summer bracelet!

I've been experimenting with hemp lately and here's one that I came up with. It's up in my Etsy shop now! I hand-dyed the hemp to be a smokey gray to match the gunmetal of the rhinestones. I saw some macrame bracelets with rhinestones at American Eagle but I wanted one with a more natural look, so I made my own. :) This one has small orange and pink rhinestones but I think I'll make more with different colors.

アメリカンイーグルで見たブレスレットが気になったので自分で作ってみました。

お店で見た物よりちょっとエスニックな感じなのが欲しかったんですけど、ヘンプを自分で染めるところから始めることに。。。

ヘンプを染めるときこのような薄い色はあまり好ましくないらしいんですけど、これくらいの色が一番自然に見えるかな〜。

ラインストーンは夏らしい渋めのピンクとオレンジ、金具は金属じゃなくてガラスとブロンズのランプビーズで作りました。

私のEtsyショップで売る事にしました！いろんな色のラインストーンも使いたいな〜。。。

Fireworks and Hydrangeas

I went over to a friend's place for fireworks and barbeque last night! I met some friends that I haven't seen in a long time. It feels nice to do something simple with friends for once, no going to restaurants or whatever but instead hanging out over a grill and just talking and eating... and throwing water balloons lol. Hotdogs burgers and s'mores in the yard are all I need to have a good time with friends, I don't need to go to nice restaurants and go shopping to have a good time. :)

One thing I like about summer is watching the hydrangeas bloom in my yard. At least all that rain came in handy, although it kept me immobile for a while the water definitely helped the flowers. It's also interesting how the flowers change colors, last year the flowers were more green-ish and they made good dry flowers, but this year they are pink!

Raspberries!

I went to pick some raspberries from a bush in my garden (showed above! it's my favorite plant in our yard lol) while the weather was nice. It's so sunny today but with such a cool wind! It's very refreshing. I plan to get enough berries to make some jam soon. They are also very good if you freeze them and drop them into some pancake batter for a quick berry pancake breakfast. Also good for baking too! I guess they don't have to be from your garden, I freeze fresh fruit to use in cooking all the time. This method works great with blueberries. :)

今日は天気がとてもよかったので庭のラズベリーを少し収穫しに。。。

我が家自慢のラズベリーの木は私が小さい頃からたくさん実をつけてます！

でも今年はちょっと実の数が少ないかな。昔は実の重さで枝が折れたくらいなのに。。。

取れば取るほどたくさん実がなる木なので一生懸命実がなってないかチェックしてます。笑

たくさん集まったらジャムを作るつもりです。

冷凍すればかなり便利！ホットケーキを作るとき凍ったまま生地に入れるとジューシーなベリーホットケーキになります！後マフィンなどの焼き菓子を作るときにもいいです。

家ではこのために大体ラズベリーとブルーベリーが冷凍庫にはいってます。

一人暮らしを始めるときには絶対この木を持って行きたい！なんとか株を増やせないかな〜。

I've heard before that if you don't pick the berries often, you get a smaller harvest. I did notice that the last few years I rarely picked the raspberries except for quick snacks, and the number of berries this year is saddening. I remember in my childhood how every summer the branches of the huge bush would sag from the weight of the fruit and my dad had to put wire supports under them. I'm trying to pick more and take better care of the plant to ensure bigger harvests! When I move out of the house I'm definitely taking a sapling of this bush with me. I don't know if this will produce good fruit but it's the memories that count.

Superman!

I apologize for not updating for so long! The weather here has been odd lately which is causing mini power outages, and that messes with my router. It's also been hot as well as rainy and my cats are trying their best to keep cool, like Panther here cooling his tummy off on the cold kitchen tiles. My family calls this his "Superman" pose. :) Not having a reliable internet connection is a bit of a pain, I've learned to prioritize what needs to be done first while my laptop stays usable.

Thanks to all the extra time spent away from my laptop, I've been doing lots of knitting. I've got plenty of hats and a few hair accessories done that will be up for sale in the September craft show! But until then I need more items for my Etsy shop as well.

Which brings big news! We will be welcoming a new member to Noraneko Alley, the new alley cat is Sam who makes wearable accessories out of those little paper lucky stars. Hopefully I'll do some collaborations with her to make cute little accessories soon.

