Uninspirational event

HITT and my friend Isabel

Yesterday was a really strange day. I went to a con with my boyfriend to support his band and to help them in what I could. I ended up being recruited by a friend to accompany a Japanese musician, that is actually a friend of mine, HITT who was in the con. for a conference and autograph session . I spend all day with a really nice girl, HITT, the manager and Isabel (the friend who recruited me) in HITT'S dressing- room, wile my boyfriend was making the sound check for the gig and sometimes come to meet us. It was really funny cuz the nice girl had actually lived in Japan for a year and she speaks japanese really well but HITT's manager was French and only understood english so I would speak in english, the girl would translate into japanese and so on so everyone could understang everyone! ( ^ A ^)b. It was actually a really nice afthernoon talking about hairstyles and such with HITT and about Japan with Inês (the nice girl) and Isabel. It's really hard to explain to someone who hasn't been in Japan the joy of simple things like taking a train or having a drink from a vending machine, I usually talk about how I miss this things only with Ti, so it was really nice to acknowlege that I'm not the only one who values such things haha.


The only down part about the day was the actually gig it self, the sound was horribly arranged by the sound technicians who were very unprofessional during the gig and complaining about work all the time when they were being paid to do so... Apart from that I think the band it self was not confidant with the sound so I know they could've done a much better work interacting with the public and between them. There is always something that goes wrong in this kind of cons. the sound, the image, the scheduled but this time I think it was too much. The sound was bad like I said, the schedule was not the one that was agreed on which made me and Ti to arrive home extra late and have to take a taxi, and there was no dinner for the band so obviously Ti was starving and at the time we arrived at our town there was nothing open and we didn't have anything to eat at home... We ended up at 1:00AM in a local bar eating chips and drinking cola and beer. This kind of thing always let me down, music is a big part of my life and I love being on stage and really miss having a band and have some gigs but on the other hand there are always so many issues, the sound quality, the stage, the lights, the public opinion, have someone interested in having you to make a gig on a bar or live house (which are almost extinguished in Portugal), having the entire band to agree with everything so no drama arise and well the time and the money that you spend in crappy studios and crappy material plus commuting to those studios which are usually 1 or 1:30 hours away from home... This all think uninspired me when it comes to making music again, everything is so complicated... I hope Roku Beat (my boyfriend's band) have a new opportunity to show what they are capable of, they are all such great musicians and they really work hard! Ti used our music room a lot in the last few months to prepare himself to this gig he was there every night practicing planing every move so nothing would go wrong, and because of bad, lazy sound technicians nothing was like planned... Any way I need to put my mind around something exiting and colorful in the next few hours I really don't want to stop my projects and feel like once again I let this kind of thing get too much into me ( -.-)~~~~~~~~

3:00AM Inspirations

So, here I was at 3:00 AM awaken like an Owl at midnight.... The truth is that my better "thinking time" has always been late at night, those 10, 20 minutes right before I fall asleep are always filed with a burst of ideas and projects O__o. Yesterday I couldn't sleep again. Tired of looking into the dark sealing I grabbed my note book and a pen and started to write a bunch of stuff to do in the next days, stuff that we need to buy for our new house, and then I start to review my crochet stash, the hooks, the yarns, and it came to my mind the whole reason I got interested in Amigurumis and crochet and why did I started this blog in the first place.

I'd seen this CUTE little bear for sale at ETSY and when I read the description and found out that it was made of crochet I just couldn't believe that it looked so professional O_O. I started looking for info about the Amigurumi technique and decided to put my crochet skills to use. So I've ever since wanted to make, not one teddy bear, but a all family of them! The Merry Bears.

 I've actually design the one on the right first, her name is Tsukimi (literal translation is Viewing the Moon) and its inspired in a Festival that takes place in Japan around this time of the year.  Four years ago, when I first went to Japan with my boyfriend (on September 16) I remember to see lots of banners and flyer's related to this festival. Those are such good, warming memories. I remember how excited I was, everything seamed like it had a coat of pink clouds and rainbow bubbles those days, so when I designed Tsukimi I tried to show all those good feelings making her look almost magical. She has a little moon in the forehead and the fur is all fuzzy and soft in white and pink (^-^).
The one on the left is Bearry. He is actually inspired in my favorite character from san-x Rilakkuma. He will be brown and Yellow with a cap that remind a half strawberry, with 2 leafs on the top (º 3º)b.

I hope I can finish these off soon. I'm still waiting for the plastic eyes to arrive... Portuguese Post service is hell I tell you...

