in memoriam

I wanted to share some very sad news with our blogging community. Rob's father Olaf passed away last week at the age of 73. It's been a very emotional time for our entire family. The funeral service was on Saturday, and Rob's brother-in-law Glen gave a very touching eulogy. One of the things he said that has really resonated with me is that Olaf always made clear how much he loved his family. There was never any doubt how proud he was of his 4 children and 7 grandchildren, and he talked about them to whoever would listen.

Even though I find it difficult to blog about personal events, I wanted this to go out into the blogosphere. I think part of me feels like it will keep someone's memory alive even after we're gone. I hope everyone reading will take a minute to be like Olaf and let their loved ones know how much they mean to them. :)

Run marirob, run!

This past weekend Rob and I, along with my sister Mina, participated in a 5k/10k run. If you remember this entry, we've been trying to run since January. We took the month of February off (something about moving?) but Mina suggested signing up for a run to motivate us.

Mina and me right before the race.


Mina and Rob ran the 10k, I ran the 5k so I was able to take photos of them at the startline.


And here we are after the race with our medals!


My goal was just to run the entire 5k, which I did. Yay! Rob's goal was the same, and he ran the whole way too! Yippee! Rob's planning to run a half-marathon in October, so he'll be training quite a bit. Me? I'm happy with my 5k!

On a crafty note, I managed to buy some knit fabric to start some serging - hopefully, it'll be fun!

Hand sewing IS fun!

A few months back, wee wonderfuls released her "Hand Sewing For Fun" patterns. Of course I bought them right away and I actually made all of the animals immediately - and it was tons of fun! I brought them to work to show off, and I left them there for a long time. I finally brought them home and it's like seeing some old friends!


I made them out of the Mary Flanagan wool packs we have at work, and stuffed them with cotton, which made them nice and firm.

Rob's favorite is the turtle...


... and mine is the butterfly (complete with Liberty fabric, ooh-la-la!)


Bear Knits asked in my last post what brand of serger I have. It's a Janome My Lock 634D, which so far seems great... but I will keep reporting on it. Especially since I got a book that will hopefully help me make a ton of knitwear.

SO exciting! I can't wait to get started!

Serging mania!

Thank you for all of the comments about our big boy Unki! Every time someone comes over they ask, "Has Unki gotten bigger?" We don't overfeed him... in fact, he doesn't eat that much. He's just big from love!

I finally managed to use my Christmas present for the first time... and all I can think is: "What took me so long?"



After fiddling with the thread for a little bit (the serger came pre-threaded) my new serger works like a charm! I used it to help finish a couple of new spring pieces.


This is a pattern from linnet that I bought when I was in Japan. It's a very simple tunic top that I think goes well with the fabric, which I bought from purl way before I started working there. It took about 2 yards of fabric, and was pretty straightforward. I serged the sleeves and the raw ends of the sleeve caps... maybe not the neatest looking project but Rob says it's his favorite of my home-sewn projects.

I also made this wrap skirt, after seeing my boss Jen's great version.

This is a Indygo Junction pattern called "It's a Wrap!". It takes three yards of fabric and is one size fits all. I made a couple of mods, including making the waistband thicker (I cut a 4 inch piece instead of 2.5 inches) and making a hole for the tie to come through. I really like it - it only took me a couple of hours from beginning to end.

Yesterday we took a day off (it was our 4 year anniversary) and had lunch at this restaurant called Clementine. They have a great promotion for National Grilled Cheese Month, where they have little menus that look like voter ballots and each week in April they have 5 different grilled cheese sandwiches.

We had the Philly cheesesteak and the Gruyere with Creamed Spinach and Bacon on country wheat bread - so so so tasty! I wish every month was Grilled Cheese month!

Knitting resumed!

My wrists have sufficiently healed to let me sew and knit again! Yay! The craft room is still a mess, so I've only sewn some napkins for a friend, but I managed to finished some socks I started a couple of months ago.

Yarn - Sock Hop yarn in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Pattern - my own, generic 56 stitch cast on sock

I've been coveting this yarn ever since I saw it on January One. I might be a little late to the game, but these are the squishiest, funnest socks I've made. I love the fact that the striping changes almost every row.


I've also finished a sweater that had been languishing a while, just need Rob to take some photos... I'm trying to finish up some UFO's before I get started on anything new... and do I have a ton of UFO's! So embarrassing. So to completely change the subject, let's talk about the cats!

They've really enjoyed the new place, even if Unki keeps crashing into the walls because of the hardwood floors. They love to sit in the windows and enjoy the fresh spring breezes.


Speaking of spring, there are mystery flowers everywhere I look! Is this an iris?


To round out the randomness of this post, I wanted to share how big Unki has gotten over the past three years.

This is when we first got him. So cute! So small!

And this was last week.

No wonder my wrists hurt!

spring is springing!

Can you believe that it's spring? I really feel that it just snuck up on me. But, the flowers are blooming, trees are leafing, and blossoms are blossoming...


... and wonderful fruits and veggies are at the farmer's markets! One of my favorite things about living in Los Angeles is the abundance of local fruit and veggies we get year round. Today I went to the wednesday Santa Monica farmer's market (my favorite!) where I saw Tom Colicchio (I recognized his voice before I saw him) and I bought a few seasonal tasties.


The juiciest mandarins ever!


English peas, which everyone was buying. I've never bought peas, but these are so delicious raw I couldn't believe it. I decided to try to buy one new thing at the farmer's market each week.


Gaviota strawberries... which are so beyond your standard strawberries I can't even describe the taste... yummy!


