Fluffbuff

  Bet you're starting to get sick of Japanese craft books, eh? Okay, I'll wait a few days to put up the rest of my latest purchases. But, I am going back to Torrance tomorrow to visit another Japanese bookstore: Asahiya. In the meantime, I created a category just for Japanese craft books (menu on the right) for those of you who want to see just those.

Bunch of stuff going on in the past few days, including Ben's car being in the shop for days and our fridge fi-nal-ly getting fixed. And last night we got rid of the big sofa. The living room is looking rather spacious this morning, and Piper is using it as a race track.

Yesterday's mail brought me a totally unexpected package from the UK. At first I thought it was from my mother, who is currently in London, but it was from my new friend Rosie. I was her secret pal during the SP8 exchange and I never expected to get a package *from* her. How sweet is that?

She sent me three balls of soft wool in a self-striping color that I had never seen before, a British magazine called Knitting, a little notebook, an adorable porcelain egg holder in white and blue with a rooster on one side and two geese on the other, and a great postcard with a view of a meadow outside one of Cambridge's great university buildings where she sometimes goes to KIP with friends, as she writes: "just beyond the cow on the left".
Grazie, Rosie! I really hope to meet you in person one day.

My yogurt is cold, our cars are working, I got yarn… things are looking up. Oh, and 9 pounds down, 21 to go. <insert happy smile here>

Posted by Francesca at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

  Another Japanese embroidery book with lots of linen and references to France, from the tour Eiffel to phrases in French, as in the case of "La cuisine de maman" and the recipe for madeleines embroidered on a kitchen apron. A few British things, too: the Tower bridge, a London taxi and more.

Simple Stitch Life
ISBN 4-579-11103-6

Contents

• Shirt
• Apron, kitchenware
• Blouse
• Pincushion, sewing case
• Accessories
• Bag, button
• Skirt, socks, t-shirt
• Lampshade
• Tea cozy, coaster
• Jam vocer, bread cover
• Kitchen cloth
• Book cover
• Scarf, mini album
• Bath towel, face towel
• Laundry bag
• Shoes bag
• Baby goods
• Cardigan, socks
• Scarf, bag

Posted by Francesca at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Lest we forget, Banned Books Week reminds us every year that the freedom to read is not a right everywhere and all the time.

This poster — created by student artist Camden Forgia from Arizona State University — is available for download on the Amnesty International USA website, as "During Banned Books Week, Amnesty International directs attention to the plight of individuals who are persecuted because of the writings that they produce, circulate or read." (quote from the Amnesty website)

Posted by Francesca at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

  Linen is big in Japanese craft books right now and I am really happy about it. In Italy linen is everywhere, especially in summer; not so much here. This book shows a variety of embroidery projects mostly on linen (from what I can tell). I particularly like the tsutsumu (wrapping), a square with loops on three corners and a string on the fourth that is used to close up the square as a little bundle: simple and clever. I also like the deliberately irregular stitches that give the embroideries a naive feel. The embroideries are in red, navy blue and white; the cloth is either natural (unbleached), white, blue or red.

布に描く糸模様
ISBN 4-579-11088-9

Contents

• fagel
• pincushion
• canvas bag/card case
• fuwafuwa bag
• aka+shirt
• ao+shirt
• dishcloth
• table center
• tsutsumu
• hana bag
• mitten
• muffler
• utsuwa
• igokochi cushion
• tablecloth
• mori bag
• necklace
• hagihagi coaster
• tea mat
• handkerchief
• handkerchief
• wool cap
• wool bag
• double luncheon mat
• tori bag
• bookmarker
• wanko
• apron
• how to make

Tsutsumu

Tsutsumu: how to make

Posted by Francesca at 5:34 PM | Permalink

Yesterday was guild meeting day and I got to see many friends and meet a few new people. As usual, we had about five new visitors and a couple of new members; our little guild is now more than 80-strong.

I had brought my quilting hoop with me and spent at least two hours practicing my quilting stitch. Not a whole lot of progress, but I am getting slightly less frustrated and that's incouraging. Trying out different fabrics and battings is also helping a bit, as some are easier to quilt than others. Mariko showed me how she does the quilting stitch and also spoiled me with unexpected birthday presents: two adorable Japanese craft books (this has really turned into Japanese book week for me), some sharp Japanese pins and a magazine article on Boutis how-to. Mariko-san, どもありがとうございました！

Both during and after the meeting, I was too busy having a good time to remember to take pictures. That's a good sign, no?

