Fluffbuff

    It took a Habu Trunk Show to finally get me down to Wild Fiber in Santa Monica.

It was my first time there as that side of town is usually an unpleasant drive in snail traffic, and yesterday was no different. The store has an excellent inventory with lots of yarns I like and don't find easily in LYS. So far, the only place I'd been able to buy Habu and Jade Sapphire locally had been Purl Soho, and that's even further away from me than Wild Fiber. Needles, bags, accessories and books are also in good supply. I don't know what it was like with the old management (the store just recently changed hands), but I was favorably impressed with this one.

Isn't this the most adorable little dress?

Habu had a variety of garments on display on a rack and against a wall, with some yarns, handknit bags and color cards on a table. The Habu lady (I wish I had asked her name; she was very friendly and helpful) let people try on the garments and held short workshops on how to read the Japanese knitting charts in the Habu kits. Wish I could have stayed for that.

The restrained beauty of Setsuko Torii's design is the kind that grows on you. The appeal of her garments is all in the muted tones, earthy quality and impeccable details. There was a bright red cardigan in paper yarn that was not exactly understated, still it fit in perfectly with the rest of the show.

I loved the buttons on the sweaters, cardis and one of the handbags. No kits came home with me, partly a matter of budget and partly because the kits themselves were not on display and you had to order them. Probably a good thing for me because I spent enough on yarn anyway.

On the other side of the store were several Habu yarns.

This is what came home with me.

Four balls of Kid Silk Haze in a glorious shade of blue called Hurricane. I'm in love and have already cast on a new project (more about that tomorrow).

No project in mind for these three little balls of hand-dyed silk mohair Kasuri (Habu of course), but they kept calling my name and wouldn't take no for an answer. Three is all they had so this will probably be a lace scarf. I never thought I'd buy variegated yarn for lace, but these babies had me staring until I gave up. What can I say? I have no will power. Besides, my birthday is coming up and I have an extra excuse to spoil myself. :)

So glad I got out of the house yesterday.

Posted by Francesca at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

  I mean, happy new year. I know, I am 17 days early on the Chinese calendar, but I thought I'd give you a heads up in case you want to make some fun New Year's cards.

I was looking at a Japanese magazine I picked up in November… not sure what it's called really, other than on one corner it says Super Premium Magazine Serai. I'm not even sure what its main focus is, but — at least for this issue — the main event is how to make your own New Year's cards. Lots of pictures and detailed instructions from the point of view of calligraphy, woodcut, and rubber stamping. The woodcuts are especially attractive with their irrepressible energy.

Most of the cards depict wild boars. These little beasts have always fascinated me and I find the pairing of wild boars and woodcut irresistible. There's something medieval about both and perhaps that's part of the charm, as the Middle Ages are far more interesting to me than other historical periods.

And this persimmon-colored wild boar is too cute.

Posted by Francesca at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

  This morning I headed down to Santa Monica's Fabulous Fiber Fest with Una and Theresa.

Outside the building were several spinners and an area with alpaca crias. This baby was feeding from a bottle while two black crias were feeding on grass in an enclosure.

Cute, well-behaved and with the daintiest eyelashes and toenails.

This year my focus was all on textiles, so I didn't take many pictures of yarn or spinning fiber, but I could't resist Trish Andersen's yarns. I ran into Trish at a bead vendor where she was looking for beads to incorporate into a new line of pure cashemere yarn she is about to launch. Her yarns (Tanglewood Fiber Creations) are as soft and lovely to the touch as they are beautiful to look at. No website yet, but it's coming soon.

Several bead vendors.

Some beautiful jewelry.

Ah, the beautiful fabrics! I had been looking for great plaids and striped fabrics for a while and today, finally, I found them at Azabu-ya.

Many stunning quilts on display throughout the show.

Many wowen items, as well.

Unfortunately, Habu Textiles was missing this year, but maybe that's just as well, because I didn't have the budget for their line of yarns.

This was really a good day, in very good company — I also ran into a lot of friends from my spinning guild — and I bought some fabrics to start my quilting stash. More about that in a moment.

Posted by Francesca at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

  Latest package from Japan! My SP sent it before leaving for Stitches Midwest.

A Monokuro Boo pencil case and stickers to go with some of my favorite folders. I may end up using the pencil case for knitting notions; haven't made up my mind yet.

A cute postcard with a sento scene.

Six plastic folders in three designs. I especially like the Halloween maneki-neko. The hiragana folders will be good to remind me of some kana. It's scary how much I have forgotten since I used to study Japanese.

Rubber stamps! I dont' have any rubber stamps and I'd been meaning to get some. The stamp with the dog is really funny and the two lipstick-shaped ones have built-in ink so I could try them right away.

Are they adorable or what?

Two notebooks with ready-to-cut custom bookmarks.

