Harajuku Omotesando Genki Festival Super Yosakoi 2007

Upps, my controlls are all in Japanese now ... I have to see if I get this done.

Today was my first day off since I've arrived in Japan. After sleeping in (oh, that was sooooo nice) I got my camera and headed down to Tokyo. This is a six minute train ride to Kumagaya and then another 50min with the Express train (Shinkansen).
My first goal was Harajuku, which is known for teenagers hanging out at the weekends in the weirdes costumes (they call it cosplay), and I just wanted to shoot some (with the camera, what did you think?)

When I arrived in the sweltering heat (it's August, its Tokyo ... there's no other way), I was pretty surprised to see some sort of dance contest / performance going on. Groups of up to a 100 people doing a mix of traditional and modern dance and the only thing in commen I saw in all groups was that they seem to use some sort of rattle in there dances (some also used fans and lanterns, but there was allways the rattles). After a couple of those groups, I wandered off, only to find out that before they go up on the stage they have a form of dancing parade. Very, very cool.

At home I learnd that this was the Harajuku Omotesando Genki Festival Super Yosakoi 2007





Some of the teams were very good and I was also very impressed with everybody's stamina. It's no mean thing to dance for hours in a heat like at the moment and then go up on a stage and do an extra five minute skit.

After some shopping around (and not buying) I went to Shinjuku, which is famous for electronics stores. I've had my eyes on a zoom lens for my new camera. The lens I wanted was circa 25% less expensive than the cheapest I've seen in Germany (via internet) so I did buy.

On my way back I stopped at the Sushi restaurant. You sit on a type of bar and little plates with sushi will travel by on a conveyer belt. All you need to do is to pick a plate and take it down. Payment is decided by the colors of the plate you stack in front of you. Simple.


I think at one point I picked a $12 plate, but I can't even remember which it was, though I suspect that it was the little grilled fish, which still had the bones in ....

I didn't have that much time to work on the Blackwork Dragon, but I got some progress to show.

bbq

On Saturday was our annual BBQ in the Hundsrück.


As you can see, there was not much risk of us starving (actually, that one only one of the two bbq setup - the other one was for meat and chicken and such)
There was plenty of cake too and salats and bread and ....
And it was plenty of fun. We talked and stitched and talked and played and talked and (well, you get the drift)

Stitching: I've got back to the Medieval Tiles from Dracolair. Now that I've got he GAST Midnigh, I've got to finish the two squares that were only three/quarters done.



A prize goes to whoever figures out what mistake I've made (and will no fix :)) in the lower of the blue squares.
Only one of the big squares to be done and to finish the border.

For the Japan Trip, though I've left the tiles at home and started something else.



The beginning of the blackwork dragon by Dragon Dreams on a 28ct white linen and with DMC310. This is after 12 hours of flight - not bad I'd say (I stitched through three movies, but actually managed some sleep). Blackwork has a few things speaking for it, mostly that you don't need to carry many different colors and don't need to change every few stitches.
I've played a bit with blackwork before, but this is the first major project and I'm enjoying it so far - though, it's my second go on him. I've tried to do him with a veriagate thread before, but that didn't work out the way I wanted. I'm much happier with the simple black on white version.

I'm back in Japan for roughly three weeks. More about that next post.

Back to the Roots

Some instant - or at least quick - gratification.

Moon Dragon by DragonDreams on 28ct Cashel linen in the color Millenium (I do love that color)

It was a fast stitch, three evenings for the pattern and another for the backstitch.

Isn't he cute.

Stitching at home is once again hindered by the loan of the CameCube from a friend including Legends of Zelda: The Twilight Princess. I love how Link (aka the hero) has been animated. Cute fellow ;)

Yesterday I went and saw Transformes (second time for me, as I've seen it already in Kechikan). My friend has been/is a big Tranformers fan with quite a few stories to her credit, so I was really interested what she was thinking of the movie. She loved it, and we both agree that they better put out a score (not the 'songs inspired by the movie' which is the only thing available at the moment)

I've got another doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, so I took the day off. I need to do some shopping before flying off to Japan for three weeks next Sunday. In the US I know where to get things when I need them, Japan is a little bit more difficult.

to knit or not to knit

... that's the question.

Well, there's this:

My vacation sock. My own 'make it up as you go' pattern, toe up.

Then there's this:


Ankletts, another 'there's no real pattern' sock, again toe-up and with a short row heel.

And, there's this:

An attempt on a Faroese shawl using a pattern from the 'shawls and scarves' book I bought a while ago.

