pinku

Nectar

So Kim Hargreaves has finally released a book containing some of the most classic patterns from her website.

This is exciting.

Is it enough to get me back to knitting for myself? I don't know. After the almost instant gratification of baby knitting I'm not sure whether I have the patience to knit 'big' items anymore.

It's a little pricey at 16.95 pounds plus 5 pounds shipping, BUT there are 21 patterns and finally you don't need to buy the kits. That's pretty exciting.

You can view all of the patterns in the book HERE.

FO alert!

It's so nice to be knitting again. It may only be a small baby hat but we have to start somewhere. And who doesn't love a cute project that can be completed in a night. To find a project I, of course, went to my Ravelry page and checked my queue and found the Kiddie Cadet pattern. I immediately bought it and went to Yuzawaya on the way home from work and purchased some yarn.

Here is the result:

I made a few changes to the decreases on the top of the hat so it fit Jake's head better so it doesn't actually sit flat like in the pattern photos but it fits J's head perfectly. It's definitely a keeper. I've nearly finished my second one to give to a girlfriend who is due in July. Hope she likes it.

We also added one of Darin's Heroin Skateboard pins

view from top

view from the side

Oh and Jake is wearing one of my favourite purchases of late - a stylized freddie krueger tshirt. I am loving Japanese baby clothes!!

The calm before the storm

The belly is at maximum capacity. It can't get any bigger. Surely. There are two days until Dudley's official due date. Did I tell you they are estimating his weight at around 4.5 kilos...nearly 10 pounds...

I'm so ready to move on to the next stage. It's been wonderful having four weeks of relaxing, baking, doing 'lunch', getting massages, pedicures, my hair done and not working but I'm ready to move on. I really want to meet Dudley and if he stays in there much longer he'll have more knitted clothes than any other baby I know of. They are coming off the needles at a fast pace right now. I'm keen to knit this vest from a new Japanese knitting book for myself, but I need to adjust the pattern and with this gigantic belly....it's just not possible.

So what have I been knitting?! Well baby clothes of course. I started the Knitty blu jeans in July people and finished the knitting part of the project in a couple of days but the finishing was daunting so I just put the pieces away. Last week I finally washed the pieces to shrink them and bought some elastic for the waist and sat down and seamed those darned jeans. They turned out pretty darned cute!

The back

Close up of the tag....it says Bendallok...a combination of my last name and Daz's

Another cute project that I just HAD to make were these cute baby overalls that I found in the Australian Creative Knitting Annual from 2004.

Here is my version in green

I used some soft Japanese merino yarn in green and they will definitely keep Dudley warm in the winter. Here's the back:

I used some furoshiki covered buttons that I bought at a great furoshiki shop in Harajuku (it's at the bottom of the Ukiyo-e Museum).

Ooh and then I discovered the Thrifty Knitter's baby vest pattern, Pebble and decided that I definitely wanted to make it. I wanted to use the one ball of Rowan felted tweed that I had in my stash but I knew it wouldn't be enough yarn to complete the vest so I had to do it in two colours which meant having to knit the vest up a little differently. I did it pretty much the same but had to pick up stitches for the button borders. I also added some bendall robot embroidery because I felt inspried.

The vest is one piece that opens at one shoulder and the side. Here is a photo of it open:

I had a little bit of yarn left over so I also made a matching baby beanie but it's TINY (photographed with a tiny cotton newborn beanie which looks big next to my beanie). I don't think any son of mine will have a head that small even as a newborn....oh well.

I've also finished a pair of these Bella Knitting baby pants but have yet to take a photo. And I think this baby viking hat will be next on my list as well as a pair of matching socks for Dudley and myself.Ok so that's my craft round up of the past few weeks. I would like to write a summary of what it's been like to be pregnant in Japan (not that I really know what it's like to be pregnant anywhere else), but we'll see if Dudley gives me any more FREE time. Off to eat breakfast now and pysche myself up.....hopefully my next post will include details of my most amazing FO ever.

Showered and so happy!

Thank you all so much for your suggestions in the last post. I reread the comments many times and I think we are nearly organized...um, sort of.  I have the mental list prepared and we have nappies and wipes so if he comes early we have the basic items ready. Darin and I also took a breastfeeding and parenting class which was very insightful and helpful too. My last day at work was last Friday and since it has been a long weekend, it still hasn't sunken in that I don't have to go to work tomorrow or any other day that matter for the next six or so months. Really??!! That feels great.