And — I can hardly believe it — my SP told me to expect a 4th package! :)

ありがとうございました！

Posted by Francesca at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

  Another yellow package in the mail! I love my packages from Japan. I am still without camera (and will be for a while), but I was able to scan the content. :)

This time my SP sent me a very handy Chibi, a set of darning needles with their transparent container and closure in the shape of a pen cap, so I can hang it from a pocket. So far, I've been disseminating my yarn needles throughout the house. I usually pin them to a knitted swatch and lose the swatch. This is mucho much better.

The second thing is a katcha-katcha, a knitting counter by Clover. I'd never seen one like this. It has two wheels for counting tens and units manually, but you can also push in the top and it counts automatically. And it has a lock at the bottom. Perfect for Fair Isle and cable knitting. I love gadgets!

The third thing is a cute maneki-neko that I have to find a good place for. Maybe on my big postcard board.

SP-san, once again ありがとうございました!

Posted by Francesca at 10:54 PM | Permalink

  This morning I mailed a card to my SP in the UK and this afternoon I received a postcard from my SP in Japan. Somehow, all my packages and postcards from Japan arrive when I need some cheering up. Today has been a bad day in more ways than one so this was perfect timing. :)

The card is a summer greeting and I learned that it's very popular to send seasonal greetings in Japan.

ありがとうございました!

Posted by Francesca at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

  My Secret Pal is the best. My Saturday got lost in a series of small chores and by late afternoon I was bummed out that I hadn't had a real day off and I didn't know why. Couple of emails to clients, an invoice here, another little thing there, laundry, errands and it was 5:30pm. Then I convinced Ben to take a break from programming and we went for a short walk. The neighborhood is lovely in the evenings, not so hot, and all the plants in bloom. Among the bouganvilles on hormones we saw a beautiful doe grazing a neighbor's garden. By the time we got back home, the day was finally starting to look up. Then I checked the mailbox and there it was: a big yellow padded envelope from my SP in Japan.

And inside all these cool things! My SP had told me to watch the mailbox, but this was another stressful week and I had forgotten. I certainly didn't expect so much. *Four* books and booklets, funny stickers, an adorable card and felting wool.

I love this card; something about the pose and expression of the amigurumi makes it really sweet.

The highlight of the package is the book Simple zakka and bag of felt book. I had put it on my list at Amazon Japan after seeing just two photos and now I am so glad I did. It's a lovely book with some adorable felted projects. I am scanning several pages and I'll make an entry just for this book tomorrow.

These booklets are also about handmade felt.

The kittens and the sleeping puppies are too cute.

And not only the books, but also two bags of 100% merino wool so I can get started with some felting right away. Is that sweet or what?

Who's got the best secret pal?

Grazie SP!

Posted by Francesca at 6:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A package and a postcard within days of each other. My SP is seriously spoiling me, and I really needed a pick-me-up today. Deadlines colliding, a bunch of minor annoyances, and then to top it off, a three-hour Web outage… and of course me waiting for some urgent files from a client either via email or ftp.

But I went to check the mail and found a postcard from my secret pal in Japan. :) I'll worry about those files later.

Posted by Francesca at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

私の シクレツパルは 日本に住んでいます.
(katakana spelling いいですか?)

My secret pal sent me a package already! I didn't expect anything yet, so it was a wonderful surprise to open the mailbox and find this colorful envelope with an assortment of stamps and see that I had guessed right: my secret pal lives in Japan. More precisely, the envelope comes from Hokkaido, the northernmost of the main Japanese islands.

The top left corner of the envelope says: "Your SP in the Land of the Rising Sun".

Look at all the stuff!

I love the maneki neko card and the adorable pencil with spare mines. The other object is a white masking tape dispenser. And there are also a cute stationery set and cherry blossom stickers.

At first I thought these were fridge magnets, then realized that they are erasers! Three of them are also containers with an extra eraser inside shaped like noodles.

ありがとうございました secret pal! You made my day. :)

また、ね！

Posted by Francesca at 9:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Learning kanji (Part 1) reviewed a few books for those interested in learning Kanji. Part 2 reviews a couple more books plus other resources. In these two short articles, I have presented ideas and resources going more for variety than comprehensiveness. In some cases I have provided links to Amazon.com, but you can find the same and more books at other online sources and physical bookstores. Online you can try Amazon.co.jp and www.yesasia.com. If you live close to a Kinokuniya bookstore, I recommend paying a visit. There is nothing like leafing through a book and making your own judgement. Besides, the kind of serendipitous discoveries you can make in a bookstore are different from those you can make online. I like to browse both on- and off-line.

