pinku

Happily Marriaged

I wrote this post a few weeks ago, but never got around to publishing it. I was gonna toss it to the wind, but after I read about Rachael's very happy engagement to Lala (congrats girls!), I was inspired to put it up on pinku.

I realized that as of today (July 12), Darin and I have been married 7 months. Not a year yet, but 7 months. We lived together for more than a year before we got married, so nothing has essentially changed. However I read a great post by James at Semaphoria about being married (esp. point 2)  and I agree that the change is 'indescribable, subtle and wonderful'. Some of the more practical benefits of being married have been:

1. health insurance for daz

2. being able to go to the US citizens line at immigration with daz upon landing at JFK

3. submitting one postcard for immigration in Japan

4. gross old men at work no longer hit on me

And even though I have not changed my name legally, I secretly (well not so secretly considering I am writing about it on the Internet) enjoy being a Bendall and seeing letters and packages with Mrs Bendall on them. It's fun! We also just extended the lease for our apartment for another two years so it looks like we'll be here for a little while yet, which is fine since we love where we live (our apartment and kichijoji). To celebrate we are going to buy year passes to our local zoo (more like a petting zoo....well, except for Hanako the elephant and some monkeys) - they cost 1600 yen (about $15) so it's a total bargain.

So congrats to all the great girls on the web who have been getting married recently (within the last year) or will soon be married!!

at the Coppola winery in Napa Valley

Weekly round-up

I usually go to the gym during my lunchbreak. It's all a bit rushed, but considering I sit in front of a computer all-day long, I really look forward to sweating and stretching in the middle of the day. During the summer months my gym opens at 8am instead of 10am, so a couple times a week, I have started going to the gym before work, so that I can work out/swim for longer. Another benefit of morning gym visits, is that I have reclaimed my 'lunch break'. This is what I did today:

Sorry about the crap keitai photo. What you see is a dee-licious salmon rice ball covered in toasted sesame seeds from ONY - an onigiri restaurant across the road from my work. There are two locations - one in Aoyama (near Gaienmae station) and another one in Ginza. It is highly recommended.  Already eaten was the tuna/leaf mustard combo - also amazingly delicious.

Also pictured is my first fair aisle....it is the back piece of Florence from Rowan 35. I am not quite sure why I started this project - it is quite intimidating. Fair aisle, lace, collar, button band, lots of seaming, and five pieces to knit....if I ever finish this - i'll be amazed.

And the last item in the photo is my brand new copy of Scarf Style that was delivered to work this morning. I bought this because I just signed up for the Stitch ya Neck Out swap being hosted by Jacqueline and Kris. I think I will opt for Ruffles or Backyard Leaves - both are really pretty but I'm gonna check out my stash later and see what yarn I have to make either of these projects work. There are still a couple of days left if you wanna sign up.

This week was also a sad week because Chris is leaving Japan, which means she can't come to the Tokyo SNB any longer. Tuesday was her last night. We'll miss her for sure. When Chris first started coming to the SNB about a year ago (is that right, Chris??), she was very new to knitting but before long she started cranking out these amazing creations. She also made a beautiful shawl for her wedding. On the brightside Chris has a blog, so we'll be able to keep up-to-date with her knitting/life adventures, and now the Tokyo SNB has a US connection!!! (wink, wink!) Good luck C&C!!

Here's a photo from our last SNB (Chris is next to me - don't mind my red face....I'd just finished my second glass of wine - on the left):

Have a great weekend, and see y'all next week!

Come with me to Ueno, won't you?

I have tons of stuff to write about, but never seem to find the time to do it lately. I think the biggest problem is motivating myself to take and then edit photos. Last weekend was a three-day weekend here in Japan - definitely my favourite kind of weekend. I'll let the photos tell the story of what we did - be warned there is NO knitting content, but you'll be excited to hear that I took my first babysteps in fair-aisle knitting and it was thrilling. However there was so much tension and concentration in my hands that daz needed to massage them after knitting.....

We went to the Ueno Summer Festival on Sunday to see the lantern floating ceremony, wander the antique market, and marvel at the amazing lotus plants in Shinobazu Pond. Before we made it to the festival we shopped around Ameyoko-cho between Okachimachi and Ueno stations. It was like being transported to South-East Asia - there are tons of little stalls selling cheap food, fruit on sticks, fake designer bags, and cool t-shirts.

