Sewing Conundrums

I have two, no, three sewing issues at the moment. These buttons are not one of them.

I made them for Jasmine's dress to cover up where the poppers are. I used a little button covering kit I came across in a 100 Yen shop. Love those places.

My first conundrum is what to do with this.

It's a 12" block which I made for a 20" cushion cover - so I always knew it would need a border. So I made one but it's not long enough.

So do I make it longer, or do I make some little corner inserty patchwork thing? I'm starting to regret making it to be honest. The linen means it is always going to look crumpled. Bleh. Anyway, onward. Second conundrum is what to make with this:

Two different fabrics which have just arrived for the bloghop "She Who Sews". The print is much bigger than I'm used to so small patchwork designs aren't going to work. Something simple maybe? I dunno. It's just not talking to me. My third conundrum is what to make for the Sewing Room Swap. My partner has such wildly different tastes to me that I don't seem to have any fabric that suits her style. Do I simply use what I have or do I buy something especially? Tough, tough.

Simpler is something like this.

These are the first Basil seedlings from a grow-your-own kit I got Pooch for Christmas. So exciting! Almost as lovely to look at as the birthday tea container I gave Pooch yesterday.

It caught my eye amongst many others because it seems to be made from Silver Birch wood. I don't think I've ever seen anything made from that wood before and I used to love the trees when I was little. On my recent "exploring the neighbourhood" patrol (post to come tomorrow) I found a wonderful shop full of traditional tea and decorative things. I'll definitely be taking anyone who comes to visit there. As well as other things there were wrapping cloths in cat designs.

I was powerless to resist - and this is probably why my discontent with the cushion cover has come to a head - and think they would look beautiful incorporated into different things. This one says (approximately, according to Pooch, reading from top to bottom and right to left) "Everyday, happiness increases." Certainly, every day I visit a cat cafe, my happiness does increase!

Kyushibarikyu Gardens, Take Two

(click here or on the image)

Back in June Pooch and I visited these gardens as part of our whirlwind tour of the city. We went back again today to see how they looked in a different season. In a word? Beautiful.

On our first visit it was about 30 degrees, humidity of 99.9% and raining on and off from grey skies. Today was about 5 degrees, normal humidity and bright sunshine from blue skies.

Back then there were perhaps 3 birds in the whole place. This time it looked like flocks of two different types of duck were either pausing in their migration or had bedded down for the season.

They had also tied up some of the trees in these kind of nets - not sure why. It was clearer what the nature of the protection was with these.

I *think* these are Peonies although I could be wrong. They certainly seem rather reminiscent of the fabric you see a lot of here.

Amazing colours.

Pooch and I went for traditional Ramen at a place opposite the station afterwards. Wonderful old dark brown wooden benches and tables.

There was an impressive amount of slurping coming from the tables around us which Pooch was more than happy to join in with. I remained more demure and tackled mine more like spaghetti. No mean feat.

Before you go I encourage you to revisit my previous post about shop windows. Wendy left a comment which answered most of the logistics questions I posed in among the pictures and it is all pure knowledge gold. Thank you so much Wendy! I've often wondered about all of that and now I know!

Shinjuku Shop Windows

On the whole, I am not a devotee of shop window displays. I used to occasionally stop to admire Liberty's but that was about it. But following Rachel's guest post about christmas windows I have been a bit more aware of them, and the ones in Shinjuku this week definitely caught my eye. I was on one of the main roads near the station and the juxtaposition of the Louis Vuitton opulence with the Oioi (I think) department store nearby was very effective*.

The one thing that does always occur to me with these windows is logistics. For example, were the flowers shipped to the store as is and over how great a distance?

How were they packed to ensure they didn't get crumpled and bent? Are those cherries vacuum formed plastic, and what about the balloons? Or sprayed polystyrene perhaps?

Could they even be inflatable? And what happens to it after this display is done with? Does every LV shop have the same display or were these designed specifically for this space?