• Subject Grouped 1016 Kanji in Context, ISBN 4-590-01043-7 This book includes the 1016 kanji taught to Japanese children in their first six years of school, plus several of their compounds. Unlike other books that group kanji by frequency or radical, this one presents them according to topics. Twenty chapters illustrate kanji by topics such as: Geography, Weather and Universe, Food, Drink, Cooking, Body and Health, Transportation, Law and Crime. Each chapter comes with three sections: Reference, Vocabulary, and Reading Excercises.
• Kanji Fast Finder, ISBN 0-8048-3393-1
  You will love this book. It won't teach you kanji, but it will cut down how long it takes you to locate the 1,945 General Use Kanji in any dictionary, and in a big way. Trust me on this one: if you plan to use a dictionary, buy Kanji Fast Finder.
• Kanji-a-Day is a website built around the needs of students of Japanese who want to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), but it is just as useful to anyone interested in the language and especially kanji. The site's features include: Kanji of the day, Kanji lists and quizzes, dictionaries (Japanese-English and English-Japanese), personalized kanji and vocabulary lists, and now also a chat room. The Kanji lists are divided into four levels, level four being the lowest. Counterintuitive, perhaps, but consistent with the JLPT classification of proficiency levels.
  The site requires you to become a member to access almost all its features. Membership is free, but they ask for more personal information that seems necessary. I mention this because the site has had a prominent "Website for sale" sign on it for a while, and there is no telling who will get your personal information once the site is sold. This said, I find that the functionality you get access to is worth it and this is definitely the best website of its kind I have found so far.
• Electronic dictionaries
  There are many brands and models out there and most of them include similar functions: dictionaries (Engligh-Japanese, Japanese-English), Thesaurus, kanji dictionary with search by reading and stroke number, kanji stroke animated sequence and more. When functionality is comparable, choice comes down to look and cost. One word of advice. If you buy from Japan and you are not already proficient in the language, make sure you get your user manual in English. I had a friend of mine buy my Canon WordTank G50 in Japan, which saved me about 40%, but came with a Japanese manual. As a consequence, I got a lot less mileage from my electronic dictionary than I could have.

More on this subject at Learning Kanji (Part 1)

Posted by Francesca at 8:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you’ve decided to learn kanji – the characters at the base of the Japanese writing system – you may be overwhelmed by the amount and variety of available self-study material: books, magazines, CDs, websites, software, electronic dictionaries…

What you choose will have to do with why you want to learn kanji and how deeply. Are you planning a vacation? Studying for a language proficiency test? Is your company promoting you to the Tokyo branch? Whatever the circumstances, there is something just right for you.

Two main approaches to studying kanji. One focuses on a core of frequently used characters; the other on a systematic approach to learning all the joyo kanji – the 1,945 kanji published by the Ministry of Education as the minimum requirement for adult literacy.

Here are a few selected books.

• Japanese Characters, ISBN 4-533-01359-7.
  Great little book with hundreds of charmingly illustrated kanji and a wide range of useful information on topics such as hiragana and katakana – the syllabaries used in conjunction with kanji to transcribe the Japanese language – and tips on how to decipher a menu or the signs around town. Historical and cultural notes scattered throughout the book will help you put it all in perspective. Useful, affordable, and it fits in your pocket.
• The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary, ISBN 4770028555.
  Perfect for beginners and advanced students alike, this dictionary presents 2,230 kanji. For each it includes meaning(s); stroke sequence; on¹ and kun² readings; radical³ pattern, examples of compound words, and more. The entries are clear and the characters organized according to several criteria – ranked by frequency, listed alphabetically by on-kun reading, indexed by stroke number, and grouped by pattern. If you have more than a passing interest in the Japanese language, this is a must.
• Read Japanese Today, ISBN 0-8048-0496-6.
  In spite of the misleading subtitle (you will not master written Japanese simply by reading this book), this is a useful introduction to 300 kanji. Best read sequentially, for its narrative quality and because each group of characters builds on the preceding one.
• Kanji Pict-O-Graphix, ISBN 0962813702.
  Very much a picture book, this shows more than 1,000 kanji, each illustrated by a stylized drawing – not necessarily a faithful representation of the original pictograph, but useful in establishing a recall pattern. Entries are grouped by topic and you can tackle them in any order.
• Remembering the Kanji - Vol. 1, ISBN 4889960759.
  This is the most comprehensive flash card system with 2,042 kanji, grouped by radical, each with its primary meaning and mnemonic notes. While this is a great system for memorizing several related characters in a short time, it comes at a price: you will only learn the meaning of a kanji, not its readings; and by ordering kanji by their radicals, the book introduces early on words that you’ll hardly ever encounter. Do you really need to learn the kanji for "gall bladder" in lesson two? And if you are still eager to try it out, be prepared to part with $42 for the book and $130 for the companion flash cards.

1. On reading = a kanji’s reading derived from the original Chinese pronunciation. Typically used in compound words.


2. Kun reading = the Japanese native reading of a kanji.


3. Radical = one of 214 basic kanji that stand by themselves and are also used as components in more complex kanji. For instance, the kanji for volcano is made up by the characters for fire and mountain. In this case, fire acts as the radical, or root, of the compound kanji.



More on this subject at Learning Kanji (Part 2)

Posted by Francesca at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have a love for all things Japanese. Whenever I go to Kinokuniya Books in Little Tokyo, I buy a few new plastic folders. I just can't help myself; they are so damn cute. And I often give them as small gifts to friends who share my addiction to "kawaii". Here are some of my favorites.

Posted by Francesca at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)