WARNING: photo heavy post ahead!!

Ameyoko

Everybody needs.....

A pair of stripey socks, silly!! So I finished the second stripey sock last night. It was very exciting (apart from the fact that I still have about 50 ends to weave in). I decided to take photos immediately so that I could blog today, even though I was all ready for bed in my nightie. So I quickly put on my denim mini and silver connies and here's the result. It was really fun actually and there was lots of laughing.

Knee-high stripey socks (as inspired by the ones out of SNB by Deb Stoller) Pattern: Wendy's toe-up sock pattern Yarn: 5 balls of Cascade Fixation (courtesy of a swap with the Nipper) Needles: 3mm bamboo double points

And guess what? I still have enough yarn left to make some socks for my 4-year old niece!!

The photoshoot started off in a serene manner (please ignore the shoes on tatami thing!)

Still serene!!!

And then things started getting crazy! I gave Darin the camera and then the fun times began. SEE - that's why everyone in the whole wide world needs a pair of stripey knee-highs. Go on....you know you want them.BTW, they seem to stay up pretty well but be warned excessive jumping will cause sagging (see photo for proof).

Wacky Japanese textile fun

Ah, another weekend flies by again. Where does the time go?? BIG congrats go out to Pinn (one of the original Tokyo SNB members) and her fiancee (he's the model for her design on knitty) for kumo in the current Knitty issue. She's one talented lady - did you see that intarsia already??!!

So, in lieu of me being motivated and taking photos of my own fun times, today I present to you the crafty life and times of Melinda in Kobe. Melinda was sweet enough to send me some photos of some cool live fiber art that she came across in Kobe - she can explain it better, so here's what she wrote:

Quite by chance I passed by a clothes shop that had a knitting demonstration going on. There was a guy playing trance techno live in the shop, and a woman knitting with about 7 different threads going; she would do a few rows on one, then
walk over to the spools and pull out another thread and join in on. She also did a bit of tapestry on the giant red head you can see in the first photo. It was very surreal, but very very cool. :)

That face looks very familiar!!

Star Wars: Revenge of the Shisu

I've been a little under the weather this week and have had no urge to do anything other than eat (not even knitting - I also lost the fifth needle of the dpns I am using for my knee-high stipey socks so they are on the back burner too - I might have to give that knitting socks with two circulars a go).

We had a great weekend last week checking out our local zoo (more of a small animal petting experience) after two years of vowing that we weren't interested - it turned out to be fantastic - and we also headed to the Tokyo SNB bbq at Rae's house (we snuck in the bbq before she took the kids and ran off to Hawaii for the summer - am so jealous!)

poster warning us of the DANGEROUS squirrels at the zoo!!!

Rae and Claire in Rae's bathroom making margaritas!!

So before you correct the spelling of this post's title - it is correct. Most Japanese people have a hard time pronouncing the 'th' sound, so when they talk about the upcoming (yes I know it's old news in absolutely every other country in the world) Star Wars movie, that's how Sith sounds. It kind of amuses me. I don't know why. Anyways, Japan is the last damn country in the world to show this movie - it finally starts on July 9, and I bought our advance purchase tickets. We don't go to the movies often in Japan because it's too damn expensive, but we like to go and see all the blockbusters (Lord of the Rings series, Kill Bill, etc). We decided not to see it in the US, and wait to see it in Japan. I tried to get hold of the Burger King chewie doll while I was there, after falling in love with Joy's, but I missed out by a week or so - they only had some other characters I wasn't interested in. Japan is celebrating the beginning of Star Wars with some limited edition converse sneakers and some storm trooper beach sandals. The bi-san (short for beach sandals in Japanese) seem kind of silly don't you think!!

So, how are you going to enjoy your summer? Some of the things I plan to do are:

* go to a beer garden (preferably the one on top of Mt Takao - all you can eat and drink for less than 3000 yen)

* go to the beach

* eat kakigori with condensed milk

* watch the big jingugaien fireworks display from work

* eat lots of reimen and cold soba

* avoid getting sunburnt

To all you Americans out there - have a great 4th of July weekend!! We'll be letting off some fireworks down in the park on Monday!