My practice in progress — PIP?

Cat hair courtesy of "il grigino".

Piper recognizes two categories of things: food and toys. When he sees something new, first he smells it to see if it's food…

… then he tries to move it to see if it rolls or bounces. He's our little Pelé and spends hours playing soccer by himself.

The quilting hoop is no fun; Pipie gets back to napping.

After the meeting, I joined Theresa, JoShell, Rose, Lisa and Marty and went to a café downtown to meet up with Andrea, who had overslept and missed the meeting. I think she was up again til dawn working on her mystery Fair Isle project. All my friends are getting so much done lately; I feel like I am underachieving these days.

Interestingly, half the people in our little group are interested in learning an Asian language. Rose is starting a class in Chinese Mandarin tomorrow. I just started again listening to my Japanese Pimsleur tapes this week, while I work out on the elliptical machine. Lisa is also considering Japanese and has been checking classes in Riverside. JoShell lived in Japan for 3.5 years. And I know Andrea has considered Japanese herself.

If only I could find someone who lives close to me to study together. I started studying Japanese so many times and then lost momentum that I think a buddy would be really helpful. Even when I was getting lessons, it was only an hour a week and that is just not enough for a language that is so different from the others I know.
Anyone out there who lives in the Pasadena/Glendale/Burbank area? Please, pretty please? Anyone?

Posted by Francesca at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

  When I spotted this little book in one of the language shelves at Kinokuniya's, I thought someone must have picked it up in the children's section or the comics section and put it down in the wrong place. I was wrong; it really is a language book.

Shironekokun (the white kitty) illustrates the use of some of the particles of the Japanese language by using whimsical illustrations to describe very simple sentences. Each sentence consists of a noun, a particle and a verb, and belongs to a set of two or three sentences that differ only in the particle, as in "neko to kagu" and "neko o kagu". The illustrations show the white kitty and a little girl in a variety of humorous situations. I simply couldn't resist.

しろねこくん
(shiro neko kun = the white kitty)
ISBN 4-09-727511-9

Posted by Francesca at 6:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

  Today I managed to take some time off and do two good things: get together with my friend Andrea — we hadn't seen each other in two months and she's moving out of Los Angeles in a few weeks — and go to the Kinokuniya store in Costa Mesa. In all, I spent about 3.5 hours driving, but it was worth it, and anyway I was in good company and that makes all the difference. The Kinokuniya in Little Tokyo is much closer to me, but the one in Costa Mesa has a better selection of craft books. I came away with five books, five! I feel so spoiled. :)

These are the books; more detailed entries in the next few days.

しろねこくん
(shiro neko kun = the little white cat)
ISBN 4-09-727511-9

Dear, Sweet Home
ISBN 4-391-62192-4

Simple Stitch Life
ISBN 4-579-11103-6

布に描く糸模様
ISBN 4-579-11088-9

縫う編むリネン
ISBN 4-89396-901-3

Posted by Francesca at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I recently found out about LibraryThing, a website that lets you catalog your books online, and started entering my books. It's really easy to enter a book even with partial information. Just entering a partial title or the name of the author brings up a list of possible matches, and simply clicking on a book from that list will add it to your library with all the available information: ISBN, title, author, publisher, year of publication and so on. You can also tag your books so they can be searched by keyword, rate them, and write comments. And a social networking system shows you other people who have the same books and suggest books you don't have and might be interested in. Pretty cool.

Posted by Francesca at 8:16 PM | Permalink

  We must have upset the technology gods, because we are having another spout of breakdowns: the fridge, a toilet, Ben's car, and my computer's been acting up, too. Yes, there seems to be no end to bad luck this summer. And the sofa definitely needs to go; all the disinfestation work was useless. So, to cheer myself up, I bought this book as an early birthday present. Given that I have ten more days, I'll probably treat myself to another book or two. Hey, I deserve it.

Quilts of Provence: The Art and Craft of French Quiltmaking
by Kathryn Berenson
ISBN 0-9724369-0-1

Contents

1. Introduction


2. The Needle Arts of Provence


3. Embroidery from Within


4. Provençal Colors, Provençal Patterns


5. On the World Stage


6. Continuing the Tradition


7. Resources

The mustard yellow above is probably my all-time my favorite color.

Posted by Francesca at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

  I found this little gem at Kinokuniya, in Little Tokyo.

