pinku

Safe and Well

Just a quick post to let everyone know that both Darin and I are well and safe here in Bangkok, Thailand. To be honest, our hotel does not have a tv, so we didn't even know anything was wrong until late on Boxing Day when we both checked our emails. It is nice to know that people are worried about us :)

We still haven't seen any tv footage, so we just read what was available on the Internet (but we have only used dial-up so far so it's very slow) and of course, we cannot believe that this happened and the devastation that it has caused.

We actually never even considered heading to the west coast of Thailand, but did fly to Bangkok on the 23rd via Phuket stopping at Phuket airport for an hour. We are thinking of heading to Ko Chang tomorrow, which is nowhere near the worst hit areas (it's near Cambodia). I still want to enjoy the beach!!

Better go.

Lots of love,
kat....and darin

Good news and Bad news

The best news is that in less than 24 hours I will be sitting on a plane with my brand spanking new husband on the way to delicious, warm, exciting Thailand. I am going to eat mangosteens - they are the most amazingly scrumptious fruit ever. The bad news is that I haven't packed yet. Might not seem like a problem, but I'm at work (yes, I know I shouldn't be blogging, but time is of the essence) and must work for another three and a half hours. After that I am going to a Bonenkai (end of year party) with some work colleagues. This is where the story gets dangerous. Bonenkai, while although translated as the seemingly harmless end-of-year party, it actually means the we'll-get-so-drunk-that-we'll-completely-forget-all- the-shitty-things-that-happened-this-year party. I have pre-warned them that I MUST leave at 9pm. I am going to be strong.

More bad news is that our most-ever favourite drinking hole, Mississippi, here in Kichijoji is closing and the final night of business will be while we are away. 2005 just won't be the same without 'our local'. It really is so rad. So tonight after the 'end-of-year' work party, Darin and I will head to Mississippi for a last beer and to say our farewells.....so sad.

Let's get back to good news! I finished my Koigu socks using Wendy's toe-up sock pattern and I am wearing them right now. They are so cosy - I don't think I'll ever take them off, except when we go for a swim in Thailand!! Thanks for the Koigu, Stephanie - you were a great secret pal.

And back to the bad news, I won't be able to finish knitting my wedding keepsake shawl (flower basket shawl from Fall IK 2004) before the wedding. At first I was rushing to knit as fast as I could (early morning, late nights) BUT then I would forget a yarn over and make myself VERY frustrated. I have completed the 10 repeats suggested in the pattern, but I only got through the first 100g skein of the fleece artist silken. It is also a smaller guage, so I am going to keep doing repeats until all the yarn is used up. The news is not that bad though, as I actually prefer not to take something so precious in a backpack to Thailand. We will be heading back to Australia in February for a wedding dinner with my family where I will don the dress again, so I will wear the shawl then. All is not lost.

I think I had a bunch of other things that I wanted to write about but I can't remember any of them as my brain is right feeling now fried pretty.....(ah you know what I mean). I have updated the flower pin swap blog for the last time this year. If you haven't finished your pin, please do it asap (we need to maintain the reputation of pinku swaps).

Finally thank you so much for your warm wishes about my legal marriage. It's all pretty exciting. It is also a marriage of the heart, but I just say legal marriage because I want to differentiate it from the small ceremony that we will be having on the beach in Thailand on New Year's Eve where we will be exchanging rings and vows in front of a few special friends. I also get to wear my dress - just have to work out how to pack my crinoline in our small backpack..... Let me warn you now, you may get sick of all this wedding stuff as there will be more wedding photos (Thailand) in January and then again in February (Australia).

So have a fantastic xmas and new years and hopefully I WON'T be posting again before the end of the year. However I may not be able to stop myself from sneaking in a post from the beach.

Yoi o-toshi o!!

My special noodle

Darin mentioned several times during our 'legal marriage' honeymoon that he felt like a noodle. I asked what kind and he said 'udon'. You may ask why he felt like a noodle. Well, going on a traditional hot springs holiday in Japan makes you feel soft and relaxed like a noodle - it's really hard to do anything but just sit around and wonder when was the last time you felt this good. I completely recommend it to you all.

