Sashiko

Sashiko in progress

Sashiko is a type of Japanese embroidery that was originally developed to reinforce fabric, and traditionally uses repeating geometric designs worked in white thread on dark blue fabric. I like the simplicity of the patterns and colors so I wanted to try it for myself, even though I'm not very good at embroidery. So, I got a sashiko sampler kit and just finished it the other day, after a couple months of working on it on and off.

I found it both easy and challenging - easy, because the whole thing is running stitch, worked in straight lines, and the guides are printed onto the fabric to follow. And challenging, because as with many Japanese art forms, there are very precise rules about how to do it right. The stitches are supposed to be all the same size, maintaining a certain proportion between the stitches on the right side and the wrong side of the fabric, and there are particular ways you're supposed to do corners that make them look tidy. Since this was my first try at sashiko, and one of the only embroidery projects I've ever done, I spent a lot of time fiddling with my needle and working very hard to get my stitches as close to the same size as I could.

All done

I'm sure that once you get good at it, or even if you're already used to embroidery, it's easy to handle the mechanics of it and you can just enjoy the process. If you're interested in sashiko, there are a couple of websites dedicated to it: Studio Aika and Sashiko Stitchers. My kit was purchased from TaDaaStudios, which has a nice selection of different kits that include instructions in English. There are also kits and a tutorial available from Purl Soho.

Now that my sampler is finished up, I'm not sure what I'll do with it. The kit suggests making it into a pillow, which is a nice idea but I don't really need another decorative pillow right now. I'm thinking about framing it and maybe hanging it along with some other pictures and art - in some combination that will distract from my not-so-even stitches!

The last day on Ur

This evening, Glitch will close down forever. I mentioned the game earlier this spring as a nice, mind-soothing pasttime, especially when one is trying to avoid annoying real-world sources of stress. Glitch was a good place to get away from the real world in general, since it operated on its own quirky, imaginative principles. It was a place where you petted trees, milked butterflies, donated to shrines, and hopped around Mario-style collecting coins.

I'll be honest: it was not my favorite game. There was a large social element to it, which I didn't really participate in, because I'm usually too shy to actively play with other people (even though I love hanging out "in" MMO worlds). There was also a struggle from the beginning to define what Glitch was, what was fun about it, what you were "supposed to do" when you logged in. The point was that it was a different kind of game, and you were supposed to do whatever you wanted, but while some people really loved that about Glitch, for other people it just didn't click. I was somewhere in the middle: I liked being able to just do whatever, but I felt like there wasn't really enough "whatever" to sustain me.

Still, I did love traveling through the world of Ur, seeing new places and collecting coins. And I liked working on my house, expanding it and building new furniture and taking care of my little collection of trees and animals. And I enjoyed the artistic vision of the game. There were a few really beautiful spots and it's a shame that they won't remain accessible online for other people to enjoy.

Since the announcement a few weeks ago - it makes me feel very guilty to admit this - the game has actually been a lot more fun for me. It's given me goals where before everything was open-ended, which didn't really motivate me. Now there's a reason to see places I haven't seen yet, work on puzzles I haven't solved, and make recipes I haven't made before, because soon I won't be able to. I also have a habit in every game I play of hoarding all the good potions and items and so on for the right moment. Not surprisingly, this usually results in me running out of storage space and never enjoying most of the cool buffs and things. Now, finally, I get to use all my stuff! It's really fun to play like the world is ending. And it doesn't hurt that the developers gave us all free subscriptions and in-game money.

Tonight I'll log on to see what, if anything, happens at the end of Glitch. It's sad to witness the end of something that was loved so much, and I will miss bouncing around in the treetops or the clouds or under the ocean. But I'm glad I got to play.

Tiny frog

It's been a while! I didn't have much to say because my main knitting project has been a present for someone, and then I was on vacation for two weeks in Japan. There will be more posts about both of those things later, but first, I did have one project post-sock that I can share:

Tiny frog! I made him using the Tiny Frog Kit from Mochimochi Land. The kit was a present to me for my birthday last year, and I was starting to feel a little guilty that more than a year had gone past and I hadn't made a frog yet. I had been intimidated by the idea of using DPNs to knit something both tiny and three-dimensional, but I guess I was emboldened coming off my sock success because this was the only thing I wanted to work on once the socks were done. He was extremely fiddly to make, but very rewarding, because now I have a tiny frog. I think making the other two (the kit has enough supplies for three) will go a little easier.

