My iPod Has Recovered...

...but I'm not sure if I have. I was truly worried that I'd lost all of the movies and music that my sis (who lives 6,000 miles away) so kindly uploaded before the fam sent it to me for Xmas. (It took her something like 2 days to do!) After reading the iPod 9-1-1 site, I found somewhere that if you press and hold the center (select) and menu buttons for 5-10 seconds, it should shut off. Fortunately for me, it did with all files intact.

I have literally spent all afternoon and evening on the computer. (Don't worry--Tarzan got a new baseball game for his PS2, so we haven't seen much of one another face-to-face for the last couple of days. ;-) ) I finally visited that Ravelry site, which is fabulous in an overwhelming sort of way. It's inspired me to upload pics to Flickr, which I've been able to do quite easily since I organized them all the other day. :-p My Flickr ID is kendoempress if you feel like taking a look over there. It's mostly knitting stuff, though.

I'm still working on the tunic for my niece and also the Snowflake Socks from the Fall 2007 Interweave Knits. They're my first socks and my first real fairisle (2 color knitting), which is probably a bit ambitious, but I love them so much, I just had to have them.

Here is Snowflake Sock #1. I'm praying I don't get SSS (Second Sock Syndrome), but I'll have to finish the first before we find that out!

Here is the Anouk baby tunic in progress and the yarns I picked to inspire and maybe make another out of. I have most of this (the front) done now.

The addition of my adorable niece to the family has inspired me to make baby stuff, and it seems like my cousins are having babies right and left, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of recipients. Besides, Tarzan and I will hopefully have our own rugrats someday, so it would be nice to have some practice with what looks cute, what's easy to knit/crochet, etc. I don't think I'll be making another baby blanket anytime soon, though. I knit one for a cousin exactly a year ago, and while it went great, my second attempt has been sitting in knitting purgatory for months now in its knitting bag. The sad thing is I'm at least a third of the way through it!

Grandmother's Baby Blanket

At Christmas 2006, my mom gave me a bag full of old skeins of white acrylic fake mohair that my grandmother used to make baby blankets. It also had a partially done blanket out of a cotton-looking yarn that was off the needles, looking forlorn with its open stitches. I decided to connect to my knitting heritage by figuring out the lace pattern (after all, I'd knit at least one or two small swatches of lace--nothing to it!) and making my own version. This one was supposed to be for my niece (the one that was born last November).

The lace pattern itself was pretty simple--just a basic feather and fan--and it seems that my grandmother either improvised or was following a pattern for a border that was just an exaggeration of the basic pattern. So far so good. I thought I was so good, I didn't even need stitch markers to separate the pattern repeats (there were something like 12!). After about 2 rounds of that, I realized that I should listen to the experienced lace knitters on the internet and who write patterns and use some stitch markers to keep track. (That way, if you make a mistake, you'll see it right away.)

And I did make mistakes. Lots and lots and lots of them. I guess because it's lace, hardly anyone but me or another knitter could tell, but I know they're there. I also made the mistake of taking this to Stitch n Bitch meetings, where of course, I made tons of mistakes because I was talking and not paying attention. So, back to the bag. I thought I had made some mistakes, so I was putting off taking it out again, dreading to have to undo my errors. Then a few weeks ago, I thought, "Come on, better take a look at it before I completely forget how to do it," and I gave it a once-over. It turns out I fixed my mistakes and in frustration THEN put the thing away. It was all ready to be worked on. I felt like such a dummy. Now, instead of glancing at it on my wall (hanging in its bag) with knots of guilt in my stomach, I look at it with thoughts of hope and potential in mind (though it still hasn't left its bag or the wall!). Maybe I'll get it done in time for my own kids... or grandkids.

Janie's Quote of the Day #1

"Of all God’s creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat."
--Mark Twain

I don't know what it is with me and Mark Twain and cats...

Singing the iPod Blues...

Oh, man. I'm really bummed. I think I killed my iPod. ::sniff sniff:: It was such a good little iPod too. Well, I'm troubleshooting it and charging it up for a round of electric shock therapy, so we'll see how it all goes.

On another note, I have been getting a ton of new classes and job offers lately! I can't believe it. I spent the first two years here wanting something to do with myself, and now I have more work than I can shake a stick at. Sheesh. But teaching is so much fun. I love to talk, and about half of my students just come in for "English conversation", which suits me perfectly. Plus, the type of people who want to have free conversation are usually the most interesting ones, so that makes it even better. I learn as much or more from them as they from me. I just love it.