Dudley is getting bigger and heavier and has been experiencing hiccups pretty often...now that's cute. Evidence of the growing is shown in photos below.

36 weeks, baby.

and the next photo is courtesy of Martine! Beware - it showcases a lot of belly!

but look....I can still see my toes

Yesterday our sweet friend Martine hosted a baby shower for dudley, darin and I. We had a great time spending the hot, hot afternoon with friends enjoying good food and conversation with friends. We also scored some pretty amazing stuff for dudley and darin was lucky enough to score a superdad tshirt (shown in photo below) from C&J.....he hasn't taken it off since he got it!

You can see other photos from the shower on Frangipani.

And seriously I have been knitting, but I haven't fully completed anything apart from these great booties. Does anyone need another reason to have a baby??!!

Converse booties
Pattern by Brooklyn Handmade. Made using Cascade Fixation and Pima Tencel.

Baby love

So when I was back in Australia, my sister threw me a little baby shower. It was great even though I was only 19 weeks pregnant. It was mainly for my family since I won't see them before I give birth here in Japan. All of the presents were awesome, but one of the stand out gifts was a hand-knit clown by my great aunty Joyce. She is an amazing crafter who is very prolific and makes things that I would never think about making and wouldn't know where to start even if I had the idea.

Clowny even has separate hand knitted pants!! Thanks Aunty Joyce!

So I've been on a bit of a baby knitting roll and luckily I had clowny around to model for me. First I knit up the simple raglan cardigan from Debbie Bliss's Simple Knits for Babies. It was a quick knit (three days) and it was really fun. I'm worried that I'll never want to knit a full-size adult garment ever again. I also added some cute skull embroidery.

close up of embroidery

the cardigan is pretty small and I'm really hoping Dudley isn't a 10 pound baby especially since there'll be no pain relief on offer when I give birth and also because I'd love to see him wear this cardie even just for a couple of weeks!!

I also made the sailboat hat from Itty Bitty Hats in the 0 to 6 month size. I had some leftover Rowan Denim from the Knitty Blu pattern and used it to make this hat.

here's clowny modelling both knits.

I also knit up two pairs of Better-Than-Bootie-Socks from Interweave Knits.

You can see the cable details better when clowny is modelling

These socks were fiddly to knit. You use up just as much energy to knit these as you would adult socks. Don't get me wrong I think they are super cute and I know these will definitely keep dudley's feet warm. They just weren't that much fun to knit. I'll probably make another couple of pairs because they are sure to be better than anything you could buy in a shop!!

Click for pregnancy update with photo! Not sure everyone is that interested in seeing my growing bump!!

Ok so I lied...

I didn't end up posting every day last week. I actually didn't post again after that initial promise post. Sorry.

Here's something cute from my five-year old niece in Australia.

This note makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside and make me very excited to be going home even for just a short time.

Also in completely unrelated news, I have two invites left to Ravelry - Jess and Casey's awesome interactive website for knitters. I've been a Beta tester for a while and it's a very cool resource for knitters - it's a great way to share your knitting with others and find information about certain projects from other knitters and it's also a great way to get inspired. I hear that there's some silly blog furore from people who can't get invites. They are a rare commodity right now it seems. There's a reason for the limit - the site is run by two people with lives and a very cute dog, not a giganto billion dollar corporation or even just a small corporation. I would have thought nice kind knitters would be naturally more patient but I guess not.

Anyways if you want one of my invites email me at pinkurocks *at* gmail *dot* com. Both have been passed on - thanks!

Finally I'd love to welcome Kirsten - a fellow Tokyo S+B'er - to the blog world. She's just started up her blog, Stitched Up, so check it out!!!

A quick review - Fitted Knits

Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel

I can't believe this book is already in my hot little hands. I mean I live in Japan. I rushed home last night, threw my bags on the floor, reclined on the couch, ripped open the Amazon box and enjoyed this great new knitting book. Later I said hi to my husband and gave him a kiss. Priorities girls!

There were no real surprises in this book - I expected a lot of fashionable and wearable designs and the book delivers. There are some patterns we've seen before (bulky mini cardie) and a couple that look very similar to old patterns (Forecast), but overall I think this is a fantastic book that is worth every cent because you know what, you'll actually knit items from it and you'll look good wearing them.