Other than the tiny frog and the above-mentioned gift, I don't have much yarny stuff to talk about. I did bring a knitting project to Japan, but worked on it even less than I expected to. It was nice to take a vacation from everything about my regular life, including knitting. Much as I enjoy it, it is easy to get into a rut.

I have another kit, also a present (this time from last Christmas) that's appealing to me right now, a sashiko sampler from Purl Soho. Although I've been interested in trying sashiko, and embroidery in general, for a while, my thinking for most of this year has been "Why start something new when I could just knit more things?" Now I'm more inclined to think "Why keep knitting things when I could also try something new?" Maybe it has something to do with having been in Japan, not only taking a break from my regular schedule for a while, but drooling over all the wonderful craft kits you can buy there.

Lists, lists, lists

Still working on that Rick Rack scarf, still too scared of DPNs to start the mitts I have queued. I did try casting on, but I was worried I was going to snap the needles with my extraordinarily tight stitching. Then I had a knitting crisis (filling my weekly quota) and decided I needed to go back several levels and deal with my tension. This article on Knitty was pretty helpful. I don't know whether I was actually pulling the yarn tight after every stitch or not, but I definitely tend to wrap the working yarn pretty tightly around several fingers. So I loosened up, and suddenly the scarf I'm working on felt a lot less tortured, and I worked on it through a whole two-hour movie without feeling like I was developing arthritis. Loosening up: it's good for you.

Also started this little cute dragon. I haven't gotten far yet, but it's turning out much smaller than I imagined - which is good. I like small things.

My main project, though, has been crafting epic to-do lists for our upcoming move. I have so many things to do and so many lists to consult that I think I need a list of lists, to make sure I don't forget anything. I am looking forward to a quiet summer and hoping my sanity rejoins me at that point.

Leave me alone, my garden needs tending.

In the meantime, I've gotten back into playing Glitch. It's a browser-based MMO, although that's just a very basic definition. I started playing in the fall and went away after a month or so. Now I'm back, because the best remedy for having way to many lists and to-dos is to play a game that consists mostly of giving me quests and tasks to do. Seriously, it's a nice to ignore all the stuff I have to think about and feel like I'm actually getting stuff done, even if that stuff is just petting trees and nibbling pigs and donating things to giants (it's an odd game).

And when that doesn't do it for me, I hop into Skyrim and bash heads with my warhammer.

Reading hiatus

Earlier this year, I watched Game of Thrones, and since I'd never read the books, I decided that this was a good time to start. And now, after treating the first four volumes of the A Song of Ice and Fire series as one gigantic, 4080-page book, I don't want to read anymore. At all. Anything. I'm taking a break from reading for fun, for the first time since I graduated from college. It wasn't that I disliked ASoIaF, overall, but it was too much slogging with the only real payoff being more misery, suffering and death for everyone. I am quite content, for a little bit, to fill my free time in other ways.

I usually read at multiple points in the day, and I've found new things to fit in most of those slots. Breakfast is a good time to check Reader. During my commute, I've been listening to podcasts, for the first time in my life. Looped Yarn Works' DC Unraveled has been fun to listen to, although it's hard to ride to work listening to someone talk about knitting projects and then have to sit at my desk for hours before I can get back to my own projects. I've also just started listening to the BBC's A History of the World in 100 Objects, which is wonderful, and makes me really want to go to the British Museum. Speaking of museums, my normal lunchtime reading is a good time to go explore the museum I actually work in. Exhibitions aren't as interesting when they're always there, but lately I've been regretting how little time I've spent in the galleries compared to how long I've had this job. So, this works out pretty well!

The only reading-time I haven't filled in yet is before bed, but I've been meaning to go through my cookbooks and mark recipes I want to try. I think the pleasure of having a book to read before going to sleep is what will end my hiatus, but for now I'm okay with lurching slightly out of my rut. But I have to say, I'm looking forward to reading Haruki Murakami's and Neal Stephenson's latest books, once the idea of starting a new book doesn't overwhelm me.