pinku

May-licious

The weather is warm. The parks are green and pretty. The hint of summer is in the air. So many great things are happening this month that it is hard not to get excited.

Japan Hobby Show - this three-day hobby showcase starts this Thursday (May 12) at Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba. I really want to go on Thursday because I might have the opportunity to meet and possible take my picture with Japan's knitting prince, but it looks like I can't get out of work. Damn work!! I will try and get there on Saturday though.

Deisgn Festa is also on this weekend - May 14 and 15

The Thai Festival 2005 is also on this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday. We went last year and it is totally worth it just to eat all that delicious food in the park.

Lots of my fav tv shows are finishing up this month - number one on that list is Veronica Mars! Do you really think Logan did it?

Bob Log III is playing in Tokyo on May 25 as are Yo La Tengo.

Last but certainly not least, the best thing about May is that Darin and I are going on a holiday!!! We leave Tokyo at the end of May and fly direct to New York (aghhh - about 14 hours!!! - need lots of knitting) where we'll stay for a week, then we'll spend time with Darin's family in Milwaukee, and then spend another week in San Francisco catching up with friends. I.CAN'T.WAIT!!!

I also had a great weekend finding lots of goodies (old clover knitting needles that are neither straights nor circs!??!!) at the Salvation Army Bazaar, catching up with a good friend, knitting, chatting with my mum and little brother on Mother's Day for free using ichat - how cool is that program??!! I have been using Skype, but had trouble with echo and other horrible noises....ichat was perfect. The park was really busy on the weekend with the Million Marijuana March, and I'll leave you with a photo of a little chihuahua that was enjoying a massage.

Do you have a partner?

I have sent 50 emails today - one to each Pinku Secret Swap 3 participant with the details of the person they must send hair accessories to. I included a web address if your partner had one so you can spy on your partner's hair from afar, and the preferences that each of you sent to me. Some people had no preference. Eight of you have hotmail accounts, so if you haven't recieved an email from me, please check your junk mail box. I included the rules of the swap in the email and you have until the end of May 2005 to send out your hair accessories! Have fun!

Thanks for all of your kind comments about Orangina! It is definitely one of my favourite projects up until now and it is very wearable. It's not perfect though - the top of the back sags a little and even though I can't see it, it bothers me. I might still come up with a way to fix it (starch??). The first purl stitch of the ribbing was loose regardless of what I did (I blame the yarn and my laziness - couldn't be bothered switching to smaller needles again), so the ribbing is a little see-through - I'm over that though. AND finally I found two minor lace errors - dumb, dumb! Darin says he can't see them even when I point them out, so I'm not going to fret about it too much. I guess these little quirks are what make handmade items special. If I wanted perfect, I'd go to the shop and buy something.

Finally I am back at work - every week should be a one day work week! Our Golden Week vacation was really relaxing. We spent our time at the beach, at our friend's house, at home and the last three days we spent camping in Tokyo - can you believe it? Okutama is located in Tokyo - well a good couple of hours out of central Tokyo, but I still have trouble believing that we were still in Tokyo. Here look for yourself:

I will post more photos tomorrow with more details, but here's one more photo of a sandwich that our friend Jess made - I didn't try it, but I heard it was 'interesting' - peanut butter, banana and marshmallows!!!

Pink and Brown-gina

I finished my Orangina! I actually finished it up last Thursday and wore it to the beach the next day - it was sunny and 28 degrees and Pink and Brown-gina kept me cool all day long. I had doubts about this project the whole time knitting it. I wasn't  sure how it would look on, and I was particularly concerned about a two-tone Orangina - pink and brown. You see my goal for the next 6 months is to use only stash yarn for my projects. I had bought 4 skeins of the pink ramie and 4 skeins of the brown ramie at least a year ago but had never come across an appropriate project for the yarn. Anyway four skeins of the pink was only enough to make the top JUST, so I had to use the brown for the ribbing and I added an extra inch in length to the ribbing because I have finally discovered that most of my knitted wearables up until now have been too short. The length of Orangina is perfect.

Yarn: 4 skeins of pink ramie and 2 skeins of brown ramie bought online at Pierrot in Japan
Needles: Clover bamboo circs (60cm) - Japanese 4s for the lace and Japanese 3s for the ribbing
Pattern: Orangina by the talented Stephanie at Glampyre

And Pink and Brown-gina at our lovely park - it is so beautiful right now!

HAIR ACCESSORY SWAP UPDATE:

I have received a few emails in the last few days from people wanting to participate so I will add you all to the list. I haven't emailed anyone back because I am on holidays. So I have pretty much assigned everyone a partner, but forgot to bring the excel sheet home, so I will try to send out emails to everyone by the end of business Friday May 6!!! Keep your eyes peeled!! Ok, I'm off camping so see you in two or three days!!!