Merry Christmas!

Well this is the best I could do for holiday pictures. Maybe I will get some better pictures when I visit the local base tomorrow. I am kind of hoping to see a real Christmas tree and multiple colored lights, not just white. Not complaining, Rudolph left something in my stocking since Santa was too busy. He might of had trouble reading the Japanese maps to get here, not to mention the lack of a chimney in this cement building.

Yep, another pair

Sorry it has been a while. Life has gotten boring again. hee hee.. Sometimes boring is a good thing because that means I can get some knitting done. I finished the Sockamania snowflake sock. Made with tweed black and gold fortissima yarn on size 2s and yikes! 68 stitches, which I gradually decreased after the pattern to 60 with the added toe variation. Let's see instead of blogging I ... read a whole book (The first non text book this year, it was about the mofia.) and I found a really cool Kung Fu game for the DS, and I am making travel plans for the holidays.

Here is a picture of my rock star friends hanging out in the expensive part of town. We tried to get the Sherpa to buy my Phillipine bodyguard and I coach bags. But none of us are that famous to even step in the store. *( We were on a mission to see a little live theater... for 5 hours! a couploe hours is fine but sitting in little theater seats is kind of uncomfortable when you are the size of Godzilla.
Well Until next time when I get some interesting knitting going or finished...

Ran to the hills

We took a little field trip to the hills, and on the way we had to pass through some beautiful autumn colors. The air was crisp and the colors were amazing.

As the air got crisper the leaves got fewer

...and fewer..
The clouds started to come in.

AND........
Oh, sorry about the scary ninja. Really this is what happened:

My body guard was forced to knit my socks outside in the snow! The picture does not show the snow falling very well. But many of my friends saw snow for the first time ever. Then we got back on the bus and saw

The beautiful Kegon Falls. Although, being an NW snob, my waterfalls are better in the NW. We got back on the bus... hee hee knitting time!!! Where I finished this,
Lorna's Laces Camouflage sock with the Mock Cable pattern from IW book My favorite socks. Check the errata before starting. but awesome socks!
Then I also returned to my computer to get the new Sockamania pattern which is looking like this:
That is about all for this week, as for the NW ... Rumor has it the water was up to my window sill, and within millimeters of flowing into my apartment. The maintenance guy saved the day and magically moved the River & Lake outside my window. Is that possible? I am very thankful. Hope every one survived the storm without much harm. Until the next pair of socks.

Snow for you and still leaves for me

Rumor keeps coming over the internet that I sent a typhoon over filled with snow. I need to set the records straight, I had noting to do with the typhoon. I did not even meet it, I have had blue sky almost everyday all week. There may have been a cloudy day Wendesday. This weather is perfect for watching the leaves fall. (Don't be mistaken, winter is just around the corner and snow could fall within the month.) So with the leaves theme, I found a beautiful Maple tree to let my camo socks photo in, but it is hard to see the socks. DAH, they are camoflouge, what was I thinking? First here is the beautiful tree:http:
Now here are the Camo socks resting.
I used the Mock Cable pattern from My Favorite socks book. After I was 4 rounds in I noticed something not working in the pattern. Since I don't have my book here in my hands, I went to Ravelry were someone noted the errata web page. I was able to get this sock whipped out soon after the correction. Lorna's laces has awesome yarn and there was no trouble with pooling. the colors are amazing, not to mention the soft yarn. ... well, I am not wasting anymore time here I should be finishing this pair!

Oh I am waiting for the sockamania sock pattern but it is jammed in internet space. :( not sure what the next pair will be then... since I will finish these socks tomorrow. Pictures on Wednesday

A second encounter

Today’s scare was an attack by ninja’s. Look how scared my Philippine body guard is….
We were just at the mall sipping Tully’s Tiramisu Lattes… How innocent was that?

Then I wondered to this fabulous hotel for a concert, in the hotel there was a conference for monks, a couple of wedding ceremonies and various other meetings.… While I was waiting for my concert I took a picture of my multidiagonal scarf in the garden. I am not sure if you can see the fake ivy painted on the fence. It was funny and kind of cool.
I wanted to get a picture of my scarf keeping a penguin warm BUT… it was kind of fenced off. 

Finally here is my Sockomania Ripple Clown socks, not sure f you can note hope perfectly matched they are… wow… I did not think I could match so well with a patterned sock. While I await the next pattern… any ideas on a quick n easy patterned sock???

oh and lastly, I had to take a picture of this one... Has Charlie Nagatani been an honorary citizen in your state??? Does anyone know this guy?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Mine is on Friday. Well, I already had it... today. I went to the cheesy waterfront area with the Statute of Liberty replica. No, I am not kidding. There I ate a Hawaiian Hamburger - well it IS American flavored and the restaurant broadcasts radio from Honolulu, HI. Good burger, fries &　American size Med drink for $10. Well maybe now it is more expensive as the dollar weakens.

well... not a lot going on here. The temperature suddenly dropped on Thursday and I walked home from the station in the 32 degree temperature and strong winds. Oh it was chilly. I was just wearing a light sweater and light jersey-like jacket. Wish I had my down jacket and scarf. Well finished the scarf for tonight`s walk from the station.

