Another post this week and it is only Tuesday? Could it be that I have much more pressing things to do that I am trying desperately to avoid?

This is a jumper I finished around hanami 2006 (retro!).

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It has been a long time since I have had a good thorough procrastination, but now, being back at school and with deadlines pursuing me from every side, I finally have a chance, and knitting just makes the procrastination soooo easy. There is a FO in the house, which I have been wearing constantly and which shall be debuted once I can get some photos of it in action, in beautiful Avril Tweed, and the minute it was off the sticks I cast on for another Avril Tweed and cables combo.

This yarn is so special, I really wanted to make something that deserved to be knit out of it, but I also wanted to design something myself, so this will no doubt end up being ill fitting and mismatched, but that is the beauty of knitting I suppose, if you make something crappy you can rip it all out and start again.

*Also, I have updated my About page with a photo that better illustrates my geographical location.

I was unpacking (yes still!) a box the other day when this popped out at me.

The very first thing I knit after picking up knitting 6 long years ago.

(edited to remove gratuitous sentimentality)

Well, we are back.

Tokyo has already shrunk in my memory, kind of like an odd dream you have that you can only remember glimpses of. It is really nice to be home sometimes, but at other times, It is really hard. I don’t think I fully imagined how hard the reverse culture shock would be, it is all very confusing. There are the cuter parts of it that I anticipated, like listening in to other people’s conversations, and walking into a shop and knowing they will stock pants that I can pull up further than my knees, but other parts of it certainly are not cute or anticipated. The price hikes, the unsettling blend of familiarity and change, even the easiness of everything is oddly frustrating. Luckily, I love the house, and I love the town and I love my country.

The summer has been hot hot hot, and my sweaty fingers are drawn more to beer than knitting, but I do have a simple hoodie vest in luscious Avril Tweed on the go, the knitting for Agnes is done (though the news is not great, i think the fit is odd, whaddya know, it looks better on the flat chested model than the bountifully chested moi), and am knitting up a super cute, all-pink, hyper-femme Cisco for a gorgeous girl. Here is a scarf finished in Tokyo, it is far too long, but I love the colour, and I love the lacy crochet.

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Not a very fruity summer though. Have been to busy to sit down at home and knit or sew or otherwise craft. But there is one lonely finished thing

Behold, the (not so) Minisweater!

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How many bags does it take to transport one piece of paper?

It was cute paper but still! Roll that shit up with a rubber band!

Here is the paper all wrapped up with my mum’s birthday present inside

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finished the elephant flesh top, and not so elephanty.

It’s a Rowan, Cannes from Beach Style. There is kinda nothing else in that book I wanted, but I really wanted this. May even make it in different colour. I like this a lot. despite the mid-knit it’s horrible and makes me look horrible too wobbles, it was an enjoyable and very fast knit.

please excuse my volcano wind-whipped face. matches the top though.

this is the first thing I made jess, and the only thing he hasn’t lost.

I had been having a fairly sucky, doubtful, what the fuck am I doing with my life kind of time and decided to chuck everything in and spend some quality time on the dole. I can’t remember just where I got the idea, but knew that Jess liked that strong, graphic Russian look, so I printed this Rodchenko picture off the internet and set to work.

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So, knitting has been kicking my arse lately. Have been working on the bitch, but took a brief respite with this excitingly hued summer top

But which is huuuuuuge. Hangs like psychedelic elephant skin on me.

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I have been really digging this blog of late.

The things she makes are astonishingly creative, and she writes, in Japanese AND English no less, so very sweetly. I particularly like the way she unwittingly called out a knit mag she did work for on one of those lame puns magazine editors seem to be so fond of.

This in particular blows my mind. Apparently they just sent her a t-shirt and she just went about her business. Simple and ingenious.

In other crafty news. I have picked up my Moby Dick again. Not this dick Moby. This one.

I bought the yarn for this three years ago, full of piss and vinegar, and having never tackled a fancy “pattern” before. I didn’t really grasp that i would have to knit the whole bloody thing on size one needles, then go through and do a french knot on each little pearl bump. I slaved my way through the back and one sleeve, but it has since lain alone and cold in a zip-lock bag at the bottom of my incomplete project box. I almost finished another sleeve this week when I realised that I had used the wrong sized needles. So. Frustrating. I felt like gouging my eyes out with those stupid little needles.