Our legal marriage was a success and the mood was bright even though it was raining on the way to the city office. Although the leaves have fallen off most of the trees in Japan, a few red leaves remain in Tokyo. This is a picture of us on the way to the city office:

To get to the city hall we have to walk past the Tamagawa Josui, one of Edo's (old Tokyo) original water sources. Damn I just read that the Tokyo government plans to build a highway and part of the Tamagawa Josui is to be included!! NO!! This is really a beautiful and historical area - I will be writing a letter to Governor Ishihara.

Here is part of the Tamagawa Josui:

We finally made it to the city office with our papers in hand. Someone directed us to a small room at the back of the building. At first we thought we'd made a mistake - it was a tiny office just filled with security guards (it was a Sunday after all). But no, we had found the right place and the right man (pictured below viewing our application to be married)

Here's a picture of another guy in the office (he looked real bored):

So we stood outside this little office for a while taking random photos,

and then after the guy had gone off for 15 to 20 minutes photocopying our id, he came back and told us everything was in order (not congratulations mind you) and that was it. We looked at each other and that was that. We were married. So now you know that getting legally married in Japan involves no congratulations, no words of caution, no traditional words of encouragement, just a nod to tell you your forms are in order.

Me and my noodle outside the office about to celebrate with a bottle of champagne (Thanks Rae!!)

Popping the champagne cork!!

For those that want to know, I didn't really wear anything special except my handmade flower pin as we left the city hall to go staight to Shinjuku to catch our bus to Ikaho Onsen in Gunma (a 2.5 hour bus ride from Tokyo). Thanks for the tip, Nicole!! After we reached our Ryokan (Japanese style hotel), we had some tea and snacks that were provided in our 10 to 12 tatami mat room, booked an hour in the private rotenburo (outdoor bath), changed into our yukata and waited to be cooked like a noodle.

Here's a picture of us clad in our yukata - we have a strange expression on our faces:

This is the private rotenburo at Moriaki Ryokan. It was heaven.

We then walked around the quaint little onsen town a little before going back to the ryokan to be served an absolutely delicious dinner in our room.

After that we sat in more outdoor hot springs (they are open 24 hours) and became more noodle like. We did more of that the next day after a delicious Japanese-style breakfast. For the rest of our Ikaho Onsen photos, click here!! Thanks to you all for your warm congratulations and support - you rock way more than pinku does!!

EBAY AUCTIONS

Thanks to everyone who bid on my auctions! I feel excited to share the love of Japanese knitting patterns with you all. I was planning on listing another 10 or so books, but I don't think we'll have time before we leave for Thailand. So, after the new year I will be listing those books on Ebay so stay tuned. I am also thinking about selling some new Japanese craft/knitting books including the flower pin book that I used to make mine. Everytime I go into the bookstore here in Tokyo there are more and more new books and I am always tempted to make a purchase. I need to share the love.

Productive crafting

Man, I was very craft productive today - Idid't leave the house until I went out to buy indgredients for dinner.

First things first - I finished a crochet cap for my friend Martine for xmas. Unfortunately I only have a photo of me wearing the hat, but the recipient seemed to like it. Thanks for our fab wedding gift, Martine and have the bestest ever trip home back to Brissy - give it a big kiss from me. The hat was crocheted using a Japanese pattern from a free pamphlett at my LYS, and Noro yarn - not sure which type....as I bought it a long time ago. I love the bright pink/bluish green combo!

Next thing I finished was my garter strap - it's very cute (white and blue with a few pretty sequins)!! Unfortunately I don't have any photos because the camera ran out of battery and I couldn't be bothered to plug it in.

AND, I finished my flower pin for the swap - I mean as the organizer I really needed to GET organized. I had so much fun making it, and used a fabulous Japanese pattern book - I swear there are so many creative awesome items in those books. So, if you want to see my flower pin for the swap click here. (CAUTION: if your name is Cara and you are my swap partner - no peeking!!) It was really fun to do some hand sewing instead of knitting or crochet!! And here's a picture of the flower pin on a new hat that I got at the clothing swap last Sunday - now that was fun.

Here is another flower pin that I made from the same pattern book - I really, really love this flower pin and it is so easy to make.

ps I'm getting 'legally married' tomorrow today (just realized I posted this after midnight - it's already 12/12/04 - we thought that would be an easy date to remember) - woohoo! I am getting 'emotionally married' on New Year's Eve this year!!
pps To the people that win my ebay auctions, I will be contacting you all as soon as I get back from my 'legal marriage' honeymoon at the Ikaho hot spring resort in the mountains on Monday night!

signing off for the last time as a legally single woman...

