A Short Note - 小さなノート

(Yes, I have patterns to post. Come back in 5 hours.)

I notice a lot of folks who find this blog from a search engine are looking for help with Japanese language. They're either trying to find a word in hiragana, or looking for translations between English and Japanese.

If you, your personal self, are looking for such information, you can just drop me a comment at the bottom of a recent post. I'm always up for translating stuff. (It's the best practice I can get out here in misery Missouri.) If you're a language student, that's great, too* -- we can do practice conversations over IMs or Skype.

So don't be shy. :D

*If you're a language student just looking for a dictionary, please do treat yourself to the lovely Jim Breen WWJDIC. Draw-in kanji lookup is here, paragraph/page translation is here.

Japanese Festival 2008 (the aftermath thereof)

I am a goddamn Bon Odori dancer. Oh hell yes. d(>ω<)b

Ku is somewhere in this picture.

The Missouri Botanical Garden held it's annual Japanese Festival this past Labor Day weekend, and for the first time evar (EVAR~!) I got to participate. ^-^

My younger sister and I are first-year members of a local Tozan Ryu group (for dancing, not shakuhachi), and we were privileged to perform dances for the Obon festival along with the rest of the troupe and about 200 festival attendees who, bravely, accepted sensei's challenge to dance along with us.

Obon (お盆) is the big autumnal holiday in Japan. It's similar in intent to Dia de Los Muertos in Mexico, but different, of course, in style and execution. Obon comes with its own special music called ondo (音頭) and a collection of dances that are simply referred to as Bon odori (盆踊り), literally, "Obon dances." There are songs and correlating dances about all kinds of things, including (but not limited to) famous cities, coal miners, fireworks, traditional clothing, wishes for good fortune, and Pokemon.

Yes, Pokemon. And many other anime.

Besides dancing, there were lots of other lovely attractions as well:

Ikebana...

...and bonsai...

...and fans of kimono...

...and adorable Asian children...

...and a master of the deceptively difficult Japanese koma tops...

...and ♥origami♥...

...and a f*ck ton of Niki de Saint Phalle sculptures which are on loan to the gardens and have nothing to do with the Japanese festival, but were still photographically interesting...

...and more cosplayers than there should have been, so I didn't take pictures of them. XD

I hope you've all had an equally lovely weekend. If you should find yourself near St. Louis this autumn, please consider visiting the gardens; they're fantastic. 超すばらしい〜

"Back on the tracks, the trains are in~"

EDIT: Please note that the correct address for sending in your stuff to the WUA is as follows:

Warm Up America! Foundation
2500 Lowell Rd.
Gastonia, NC 28054

If you poke around on their website, you might find the address mistakenly written for Ranlo, NC. Gastonia is the correct city.

♪Where in the world in your head have you been~♪

All Spies for the Moon lyrics aside, I have been writing, cleaning, and bumbling around with string/yarn; IE, not committing acts of blog. Sorry.

Here are the things I've being doing instead:

I made a little blanket...

...and some silly panels for an afghan...

...and a cup muffler.

I also danced Bon Odori (盆踊り) on stage for the first time, and didn't fall down. :D

Let's back up to those afghan panels. The following is targeted at all the knitters and crocheters (or "hookers," as is the term in vogue) out on the internet, as well as to anyone who would like to learn.

Would you like to help the needy AND get some stitch practice AND ALSO use up the dregs of your yarn stash?

If so, my friend, then the Warm Up America project says hello and good day to you, sir or ma'am; I believe we shall be excellent company for one another.

The IDEA:
Make blankets (and other stuff) for people in need.

The METHOD:
Knit or crochet 7" by 9" panels. Make as many as you want. Any stitch, any yarn.* Send them all in to the WUA, or find a local site that is collecting them. (Our local library is doing this - I've seen it at the hospital and a bank counter, too.) The folks at the WUA will put the panels together to make full-sized afghans for shelters and support foundations. (Alternately, you could put them together yourself if you find you've made enough.)

The WINNER:
Everybody. People who need warm stuff get warm stuff. You get to knit/crochet. Old yarn gets used up = you have room (and an excuse) for new yarn. You don't bury your friends in eight billion more knitted things than they could possibly ever use but are too kind to give away.

I'm gonna chart the pattern for that cup muffler and put it up here. Good practice for working in the round. Until then, 楽しみしてね！

*the WUA asks that you please don't combine wool with non-wools in any single object, and that you kindly label panels made of real wool, because wool felts and shrinks if you throw it in the wash. (Superwash wool is probably okay.)

The Best Website Ever, explained

Once upon a time, Ku went GISing around the 'net for some pictures of chickens, as she sometimes does, because she likes chickens.

All of a sudden, this appeared on the screen:

behold, "Ninjia Chicken" -- look closely, as there are manifold levels of incredibleness to be discovered

Naturally, Ku found this absolutely hilarious. She was soon on the homepage of Everyday Chicken, clicking about on all the awesomeness thereupon. For example, there was also:

...Skater Chicken...

...Architect* Chicken...

...and even this powerful reflection on chickenhood, one that speaks to our own existential quandaries.

