spring

We moved our current house last summer so we didn't know what would come out from our yard in the spring. We are happily overwhelmed with all the flowers keep popping up in our garden!

We really appreciate the former owner for this beautiful jobs and we appreciate also she gave us a great guardian of the garden (It's you, Butter!).

Thank you all! The first batch donation to Japan

Update 10-5-11: Japanese Red Cross Society stopped accepting Paypal donation on 9-30-11.
I'm trying to look other organization which accept Paypal easy for us in outside Japan.


Thank you so much for your kinds words and supports.

I just sent the first batch of the sales from Kira's hooded vest to Japanese Red Cross Society (日本赤十字社）.

Kira is doing fine at my parents' house. There are still shortages of gasoline, bottle water, etc. but other supplies in stores are coming back so they can get essential foods and diapers. There are people in much harder situation than my family is in, so even though I told on the last post that I would use some for Kira,  I decided to send all this first batch of donation to those who suffer more and need urgent help. I personally sent a lot of baby cloths and bottles and some toys for him because he didn't bring much of those from his house and he is getting bigger so fast! His parents are also applying for a passport for him now so when radioactive contamination is getting more concern (The local government has been detecting low levels of radioactive in the air/water, which they says it's ok, it should not affect people's health immediately.....WTH does "immediately" mean?!) they can fly here all together.

Anyway, again, thank you all who purchased Kira's hooded vest pattern this past weeks. I will continue contributing to Japanese Red Cross with this pattern sales. If you aren't interested in my pattern, but want to help people in Japan, this is the link to their site (http://www.jrc.or.jp/english/index.html). They can take Paypal.

My sister sent me Kira's picture a few days ago. He is wearing the vest ^^)/

And look at his shiny happy forehead (where did he get that from?)!

Please pray for people in Japan

Thank you so much for all kind words. My family is safe.
My nephew Kira is now 8 months old and he and his mom (my sister) were evacuated from his house where lost water supply and now joined grandparents in another city.

I made a pattern last months dedicated to him and I'm going to use all its sales for sending him diapers/milk and for third party donation.

Kira's hooded vest

I'm still freaked out about whole things going on in Japan and please excuse me if my English is horrible to read.

Please pray for people in Japan.

sprouting up

Midori (3) asks me everyday (actually almost everyhour!),
"Am I bigger?"

This past 6 months or so, she has realized there are so many things her brother can do but she can't because she is "small". Riding a school bus, building a fire, taking Butterscotch to walk, eating with chopsticks, etc...To my surprise, even though those things are brought up constantly, she never complains or gets frustrated. She would just say "Oh, I can't do that because I'm small?" and seems convinced.

But, it doesn't mean that she doesn't care about it. I realized that she had been measuring her own limits every day and now she knows that she is getting bigger every day! "Let me open the refrigerator for you. I'm bigger, mom." "Please don't help me, mom, I think I can reach the sink." "Can I carry the (grocery) bag for you?" "(turning on a light) Mommy! I reached it, I'm big!" Even after dinner she looks at her big belly sticking out happily "Mommy, I'm getting biiiiiiiiiiiig." She knows she is getting there. She is really confident and I'm proud of her.

 Oh my, my baby girl is sprouting up!

and some sprouts from our yard.

Spring finally!

My girl and cat, and my first granny squares you see a bit in the back.

                                                                                                                                                                                  

I finished my first granny squares using various leftover yarns I accumulated for those years. It took more than two years of my slow crochetting during my commutes to make decent amount of motifs, and still, they were not enough for the size I wanted be originally… 

Anyway I thought the time had come and I put them together.

Oh, poor thing.. I don't have enough nerve to show close-up of my sorry afghan. My sewing is a mess!! I hope I do better job next time and I won't use white yarn for sewing again! At least it makes my lap warm and my girl seems to love it, too.

Anyway I love the way this picture itself turned out. My daughter keeps her toy cat close everywhere in our house.

Happy Valentine!

Kira's hooded vest

Update 10-5-11: Japanese Red Cross Society stopped accepting Paypal donation on 9-30-11. I'm trying to look other organization which accept Paypal easy for us in outside Japan.


update 4-5-11: Thank you! The first donation was sent (more details are posted here).

update 3-15-11: All sales will be spent to support Kira and people in Japan (post about this is here).



Hi there!


I just released a new knitting pattern for baby.

"Kira's hooded vest"

"Kira" is my first nephew and means shiny.

I used the pattern stitch (it is called star tweed!) for a kids coat before in Petite Purls , and fell in love with those cute stars. Since then, I wanted to use this stitch again in different way.

This pattern is fairly simple; The body is worked in one piece mostly in plain Stockinette stitch and knits up quickly. The star tweed stitch will be worked in the end as a part of front/hood edging. Buttons are attached for front closure. Also optional waist tie can be added as an accent.

Size: baby 0-6[6-12, 12-18, 18-24] months, finished chest size 19[20, 21, 22] inches (48[50.5, 53.5, 56] cm)

Needles/Notions: Size US7 (4.50 mm) and US8 (5.00 mm) 24” (60 cm) or longer circular needles; one set of US8 double point needles (DPNs); two markers; a stitch holder or a waste yarn; tapestry needle; buttons.

Gauge:
18 sts and 24 rows = 4" (10 cm) in St st


 The pattern PDF is available for sale at Ravelry.com

 

Choosing color combination is really fun!

Can you think of any unique color combo??

2-5-11

  I made a pair of modified Staccato Socks from "Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn" for my husband. It was our anniversary (12th!) yesterday. I was determined to get over the second sock syndrome, so I was very proud of myself, even though the socks was meant to be for his Christmas originally ;) Anyway, if it was not for my beloved, I couldn't finish this forever (I mean, the pattern is great, It is me thing, mind you)!

And for the reward, I got a beautiful book from which I want to make every single thing. I'm so excited!

You all have a great weekend!