Moving on I admired the contrast of old culture (kimonos and kabuki make-up) with new culture (comics and manga - although comics are also a little bit old school having now been around for decades) and very new culture (the cutting edge fashion).

With this kind of thing it is the timeline that interests me. Clearly someone had to come up with the concept, get that approved, then choose the items to be displayed, the arrangement and which window they'd be in, have the artist make the drawings, finalise the designs, get them made and then set it up to coincide with having the dresses etc in stock.

And unless that was all done quite quickly, the clothes and things would have been in store for weeks before the windows were in place, which seems pointless.

But then I guess they get previews of the clothes months in advance so that probably explains it. Still - you need a skilled kind of mind to envisage this kind of thing before you've got the real stuff in front of you.

*To put this in context - this particular road is kind of a New Bond Street type bit of street in central Tokyo. Posh shops in abundance which then break off into not so posh and scraggy ones. If you know London think South Kensington tailing off into the Tottenham end of Oxford Street. I constantly get Shinjuku and Shibuya confused, although they are very different in feel. Shinjuku is more for wealthy business types while Shibuya is more teenage. There is a phenomenon known as 'Shibuya Girls' who are the ones who dress all cutesy with ringlets and frills. You see them in twos and threes, usually giggling.

There is also the Shibuya Scramble - the most mental pedestrian crossing you'll ever find. There are about 5 crossings together which you would have thought form a satanic pentagon from the number of people involved. When the green man lights up, *thousands* of people cross at once.

Normality Has Been Achieved

My facebook status a few days ago read

Every now and again, I look up at all the neon and so on, and think "Holy shit, I'm in Japan."

This happened to me again on the train this morning, and again while I was pottering around the kitchen. I have concluded that this means I am finally used to being here. Being on the metro, walking around the streets, using ingredients whose labels I can't understand, is all quite normal to me now - it doesn't seem obvious that I'm in a different country. A pretty good thing after just 7 weeks on this side of the world.

Normality coincides with my first finished knitting project since I arrived (there was the blanket but that was crochet). It is a Multinomah Shawl (rav link to free pattern) with a beaded cast off.

It also coincides with my acquisition of this FQ bundle in very japanese colours.

It also coincides with another visit to my favourite cat cafe in Shinjuku. Prizes were awarded for...Cutest Feet:

Most Variegated Eyes:

Fluffiest Face: (can you imagine what this lady looked like as a kitten - omg cute overload)

Most Freaky Looking:

And finally, Most Likely to Become an Evil World Dictator:

As I was leaving I looked back into the room just in time to catch this crazyness...

I love these cats!

Japanese Craft Books

I have been having a lovely time over New Year, tucked up on the sofa under the new crocheted blanket next to Pooch, looking through a selection of Japanese Craft books. Not only do I have access to the usual bookshops (photos in this post) but also the Book-Off chain who do second hand books. And not only am I able to buy books and magazines BUT I have a library five minutes away which has a monthly quilting magazine you can read there AND a big craft section upstairs. I really am pretty lucky.

Those of you not familiar with japanese craft books, their usefulness lies in their extensive use of diagrams, charts and symbols. This makes them highly accessible to non-japanese speakers. There are a number of websites helping you understand them too. There is a brilliant collection of resources here and I have bought new books from Pomadour on Etsy before.

A few favourites from recent reads:

and this is the kind of instructions you get for the hexagon bag.

There are also usually templates either within the pages or on a fold out pattern sheet like you get with mainstream sewing magazines.

I know these books can be pretty expensive in the UK (actually they are expensive here too!) so I'm looking into setting up a little Etsy shop selling on the second hand books I can find that are at least half the price of the new ones and which are in good condition. If you'd like new copies I'd recommend Pomadour's shop, but otherwise watch this space for updates!