It's a book on embroidery, entirely in Japanese with — surprisingly — Danish titles. At least I think it's Danish, after a quick Google search for some of the words. The embroideries are exquisite and come with instructions.

ちいさな刺しゅう
(Small embroidery)
128 pages
ISBN 4-14-031141-X

I really need to get back into studying Japanese as half the books I am interested in are in Japanese.

Posted by Francesca at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

  This morning started off a little slow, perhaps because of the overcast sky and cooler temperatures. Finally!

As I walked outside to put away the trash cans, I saw one of my neighbors taking pictures. A doe and her fawn were grazing in another neighbor's yard, just across the street. This is the first time we've seen deer on our street and I am delighted. I see them often when I walk; just going a street or two up from us makes a big difference; I am not sure why. Seeing the deer was a great way to start the day. I know they upset gardeners, but I can't help being happy to see them.

Posted by Francesca at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

  Some of you have noticed that I haven't made any food entries in a while. Between the heatwave, the bug infestation and consequent lack of sleep, and then starting to work out and watch what I eat, the past two months have seen little beyond survival cooking.

This whole getting in shape business can be pretty sad at times, especially for someone who grew up not just in Italy, but in Emilia-Romagna. But enough with the whining; I am talking food again.

As part of my new regime, I've given up my beloved baguettes in favor of whole grain bread (fortunately I've found a bread called seeduction at Whole Foods that I like a lot), eliminated butter and in general reduced quantities. The tricky part is making what I prepare as tasty as possible while keeping the amount of fats and salt down. Since I am using a lot less olive oil, I decided to splurge on some aceto balsamico tradizionale. Without getting into the intricacies of tutelage and nomenclature, aceto balsamico tradizionale has to age a minimum of twelve years under very specific conditions. The long production times and heavily regulated process make it an expensive product, not easy to find at most food stores. That's why I ended up ordering it online from Zingerman's, a deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Hey, it's for a good cause.

This was my first time ordering from Zingerman's and thought I'd try more than just one thing so I added two items to my order: a box of Spanish saffron and a guide to good Parmigiano-Reggiano. Yes, I entrusted a Jewish American guy — Ari Weinzweig — to educate me about Parmigiano-Reggiano. And why not? Only Emilia-Romagna can make it, but I am open-minded about the rest.

My package arrived yesterday and I am almost done reading the booklet. It's a really good read: informative, straightforward and with some humor. By contrast, the booklet that came with the vinegar, written in Italy, had me yawn after the first few lines. I had forgotten how logorrhoeic Italians can be. But back to the cheese. The Parmesan cheese in the photo is not from Zingerman's, but after reading their little guide I really want to try their own. If only they weren't so expensive; shipping alone is a killer. Anyway, the balsamic vinegar is yummy (already tried it with salad and grilled salmon) and I'll let you know how the saffron fares next time I make risotto allo zafferano.

Five pounds down, twenty-five to go…

Posted by Francesca at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

  This was another working weekend and I haven't been doing any knitting or spinning or sewing in ages. I finally got off the computer around 4PM and decided to get back into manual work by converting one of Ben's old jeans into shorts. When I got my Pfaff last year, I bought some spare needles, including jeans needles, so I was set.

Sewing went ok until I got to the thick part of the side seam. Folding the hem twice at that juncture proved too think to go under the foot. I reinforced each side of the lump, but couldn't sew all the way around the hem. Yuck. Ben, always the easygoing guy, said not to worry; he would wear those shorts around the house.

When I got to the second leg, the needle stopped moving. It got completely jammed and we tried everything we could think of, short of breaking the needle. We thought of that, too, but this is a German jeans needle and I am convinced that it was built to outsmart any American or Italian trying to break it. So, tomorrow I'm going to make arrangements with the store where I bought the machine to get the problem fixed. Bummer.

Posted by Francesca at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

  I love children's books. When I was in Italy, I used to go to the Children's Illustrators Fair in Bologna and feast my eyes on the beautiful illustrations exhibited each year.

This is a book I bought a long time ago; in fact, it's not in print anymore. It was published in 1981 and it's one of my all-time favorites. It's based on the Shaker Abecedarius, used to teach children the alphabet. It's wonderfully whimsical and it really needs to be read out loud, to enjoy the cadence of the rhymes. The illustrations are delightful and evocative of times gone by.