<3


EDIT:
I've uploaded some video tutorials! (★>∇<★) have fun! <3

Frist Class in Years

Yesterday was my first Japanese class. I haven't been in a school learning with other students for 5 or 6 years now. It felt kinda like going back in time for a wile but having friends and Ti (boyfriend) there made me relax and actually do a good job reading some hiragana out loud for the class. I actually really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward for the next lessons! I never liked school, it was always something that I really had to do, obviously, but It was actually the boredom of school, and of the subjects I had, that made me start exploring crafts and new and different ways to put my mind around some stuff that I really enjoyed.
I'm still really inspired by some of the things I learned during school time, like lolita, crafting with fimo, crochet, painting and playing piano, so it wasn't all in vain!

If I was 15 again I'd make the most of it and would probably try to enjoy some more. I know I'd have the urge to make some obento to take to school instead of eating at the cafeteria hahahha.

All this memories made me think that I really wanted to do something useful that I can use during classes, I was totally without a clue until I started to write this XD. Since we don't use shoes in the class room (its a dojo) I'm thing about making some slippers to use in the Winter time! My feet are always cold as ice and I think I will really enjoy some wool flippers to use in class.
I still have to decide the design and probably buy some yarn but I'm really excited. This will probably be the most difficult crochet I made till now (o-O)b.

I'll also be starting a shawl for mori-girl outfits and I think I'll just make it big and useful one, without lots off pretty elaborated stuff, that I can use around the house too.

I told you so... まっくろーくろすけ

Hi! Remember when I told you I'd like to make a "dust sprite" (the actual name is MAKKURO-KUROSUKE) from the Hayao Miyazaki universe? I just made one in half an hour! Actually when you get use to it, Amigurumi is not that hard! (º 3º)v

I think it looks alot like the ones from the movie (o.o)
what do you thing?

 This is a simple Amigurumi ball in black yarn. It was brushed with a comb and I mad the eyes with felt.

By the way I haded the Sunny Side Up egg to the free patterns page, now you can make one too <3

Thanks for reading!

Here is the pattern:

Row 0: Ch2 and sc 6 in second ch from the hook (6)
Row 1: 2sc in each sc around (\/) (12)
Row 2: 2sc in first sc + 1sc un second sc (\/)(|) (18)
Row 3: 2sc in first sc + 1 sc in the next 2 sc (\/)(|)(|) (24)
Row 4: 2sc in first sc + 1 sc in the next 3 sc (\/)(|)(|)(|) (30)
Row 5: 2sc in first sc + 1 sc in the next 4 sc (\/)(|)(|)(|)(|) (36)
Row 6 to 9: 1sc in each sc around (|) (36)
Row 10: sc2tog, 1sc in next 10 sc (||)(|)(|)(|)(|)(|)(|)(|)(|)(|)(|) (33)
Row 11: sc2tog, 1sc in next 9 sc (||)(|)(|)(|)(|)(|)(|)(|)(|)(|)(30)
Row 12: 1sc in each sc around (|) (30)
Row 13: sc2tog, 1sc in next 3 sc (||)(|)(|)(|) (24)
Row 14: 1sc in each sc around (|) (24)
Row 15: sc2tog, 1sc in next 2 sc (||)(|)(|)
Row 16: sc2tog, 1sc in next 1 sc (||)(|)

Finish off! <3 and you are done! Sew on the eyes made of felt, Stuff it and use a hair brush to make it look "dust like" <3~~.

Inspiration: Hard to understand

After a few years learning by myself, a few days ago I'm finally going to have some Japanese Lessons in a school with a teacher! <3 I'm really excited and although I missed the first class already I've been catching up this week by asking people what they've learned.

The lunch box with Hayao Miyazaki characters

My boyfriend is attending the classes too, in a different more advanced level, so we leave school already at lunch time. This make think about doing some obento boxes for us.

The last time I made a bento box with some "design" it was inspired in Hayao Miyazaki characters and it was the lunch for my boyfriend at work.

I was looking at this bento when I remembered the reason I choose the "dust ball" for it and I've decided to use it as inspiration for one of my next projects!

I'm learning a new crochet technique called Amigurumi (編みぐるみ) and I've decided to make this little dust balls one of  my projects since my "crochet season" is almost starting.

One of the more basic shapes to make with Amigurumi is a ball. It's one of the first shapes you should learn and it looks pretty easy (^-^)b.

Amigurumi is something that I'm really excited about. I've already have lots of projects programed and I'm just trying to have some time to get the right yarn and hooks to get them started.

The "dust ball" will be, for sure, one of my first projects <3~~~ I'll be posting the pattern or the tutorial for it here (^ 3^)! <3