And a big artichoke... make that a HUGE artichoke! Rob's friends Kieran, Alicia and Brendan came to visit us last week, and they bought two of these that we cooked up. Delicioso!

And... some crafting! Well, old crafting. A while ago, whisperine pine and I did a swap. She sent me the most wonderful silk/cotton fabric that I made into a shirt. Somehow, it got lost in my closet and I never blogged about it - here it is!

I have no statistics about the pattern, other than I remember that it was a knit top pattern that I converted to a non-stretchy top. It's a little hard to get on but once it's on it's super comfy. Thank you Blossom, for the beautiful fabric!

My wrist has gotten much better over the past two weeks, and I managed get some knitting in! The next step is to clean up our craft room / office and get some sewing in. Yay!

Isn't it fun when relatives visit?

My hand is still injured, so I haven't set up my craft table yet. Right now it's a riotous mess of boxes and fabric. I'm hoping that my hand will heal soon and I'll be able craft... especially when I show you what I got!

My aunt Kanchan (of takayama fame, we visited her on our trip last year) was here for a visit last week. We always love seeing her and she brought us some lovely gifts. She very thoughtfully brought me some fabric!




She also got us some tenugui, which I either use in my projects or use in the kitchen.




My cousin Miyuki not only sent me some lovely heavyweight blend fabric...


... but what might be the supplies for the most fun quilting project ever:


Pre-cut quilt squares! What a fun quilt these will make!

We had a lovely pizza lunch on the deck with her and my mom and sister.


Domo arigato Kanchan! We can't wait to visit you in Takayama again!

A valentine's day post not about valentine's day

A couple of weeks ago, I had a first! My first blogosphere meet-up with Lori and yai-ann. They came by the purl warehouse and then we ate and chatted at the Mitsuwa in Costa Mesa. I forgot my camera but luckily yai-ann's boyfriend remembered to take a photo for us.

It was so nice to meet them in person. Lori showed us her amazing WIP of the Rambling Rose cardigan. It's going to be beautiful when it's done!

I wish I had more crafty stuff to blog about on this crafty holiday (don't ask me why, I always think of it that way!) but there are two big reasons why I don't have crafty things to give to loved ones.

I fell on Super Tuesday (on my way to vote!) and hurt my LEFT wrist. So now I have one very painful wrist and one less-slightly painful wrist that is doing it's best to compensate. This happened to happen right before the weekend we moved into our new place! Rob was a super trooper and packed pretty much everything, and with the help of my brother-in-law Steve, they got us moved!

We're renting a house from some friends of ours, and one of the most amazing things about this place is the landscaping. Look at the view from the deck!


There are a ton of little plants around that make me smile.



There are some trees in the front yard, does anyone recognize the fruit?


My favorite part is all of the bamboo, which sounds great in the wind.


We're planning to do some crafty improvements to the house, namely curtains and cushions. Darn it wrists, get better soon! I gotta sew!

Travel tidbits

I was hoping to have more exciting photos to show of our trip back east, but it looks like all we did was take photos of pets.




Although we had lots of good food, the only photo we have of eating is at Papaya King.


But, most importantly, we braved the cold, crowds, and grumpy security guards to get this photo.


That, my friends, is evidence of a successful trip!

Distractions right! and left!

I've been silent, and I wish I could say it's because I've been working on a fantastic project, but it isn't. The reality is that I've sprained my right wrist and I'm not able to craft. Boo!!! Hiss!!! Not only that, but we're moving as well. Not only THAT, but we're leaving for the east coast on Saturday for a week. We are going to see lots of family and friends but what we really want to see is this.

But what have I been doing? Running, my friends. RUNNING. I bought Rob an Ipod Nano and a Nike-ipod sensor for Christmas, and now we're in a "challenge" with my sister Mina and her husband Steve. This is the first time in ages we're both running consistently and it's great! Both Mina and Steve ran half marathons last year so I knew I would be in last the whole time. But... look at this photo.

Rob is in first... and I am in second!! Yay!! I know it won't be long lived, but I had to blog about it so I can revel in this moment FOREVER.

I hope something fun and crafty will happen on our trip. Otherwise, I will just be sharing photos of food. And friends. And family. And maybe a trip to Purl!

Quick and slow crafting

When I decide to make a gift, sometimes it can go really quickly. For example, I decided to make a quilt for my friend Anna's newborn daughter. I was inspired by the Nani Iro fabric at work (I bought some of a different color while in Japan), threw in some Shot Cotton, and this is what I came up with.


I think it came out very nice, considering I made it in a day. I really, really love the inspiration fabric.


I quilted each of the colors a different direction.


The back is the same color as the binding - watermelon!


Now, for slow crafting. A few months ago, Anna told me that a Bobbi Bear I made for her son was lost. So sad! A couple weeks after he lost it, he got sick and asked for "Snoopy Bear". I immediately cast on for the bear, but I couldn't get it finished before the holiday crafting bonanza. I finally finished the bear today.


I hope everyone will like their presents - fingers crossed!

Happy 2008!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and a great January 1st! We sure did! I got some awesome Christmas presents, including..


The entire Veronica Mars series plus season three of Arrested Development.

And...

My whole family chipped in to get me a serger! Yes, it's still in the box, I have to get the courage to open it up and try it. Maybe this weekend?

Rob and I took this photo next to our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve - will it be next year's Christmas card?


Here is Unki enjoying his Christmas present, an alpine scratcher. You have to wait for the end to get the full effect - he's really enjoying the catnip. (and yes, that is "Christmas Story" on the TV!)