Fortunately, I did not run into this guy on the way home. Can you see Godzilla?

Chat with you later!

Hope you don`t scare easily

Here is a pair of socks I knit last month, and just this weekend got the finishing touches threaded in. Can you see my special glow in the dark scary ghosts? (There are 6 in total 3 you might see.) I can*t wait to wears these around to scare people. Or will I only be scarying myself when I wake in the dark?

Next I show my Irish Hiking Cable scarf in chestnut color. I thought I would get to wear it to the soccer game this afternoon, and then the sun came out and I could not wear all my new knits. I am sure there will be many chances in the near future. Apparently the winter winds are here. Does this make sense?? well it is cold out and I may have to turn my heater on with in the week? But I will hold out a little longer and enjoy the chill.
I have been working on my fall socks... which I guess are too late according to the weather man. but the leaves have not fallen yet... maybe they will be ok...


These socks have two letters in them one is the 月moon and one is 秋Autumn。Autumn is suppose to be the best time of year to enjoy moon viewing and relaxing in the cool evenings. Hopefully you were able to enjoy a few moon views.

Here you will see my next project as the cold winds role in. This is of course the multidirectional diagonal scarf with the remenants of my glow strands delicately placed into the noro. ;) should be fun to wear!
Of course there is the sockamania sock I have one done and it is reminding me of clowns... you will see it later. Busy week ahead. I am wondering if my SNB group is meeting this Tuesday. 2 weeks ago No one showed so I came home... after a round of sushi with a friend!

Adventuresand a small shake

Sorry to have vanished for a week or so.. my current connection is shady at times. As I share with... uhm.. about a hundred people and whoever has the coolest computer gets the weak signal. Which means those of us with cool knitting supplies and a not so cool computer have to wait until the signal is stronger or the majority go to sleep.

Last weekend the weather was beautiful. So I took my socks out for a bit of an knitting adventure. The park seemed like a good idea ... until my yarn got so excited and jumped out of my bag into the waterfalls. :( I can't say it was the cleanest water but we did the photo in the sun and then headed home. So keep an eye on that yarn, the little fibers might walk away if you don't give it enough attention.
It was a pretty uneventful week after the yarn jumped in the water. I started the new sockmania ripple socks and should have one done by this weekend. It is a fun pattern but the sock reminds me of a clown... hmm.. you'll see.
My Thai model is debuting my completed Holly's socks from #144 trekking color. I think this is pair number 34 for the year.

The weather here is get chilly in the evening So I finished the Irish scarf and cleared the needles to start a multi diagonal one with glow in the dark strands.. Can't wait to wrap up! I will show pictures soon....??

Last night the weather was stormy, thunder and lightening and heavy rains. Kind of made for a mellow weekend knitting at home. I did venture out to the cafe, but pictures were marginal. We also had a nice earthquake of 3 magnitude. The glass of water on the table was moving pretty good, no worries I did not drop a stitch. :)

Another happy Pumpkin

Looks like the hat make it in time to scare off the ghosts and gobblins.

saga of a hat

I did not realize that Halloween was just around the corner. So I ran to the dollar store and bought the cheap size 9 dbpt needles and some BRIGHT cheery orange yarn to quickly pound out a pumpkin hat for my little friend on another island. I hope she likes it.... or better yet, I hope it makes it to her house by Halloween. And it might be a problem....

You see I got the brillant idea to make the hat at about 830pm Friday night, and I stayed up late knitting. Saturday I woke up wrote a letter and addressed the envelope, I knew it was raining... So I grabbed my umbrella and put on my NW rain parka (Green of course) to wonder out to the post office I thought would be open Saturday morning. NOPE! After asking around I could not get anyone to fess up the location of a post office open on Saturday morning. It must be a national secret. I will get to the bottom to this in time. Anyway, As I am walking home the rain is stronger and the wind even more! ... and of course the postmen were cruising past splashing water on me. it was like an line of ants marching... but I could not figure out where they were going or coming from. Thought about jumping infront of them to make them tell but opted to teh safer side and kept heading home. At this point the package no longer mattered, I was soaked my umbrella was almost broken by the huge winds, I could not find a dry spot for the cell phone.. and my package was pretty wet... :( And you wonder why it was raining so hard?? oh, there was a typhoon passing through. I think the weather man forgot to mention that in his weather forecasts earlier in the week. ARGH!

But typhoons are fun to watch from inside and I can't wait for the blue sky to follow. I will see blue sky, right?

Took the socks for a walk

The weekend was super busy and I never had time to recover before the work week to update the blog.

