buy here are made for women that are 165 cm tall - about 10 cm shorter than me, so this is often a problem. Pants are completely out of the question!!

The cutest thing about the top is the crocheted tie threaded through holes in the front of the top.

Oh wait! One other totally cute thing is the little lilac heart button that closes the back slit at the neck. Kawaii! (that means cute in Japanese)

Ganguro

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. It's not Halloween, just another day out on the town for this ganguro girl. Ganguro was a fad among teenage girls in Japan around 1999....however my friend Hiromi in Kyoto (the wonderful photographer) has discovered that this trend is still alive and kicking. The dictionary translates the word ganguro as black face, charbroiled face (that's my favourite), burnt-black look or dark tan. I find these fads socially interesting, but I get tired watching these girls perform - so much effort to maintain a look. That's not me for sure.....actually I have been feeling guilty that I haven't worn a scrap of make-up to work for about a month. Do you wear makeup to work? I just find it tiresome - of course if I have a meeting, then I try and make myself look pretty, but if there's no meeting, then it's au naturelle for pinku!!!

Here's a great article about these Japanese fashion fads from Salon.

One of my favourite quotes from the article is:

On her 25th birthday, an unmarried Japanese woman automatically becomes what's laughingly referred to as "spoiled sponge cake," in honor of the Christmas sponge cakes that are discounted and rarely purchased after Dec. 25.

I guess my cake is not only spoiled, it's been thrown into the trash. Personally though I think of myself as a delicious bottle of red wine (not those Japanese chilled screw-top ones) - it justs gets better and better as it gets older. I definitely feel slightly wiser - that's for sure.

photos by Hiromi in Kyoto this week

Say hello to Pia

Well she is finally done. My only hint is to not get too excited that you have finished knitting and then sew on the D-rings in the wrong order (mine were two different sizes).....had to unpick both straps and re-stitch them. Maybe I'm the only one that'd do something that silly. I like Pia a lot - she's cute although a tad short - it's all about summer I guess!! She even looks good with a skirt.

Pia from Rowan 35
All Seasons Cotton - Bliss
click on photos for larger view

Random Golden Week Pics

our new friends Oi and Hisari recently got married in Okinawa and instead of rings they got tattoos

some famous bowling guy - you could buy a signed postcard for 1000 yen ($10)

Darin and Tyler on the beach at Chigasaki in Kanagawa prefecture

funny sign in train station

This is a darin looking at a big and I mean large menu at a delicious tonkatsu restaurant we discovered in Shibuya - bring on that deep fried pork!!

Pink Fix??!! Fix Pia??!!

I'm way behind on posting some pink pics, but don't think for a minute that my love for pink has waned. This is not a fad, it is true love. Remember if you have any pretty pink pics lying around on your hard drive send them my way. Pinku always needs pink.

spring pink in Japan

It might have been Kim's sayonara party, but I ended up with a hot pink hairdryer. Thanks Kim!!

pink bowling shoes - does it get any better than this

ok. now the knitting update and cry for help. I do love Pia (from Rowan 35) and I was on the way to finishing the front when I looked at the back again and decided that the decreases could have been done better. I think I have mastered the pattern and the type of decreases to do, BUT I can't understand when to decrease and how many times to do it. Japanese patterns always have the number of rows that you will complete when you do decreases, but the Rowan patterns don't. I have already posted for help on the Knitty board, but if you can help me.....please do. I tried to write it all down and work it out mathematically....but I am still lost.

Here's Pia so far:

So, here's what it says in the pattern:

dec 1 st at each end of next 3 rows, then on foll 2 alt rows, then on every foll 4th row until 26 sts rem.

Then work 13 rows, ending with a WS.

So before you start those decreases you have 40 stitches - you want 26 stitches, therefore you must lose 14 stitches, right?? I also figure that you must decrease evenly (dec 7sts on each side) at both the end of the RS and WS to create the right shape fabric.

Here's what I have worked out:

Row 1 (RS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 39 sts
Row 2 (WS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 38 sts
Row 3 (RS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 37 sts
Row 4 (WS) no dec
Row 5 (RS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 36 sts
Row 6 (WS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 35 sts
Row 7 (RS) no dec
Row 8 (WS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 34 sts
Row 9 (RS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 33 sts
Row 10 (WS) no dec
Row 11 (RS) no dec
Row 12 (WS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 32 sts
Row 13 (RS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 31 sts
Row 14 (WS) no dec
Row 15 (RS) no dec
Row 16 (WS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 30 sts
Row 17 (RS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 29 sts
Row 18 (WS) no dec
Row 19 (RS) no dec
Row 20 (WS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 28 sts
Row 21 (RS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 27 sts
Row 22 (WS) no dec
Row 23 (RS) no dec
Row 24 (WS) dec 1 st at end of row - now 26 sts

So now there are 26 sts, but if I knit another 13 rows I finish on a RS row with the wrong side facing - aghhhh!!

Say hello to Lola

Well Lola is done and I feel happy! Unfortunately today wasn't a really warm day, so I couldn't wear it all day, but I couldn't bear NOT to wear it this morning while shopping. It was nice to get back to some crochet - I like to mix it up. It wasn't a difficult project, but there was never anything substantial to hold on to, so maintaining a constant tension was the biggest issue. I am now also best friends with the clones knot.

I'm ready for the beach now!!

Lola from Rowan 35 (crochet poncho)
Rowan Hand knit DK Cotton