Washing in Tokyo

Space in Tokyo is really scarce. However, a lot of apartments have a small outside space or balcony - even if only because you need somewhere to stick the outdoor bit of the aircon unit which is standard here. On the majority of balconies you will see something I've only rarely seen in the UK - and which I've just found through googling described by an ebay seller as a "Plastic Fold Hanging Rack Peg Dryer Airer Wash Drying Hanger Indoor Outdoor Clip" which is quite a good name, or by Lakeland as a "Magic Hanger". These often hang from laundry poles for which there are standard fittings on most balconies. A la these in the flats I can see from our balcony.

I made myself foolishly happy this morning by using mine to hang out my knitted socks.

Eleven pairs in all. All made by me except for the pinky red ones second from the right which were a present and are lovingly cared for. They include the first pair I made using ProbablyJane's Bracket Fungus pattern (rav link and fourth from right in above picture) which remains one of my favourite patterns. In fact looking at Ravelry those are now more than 6 years old - Go Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock Multi! Although they are reserved for bedsocks nowadays since they have gone quite baggy. These are not all of my knitted socks and the presence of the Fungus ones is not my only reason to think of ProbablyJane. In fact the reason why hanging them out like this made me happy is because I remembered her photos of hers hanging on her washing line back in London!

Projects Underway in 2014

I have one finished object to share and six - count 'em - underway. First the FO. 

This is the one I started when we first got here as a replacement for the full size Babette Blanket I made about 7 years ago in London...

...and gave away just before we left. The replacement one is a lot smaller - more like a single bed one - and is more for the sofa than the bed. The yarn is Spectre Modem (rav link) which is a very nice 100% wool aran and I used 2 balls of each colour with an extra 2 of the dark purple for joining and an extra one of the same for a single row around the edge. The yarn was from Okadaya which is still my favourite craft shop in Tokyo so far. 

Now for the WIPs. From left to right starting at the top...

1. Cushion cover, using up some of the leftover curtain fabric from the bedroom. I didn't have enough to do a proper closure and no zip handy so I decided on button tabs. Except I still haven't sewn on the buttons. Been two weeks now. Yep. 

2. Artemis Socks, using my Meow Foundation cat yarn in the colourway 'siamese'. I am using the Aquaphobia pattern as it is good for breaking up yarn inclined to pool, which I suspected this might. It makes it look like a tawny owl!

And of course any mention of an owl makes me think of the Hungover Owls tumblr site, which has sadly called it a day at 500 owls but the site remains up. 

3. Pooch's Birthday Present, clearly it's a Sarah Lund jumper from series 1 of The Killing. It's what he requested. 

4. Noriko's Xmas Present, yep - running a little late there. It's a Multinomah Shawl. I've got beads to add to the edging. 

5. Dress for Jasmine, I found this amazingly simple pattern on Etsy. Only making one at the moment to see if it fits. I need to snip the seams more and top stitch before ironing and adding bias tape to the bottom edge. 

6. Lucy Boston Bee Block, the January Queen has asked for green, pink, yellow and orange. That's the thing about these Bees - you get asked for colours you wouldn't normally put together. Been rather fun putting this one together. The November one was grey and yellow which are also colours I don't normally use together. March is to be orange and grey while February is currently a mystery. I was December and chose red and white with the emphasis on polka dots - what else!

I also have a thread catcher in mind - a kind or portable mini-bin for all the snips of thread that currently litter my sofa - plus more red and white Lucy blocks for my own quilt and then something based on all the japanese craft books I've been inhaling. I have pictures from those to share at some later point. 

Obligatory 2013 Mosaic

Here is approximately what I made in 2013.

Actually it was more than this - about another ten - but the Mosaic Maker will only let me have 36 pictures. There's been a lot of sewing but also enough knitting to keep it respectable. There has even been crochet, although I haven't had a chance to take a photo of the blanket I've currently got draped artistically over my pyjamas. Let's not mention all the projects I've started that either got ditched or await my renewed interest!

