Love crocheting

Beige crochet fingerless mitts

I might have written in the past that I'm not a big knitter. Knitting and Crocheting takes so much longer than sewing, or it may seems to me, and I am rather an impatient person. However, for some reasons, I'm loving crocheting right now. I love sitting on my couch with hot milk and home baked cookies, crocheting while I watch Dexter at night (I'm watching Dexter season 2 right now...love the show!).

I got the idea for these fingerless mitts from this blog post. The pattern is super simple. I made 40 chains in the beginning, and then did the single crochet until the height reached to the point I wanted. Then I sewed the sides together, leaving a hole for a thumb. I also added a belt and a lovely button to add some feminine touch to the mitts.

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19 weeks

19 weeks! For some reasons, I think I look less pregnant this week than when I took a photo of 17 weeks. I'm not sure why.

This week, I started to notice that some of my pre-pregnancy clothes no longer fit me. I have a couple of dresses that the back zipper did not go up. Also when I went to H&M last week, I tried on the size 4 dresses like I usually do, and again, the zipper got stuck in the middle. Very sad, but a part of life I guess!
I'm wearing Banana republic sweater dress Kaitlyn gave me, and it's very comfortable.

Today I wanted to share this website that has a full of baby clothes patterns! for free! yay:) The website is called "Handmade no kokoro" (heart for handmade) and it's all in Japanese. If you don't read Japanese, you can still hit the green download button to download pdf patterns. The website has patterns for bibs, baby dresses, pants, bloomers with ruffles, rompers, diaper covers, baby kimono, baby mitts and hats... so many! I don't know where to start, but everything looks pretty simple to make.
I used their pattern last year to make baby clothes and bibs for my baby shower.

Marie skirt variation

Hi! This is a project I worked on before I took a trip to the States. It's a variation on Marie skirt from BurdaStyle. I really like the Marie skirt pattern, with it's high waist band, pleats in the front and back, and the cocoon shape. I used it previously to make these dresses.

This time, I changed the waist band to scalloped edges. Here is an useful tutorial on how to make a scalloped edge. I used the case of my finishing powder to draft the scallops, but basically you can use any circle objects, like a can, or a mug. I also shorten the length of the skirt.

The fabric used is a dark green corduroy I bought at Tomato in Nippori.

Scalloped Waist Green Corduroy Cocoon Skirt

Three things

I came back from vacation last night. I was in NY & Philly for little over a week. It is always so hard to be back from vacation, but some lovely people made it easier for me with these precious gifts:)

Flower from my husband

Gift from my mom, silicon pot and a cook book

Souvenir from Thailand from a friend - fabric, soap and mint balm.

18 weeks

yay 18 weeks! and right now, I'm in Philly. I flew in to NY last week, spent a couple of days with family in North Jersey, then came down to Philadelphia on Friday night.

To be honest, the plane ride this time was pretty tough on me. I got sick, with terrible runny nose and rash on my entire body from the dry air of the plane. I feel much better now, but my eyes are still red from exhaustion. I had a bad jet-lag, which I still haven't overcome.. you see, I used to force-fix the jet-lag with NyQuil and wine, but obviously, I couldn't use my secret tactic this time. (sigh).

I had a chance to go back to my favorite vintage & thrift shops and fabric shop in German town with Naoko. There, I found this adorable baby sweater and hat set and I just had to take them home with me. I love the white elephant on the sweater, and I think this baby blue works for both boy and girl. As I mentioned before, I'm not very good at knitting and crocheting, but I hope to be able to make some cute knitted goods for the baby this winter.


When I met with the family, they gave me some goodies for the baby - lovely handmade afghan, baby blanket etc. Along with those goodies, they also gave me this book "making children mind without loosing yours" by Kevin Leman. The book was given to my mother-in-law from my grandparents-in-law, and she graciously passed the book down to me.
Also, thank you for the recommendations for pregnancy blogs! I added them to the "Favorite Links" on the right hand side bar, under "pregnancy". I love Hana's blog, she is 23 weeks pregnant now. It's so fun to see the process of someone who is in the same stage of pregnancy!

17 weeks

17 weeks now. My belly started to show a bit, and some of my clothes no longer fit comfortably. I can't wear my regular jeans any more, although I've never been a big jeans person, so thank God that I don't miss those much. I'm glad I look like I have a baby bump now, instead of looking like a girl who ate too much lunch:)

I went to get my ultrasound done last Friday, and the baby is doing very well. He moves around a lot, showing us different poses..even the nurse was surprised how much he moved!
One great thing about Japanese doctor is that they do ultrasound once a month at the visit, even more when you get closer to the due date. My friend who lives in the U.S. envied me since she only got hers done a couple of times. The doctor I go to even video tape it for you with a DVD, so I can show my family later.

By the way, I keep referring my baby "he", but I haven't found out the sex yet. I though I would, last Friday, but the doctor told me to wait another month. I call the baby he because I think I'll have a baby boy. My husband's mom had 4 boys and his grandmother had 3 boys, so I feel like I'm destined to have boys also. But you never know! It might be a girl, and I would be happy with either.

I have some pet names for the baby, and one of them is "Ringo chan". Ringo means apple in Japanese. According to some pregnancy websites, the baby is now a size of an apple. So I call him ringo chan.

Today I wanted to share the pregnancy related blogs that I follow - I think many of them already gave birth, and it's also great to see the baby's photos and what they make for the baby.