And, well, I'm not happy with either of those (well, maybe with the second sock, except for the fact that it's still a single sock, meaning, there's the need to knet a second one some day)

The vacation sock turned out, well, maybe a little much too green - as in 'I will never wear them' too green. And I like green. And I like the wool, but still ...

And the Faroese shawl - everything wrong with it. The pattern discription in the book sucks. Really. It's my first Faroese shawl and I'm totally lost. Okay, I admit to try working the shawl with the wrong gauge, but, heck, it's a shawl, there's no such thing as too small or too big, right? I don't like the pattern (what you can see of it, it's barely recognizable) and I'm still not sure if it should be a third repeat. The book doesn't say anything about how often to have to repeat it, but on the photo it looks like twice and that's what I did. Looks too narrow.
At the moment I'm tempted to rib the whole thing up, and start another shawl and use another needle size for the correct gauge (I've already knitted a test swat on a 6 mm and an 8 mm needle. One's seems to be too much, the other too little ... more frustration)

So, I think, I'm going to go back to my cross stitch :)
After all the missing threads for the 'Medieval Tiles' and for 'King Tut' have arrived.
And I've kitted up 'Moon Dragon' from Dragon Dreams.

Flowers of Alaska (and Mt Rainer)

Well, that's it. I'm back home from my vacation. Nine days of Alaska and seven days of Seattle / Mt Rainer NP. The weather was so-so - there have been good days (like the last two days in Seattle) and not so good days (like most other days when it rained or was foggy or simply overcast). Not the best way to get a tan ;)

I did read Harry Potter 7 within two days (it was raining, what else was there to do?) but I also did get out for some hiking. And while hiking I did a few photos of flowers (they do have the advantage that they don't run away when one gets close ... most animals are not so accommodating)

As I don't have anything to show stitching vice (I haven't stitch anything (at all) while on vacation) and only knitted one sock (which I'm not even sure I like and might frog again), here some of those flower pictures.

The quick tour of the flowers in South East Alaska and Mt Ranier National Park

Fuchsia at the B&B we were staying in in Craig (Prince of Wales Island):



Fireweed (all over the place)


Salmonberry (taste good too)


pretty flower (might be a Columbine flower)


another pretty flower


Indian Paintbrush

Some sort of bell flower (might be foxglove)


Maybe, next time, some land scapes - and then I should have something to show on the knitting or stitching front ...

vacation update - the wildlife

Well, vacation is well underway - I've spent the last week in Ketchikan, Alaska, with a friend. A nice, quite place to relax. We also went for three days to Prince of Wales Island (to only way to get there is to take a three hour ferry ride) and checked out the wildlife there:








As you can see, we got a bit :)

Tonight, I fly back to Seattle for one more week of sightseeing (and shopping - never forget the shopping)
I've picked my books store for tonight to pick up my copy of Harry Potter 7 - all I need is a nice, comfortable place to read it.

vacation

Yeah, as of today I'm on vacation for the next three weeks. I'll flying of tomorrow to Seattle and then on to Ketchikan (Alaska) to visit a friend. Then back to Seattle on the 20th, just in time to be in the cue in the book store for the 7th Harry Potter. Back home one week later (after some sight seeing and shopping)

I've made the labyrinth from last week into an ornament.


It's much more sparkly in reality.

I've also started a table cloth (can you call the piece of fabric 80 x 80 cm a table 'cloth'? ... hmm, I'm not sure) - it was a kit I've got at Aldi. Here one of the leaf groups.



I've bought the kit twice, with the idea in mind to use the second one for a pattern with owls I've got, but so far I didn't manage to get the printed lines for the leaves out. They are much, much paler now, but still quite visible. I guess, I'll end up dying the whole thing in blue.
Well, the kit was really cheap - if it doesn't work, it was still worth the try.

I'm off, but I might be able to blog from far, far away ;)

3.8 - 180 - 42.2

No, this is not my age (though one number is getting scaringly close ... more about that later), nor my weight (luckily!!!!).
Those numbers, in kilometer, is the distance one has to swim, cycle and run in order to call himself (or herself) an Ironman - and all that in one day.
Every year for the last six years, the Ironman European Championship takes place in Frankfurt, and the starting point is the Langener Waldsee - a very short distance away from were I live.
Now, I've been thinking to go there for the start for a a couple of years now, but there's a little problem: the Ironman in Frankfurt starts at 7:00 AM - basically, in the middle of the night!!!
This year I finally drug myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of 6:00 AM (consider, it's Sunday!!!) and got myself over to the lake and to the starting line. I didn't quite made it in time - traffic was a bit more than I expected.

Even though more than 2000 people swimming in the lake is an impressive sight, it doesn't photograph so well I did take some pictures and here's a small collection:

Nothing works like a bit of encouragement ...

