for those of you who really only ever come here for the knitting (and i know that’s most of you) i’ve decided to update you all on my knitting progress, however slow that might be. japan is so full of wonderful things to see and do that i’m not getting much knitting time in.

i got about a dozen repeats of the aminami shawl in on the plane ride here before i switched over to casting on for the jaywalker socks (i will update the backpack pages where i return from my trip.. sorry that they aren’t up-to-date but i’m sure you get the picture.) i decided that 76 stitches was way too many for a sock so i changed the pattern to 68 and hopefully i won’t regret that move. they seem a little tight but i know that i can make the heel a little longer so that they’re easier to pull on. if this yarn is anything like koigu then i know i’ll be happy. my koigu socks have REALLY loosened up on me since i made them. the fabric has become quite slack and soft so i’m thinking that with some wear, these jaywalkers will fit nicely. i would have joined the KAL that januaryone is hosting but i’ve been on the other side of the world and didn’t even know about it until now. maybe on my next pair.

here is the first sock on its way to nikko this morning!

in the span of the train ride to nikko and back i’ve managed to get to about 5″ in length on the leg and i’m aiming for 5.5″ so it’s not much longer now before i find out if my gamble paid off.

back to knitting in a moment… did you want to hear about my trip to nikko? it’s a quiet little town to the north of tokyo in the mountains. my first advice to those who want to visit is to bring warmer clothes! it was beautiful and 55 degrees here in the city and 40 degrees and practically snowing there. ugh. cold and wet. KP and i went straight to the temples, did the tours, then had lunch at an AWESOME noodle joint along the way where i had the best bowl of tanmen noodles (in fact, best bowl of just noodles) anywhere. it was good that i ate the whole thing and was full for hours. *eh hem* the temples were quite nice too.

love that red

there be dragons

inside the nikko national park is where all the notable temples of the area are located. amongst them is the famous tosho-gu shrine best known for the relief carvings of the “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” monkeys.

hear no, see no, speak no

there’s not much else up here to see besides the fantastic old shrines. i actually liked kamakura a lot more as you can tell from the wealth of pictures taken there. nikko was interesting (KP liked it a whole ton more than me) but just didn’t float my boat. at the end of the day, i was happy to be back in our apato in akasaka. it was just too much cold weather and not enough extra clothing and that would drive any sane girl off her rocker.

more images in the gallery. (by the way, stupid gallery is doing something funky with images when i rotate them so please disregard any errors you see in the photos. i will fix them when i’m at home on my own computer. this is the last time that i travel without my powerbook. i feel lost without it!)

ok, back to knitting… i’ve moved all of the knitting books that i bought in japan into the queue gallery. i can’t wait to get home and start translating! all of the patterns in japanese books are well charted and there are usually only a few instructions that have to be translated. after doing a few crochet patterns earlier this year, i feel like i can jump into something a little more complicated this time around. i did find this handy page that has a bunch of knitting kanji already translated and there are several other pages on this site that are helpful in speeding along the process. it’s a lot of work but improving my japanese skills and knitting at the same time, well, that’s time well spent.

here are just a few of the patterns that i REALLY love from the books that i bought (and this is only a few… i saw several more i would love to try.)

a wrap with holes for your arms

love these cables

this would look great in noro silk garden

excuse my thumbs in that last one.. i was taking pictures of the pages while doing laundry here. love this place we’re staying. it’s the bomb. more in the queue gallery. so that’s it from tokyo. i’m off to bed while the majority of you (on the east coast) are just getting up after a day of turkey-fueled bliss (poor birds.) hope you had a thankful day!

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Your Birthdate: January 18

You are a cohesive force – able to bring many people together for a common cause. You tend to excel in work situations, but you also facilitate a lot of social gatherings too. Beyond being a good leader, you are good at inspiring others. You also keep your powerful emotions in check – you know when to emote and when to repress.

Your strength: Emotional maturity beyond your years

Your weakness: Wearing yourself down with too many responsibilities

Your power color: Crimson red

Your power symbol: Snowflake

Your power month: September

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

snowflake? that’s my POWER SYMBOL? i HATE snow. almost as much as i winter, that crappy season i was born in. i’m glad my power month is september. it’s a more likeable month.

by the way, did you see that i finally got around to updating my keitai gallery? for months, i let my images just sit on my mobile phone because bluetooth on my powerbook was too damn flaky but i really needed to empty it so that i can take lots of keitai pictures in japan like all the japanese! so i paired it up with my computer and, wow, since i’ve updated to tiger the thing works like a charm. no more turning the phone off and then back on again in order for my computer to recognize it. and boy am i glad that i use cingular and not verizon in this case. verizon INTENTIONALLY CRIPPLES their bluetooth phones so that you can’t download/upload images or ringtones to them. you have to use their site and pay for the trasfers over the network. what a scam.

anyway, here are a few of my favorites from the gallery.

this was sent to me by keith during a really sweltering hot day in the summer. the squirrel was so hot that it had to lay down.

look at this beautiful child using a treo! holy crap! i remember the first computer that required that i use a mouse and i couldn’t get the hang of it for months!

kat and joy. this is the night that i met the founding members of the spiders and my life was changed forever.

yes, your eyes do not deceive you. that is a 4″x6″ battlestar galactica poster in my office. love ebay.