Stop tempting me sock!!

Am here sitting at work, trying to slog my way through piles of translation, but there is currently a little half-unfinished koigu sock peaking out of my bag to the left of me. All I want to do is pull it out and start knitting. I guess I'll have to wait until the train ride home.

Our final 2004 Tokyo SNB was held a couple of nights ago, and it was a great way to end a great knitting year. We had a record turnout with nearly 15 people I think. Tae brought along some very talented and crafty Japanese girls. We do naturally gravitate towards splitting into groups of native English speakers and Japanese speakers, but hopefully we can do some mixing next time. Maybe we should mandate a swap seat rule every 30 minutes or something. Rae was sweet and brought newly married (Claire) and nearly married girls (me and Chris - happy birthday for yesterday) a bottle of champers - we'll be enjoying that on Sunday (our legal marriage day!!!). And Chris made us some brownies - weeee!!! Pinn was also back - our super crafty Thai dynamo!!

Our next meeting will be on January the 18th - it'll be a big one as everyone will be back from holidays (ranging from SF to Fiji, Thailand, NZ, Australia, and good ol Japan) and will have stories to tell, a bunch of girls will be celebrating their birthdays and it will be officially be the Tokyo S+B's 1st birthday!

(raises champagne glass)

Here's to all things crafty and female friends!!

The ebay sale gets bigger

I have just spent another hour listing three more Japanese knitting pattern books. I hope I get quicker at this listing thing. I'm not even doing an original layout for each one....hmmm. Anyway, they are really fun books so check them out - there's also a crochet book!!! Check out the ebay auctions here!!!!

Ebay sale

A little bit of information for you. I've finally gotten around to listing some fun Japanese knitting books on EBAY, so bid away. So far I have only listed two....(that took me ages) but have at least 15 to list hopefully by the end of the week. They would make great xmas presents or even a little pre-xmas present for yourself!!!

CLICK HERE to view the auctions!!

The winter Knitty issue is out!!

My favs so far:

* cathode....of course. Steph does it again.

* belle epoque. Way to go Libby!!

* candy.  Just too cute. Love the waist ribbing.

* tinsel. This will totally go with my new gold ballet flats, just need to add some animal print I think - it's all the rage here in Japan and I WANT SOME...

Random Friday Post

Having a blog is mostly fantastic - sometimes I feel guilty because I don't post enough crafty pictures, but dammit this is all really just for me anyway. However I do absolutely love sharing parts of my life with a bunch of very cool strangers. Actually the strangest thing of all is that none of you seem like strangers. I seem to have an immediate bond with most of the people that email me.

Anyways, as I said this is a random post. Recently I received my copy of Stitch n Bitch Nation - thanks Freecia!! I must admit I was eager to see if the blurb about the Tokyo SNB was included and it was which is very cool and it wasn't changed that much which is even better. Unfortunately our photo wasn't in there, but I'm happy that we are in the book anyway. It's been nearly a year since the first SNB meeting, and I must say that I absolutely look forward to every meeting - all of you girls are awesome. It is also pretty funny that when we started this whole thing one year ago - the only married members were Rae and Minako - now Jen and Claire are married and Chris and I are going to be married within a couple of weeks of one another.

I like Stitch n Bitch Nation a lot - I think Debbie did a great job once again. I haven't read it in detail, but there are definitely a number of patterns that I want to knit up. Yesterday while eating breakfast (I added this because I don't usually eat breakfast but have decided that it is good for my health so now I eat breakfast) I was reading the acknowledgments at the beginning of the book and I must say that I teared up in the last paragraph when Deb writes about her dearly beloved blind dog, Shadow - her companion for 12 years or so that now has cancer. Although we can't have a pet bigger than a bird (I don't think Ryan really counts - sorry Ryan....it was interesting watching you transform from a grub to a manly black beetle but we didn't really hang out and Darin couldn't roughhouse with you). Watch the video of when we set him free here. A big shout out to all the pets out there that provide your owners with unconditional love!!