♥ adored austin: Indiana had a baby boy in October 2010. Her post about "what not to wear: pregnancy edition" was just awesome!
♥ Dear Baby: Melissa had a baby girl, and the blog has wonderful photos.
♥ Bleubird Vintage: She had a baby girl, Gemma, about 3 months ago. I love her vintage pregnancy style, and her blog was the one that got me motivated to record my pregnancy as well. Also love her "What we wore" posts.
♥ Pacing the Panic Room: I really enjoyed reading her "walk to 40 weeks" series.
♥ mairuru: I just found out about this blog through one reader's comment (Thanks SH!). Mai is a wonderful crafter and she has an adorable etsy shop, called "siesta". She made all kinds of baby items for her daughter.

Do you have any other recommendations? Please let me know so I can add to my reading list!

JJ shirt dress and bumble bee hat

Hi! Weekend is here! We've had a wonderful sunny weather this weekend. My husband, I and our friends took a day trip to a place called Miyagase-ko, which is close to Atsugi in Kanagawa prefecture. It was a fun spot with some street vendors, hiking course and beautiful lake. We went there to "hike", but ended up climbing a mountain called "Takatori-yama", that is 700 meters high. When we started the hiking course, we did not realize that we would be climbing a mountain!
It was beautiful, and also hell of a workout. I don't remember climbing a mountain since my high school school trip, but this might going to be my new hobby. It was really fun.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

top: stripe stand up collar shirt dress

bottom: bumble bee reversible hat

Here are some sewing projects that I worked on over last week.
The one on the top is a shirt dress I made based on JJ pattern from BurdaStyle. I like to use the same pattern several times and make different variations.. You can see my other JJ variations here and here.
This time, I simply lengthen the shirt pattern to turn it into a dress. I also lengthen the sleeves too, to make them 3/4 cropped sleeves.
It came out rather too simple for my liking, and I wish I added some accents to it, maybe front ruffles.. oh well maybe next time. It is great for laying though!

The bottom is another hat. I love making hats! So simple and fun, and I love playing with different fabrics. It's reversible, and the combination of stripes and mustard yellow reminds me of a bumble bee:)

SHOW studio free patterns!

Just found out some free patterns from the top notch designers, like Alexander McQeen, Jyunya Watanabe, Yohji Yamamoto and more at Show studio website! Check out here.

16 Weeks

You might think why I jumped from 13 weeks to 16 weeks in a week? Some readers kindly pointed out to me after my last post that how they count pregnancy in the U.S. is actually the same as Japan: count from the last period, not from the actual conception day. Sorry for confusion, but now I'm 16 week pregnant!

By the way though, this whole confusion started because the doctors here say Japanese women are pregnant for 10 months, as opposed to 9 months in the U.S. I have no idea where the extra 1 month came from. That is why I thought Japanese are counting extra 2 weeks before the conception, but I still didn't understand where the rest of 2 weeks came from to make Japanese women pregnant for 10 months. Anyone has any idea?

I didn't get to take a photo of my growing belly this week. Sorry. But it hasn't grown that much from the last week, as you can see from yesterday's Halloween post.

I've felt pretty good through out the week. I switched my breakfast from white rice to oatmeal, and I think it is helping a lot to digest and clean out my stomach.
I also tried not to be stressed out about the work out too much. Before, I felt like I MUST work out at least 5 times a week to stay in shape. It got me stressed out because some days I just don't have time to squeeze in even a quick work out or felt too tired to move. So those days, I decided to forget about it and relaxed, instead of being frustrated.

Oh by the way, I felt the baby's very first move! He kicked me. It happened while Andy and I were watching Dexter, and it was like, either water boiling, or popcorn popping. I stopped the show and felt my belly again and he was definitely kicking! It was such a precious feeling. He hasn't kicked me since..I can't wait to feel that again.

So instead of my belly pictures, here is some photos of my first baby project.
It is a case/cover for Boshi Techo in Japanese. It literally means "mother and child journal". When you become pregnant, you go to a city hall to get this journal along with a discount tickets for doctor's visits. Pregnancy is not covered by insurance here. Your doctor or yourself write down everything you need to know about the pregnancy and baby to this journal - result of blood test, weight change, vaccines that the baby receives etc.


Please excuse my terrible sewing.. I really struggled sewing this project, and it wasn't all that much fun. I used oilcloth I bought from a fabric shop, Yuzawaya. It was my first time sewing oilcloth, and what a pain in the butt it was to sew! It sticks to sewing machine, so I sandwiched the fabric with toilet paper to avoid sticking. It made a huge mess on my sewing table, and after I completed the cover, I had to wash the whole thing to remove the toiled papers I used. I wanted to insert a zipper all around this case, but it didn't go all that well. The zipper was too short. So after my attempt to install the zipper, I had to take it apart, which left with these terrible needle spots..

At the end, I ended up putting a heart shaped button I bought from etsy and an elastic band to tie around. I hope you don't magnify the pictures and yell at me for a bad sewing!

No pattern was used for this project. I cut the fabric as I went so the journal fits.

Halloween!

I didn't dress up for Halloween this year. I thought about dressing up as Humpty Dumpty, but my belly didn't quite get big enough by Halloween. Also a typhoon was approaching Tokyo area, and the weather was really terrible. Windy and lots of rain, so I decided not to dress up for the party.
I was greatly entertained by this post by Twitch Vintage blog and wanted to share some of the cutest kids and pet costumes!