Monday, March 28, 2011

knitting up a storm!

I have been knitting up a storm since a little bit before Christmas, 
although I had not been posting about it(which I probably should, but too lazy).
one of my this year's new years reslutions was to knit my first big project, a sweater.
so, I had started my first sweater project in mid Feb and finished it a couple weeks ago while I was down in Ashland visiting friends.
which means, it took me a whole month to finish a big project.  
that isn't that bad for my first sweater project I think!

I used a free pattern I found on Ravelry, and used this superwash yarn in teal.
knitted a swatch first, I started knitting the actual pattern.
after knitting almost the whole back piece, realized it was too big, 
and unraveled it and went down one size in the needle.
 put all the pieces together using youtube clips as a reference on how to sew them together.
and taddaaa!  here it is!!  my very first sweater!!!
 my friend, Tiffany whom we were visiting when i was finishing up the sweater, kindly offered me to choose buttons from her huge button collection.
and I picked these pretty grayish shell buttons.  
it turned out being still TOO BIG for me... :(
so I decided to give it to my mother who used to knit for me when I was little.
My mother is a health nurse, living in Japan, 
and she recently told me that she would be sent to the earthquake/tsunami affected area to provide medical/health care and emotional support.
so, I am hoping she would bring this and it will protect her from whatever happening where she is sent to...


also here is another project I finished today for my little girl.
 pattern is also a free one from lion brand yarn.  
and I used the same yarn as the sweater above since I thought it was a pretty color for her.
finished up with the fabric covered buttons I made previously.
I knitted a T3 size so that she could wear it next winter.
however it turned out so HUGE on her and looks like it is for 5yr old...
ugh.  I guess there is so much to learn about gauging and sizing!!


I have another "small" project I wand finish before the warm weather hits here.
it may not be too long for the spring to come say hello, so I will see :)


p.s.  oh!  if you have a ravelry account, please let me know!
my username is Lunatepetal.  add me as a friend, I'd love to check your projects out :)


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

earthquake in Japan

as the most, if not all, of us know the huge earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, my home county, almost a week ago.
fortunately, most of my family lives down south in Kyushu, so there was a minimum impact.
my sister had been back in Tokyo from a year stay in London a few days before the earthquake,
and I have a couple of uncles and their families near Tokyo.
they are all fine and safe.

although all of my family members are fine,
it is still devastating and heart wrecking to hear and see what's happening there right now...
the overwhelming sadness and grief... 

but there is still a hope.
people are not giving up.
I heard miraculous stories,
a woman giving a birth in the midst of the chaos,
a four month old girl found alive after three days in the rubble,
even the people who are in the roughest condition are caring for others.

I can't do much as a individual to help them out except making a small amount of donation, 
considering what the actual damage is... 
and I am sending my healing prayer to the people and land of Japan.
if you haven't made any donation, please help, even small amounts count.
you  can also do so from may sites, like paypal

also I have decided to donate 20% of all the sales from my Etsy shop to Jaoanese Red Cross,
starting today for a whole year untill March 11, 2012.
hoping this also encourage people to lead small changes to a big cause.





Thursday, March 10, 2011

seven things about me...


received Stylish Blogger Award from Cecili of Sewing and so on.
upon the acceptance of the award, I am supposed to share SEVEN things about me with you here.
hm, kida hard to come up with seven facts...
let me see...

I used to wear baggy clothes.  casual street style, I guess...
now most of those clothes are happily inherited to my husband :)

I am a couscous omnivore, and eat mainly organic.
all the food we consume is sacred whether they have a face and feet or not.  
I am grateful and thankful for all the life-force that keeps us sustain.

I used to study to be a occupational therapist.  
but decided that carrier wasn't for me, and dropped out of school.
I still have textbooks from anatomy/physiology class -I though it was the best class ever! geeky.

I am very closed to my dad's side grandparents.
because we lived so close by, they are like my second parents.

my parents are somewhat conservative, and my mom didn't approve of piercing. 
but I got them done anyway, first time when I was nineteen. 
now I have three, one on each ear and nose.  nothing extreme. at all.  
I think my younger sis has six, and she wants to get a tattoo.(good luck sis!)

I have naturally lighter hair for Japanese. 
my middle/high school teachers thought it was dyed and gave me a couple warnings.  so silly!  
most of the Japanese schools has lots of rules regarding length of hair, length of uniform skirt/pants, etc...  
and no makeup rule of course.  
so conservative and surplussed!

my biggest bug enemy is cockroaches!  
they usually come flying by whenever I encounter.  oh, they KNOW!!  
I am so happy that (so far) I have never seen them over here in North America.  
I guess their preferred inhabitant is humid and warmer(tropical) climate...?


well, it was fun getting to re-know myself.
now I am suppose to pass it down to seven bloggers.
hm it's even harder to pick so few out of many!!
cheated little, and I listed eight, instead of seven...haha
no pressure, but hope to read more about you ladies!!


my mother in law sent my husband these old pictures.
most of the pictures from his childhood burned in a fire.
and these are a few of remaining... so precious.


Thursday, March 3, 2011

chelsea vol.1

this afternoon, I received a package from Japan.
 it was from satomi!!
I had been super stoked about it ever since we made a deal.
(well, it was more like an offer from her :) sweet person!)



I throughly enjoyed reading/looking through Chelsea vol.1, the little paper she made about her trip to Prague.
great pictures and writing, which made me feel like I was on this trip withe her.
I especially wish I was really there to eat all those tasty looking yumminess!!
I am a food lover :)
and look at all the souvenir goodies came along with the paper!
I don't think I could use the baby deer tissue, too cute to waste... awe.
hahaha 



thank you, satomi :)!!!
hope you'll get my package soon.