I'd also like to shout out a big thank you to Stephanie for doing a fabulous swap with me. Now I have the Fleece Artist silken in my hands and I cast on for the Flower Pot (wedding) shawl last night. It feels great so far and the lace pattern is showing up well.

So, Pinku Flower Pin Swap participants - are you crafting? Have you finished your pin? Have you contacted your partner? If you haven't she might be crying and thinking that you hate her and you wouldn't want that on your conscience, would you??? Only kidding, but be sure to send off your flower pin before xmas to provide your swap partner with a little bit of pink flower cheer!! Look who's talking - I have bought all the ingredients but haven't started crafting yet - this weekend, definitely this weekend. Remember to send in photos once you receive your flower - we need to share the love!

ok, time to end this randomness and get back to work!! Have a great weekend - so glad it's Friday!! Three weeks from today I am going to be in Bangkok......there is a god!

see you soon ryan (not the beetle)

Completely engaging!

* Warning!! Super long image heavy post ahead!! *

We had a super busy weekend! It was our engagement party on Saturday night at Iseya and what a blast. Thanks to all that came and made the trek out to Kichijoji although I personally don't think it's that far from the so-called CITY, especially our out of town guests. The night started off slow at 7pm with the arrival of only Toshio and Emi - both talented artists. Toshio makes the most awesome animal figures that are now being sold in Japanese convenience stores and have been featured in newspaper ads too. We were lucky enough to score a smoking gorilla - sweet!! He also has owned an iguana for many years! So although there was only four of us - the staff started bringing out plates and plates of food for our total of 30 guests - that was weird! Guess you could call that good service.

Here's a photo of me, Emi, Toshio and Kyoko:

Point of realization

I guess I knew this all along, but (and this is in no way meant to offend the non-Japanese like myself) Japanese people are more reliable when it comes to parties - that's just the way it is. When they say they come, they come and when they say they'll be there at 7, they'll be there at 7. This reliability is what convinced me to only have Japanese roommates when I was sharing a flat in Brisbane.

So then the Kansai rock girls, Yellow Machinegun and their beautiful manager, Yoshi turned up. Now these girls not only know how to party, they know how to rock. They have been friends of Darin's since we first met at Kansai Gaidai over 10 years ago - Darin illustrated their first album cover - this review I linked is ok but I think they deserve more than a B+ (but I may be biased!!). Halfway through the night the girls surprised us with the most fantastic engagement present EVER!!

Here's a photo of the girls (minus tama) plus me and daz:

and, here's one of me and tama doing her best to make a silly face (she did a pretty good job!)

and finally one of me, daz and yoshi (I am sorry yoshi...this is a pretty bad photo). she really is beautiful.

So, what the hell did they give you (I hear you yelling from your computer)??? I guess our present might only be fully appreciated by those who have travelled in Japan, but it is so fantastic. Darin and I had made a trip last year to Kappa-bashi dori in Tokyo - this is where they sell supplies for restaurants including all of the plastic food they use in displays. We desperately wanted something but they are unexpectedly VERY expensive. So we went home, looking forlorn and without any plastic food. I guess we must have told the girls this story because we scored the best fake bowl of ramen and gyoza in Japan - it was even custom-made with our names written in Japanese and a little red heart. Thanks so much girls - you made our night!!

The ramen and gyoza

close-up of our names on the kamaboko (also known as fish sausage - yum!)

Here are some photos of our other fabulous guests:

the lovely and newly-married Claire (crafty, talented fellow Tokyo SNB pal) and Jess from NZ

Dan, Rumi and Alex

Daz, Kaori, and Hiroko

Martine and me

Josh, Simon and me (Josh, the famous owner of the fabulous Bondi Books in Kichijoji brought some great t-shirts for us AND a book about preparing for a healthy pregnancy (cough, splutter...!!) Oh yeah Josh you did ignore me at the hub and I'm still hurt by it!!!!

I have other photos but this post is already photo heavy - don't you love it!! Anyway after stuffing our faces and drinking LOTS of beer, a bunch of us party people headed to karaoke!!

Look at the light-up wall!! He so hot!

I think we ended up in bed somewhere around 4am - 6am! Woo hoo! At our age - we certainly suffered the next day, but we managed to find the energy to make it to a Yellow Machinegun show the next day in Shibuya - they rocked just as hard as the party did. Really - thanks to all of those that came and all of those that wanted to be there!! Love you!