KP as cheese. this is a VEGAN man who had to spend four weeks in wisconsin. they all thought he was nuts.

more photos of strange things in the gallery. i tend to take a lot of pictures of food that i eat so some of it may be boring. other things are just downright strange. enjoy.

ok, packing commences in full force tonight for the trip to japan. we’ll be spending the majority of our time in tokyo, walking the streets, shopping, visiting temples, and observing tokyoites in their native environment. we’re planning on making a few day trips to nikko and kamakura but tokyo is HUGE! i’m sure that the two weeks we’re there will be only JUST enough time to see all the worthwhile stuff. i’m anxious (really, i’m nervous!) to break out my nihongo and wow KP with my linguistic skills. i’m sure that i’ll choke up and not be able to speak for days. hopefully i’ll be getting together with kat and martine and another cool girl, stephana, all who i’ve met through this here blog.

the question of vacation knitting was really weighing heavily upon me these past few days but i think that i have it all figured out now. i’ll be bringing the aminami shawl (the current ball of yarn and another), the mitered square project (two balls of yarn to make a total of four as i’ve already finished two), socks that rock with a couple of patterns since i can’t decide what to do yet, and five balls of DB cotton DK in different colors to make amigurumi! it’s just enough projects to keep me busy when i don’t want to read. as for books, i think that i’m going to re-read the ender series by orson scott card and possibly brave new world.

oh! almost forgot… i’m near the completion of another pair of turkish slippers! this time i am double-stranding the yarn for added coverage during the winter months. i’m using some funky acrylic that i got from katie at the yarn swap this past weekend.

it’s the black and multi-colored skein near the bottom of this picture. i’m calling them the uno slippers since all of the colors remind me of uno cards! gotta finish them up tonight and bring them with me to japan tomorrow. you won’t find many posts here while i’m gone. KP is bringing his ibook though so i’m hoping to update maybe once or twice over the next few weeks if only to let you know that i’m alive and happy. in the meantime, be of good cheer.

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it’s been a supremely busy week and my wedding is swiftly approaching so i don’t think that i’ll update here more than once or twice a week until after september. just thought that i should let you know.. ok, last night i went to a program at the japan society called “the art of kimono” that was absolutely fantastic! although i take all of my japanese classes at j.society, this was the first event i was able to attend. they have a very nice auditorium and a wide variety of programs that include music, movies, and guest speakers. last year, they had a program on japanese food and iron chef morimoto came to speak! i hope i can attend more events this year. anyway, you should check out my photos in the gallery: art of kimono. thankfully the stage was well lit and i got some fabulous shots.

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two news stories from nihon regarding the akihabara [electronics] district in tokyo. first of all, asobit city is closing which i had heard was a cool place to go for everything in geeky entertainment. second, if you’re travelling to tokyo and love kitsch, be sure to check out gachapon… everything that you could want straight out of a vending machine.

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today, i was riding the bus to japanese class.. i would actually write japanese into this weblog (in fact, i have tried unsuccessfully) but i still need to do more research on how that’s accomplished.. anyway, i have to take the bus to japanese class every wednesday afternoon. i get out of work around 3.30p and take the crosstown bus to 2nd ave and then walk up to 47th street where the japan society is located.

around 5th ave, i hear a bit of commotion at the front of bus. it sounds like a desperate pushy man who is trying to get some woman’s phone number.. “come on baby, can’t i at least get your number?” some giggles come from the bus driver who can’t stop laughing and keeps waving the guy away from the front door. as we start to pull away from the curb i see who this man was.. a bike messenger in dayglow pink. cute.

the bus driver seemed very flattered.

today in japanese class i listened to people talking on the phone, learned how to use hodo, and watched three people answer phones at jbp japan, the fictional company in our class videos. japanese is tough but i enjoy it immensely. i feel so connected to the japanese and now even more so that i am learning the language. it’s a great gift, language.

just recently, i began to read “the new york trilogy” by paul auster and was reminded of the stories regarding relgion and language, especially those of the tower of babel. it occurs to me that there are several kids of language one can use on a daily basis, if you consider such notions as body language, programming languages, and email disfunksional seplling which is a language all its own. we have a lot to master and so little time.

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