生命はすばらしい

Well, not much happening craft-wise. Still have my yarn up for sale, and I'm encouraging all of you to buy it up! Becaaaause....I'm going to Japan for a year! Yep, I found out last Thursday. So my Etsy shop will be closed during that time, but right up until July 28th when I leave for Kentucky for a few days and then to Japan on the 1st, it'll be for sale! Once again, mention this blog and I'll give ya a discount. :)

But anyway, yes. Going to Japan, and teaching ESL while I'm there. I will be bringing my knitting supplies with me, but for that time I'll mostly be posting pictures and talking about my adventures there on this blog. I'm very excited about it. I'll be working with MIL, a great school located in Chiba, Japan. Oh, and what's even better is that when I get there, I have training for 4-5 days, and then I'm off for a paid vacation for a week! (The school is closed during that time). So, I bought a couple of guidebooks to figure out what to do in that week. I'm thinking of going to Kyoto to see some temples, maybe Osaka as well. I need to plan it carefully because the bullet trains are muy expensive. I'll be spending most of my days off in Tokyo (only 45 minutes and about 700 [or $7] yen away), and various areas of Chiba, including the beach! I'd love to see these places while I'm there:

-Nagoya
-Hiroshima
-Hokkaido
-Osaka/Kyoto/Nara
-Okinawa
-Mt. Fuji (although I'm NOT climbing that damn thing)
-Sapporo
-and of course Tokyo over and over again

So much to see! I cannot believe I get to live in Asia for a year and I'm only 25. I feel so blessed that I have the opportunity to do this. It will be so hard to be away from my family, friends, Blake, and the kitties! Luckily, they have cat houses in Japan where you pay a bit, go in, and pet all the various kitties running around. My little sister went to one in Tokyo, and you bet your ass I'll be taking a few trips there when I get homesick for my Moshi:


All this Japan stuff is pretty much the center of my life right now. I'm saving money, buying guidebooks to peruse, and making sure I'm prepared for this trip. Also, I'm making sure I get as many loose ends tied up at work as possible. My coworkers are so fucking cool about this whole Japan thing. One of my bosses actually told me he was proud of me, and completely supported me going to Japan, as I should do this kind of stuff when I'm young.

There are other people (people that mean a lot to me, which makes it extra hurtful) in my life that are, shall we say, not supportive. However, I'm hoping they get over it. Blake is being awesome. He's excited for the opportunity to become independent for a year, as am I. We both need to make a lot of changes, and I think we're mature enough to handle the distance for a year.

Where would you go if you went to Japan?

adventures in plying

It's about time I posted up pics of my apartment! I still need a few touches here and there, and it's just a little basement apartment, so it's not super impressive....but I put a lot of work into it! So, here it be:

My entry room/craft room. Isn't the yarn storage great? Desk is a bit cluttery, but I've been a spinning machine lately, so yeah.
Another view of the craft desk....along with Blake and I's bookcases. We're big readers. And the painting up above featuring Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor was painted by me, btw. I know, I know. How does someone with so much talent even exist? I ask myself that question every day, my friends. sigh.
I hung those hooks myself! And the Japanese print calendar was a Xmas gift from my mom....I love it. Eventually I want to frame some of the art in it, it's so pretty.
Weird showing you the bathroom, but I think it's so cute. Mind the ugly plunger/tissue box combo. I'm in the process of pretty-ing up some basic around-the-house stuff.
View of my kitchen from the living room. Very small, but it does the trick for Blake and I. The table expands to seat 6, so that's nice. I hung the chrome shelves on the right side myself for more storage...I love them! Again, excuse the dish drainer....just got done washing le dishes.
Living room. I love my white couch (and the little Myoshi sleeping on top of it). I'm still really needing a big piece of art for above the couch. I might get some graphic sort of wall decal from Blik, but who knows. And the chair on the left will eventually not be there, I want the coordiating white loveseat to be there instead. But who knows when that will happen. Side note: check out the sweet new Macbook to the right. Oh yes.

The bedroom is really cute too, but Blake is asleep in there currently, and I don't think he'd like me taking pictures this late at night. Ah well. Once again, it's small, but it stays clean, and it feels like me and Blake. And the colors make me happy. That's all I really care about.

In other news, I'm experimenting with plying my handspun yarn. I made a makeshift lazy kate and now I'm working on a really nice 3-ply with some wool and mohair. We'll see!

The grayish white already spun up on the lazy kate is mohair, and the black and brown is wool. I made the lazy kate with a photo storage box that I have a couple too many of, a hole punch, and some needles I never use (I'm anti-DPN). The little wooden thing is my drop spindle, by the way, which I've begun to spin up the brown wool. I'm determined to get the word out on my Etsy shop and make sure my very best is for sale, dawwwwgs.