Rainer, go wild, it's only 224 km to go ;)


That's the leading group - one of the guys had to give up after 140km on the bike, but the rest made it to the finishing line.

Changing area swimming to bicycle


And off they go - only 180 km on the bike and then, to cap the whole thing, a little Marathon.

I have to admit, I'm deeply in awe of those guys (and gals)

BTW, this year, Timo Bracht won in 8:09:15. The women took almost an hour longer, but, and that was really exiting, the race was decided on the the last 100m before the finishing line. The two ladies, Nicole Leder and Andrea Brede, did run the Marathon side by side, and in the end, Nicole Leder won by only five seconds!

If you are interested, here's some more information.

Cross-stitch: I did a little detour on my two big projects (the packaged from the US still hasn't arrived)

The pattern is called Christmas Labyrinth, but I changed the colors. I guess I'll make it into an ornament (eventually)

Ehr, and one final thing ... it's my birthday today. So I'm off to do a little bit relaxing before turning in (you know, I'm not getting any younger ....)

just a quick update

No photos this week - just didn't have anything new to take pictures of.

Medieval Tiles are making progress, though slowly.
No progress on King Tut (I packed him away a few weeks ago and haven taken him out since)
The package with the golden cord and the GAST threads for the two projects are on the way since last week. I hope it arrives before my vacation (it should ... normally it take 8 ~ 10 days for a package from the US). There's something in that package I need for a birthday present - the person in question had her birthday in May *sigh*. It would be nice to have everything together before I disappear on my vacation.

I did some booking for my Seattle / Alaska trip today. Hotel for one night in Seattle on the 10th (my flight to Ketchikan is on the 11st), rental car for a week in Seattle and such.

Yesterday I've had a Body Shop party at home - think Tupperware but with cosmetics. Was fun (we had foot bathes ...) and my friends bought a lot of stuff (and I got more rebates from this than I can - or want - to use)

Next weekend we'll help a friend to paint her old apartment as she's moving.

And, lo and behold, I'm still busy with Zelda - I guess I'm going to beat today, but only if I forego ironing .. well, I should have enough to wear in my wardrobe :)

Squared

Well, I still spend too much time with the Gamecube - it's just too much fun :). I'm almost through with the first game, but, alas, there are more ....
My stitching has suffered accordingly - King Tut didn't see any progress last weekend at all.

The Medieval Tiles on the other hand, got a little bit done, due to the fact that I can't take the Gamecube with me on my business trips. So an update on this one.


I'm still waiting for the GAST thread for the blue squares (the two empty squares closed to the center). Last Friday I've got the info that the package has been sent out, so there's hope (this package also includes the gold cord for King Tut)

Last Saturday (9th June) was offical Knitting in Public day. I didn't knit so much in public, but at least I did knit and there were other people around, so I guess it counts (I was visiting friends)
I'm working on the Lizard Ridge Blanket from Knitty's 2006 fall issue. So far, I've finished 3 squares.




The plan is to buy three or four skeins of a new color whenever I get some extra money (like overtime payment, bonus ...) and spread the cost for the project over a longer time. I've still got three skeins left, so there's no hurry at the moment. I need a total of 21 skeins (for 24 squares)

And, in case I'll get very bored and think I've got nothing to knit (and may I laugh out loud at that thought), I've bought a new book.


At first I was a bit awed by the patterns - wonderful stuff that would take forever to knit. But after a second (and third) look through I believe there're a few patterns I would dare to try after all.

Last Thursday, when I was driving back from Dresden I just got through a thunderstorm (one of the kind where you voluntarily slow down to 50kph) when the traffic suddenly grinded to a total halt. And didn't move for a good part of an hour (good thing I've got something to read with me). I could see that whatever happened, did happen not too far away, as I could see that there where no cars on the other side of the valley. The radio said there was a tree that blocked the road, so when it finally got moving again, I had my camera out and tried to take a pic of the accident side. Well, the tree picture wasn't something too exiting (they already cleaned up real good), but a short bit later, I saw a Golf escorted by two police cars (or one police, one fire department ... not that it really mattered) that was banged up pretty good.



I would hazard a guess and say this car was under the tree when it fell.
But, that that's what's pretty cool, it was still moving under it's own power. Good thing to know that that when my Golf should ever get under a tree, I have a good chance to get out of it alive.

Distractions

Sorry about the none-blogging of last week. I did borrow a Gamecube from a friend of mine, and now I spend far too much time with playing 'The Legend of Zelda - The Wind Waker '(and have loads of fun doing it too)

My stitching has suffer a little bit because of it (*gough, gough*), but at least I've still got a few pics to show from before the game hijacked me.