My current goal: 夫に文句の言われない主婦になりたい。　I want to be a housewife that no one could complain about. I figure that's the best way to get my husband off my back. Right? We'll see how that goes. I'm blogging and killing my iPod instead of doing chores! lol.

Here I am, the good little housewife washing dishes, rice paddle in hand. Forgot to mention that this pic is 2 years old! Haven't been seen like this in a while!

Thank goodness it's Friday. I'm ready for a break this weekend. Sorry this is such a short post, but I just wanted to pop in and say hello. Got to get to all that work I've been complaining about. :)

Non-knitters Beware!

Hello, my lovelies. I was such a good little nerd yesterday and spent the afternoon organizing my photos on my computer. These are photos that haven't been uploaded or anything, mind you, but the point is, they're all labeled nicely, so when I DO want to upload them, I can. Theoretically. This left me just itching to blog something, but alas, I hadn't the time. So this morning, I was even nerdier and took many pictures of finished projects and knitting accoutrements to post on Ravelry when I do someday actually use my account. (Yes, I have an account, but I haven't logged in and used it yet! I must be crazy...) Without further ado, here are some of my latest undertakings.



The Wisp scarf, as yet unblocked, but still getting a lot of use as is.

The stitch pattern will open up if I block it. ::sigh:: I'm so lazy.

It felt like it took forever to knit. I haven't knit a scarf in a loooong time.



Here are some of my favorite knitted items ever. Mrs. Beeton. I decided to do cables instead of a 3x1 rib as the pattern describes. I also did one cuff in a larger needle size, so the dimensions of the two are the same, but the number of repeats and size of cables are different. I thought the smaller one would fit better. Turns out the larger one has been better over time. I knit them out of 100% alpaca, so they don't have much memory. They are so soft and warm and pretty, though!

Unfortunately, not the best picture, but the color is about right and you can see some detail on the cables.

Can you see the difference in size? Oh, well. They both fit well enough. I just can't say how much I love these!

At the local community center where I take Japanese lessons, the volunteer teachers (mostly middle-aged ladies) went ga ga over these. One of them also knits and crochets, so she whipped herself up a pair, and another lady asked her husband to make her some! I thought that was awesome.

And now onto to my most used at home item. My Twinkletoes slippers. I can't believe how warm they are. I wouldn't have lasted the winter without them.

Thank you for your patience if you are a muggle, er, non-knitter. For you, here is a pic to hopefully brighten your day.

Leo on the left and Otokomae (handsome) George on the right (Oto-chan for short). My mother-in-law calls them our homonekos. Neko means cat in Japanese. I think you get it. :) We're so glad they've finally found each other.

What can I say?

Good morning! Good morning! You've slept the whole night through.* Good morning, good morning to you!

My mom used to sing this to me and my sisters when we were kids, so we would wake up "cheerfully". (or maybe so we would just wake up!) It mostly just made me hate this song until I was married and had to wake up my husband. I think he's flabbergasted that someone would sing loudly (and not well!) to wake people up. Not very Japanese, indeed! But he knows I'm just a "typical American" (his favorite thing to call me when he's feeling exasperated).

I'm so excited I can hardly see straight! I'm going to visit my folks in less than a month! Tarzan's cousin is staying with my family for 8 months and taking an English class at the local university. So her mother and older sis and I are all going to go and visit. I'll even get to be there for Easter!

I hope I can practice a bit of kendo with my old dojo, but I seriously haven't practiced in weeks here. I'm afraid they won't be very impressed with my progress... but we'll see! I may surprise them yet. I'm pretty sure I'll shock them with my Japanese, though. I've gotten pretty good. I can carry on a conversation at least, which is more than I could say for myself three and a half years ago.

Here we all are at the Shin Fresno Kendo Dojo in 2004.

I also hope I can buy some yarn. I actually do have quite a bit here, so maybe the thing to do would be to *look* at some nice yarn. Then when I can hornswaggle my parents into taking me on a yarn spree when I do move back (someday... ::sigh::), I'll know what I want! My current project is a tunic/baby dress, called Anouk. Another present for my new niece, Kokona-chan.

Have a lovely day!


*Thought you recognized this song? It's ever so close, but my dear mother changed the lyrics because naturally we didn't "talk the whole night through" as in the original. It really wouldn't be a good idea to suggest that idea to a hyperactive 7-year-old! (If you're still clueless, it's from Singing in the Rain.)