Time for bed.

bigger, better, faster, stronger

So! I finally tossed (and by tossed I mean gave to Blake as a 2nd comp) my USB challenged PC laptop and got a Macbook! It's pretty much the coolest thing I own. So now, I can upload music and photos even better than I did before, so I set up my Etsy shop!!! Here's a little preview of my handspun yarn that I'm selling:
This skein of superfine merino is currently on sale at my Etsy shop! Here's the link, folks: frankenskein.etsy.com. I've only got 5-6 skeins up right now, but I'm spinning more and posting it up every day, and I accept custom requests as well, so be sure to let me know what you're looking for, and I'll do my best!

Now that I've plugged my shop, I'm finally going to share my pics from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival! Blake and I really loved it.



This is from a fascinating sheep-shearing demonstronstation....it was interesting to see how chilled out the sheep are when they get sheared...I guess most have been through it quite a bit, and this shearer in particular was really good at what he did.


Alpaca!
I was surprised to see how gentle and nice all the animals were...I thought I'd get snapped at atleast once, but nope! They're all so sweet.

An Angora bunny...yeah, there was a whole lot of cute at this fest.

These sheep (they're called Jacob sheep and I snagged some of their wool to spin up for my store) were Blake and I's favorites. The adult rams had 4 horns! They looked like some kind of crazy fantasy creature. Me likes.

I would highly recommend it to those who haven't been yet. There was an insane abundance of fiber there as well, obviously.

Lots more to come. In the meantime, visit my Etsy shop!

Now Accepting Donations

My blog posts have been pretty sparse, no? Well, there's a good reason! I've actually accomplished A LOT in the craft department, but my computer is M.I.A. when it comes to uploading things. And after taking it to multiple places, it's official, I need a new laptop.

So, I'm saving to buy a MacBook. Finally. The only problem is, I've got this possible thing happening in August where I might be in Japan for a year, and I need a little startup money. So, in addition to my regular income savings, I was thinking, maybe I should get a second job for all these extra things I have to save for pretty quickly...?

Rewind to last weekend, where I attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (amazing!) and bought a drop spindle. Yes. FINALLY. I also got about 8 oz of some beautiful roving, went home, and starting spinning away.

Well, my first skein turned out not too good, as I only got 25 yds out of 4 oz....about an 8th of what it should be at worsted weight. Nevertheless, I was proud and determined to master it. So, I kept spinning, and even went back to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Fest on Sunday to purchase more roving. Then, on Sunday night, after watching and reading countless tutorials, I got it. It finally clicked what I was doing wrong and how to pre-draft properly and the whole nine yards (pun intended).

So, I've spun up a few VERY nice skeins since then, set the spin in them, and thought; "I have enough yarn, what am I going to do with this?" So, in the next week or two, I'm opening up shop on Etsy and selling my spun items. And, everything I spin will either be from local farms or recycled mill-end rovings (which are still top quality and perfect for handspinners, they just aren't suitable for machine spinning. So, they throw it out unless nice people like me buy it)! So as soon as I get my shop going, I'll let you know and put a little shop widget on here. If you mention my blog, I may even give you a little discount.

So, project "Cil needs extra money to buy a new computer and go to Japan" is solved! I figure, why go back to waitressing part time in addition to my full job when I can sell high-quality spun yarn? Especially since I love it so much. Seriously. If you don't spin already, you should start. It's wonderful.

Well, there's my future business plug for the day. In other news, work has been super slow lately. It's only noon and I feel like I've been here for 19 hours. I bought "Twilight Princess" for the Wii recently, and it's really good. Although I feel like it rips off Okami just a bit (best game EVER). Lately I've been feeling like playing some Final Fantasy. It's been a while.

More to come. Lots of pending excitement that I hope pans out. Stay classy guys.

Aw Suki Suki

Incidentally, I want to name my future daughter Suki. And every time I say it around my mom, she says it sounds trampish and says the above comment.."awww suki suki". I'd maybe be slightly annoyed except she's so cute when she does it. Oh, my mother. Hilarious.

So, still having issues with my USB ports on my laptop. Dumb. I can upload pics via Blake's comp, but it's sooooo slow. But, I may just do it anyway, because I've ACTUALLY managed to complete a project! Yes! And I've done lots with the apartment, of course.

So I have been like, super duper restless as of late. I need to be on an adventure, travel the world, see everything that I dreamed about seeing while I was in college. I both love and hate this aspect of my personality...I'm so restless and eager to do EVERYTHING. But, I may have found a way to satiate my adventurous nature, and it just might have something to do with Japan. More on that when I know more.

For now, I'm just working, getting my home together, and super-duper focused on getting healthy. I've also gotten back into watching movies a bunch! Yesterday I finally saw "Oldboy" in its entirety, and it's so amazing. I also watched "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music". Oh yes. It was a good day.

I think tonight I'll watch the final installment in Chan-wook Park's revenge trilogy, "Lady Vengeance". Maybe I'll finally be a good Netflix customer again and turn in the movies I've had for a month and a half....