Latest update on King Tut
I've finshed that middle panel underneath his chin, which was all stitch with one strand of thread instead of two. I don't know why I hate to stitch single strand, but I do...
I'm still waiting for the gold cord - I've cancelled my first order, as I didn't hear anything from them for 3 weeks and they didn't reply on my first reminder, but it looks like the second order doesn't go that much better.

The two mini-kits I've did while I was in Japan:


As I've seen kiwis (admittingly only in the zoo) as well as penguins while I was in New Zealand this brought up some memories.


During my vacation I've had some visitors, so I did bake some cake (I love baking cake, but seldom have the opertunity)
The strawberry-rhubard cake before baking (I've left bit of the egg white cover off for the photo)

And after:


The original recipe is more for fall with grapes and apples, but I really like the taste of this (even though, after baking, the dough turned out to be a bit on the soggy side)

Roses are Red ... and White, and Yellow

This is going to be a very flower and picture heavy post.

About 3 miles from where I live is a smallish castle called Schloss Wolfsgarten. Normally you can't visit there, as it's private porperty, but on two weekends in May the gates are open and you can go in and visit the lovely park and look at the castle (though only from the outside). The family that owns the castle is related to the British queen and I've heard that she actually stayed in Wolfsgarten a couple of times while she was visiting Germany (though probably before I moved here).
The gartens are famous for the rhododendron that's growing there, though this year most of the blooming season is already over, and only a few bushes still had fresh blossoms.

Now, for some pictures:

The small lake in the park with the bridge (reminded me of pictures by VanGogh)


Somebody living in the lake



Nymphaea


Rhododendron



And, (for the title of this post for today) some roses





As you can see, I've given my new camera a bit of a workout and I'm really, really happy how the pictures turned out.


Update on the stitching front:

Medieval Tiles - I skipped one of the smaller squares as I've decided to use the recommended GAST Midnight thread after all. I've ordered it, now I have to wait for it to arrive.



As I've got the next week off - *yeah*- I've got back to King Tut. I hope to make quite some progress on him over the next couple of days (though, I've got loads of other stuff planed ...)

Home, Sweet Home

Got home from Japan pretty much okay, except that we had a delay of 2 1/2 hours. This time, I couldn't sleep on the plane and 11 1/2 hours can be pretty damn long when you can't do nothing but sit around and wait for the plane to get you to your destination. The plane was also somewhat fuller than on the flight to Japan, so I had less space (though, luckily, the plane was not completely full and the middle seat was still free)

So, here's the update on the pictures from last week.

Mariner's Light:

I think it turned out really pretty and I will frame it soon to have it go together with the other picture from the series. Though I probably will try and couch the long stitches in the background map down a bit more. In the stitching frame it looked okay, but now I can get them to lay straight.

For Japan I took along a set of small kits I've got over the years.

The top three I've got in New Zealand, the knot pattern I got last year in Scottland, and I think I've got the border collie in South England a while back.
I did finish the Kiwi bird and the penguin in Japan and started out on the border collie, but didn't get very far. I just did not have that much time while I was there.

And a quick peek at the new traveling project: Medieval Tiles from Dracolair



I finished the upper left square today and started on the next one. Loads of blended colors and many, many quarter stitches - a speciality I've seen in several Dracolair designs (this is the fourth pattern I'm stitching)

My DVD burner seemed to have died on me - I was in the middle of the process of burning a DVD when the program stopped and now the computer doesn't even know there's a second DVD drive on the computer. Can't open it either. Ah well, here's a chance of getting something newer and faster.

I also switched from the old Mozilla browser to SeaMonkey - with the Firefox Mozilla browser I couldn't blog anymore. Every time I tried to open my dashboard, the program crashed. No problem so far with the new program, though I need to find out how to import my bookmarks. I've tried, but obviously I'm making something wrong *shrug*
I'll work on this next week, when I have more time, and am not quite as befuddled by jetlag.

Please Order Hope of Cleaning

or: Big in Japan, part 2

The line I've used as the title comes from a little, laminated card that I found in my room today (actually, I probably has been here all week, but only tonight I've noticed it). The full text goes like:
"Please order hope of cleaning to the front desk between 2:00 p.m from 9:00 am"

(anybody any idea what this might mean ....?)

I just thought I let you in on some of the things I've notes here in Japan over the last couple of days.

