Japan, Here I Come

Here it is: A finished (almost) baby sweater and my last entry before I fly over the Pacific Ocean and spend my long anticipated week in Japan.

First, the sweater details: I adapted the pattern in last summer's Knits baby section to work for some Pakucho cotton I had hanging around. It gets two colors because I didn't have enough of the white to make an entire sweater. This little cutey (which I love, love, love) is destined for my grand niece. Yes, grand niece. It'll get a purple ribbon tie near the top and the baby bonnet (see post below) before it's sent off in the mail. That, of course, will be after I get back from Japan.

Expect to be bored to tears by pictures and stories of Janglish, hardships searching for Japanese yarn and longings to go back (I hope).

In the meantime, here's some interesting stories:

-- The case of the farting chair.

-- I'm not much of a sausage eater, but I've got a hankering to try these.
.

-- Speaking of food (and Japan), I've fallen in love with Elizabeth Andoh's "Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen" cookbook. I checked it out of the library, renewed it twice and put it at the top of my wishlist. I'm following the lead of Rebecca's Pocket and only buying one cookbook a year (me and my fat jeans are slogging through the stick-to-your-ribs diner fair of Rachael Ray just now). I can't buy until December, but I'm pretty sure this James Beard nominee is it.