Japanese Crochet

Happy smiles. 

My package from Japan came yesterday. I couldn't blog about it last night because, well, it was the word of the week day for P. and me. And because I waited until everyone went to bed to open the package. Then I could sit in peace and quiet and savor this tiny little package of smiles.

The house is much quieter when everyone else is in bed, or at least holed up in their rooms. Nobody's calling my name, looking for this or that, like I know where all the this' and thats are, hitting me up for money, or begging me to go shopping just this once. Or wondering where their jeans are, you know, the ones I washed two days ago.

Two days ago? And you thought they'd still be in the dryer. Ha.

Nope, got all that out of the way, and then I opened my package. All the way from Japan.

That still amazes me.

 I knew it would be written in Japanese.

I just thought that through some sort of international crafting osmosis, I would understand the Japanese it was written in and be able to decipher these patterns.

Double ha.

Have I mentioned that I bear some resemblance to Pollyanna?

But I am not giving up. No sirree, not me.

I went to that handy dandy site, Google, and typed in "how to decipher Japanese crochet patterns".

And guess what? There are sites out there that do this stuff. Here's a very good one.

Holy Babel Fish, Batman! Now we're cookin'.... 

These are the sweetest patterns and I'm eager to try one.  

Never let it be said that just because I can't read, write, or speak a language, it will stop me from messin' with their craft patterns.

After all, I made a bag that I found in a French magazine, Marie Claire Idees, last year. Of course I speak a little French, and Babel Fish helped a LOT.

But I think I'll start small, like with the padded hanger above. Recognize that photo from a few days ago? Yup, that's why I bought this book.  Everything in it is Just.So.Sweet.

Even the biscuit tin. Love.it.

On a totally random note, did anyone else see the message that Apple had on their home page yesterday about a big announcement coming from iTunes today?

When I opened Safari tonight, it was The Beatles.

That's the big announcement. The Beatles are now on iTunes.

Huh? I didn't know they weren't on iTunes. What a letdown. I mean I like the Beatles and all, but I have Beatles CDs on my iPod. I've been listening to them for years on my iPod.

Please don't hype me up unless it's a really big announcement, like a price drop, Apple.