Ku could not help but wonder, where did this site come from? Who drew the chickens? Why? Email did ensue.

FROM KU:
Dear Webmaster,

While looking for reference images for roosters, I did a GIS for "chicken gallery" and came up with your site.

AWESOME. Pure win. Seriously, this is hilarious. How long have you had this site up? Do you still update? (And how old were you when you started it?) I'd love to hear the story behind it... anyway, thanks for this little gem. Definitely worth the (tiny) bandwidth.

Your New Fan,
Ku

PS: I'd like to put in a request for a "pierat chicken" to go next to "ninjia chicken," please. XD


REPLY:

Sorry for the delayed email and thanks very much for sending me ideas for new chickens. It really is fun when someone sees my website and takes the time to send me an email requesting more. =) I have had this website up for a while (about four years) and have received two requests (including yours).

When I created the website I think I was ten but my dad did all of the programming stuff, I just provided the drawings!

The first request was for the super chicken, and now the second is for the 'pierat'! I unfortunately haven't updated it very recently partly because I haven't really had a motivation, but now I do because another person wants more chickens.

In fifth grade art class we were asked to draw a farm scene. I asked a friend of mine (Mike) to draw a chicken and it looked very funny - though it didn't look much like a chicken. We had fun later in the year drawing chickens for the holidays.

Anywho thanks again for sending me an email, because I might not have the chicken up soon because I'm on summer break so I put the picture in this email. =P

Hope you enjoy,
Robert L. Pringle (like the chip [but I'm not related =( ])

And that is the story of Everyday Chicken, the Best Website Ever.

~The End~

*I suspect this is in fact Archaeologist Chicken, or perhaps Architect Chicken is curious as to whom could have left bare footprints in the loose soil of his construction site, when health and safety standards clearly state that steel-toed boots must be worn at all times.

I will really, seriously get back on-topic soon. For certainly. Next post, I swear.

The Best Website Ever

Currently, I am convinced that it is this.

(Back on-topic with an update soon.)

Barack Alpaca?

I have yet to make a donkey to compliment the softie elephant. However, I did manage to figure out an easy, four-panel softie alpaca. If you can make a persimmon, you can make this thing, too.

Please note that this representation of an alpaca in saddle and reins is in no way intended to advocate the riding of alpacas. Alpacas are strictly for being cute and making yarn out of.

This pattern can be considered a vague okaeshi* to Jenny B. Harris, author of Allsorts, who originally made an adorable pattern for a Scottie dog available online, for free, to softie fans everywhere.

I am strongly convinced that the internet needs more free softie patterns.

Both Harris’s Scottie and this llama are built on the same dynamic for four-legged creatures. Two side panels with the proper outline, a belly + inside limbs panel to divide the bottom half into four legs, and a top of the head + inside ears panel to give the head some width and make two ears. Almost any four-legged creature can be made into a simple softie using this approach. Give it a try!

...and, if you do, don't forget to share it with the internet. :D

*
お返し: okaeshi (oh-ka-eh-shee)
1) return of kindness, something done or given in gratitude for a favor
2) revenge, payback
3) change (from cash paid)

Of French Knots

Well, back to life in Missouri.

Obama and McCain are somewhere in the vicinity, as are some angry cumulonimbi. Between dodging the heavier periods of rain and giving creative answers to the pollsters who call every hour ("I'm an abolitionist Whig who strongly supports the legalization of absinthe"), I have been fuffing about with string and things.

One thing I still like to do with string is make tiny little compositions entirely out of French knots (フランスノット).

French knots are a terrifically easy embroidery stitch that, when clustered together, make a cool, carpet-like texture. It's like pointillism with thread.

Red dogwood branch on a scrap of denim twill... well, it kind-of looks like dogwood. Just like pointillism, French knots don't allow for the sharpest detail.

Geometric flower on cotton shirting... or at least I think this is shirting. I don't know enough about fabric. As a base for French knots, just use a cheap, square-weave cotton fabric.

Even more fun than making figures, in my opinion, is just making little fields of French knots in different colors. It's good for using up all the little scraps of floss and yarn you might have left over from other crafts. You can stretch your finished abstracts over things, too, and make little bitty artworks.

A tiny pillow, about 3cm square, covered in some knots. It's fascinating, if completely useless.


A pattern of knots stretched over a pebble.

You can make French knots on any fabric with a moderately close weave that doesn't stretch. IE, gauzes, gossamer and knits are no good. (ガーゼ、ニットなどが使いにくいので、木綿を使った方がいいと思います.) Your knots will slip through to the wrong side of the fabric when you pull to tighten them, and you'll get frustrated and give up on French knots forever, and that'd be a damn shame. Use plain weave cotton instead. Beyond that, all you need is a needle (longer ones are easier to work with) and some bits of colorful string/yarn/thread/floss etc. (木綿以上、長い針と色々なきれいな糸しかいらない.)

The stitch, if you missed it, can be found here. Very simple.
(簡単ですので、フランスノットをやってみてください、ね。たのしみして！）

EDIT: Here's one more example.