Something to see

Sorry, for the short post from last week. But, honestly, there was nothing to show.

Today, though, things are different.

Exhibit A:


I've finished Dracolair's Medieval Tiles *big grin*

The picture doesn't really do it justice. For once you don't really see all the metalic gold that's in there. Very nice and shiny. I've made a mistake in the backstitches and did all the outside backstitch in Kreinik 002J instead of a DMC color. But I have to say, I really like it this way, so no harm done.
As this was my big travel project, I have to decide what to do next. So far, there's no strong cantidate, but I'm sure if I ever find the time to go through my stash I might get an idea (or five)

In the mean time, I've gone back to do some knittings. Scarves are so far all I wanted to do, but knowing me, there might be a pair of sock coming soon.

Exhibit B:


Doesn't look too scarfy ;)

So, try this for size:


I've bought the wool originally for a Faroese shawl, but it just didn't work out the way I liked. So the big evil frog of backward knitting visited me and I ripped averything up.
The scarf was knitted sideways, just a very plain garter stitch, until I just couldn't stand the boredom and had to bind off.
It's nice and warm and soft, though.

Never stopping at just doing one, I've started another sideways knitted scarf. The pattern is from the latest issue of Knitty and it's called Henry.

So far I've did 35 rows with 452 stitches.


Knitted in a dark blue wool / silk / cashmere mix from Lana Grossa. Super soft to the touch. I've already pretty much reached the end of the first ball. The edge doesn't look to great at the moment, but there's trick to it, so in the end it will be all nice and pretty.
Only 'negative' thing is that the wool is not 100% color fast. I've got blue fingers after only a short few rows. I don't really remember this happening, except with hand painted wool (where I sort of expect something like this happening.

So, on to the last WiP pic for today (and possibly the first Happy Donce of next week, as I think I'll be done by then)

Michael Powell's Village IV:


All the stitching is done, only (*gough, gough*) thing to do is the back stitching. For once I'm almost looking forward to it, as I know how cool it will look once the bs is there.

Nothing to see

Move on, move on, there's nothing to see.

Sorry, no pictures this week. Nothing to show really. I had some hopes to finish Medieval Tiles this weekend, but then I had a knit attack, so I didn't stitch at all. And the knitting isn't finished either.

I promise, there will be something next week. Scout's honour.

Blackwork Dragon HD

Happy dancing here. My Blackwork Dragon (by Dragon Dreams) was finished Friday evening.
That makes it a little less than four weeks for it. During that time I only worked on her and on the Mini Cottages IV.


The crest and eye was done in Kreinik Antique Gold cord 205C

This was my first larger piece in blackwork (I sort of doodled a bit before) and I enjoyed doing it. - definitely an option when I'll go in another long distance flight.

I'm now back on Medieval Tiles and making good progress.

Exit from Tokyo

Home, sweet home!

Got back about 24hrs ago. So far, jet lag hasn't exactly hit me - there's always hope it doesn't, especially when I go West. Going East is much tougher - I had a nap attack (as in, I can't possibly keep my eyes open for another second) in the afternoon for the first two weeks I've been in Japan.

The customer was ... difficult, but all in all it went pretty well. Last night we went back to Tokyo and went for Shabu-Shabu, a kind of fondue with beef and vegatables.


Very yummy.

Afterwards was a first for me - we went to a hostess club (link to Wikipedia is provided here). Aimed clearly not at female business travellers (well, this one was), you go there and lovely young ladies are there to entertain you, dance with you. Nothing sexual - my hostess told me that they have bouncers that take care of customers who get too far (though what is too far is decided by the lady)

Next morning I had to go up early (ugh) but at least I had a nice view out of the window.


The tower is Tokyo Tower.
Hard to believe that it is actually taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

I didn't stitch any on the 11 hours flight back, but back home, I've found some metalic thread I tried on the crest of the black work dragon. It's Kreinek 205C, the darkest gold I could find.

I think it works okay.

I've got some requests from the Needle and Threads BB to show my Green Dragon Bookmark. The original design is in red ('Red Dragon Bookmark' by Dracolair), but I had this greenish bit of fabric, so I decided to try a green variation.


I used following colors: 163, 500, 501, 561, 890, 3815, 3816 and 3817
Most in some form of mix, some alone.

How to survive in Japan

Second week in Japan is almost over - one more week to go (of course, the customer will be here Thursday / Friday, so this week will be tough)

One thing about Japan: if you don't like rice, you'll get hungry :)
(liking fish is also a good idea, but not required - there's plenty of chicken around)

Exibit A - hotel breakfast


From upper right in clockwise order: a raw egg, some little dried fish, Miso soup, some nori leaves, rice (lots of it), fried fish and some pickled veggies. Oh, and at 12 o'clock, a little bit of Natto (check it out at Wikipedia), which is probably the most veil thing, suposingly edible on the planet - the smell alone is gagging (some people do like it, but I, for once, didn't go by my old rule that I try everything at least once)

And, yeah, it's pretty much the same every morning. I lasted for about a week, then I switched to some fruit and jogurth in the morning.

Well, you can't accuse the Japanese that they don't like to experiment.
Ever heard of potato chip ice cream? And why is it blue?


(and, no, I didn't try any)

Oh, I do love my new lens. I gave it a bit of a work out today and I'm as happy as can be. Need to buy a larger camera bag though. I'm not looking forward to lugging two bags with me all the time. So I need something bigger, where I can put stuff other than then camera + lens in.


A self portrait for a change, while waiting for the cable train.

Cross stitch front: I've put the blackwork dragon aside for now (save it for the flight back) and started with Michael Powell's Mini Cottages IV (I did skip III as I don't like that too much, but have done I and II)
Can't wait for the wonder of the backstitch on this one - it's amazing on all the Michael Powell pieces. Brought a wronge color of yellow for the left roof - so will only be able to finish it when I'm back home.



I've started a Life Journal - blame the Transformer movie for it. And I got back to writing fanfic. Finished two (very short) stories so far, but posted only one (waiting for the beta on the other)
Here's the first one (Judy Witwicky and Bumblebee): The Unfairness of It All

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)