A Peaceable Kingdom: The Shaker Abecedarius
Illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen
Publisher: Puffin
ISBN 0140503706

Alligator, beetle, porcupine, whale,
Bobolink, panther, dragonfly, snail,

Crocodile, monkey, buffalo, hare,

Dromedary, leopard, mud turtle, bear,
Elephant, badger, pelican, ox,
Flying fish, reindeer, anaconda, fox,
Guinea pig, dolphin, antelope, goose,
Hummingbird, weasel, pickerel, moose,
Ibex, rhinoceros, owl, kangaroo,
Jackal, opossum, toad, cockatoo,

Kingfisher, peacock, anteater, bat,

Lizard, ichneumon, honeybee, rat,
Mockingbird, camel, grasshopper, mouse,
Nightingale, spider, cuttlefish, grouse,
Ocelot, pheasant, wolverine, auk,
Periwinkle, ermine, katydid, hawk,
Quail, hippopotamus, armadillo, moth,

Rattlesnake, lion, woodpecker, sloth,
Salamander, goldfinch, angleworm, dog,
Tiger, flamingo, scorpion, frog,

Unicorn, ostrich, nautilus, mole,

Viper, gorilla, basilisk, sole,
Whippoorwill, beaver, centipede, fawn,
Xanthos, canary, polliwog, swan,
Yellowhammer, eagle, hyena, lark,
Zebra, chameleon, butterfly, shark.

Posted by Francesca at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

  Whenever I go to the post office, I check for new stamps. Last week, I had a pleasant surprise: the Quilts of Gee's Bend.

One side of the package has an enlargement.

In all, there are twenty stamps in ten designs.

Next time I am in Burbank, I'll check my usual stamp shop to see if there is a first-day cover for this issue.

Posted by Francesca at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Another good day in good company, and I learned to spin on a support spindle. The workshop was excellent and I think I am finally going to spin some lovely cashmere and yak down I bought four years ago. I just need to practice.

Nancy of Custom Handweaving brought all the supplies for the workshop: spindles, bowls and fiber.

Support spindles come in various shapes and sizes, from the tiniest takhli to the very large Navajo spindle. I tried many small spindles and chose one that spins smoothly and feels good in my hand. No bowl, as I learned that I can spin on my leg.

John, after I broke his concetration with my camera.

And back in business, spinning away at professional speed. He is a professional, after all, teaching people to spin all over LA county. If you are interested in his schedule, check out his calendar.

Everybody seemed to enjoy the workshop and really get into the support spindles.

Gwen Powell, spinner extraordinaire. Today she showed us how to use a variety of supported spindles, including a charka. Here she's spinning a bunch of packaging paper thingies (brain slightly disingaged after 10PM). The woman can spin anything from tinsel to fake grass. You name it, she's spun it. In the latest issue of Spindlicity, she talks about spinning gold leaf.

After the basics, Gwen demonstrated how to spin bouclé and caterpillar yarn.

Some of our newest members were at the workshop. Jason started spinning just weeks ago, and he's already spinning on drop spindles and support spindles. If he hasn't tackled a wheel, I am sure he will soon.

Jill, another recent member of the guild, was spinning really good consistent yarn on her first try. I wonder if her concentration has something to do with her musical training.

And a very happy Kathy, showing off her caterpillar yarn.

Posted by Francesca at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

  Rachele, you outdid yourself!

I knew I had a last package in the mail from my secret pal, but I wasn't prepared for such enormous spoilage. Ah, the luxury. Unfortunately, pictures can only capture the visual beauty of these gifts.

The soap package was so pretty, I almost didn't open it. The tofu soap is wonderfully smooth, and it has an almost imperceptible fragrance that reminds me of something from long ago. I can't say for sure, but you know how it is with odors: they bring back memories in a snap. This one brought up the convent of Santa Chiara in Faenza, were I spent four years as a small child. How could something from Japan remind me of Italy? And not just that: forty years apart!

A couple of fun tin boxes for the knitting girl: one with green apple mints and the other with hand balm. I can never have enough hand cream, so this is great. And the little apple mints have no sugar, so I don't have to feel guilty, either.

And the pièce de résistance: FOUR big skeins of luscious, fondable, cashmere-merino yarn from Italy in two spectacular colors and exactly the fine gauge I love. I can't wait to find a worthy project.

Good thing I'm straight, taken and about 9,000 Km away or I'd be tempted to propose.

I could not have had a better first time experience with Secret Pal.

ありがとうございました！

Posted by Francesca at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)