Saturday I met Game-Girl and we resisted the game center in place of a nice walk. :) We did the Race for a Cure. The course was cool because it went around the Emperor's palace. Did I mention the weather was fabulous? High 70s with a gentle breeze. Perfect for a 5K walk. Then after the walk... we decided to take the socks to the park to watch the Herons, Koi, turtles and ducks. (Click on pictures to get a better view of the wildlife.)

Of course, Game girl and I had to go to an electronics shop and look at games, Nintendo DS, also tried out the relaxation chairs and current trendy sports equipment. Then window shopping in the expensive shopping district for cake and coffee. YUM! chocolate cake. After not being able to buy any of the $4000 hand bags, we went to the book store where I purchased a pattern book to attempt my personally designed autumn socks. Can you wait?? Do you think they will really be unique? Hope I can figure out the pattern I want.

Almost forgot to show you a picture of a sweater I am saving money for... I don't want to own up to the quality.


How much so you think I need to save for this creatively miss sewn sweater? $450 Yep, in sock terms that is slightly less than 30 pairs of socks.

Today since I seem to be catching a cold, my socks took me to the park to view a natural Rose-sock bush. Amazing!!
Seriously, there were roses in all colors. I was looking for the rare Blue colored rose famous in this area. Roses in October???
Then my almost complete socks did a bit of a photo session, enjoy:


NO sock in this one:
While some people offer their toys to the gods, uhm... I kind of have second thoughts about offering my hand knit socks.
Then we came home and my socks quickly went to sleep on the bed. :( I thought I was the sick one.

I used Fortissima tweed yarn, and of course the Sockmania October Elegance pattern. Hope all is well and my socks are staying busy enough for you.

Culture day!

Yet again... I am up to my usual doings. I finished a sock for the Sockmania group pattern Elegance. It is hard to see in the following picture, but I will try to post a better one this weekend. (Maybe I will have a pair of socks to show.)
My beautiful model is not only wearing my favorite color, but she is also from Argentina. Thanks Ms. Argentina!
The following is a picture of me wearing a similar outfit. Not sure you can see how small the shoes are... ouch! They were about half the size of my size 11 feet. Our style of outfits would typically be wore to weddings and special occasions.
Also, I went into Town to find the knitting Cafe Saturday. Even with all the wacky blocks and funky addresses here, I found the cafe but the doors were locked. I found out later after reading the webpage a little closer with at the crazy symbols that you must make reservations. :( Fortunately to make up for the closed cafe... last night was the SNB group in town. They are always a good group to bounce ideas off and try to gain more knitting energy, although many of them are crocheting. I am not yet used to the smokey atmosphere with the meet up spot being in a bar. hmm.... will I adjust?

Really I must move on to other things. Or to finish a second sock?? hmmm...

quick question?

I am getting feed back that you want to see more pictures or my socks on tour. The problem is i can't knit that many socks so fast these days because I am pretty busy. Do you want to see one sock on tours, should I attempt to knit a socker ball or just buy one at the nearest dollar store??

Like a river

It seems it is time for another weekend. No one can complain about that, right :)

Life is like a river, once in it you have no choice but to follow it...somewhere. It has now been a month since I started working on this project with the new colleagues. I think I am really lucky there is good group harmony. There is so much to learn in my new position, I frequently feel overwhelmed and wonder why I chose to escape my previous office burn out. In fact last week there were days when I wished I was there in the frustrating environment. BUT Change always makes one stronger and better in the long run.
Some how it seems that I have picked up the role of the go-to-girl, I seemed to have given everyone the impression I know what is going on at all time of the day. Reality, I am just as confused as they are, but I might have a sharp ear, then take the time to read the documents and ask questions. Since we were all new a month ago, we were given the chance to pile in a bus and go tour together. Yippy, bus time equals.... knitting time!

So here is what I was hoping to do after 2 hours of cable knitting:
But this is what we actually ended up doing. I think is was still very cool. oh, take a look at the weather. A little too warm to work on the Mohair at this point, mid 70s.
Well, as I was saying the weather was nice until.... the wind picked up and we got slightly stuck in the river. So we put the Kenyian amd Nepali guy to work to pole us back to shore. BUT in the end the guides came out to save us. We just got a little longer boat ride. :)
Do you want to see the latest knitting or what we had for lunch? Always nice when the company buys lunch.
Enough pictures of me outside playing in the sun shine, it is time to show a complete sock I finished on the crowded train last night. It is Trekking with the Holly's sock pattern from Sock bug. Two people volunteers to be my model. You be the judge as to who is cuter?

In the one picture we have Ms. Brazil, and then in the other picture is weird cute character of the week.I have no idea what it was. A cute pink bear with vicious claws? thank goodness I got the sock back from him.

Started another new pair of socks, this one with cables and did I mention I now have 2 single socks floating around my room. oh well... here is a close-up on one of them.

Tomorrow I am going to try and meet-up with a new knitting group. Hopefully I will have lots to tell you then.

Lastly, I leave you with my Thai model posing with a frog. I also want to thank those who left a message on my blog last week. It was nice to know that I am not taking note of my life alone and that there are people out there reading my blog.