I loved more than half of the patterns (not bad) and I scanned a few photos for you all, including my favourite design - the one shown on the cover. Simple, elegant and sexy. I know a lot of people don't like yellow but it looks gorgeous here.

The design we have all been hanging out for - the peplum cardigan with puffy sleeves. I'll so be making this one

I'm not sure I'd make this next one but it's really growing on me

A nice simple vest - we love vests

There were a few designs I didn't love including the this navy? purple? suit.  But hey I've never seen a book where I love absolutely every single design anyway and I often buy knitting mags and only like one pattern in it.

Fitted Knits is totally worth spending your money on. Congrats Steph!!

I'm heading to Aomori in northern Japan this afternoon to see some snow and spend some time with my host family from 15 years ago!!!! It's a long weekend here in Japan and that makes me very happy. Have a great one and I'll see you all next week!!

Fitted ALREADY?

I just got an email from Amazon Japan that they sent my copy of Fitted Knits out today - ALREADY!!

Am so excited. Should have it by tomorrow.....

Something for the ladies...and guys?

I've been meaning to post this photo for a while and considering it's a Friday you all deserve a treat!!

Family version of a photo of Darin and Tyler at the men's rotenburo at Maguse Onsen in Nagano. You actually couldn't really see anything except for a bit of flank. You might be able to see something if you look really closely at the guy actually in the hot springs!!

An amazing view that's for sure. Darin tells me that his view in this photo was even more amazing. Please note an old Japanese guy offered to take this photo of Darin and Tyler and he was also naked and kinda squatting when taking the photo. TMI?

On a completely unrelated topic, there is a yarn sale on at Mitsubaya in Tokyo for all you local knitters. It's basically 20% off all yarn including some Rowan. The sale is on until the end of February. I picked up some tweed regia to make a pair of socks for my host mum in Aomori. I'll be there next weekend. Snow here I come.

Have a great weekend!!

Target + Stella McCartney

Wow Stella McCartney has designed a 42 piece collection for Target Australia.

It goes on sale March 12. And the whole collection will be able to be viewed online from March 5 on the Designers for Target website.

I think a trip to Australia is in order.....to visit family of course. I mean I totally wouldn't fly thousands of miles to go to Target.

Or would I?

I might have to put in an order to my BBE.

I wondered whether Australian Target had embraced the designer line approach and it seems they have. Erin told me that the stuff sells out really quickly and then horrible people try to sell it on ebay for lots more money.

In other news, I've been trying to think up five weird things about me. I've been tagged by Helen and the DivaKnitter, but I wasn't going to do it because I've kinda done it before so that'll be a total of 10 weird things about me. That'll make me weirder than most people.

1. As a kid I was never really an animal person (I know, I know), but now with my two sweet pigs I find myself chatting to them and cuddling them all the time. Daz and I couldn't imagine what our lives would be like without them. Is that weird...or normal?

2. Not so much now, but I'm unusually into sports. It was a bonding thing with my father. I really get into the excitement of the moment. I've been to numerous State of Origin games. I saw the Harlem Globetrotters live. I was obsessed with Italian league soccer, 500cc motorbike racing and F1 racing in my last two years of high school. I would stay up until all hours watching those cars race around the track. It might have had something to do with No. 5 in my previous list.

3. I hate wasabi. This is probably not that weird. I got burned when I was a high school exchange student in Japan and my first host mother made a sandwich for my lunch everyday and she'd secretly smothered that horrible green stuff on to the ham. I would either give those sandwiches away or thrown them in the bin. Sorry, host mother number one.

4. I have a mild online shopping addiction. I've been really good this month. I don't think I would buy as much if I lived in the western world....or would I? I even told Darin last night that one of the pros of possibly moving to the US in the future is that I would be able to buy whatever I wanted online (no more international shipping!!) One can dream.

5. I'm 32 and don't have my driver's license.

Wow, that was actually easier than I thought it would be. Please don't tag me with this one anymore because then everyone'll know just how weird I really am??!!!!

OH and for you knitters out there - you can now preview Rowan mag 41 for Spring and Summer - from first glances there isn't a love that I MUST have (this is good news - save more money).

Also check out the Rowan Bamboo Tape Collection

The Rowan Kasbah Collection

The Little Angels Collection from Kim Hargreaves

But even cuter is the book And so to Bed by Lucinda Guy - CUTE!!