Here is my progress on that new project I mentioned before. I ended up ripping back a little, because I thought the length between the increases and decreases needed to be more, but once it gets going, should be a relatively quick project. These are whimsical little mitts, with two options for knitting, and I hope to have the pattern ready for beta knitting in the next week or two.

We had a two week trip to Japan and Korea because of Rich's work. We started in Tokyo, where we have both been before, then went to Nagoya (where Rich went last time, but I stayed in Tokyo to do other things on that trip) and I got to ride on the shinkansen for the first time, then we went to Seoul, which was fantastic. While I didn't buy as much yarn on this trip, I did get a few skeins while in Seoul. I also got to go to a fantastic fabric store in Tokyo, Otsukaya, which was seven floors of amazing, and seemed a little overwhelming until I went to the fabric district in Seoul. It was four buildings, in a city block that could have taken me weeks or a month to get through entirely, and was crammed full of stalls/shops for fabric, buttons, zippers, belt buckles, trims, ribbons, everything you can imagine. We went there so I could find buttons for Amira's coat and found the absolute perfect ones there.

This first picture is a collage from Otsukaya. It is an amazing fabric store with a basement full of notions, and interesting fabrics, displays showing what one can do with them, and really great prices, especially for Tokyo.

These next two collages are just the tiniest sampling of the thousands of stalls in Dongdaemun Market in downtown Seoul. If you download the Naver App, you can navigate Korea quite well, and it has all the transit information you could need. If you sew or craft in any way, you will want to visit this place if you are ever in Seoul.

While I was gone, I tried to do some facetime readings of Sense and Sensibility with the kids, but the 16 hour difference made it difficult. Now that I am home again, we are reading it together. I'm just about finished with Knitting for Anarchists, and realized that I need it on my shelf, so I just ordered a copy. I think I read it initially, more than 20 years ago, and I really, really love her philosophy, tips and tricks. In fact, I have put to use one of the things in her book in the design for the mitts I am making.

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Labels: Books, Design, Homemaking, Knitting, WIP, Yarn Along

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 11:55 AM