As Pooch remarked over dinner (consisting of crab's legs, pickles, rice, tempura and sashimi), if anyone had told us a year ago that as 2013 ended we'd be living together in Tokyo we both would have suggested they sod off. In fact if anyone had claimed to be sure we'd still be together now we probably would have told them to go and do it elsewhere. I've gained a niece, remarried Pooch, moved country, managed umpteen crises at work, left my job, become a housewife and eaten large quantities of chocolate along the way. If 2014 holds just half as much activity I'll be very happy with that.

I hope you all have the New Years Eve you want and the 2014 you deserve.



PS: I did finish the book I was reading, and thus end the year on an even number. Oompah!

Trip to Hakone and Mount Fuji

Pooch pondered and researched whether we should go away for a night before the new year week kicked off here for ten long days. He decided against on Thursday night then changed his mind at 8.30am on Friday and by 9.30am we were on our way. I am very happy he did! We headed for the Hakone area and stayed in the most amazing Hotel Fujiya. The whole area is interlaced with hot springs and is therefore absolutely packed when there are public holidays - like the new year week which most of the country gets off. That's why if we were going to go it really needed to be before the national getaway began. This is it.

You can't really see the hotel but if you click on the hotel link in the last paragraph you'll see how amazing it is. Very traditional and with its own public baths fed by the hot springs. There were bell hops inside who were actually dressed like this and bowed to greet you.

This is the view from our room, which was very old world luxurious with antique furniture and fittings.

One of the public lounges - called the 'Magic Room' - all velvet and leather.

And then there were the gardens which Pooch ventured out into while I was still asleep.

Pooch and I made full use of the swimming pool which was heated by the hot springs and very warm. I then headed off to the women's public bath. Fortunately there was a bell hop changing the towels who was able to talk me through the process as I was the only non-Japanese there. Essentially you get undressed and leave your clothes in a basket in the changing room. Then, butt naked, you go into the spa and sit on a little stool while washing yourself thoroughly. There is also a small bucket for sluicing yourself. You can wash your hair too at this point or just put it up. Then once you are very clean you get into the public bath which is very hot and completely clear. If you get too hot you can stand up and perch on the side to cool off, then you get back in. When in the water you sit still and it comes up to about your shoulders. Once suitably relaxed you get out, have another wash and then go back out into the changing area, pick up a towel, and get dressed. I know not everyone is comfy being naked in front of strangers, but having been a life model I've never had a problem with it and everyone is very respectful. Having said that the 10-ish year old girl who was there with her Mum had obviously never seen such pale flesh in the flesh and did gawp a bit until her Mum prodded her! No photos from this bit, obviously, but this is me afterwards - amazingly relaxed and full of love for the world. 

As you can see from all the outdoor photos, it had snowed - starting the previous afternoon shortly after we arrived. We had planned to do what we did on Saturday on Friday afternoon but with the snow coming down, visibility was awful. Regretfully moving a visit to the Lalique Museum to some future point, we moved the Friday agenda to Saturday and I am really glad we did. After the local train...

...came a funicular and then two cable cars.

And a first view of Mount Fuji!

It's such a Japanese icon and I'd wanted to see it for decades so it was rather awe inspiring when I finally did. Once at the top, which was really cold, there was lots more gawping at it.

Then another cable car down to where the boat across the lake began.

What was essentially a tour boat had been made to look so much better! Pooch spent most of his time out on the poop deck (pooch deck) imagining he was the Captain.

It was very beautiful.

We got back to Tokyo on Saturday in time for dinner and both felt like we'd been away much longer than one night. It was such a beautiful place. I am definitely going to be going back when the weather is warmer - as well as the Lalique Museum there are a number of art museums with impressionist and french art collections which I would love to take my time strolling through. Pooch also intends to climb Mount Fuji in the summer (crazy fool) and so we may be able to combine that and my visit with my birthday and another stay in the amazing hotel!