First of, one thing I really like about Japan is that here I have the feeling that I'm actually tall. With a height of 5'4ish, I'm at the shorter end of the scale when I'm in Europe or the US. I usually don't mind too much, but here, here I enjoy it in a way that half the people on the train at shorter than I am :)

Speaking of trains - usually the trains in Japan are not quite as crowded that one seen on the tv. Yes, sure, at rush hour in Tokyo you might get a little bit closer to your neighbor than you'd like, but I for once have never seen any guys with white gloves pushing the crowd in so they can close that door.
And, normally, the trains are very punctual - I was quite shocked then I saw that the 21:50 train from Kumagaya was 20min late (at least that what I think is what happened - it was past 22:05 and there was a sign that the next train is the 21:50 and there was something, something 20 something written in Japanese. Which I don't read very well (hmm, who do I kid - I can identify maybe 2 to 3 symbols, and it's only because I know the second symbol in Kumagaya is that little house with the funny roof, that I know which train I have to pick)

Japanese people, on priciple, are pretty much living by the clock. The bus, leaving the station to go for the factory, leaves at 8:50. Not at 8:49 or at 8:51, and if you are there 10 seconds too late, you can bow all the way you want, the driver will not stop and let you in.
Or at lunch time: it's at 12:00, so you drop whatever you do and go to lunch - never mind that half the fab is also going and there are long lines to the food. Would you go 10, 15 minutes later, there's no line and everything would be much more relaxed, but, no, 12:00 is lunch time, and it's at 12:00 you're going to stand in line for your Ramen soup of whatever there is today with the rice.
BTW, the other half of the factory goes at 12:30 - perfect repeat of the first round.

Japanese food, by the way, I do love. It is not as expensive as one would think - though, of course, there are ways to spend loads of money, if you want. And normally it's also very good. Of course, if you don't like fish, it might get a bit more difficult to find something, but there is plenty of other stuff than Sushi and Sashimi. What I love is to order (or rather point at the pictures of the menue and holding up fingers on how many of whatever you want) loads of little stuff and then share around. Most stuff is brought at the same time (no matter if there's enought space on the table or not) and you just pick and choose what you like. Sometimes, you might get something you don't like (like Nato ... brrrr), but if you're lucky somebody else at the table is more than willing to take it.

There's a lot more stuff on Japan, like the three store parking garage next to the hotel I'm in, which is only for bicycles, or my pondering that only a man could have designed the school uniforms for girls - really, those mini skirts can't be healthy - but for today I think this is enough.

Ah, one more thing. I've finished the little Kiwi bird last night and started on the Penguin.

Sayonara

Big in Japan

Sorry about the picutre less, short blog.
I planed on an updated on Sunday, but for some reason I just couldn't log in. Every time I've tried the web browser died on me. Well, just a very short update
- I finished 'Mariner's Light' on Saturday (while watching the Eurovision Song Contest with friends). I still need to frame it though.
- I started on 'Medieval Tiles' by Dracolair (originally I planed on something else, but the fabric hasn't arrived yet)
- for the Japan trip I pulled out five small kits I've bought here and there (three in New Zealand and two in UK). I've started with 'Kiwi' from Rose Alma Designs (logically bought in NZ), but didn't get soooooo much done. Who would have thought that the plane to Japan was 2/3 empty and I actually could stretch out across three seats and get some sleep.
- My new camera has arrived *big, happy grin* and I couldn't be happier. It's a Nikon D40x, a sweet little D-SLR camera and I'm sure some pictures will make it to the this blog, eventually.

Sayonara from Japan

Elbdampfschiffflottenparade

We Germans have the funny habit of stringing nouns together to form long words. We really enjoy doing that - I remember it as a game when I was a kid.
The word above is an example of this - translated it would go like parade of the fleet of the steam schips of the (river) Elbe. Just, it's only one word (and it is allowed in German grammer rules as well) *grin*

Well, there was a parade of the fleet of the steam schips of the (river) Elbe on May 1st in Dresden. It's sort of like the opening of the season. The ships of the fleet all go up the river Elbe from Dresden to Pillnitz and back. On the ships they have music groups, normally playing Dixieland music. Getting on the ships is ney impossible - they are booked out long in advance, but you always can watch it from somewhere at the river. I choose a bridge that is known as the 'Blue Wonder' (one of the first steel construction bridges of this size built 1893) and had a lovely view.



To fit under the bridge, the steam ships (at least the bigger ones) needed to tilt their main chimney over, which I thought was funny.

As the weather was perfect and I had the day off anyway, I headed up river a bit more and went to see Koenigstein Fortress, a mountain top fortress near Dresden. As you can see there's a great view all around and the fortress itself was also quite interesting.




On the stitching front, I've worked some on Mariner's Light, so a progress picture on that.