Speaking of movies, here are my MOST anticipated movies coming up:

-Where the Wild Things Are (Blake and I nearly peed ourselves with excitement the first time we saw this trailer)
-Tokyo! (Michel Gondry + Japan? Helllll yes!)
-Away We Go (John Krasinski. nuff said.)
-Earth (I know, I'm a dork. But I love thing about nature. I grew up with National Geographic!)
-9 (This animated film looks SO awesome. The graphics remind me of Final Fantasy 8 in a lot of ways. Maybe because the rag doll main characters remind me of the Esthar City Guard that you have to fight a bunch in the game? NERD ALERT.)
-Year One (This may be dumb, or it may be brilliant. Either way, I heart Michael Cera.)
-Astro Boy (A graphic animation of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy! Fucking A!)
-Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (My favorite of ALLLLL the books, so they better not fuck it up...seriously.)

There's more, but that's all I've got for now. What movies are you guys most excited to see?

don't lie, you know you love paddle boats

So, I'm very frustrated with my laptop at home. My USB ports have decided to stop detecting devices, so I cannot A) upload pictures or B) put my newest music finds on my ipod. It sucks. I've searched throughout the interweb universe and cannot find an answer that works, and I've tried EVERYTHING. I'm going to keep looking and see how much I have to spend to fix it, but uploading pictures until then will be difficult, so bear with me.

My mom is in town! We did a lot this weekend at the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. It was beautiful. Cherry trees are definitely my favorite tree, and maybe even my favorite thing ever that grows out of the ground in general. Love them. Again, I have pictures, but it will have to wait.

I have ACTUALLY made some knitting progress on a very belated gift to Constance...the Kittyville Hat! Most of you know the pattern from the first Stitch N' Bitch book...you can get the pattern for free at Ravelry now. It's pretty cute I think. I'm just about done with it...just need to add the ears and block.

I've applied for the Peace Corps and now I need to focus on losing weight and getting healthy so I can pass the medical screening. It's very exciting. Changing diet completely (again) and working out. I'm soooo sore from it, but I need to break my bad habits! Wish me luck.

Sorry about the semi-boring posts lately. I've lost some pep in my step as of late, but I'll get it back...yes.

Oy! Oy gevald!

So, it's been a very long time! I suppose I delayed blogging because I haven't made that much progress on creative projects (although I somehow keep managing to build up a list of projects that I PLAN to do). I've really been focused on the apartment mostly, which is fully unpacked and awesome! I need to take some good pictures of it and post them. Thanks to craigslist and Ikea, my small little apartment is homey, clean, and adorable. Blake and I love it. So do the kitties.

Because I've been in out of knitting lately, my latest obsession is with watercolors and sumi-e art. I've had my eye on some sets (and books) to learn and play with different techniques, but so far I've just dabbled, really. There's a site called OrientalArtSupply.com that has some really neat stuff that I'd recommend. And of course DickBlick.com...duh. But, DC car inspection/repair/registration stuff has me pretty broke, so those supplies (and a sewing machine and quilting books/supplies) will have to wait. Sigh.

So we've had some visitors in lately, including our K-Bear and also Rhianna and Jay! We've had a really fun week with everyone that came in. Although I've decided to try this new thing out where I don't talk so much shit about other people. I mean, I'm not that bad, but it comes off as negative and mean and I don't like it. Yep.

If you guys haven't taken the Meyers-Briggs Test, you should! It's kinda fun. I'm INFJ (the rarest personality type, wurrd), and Blake is a ENFP. Everything we read on our respective types fit us to a tee. Take it and tell me if you think it's accurate!

Upcoming projects I have in mind (and, because no post is complete without a picture, I've included visuals!):

The "Color Wheel Quilt", found in "Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson. I was inspired to do this when I saw it on the Purl Bee blog (see links at right), and I have a very specific twist on what is to be my first large scale quilted project. I'll give you a hint: it will be a gift to someone on a very big day in the future...and the fabric used in it will be of Japanese origin (but isn't everything if I have my way?). More to come on that...


Blake and I are very inspired by the art of Yoshitaka Amano (you may know him as the artist who created the Final Fantasy game series). I like his pale colors and sketchy lines, and I think, with my own flavor added, that I will be very good at sumi-e and watercolors. I can't wait.


As far as knitting goes, I'm really into hats right now. Chunky, intricate, instantly gratifying hats. I'm currently lusting to start the Cuckoo pattern by Natalie Larson. So pretty. I think I'd like it in gray...or brown maybe.


Also, I'm reading my first Chabon book! And it's full of Yiddish. Did you guys know that I'm really into Jewish culture? Asian culture...and Jewish culture...pretty different, but they draw me, what can I say. Anyway, this book is really good so far. It's called "The Yiddish Policeman's Union". And it has a little mini glossary in the back with Yiddish words! Like Goyim and Kibitz...and Shtupping! What language is more fun, seriously? In otherwords, I highly recommend this book. And also "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Murakami....I just finished it a week ago and it was an amazingly beautiful book.

Ok! So I'll post more regularly from now on! Happy early St. Patty's day!