With the time I had I managed to whip up a more colorful banner for my Etsy shop. I'm hoping to make similar pictures for each member of Noraneko Alley to use on the shop that says "Made by _member's name here_" etc. I hope the weather gets better soon...

heart lockets

I found these adorable and super tiny heart-shaped lockets that were left over from when I bought them to make heart earrings for a friend's request, and I decided to make bracelets with them. Here is the result! A bangle bracelet with glass beads, hematite rounds, czech seed beads, and some silver-tone findings (I think they were pewter, I can't say for sure) They wrap around twice and are loose so they virtually will fit any wrist size.

I love the heart locket! It's so tiny and cute, especially the little engravings. Although I'm not sure about putting a photo in there, its so small you wouldn't be able to tell who is in the photo...

友達に頼まれてハートのイアリングを作った事があるんですけど、そのときのハートのロケットの残りを最近発見。

ちょっとブレスレットにしてみようかと。。。

小さなハートのロケットの甘辛なバングル出来上がり！

ガラス、ヘマタイトとピューター（だったような気がする。。。本当にピューターなのかな？）のビーズを使いました。

ヘマタイトってパワーストーンとしても有名ですよね？

私は単に色が好きなだけですけど。笑

それにあのずっしりとした重みがいいですね、私もよくヘマタイトのブレスレットを使ってます。

ちなみにこのブレスレット、中はワイヤーで大体どんなリストサイズでもOK！

自分以外の人のために作るときは手首の大きさを測るのが面倒だけどコレだと楽だな〜。

candle wax and cotton yarn

I managed to fix my longboard problem today :) all it took was a little melted candle wax in the pivot cups and it was good as new. I took poor Hei-chan out to cruise around the neighborhood bike paths today while it was dry in the afternoon. The rainy weather is continuing here, it rained this morning but thank goodness the sidewalks were dry by evening. I'm planning on re-painting the walls in my kitchen and family room but the rain is making me delay my plans...

Since I can't do much I bought a few skeins of Lily "sugar 'n cream" cotton yarn. I love it so much, the colors they have are closer to my taste and it's very durable stuff. I'm attempting to make a market bag from a pattern on Lion Brand Yarn available here for free. Wish me luck!

昨日のロンスケ問題はなんとか解決しました！

実は昨日、ロンスケの平ちゃんをガレージからクローゼットに移すときトラックスが以上にギシギシ音を立てていました。

溶かしたロウソクの蝋で変な音は無くなりました。

石けんの削りかすでも良いらしいです。こんなので直るのがちょっと不思議。

ちなみに今朝降っていた雨がやんだ後久しぶりに乗りました。

蝋を少し塗るだけでポンピングがだいぶ楽になりました！

でもやっぱり湿気が気になるのですぐに練習をやめて平ちゃんはクローゼットへ。。。

代わりに最近買ったコットンの毛糸で新しいエコバッグを作って気分転換。

使ったのはLily の「Sugar 'n Cream」！

１００％アメリカ製のコットンでかなり丈夫な毛糸です。

しかもちょっとレトロな感じのカワイイ色がたくさん！

ブランドの名前もカワイイな〜。ずっと使ってみたかったんですけど何を作ろうか今まで決まりませんでした。

パターンはコレです。色は「カントリーグリーン」link（０１２２２番です）

出来上がったら写真をうpします！

doodles and squeaks

It's been a while since I drew anything on Tegaki, it felt good lol. This time I was listening to "nazonazo" by RADWIMPS, which means "riddle" in Japanese. I love this band, it's one of my favorites. *u*

自分が描きたい絵を描くのはひさしぶり。。。

いつもどうりのヴェサちゃんとシルヴェンです。

RADWIMPS の「謎謎」を聞いていたら何かこんな感じになりました。

いつもに比べたらちょっとシュールだな。

I feel I've been neglecting my poor Hei-chan AKA my longboard. I was calling it Dubhán before but over time it also adopted the names "Hei-chan," "Shizu-chan" (as in Heiwajima Shizuo from Drrr!) and "Kohe" (as in Nanamatsu Koheita from Nintama Rantarou). I've gotten used to screaming "ikedo~~n!!!!" when speeding down a hill thanks to this name.

最近ロンスケにあまり乗らなくなりました。

ずっと雨の日が続いてなかなか乗れません。

湿気を避けるためにガレージからクローゼットへお引っ越し！

気がつけばボードは友達にいろんな名前をつけられています。

最近は「平ちゃん」や「静ちゃん」、さらに「コヘ」など。。。

...I think these are pretty accurate names lol. Both male characters who go on random rampages and are difficult to stop. I love to speed but I'm bad at braking, and I've had experience where I almost ran over some drunk sorority girls on campus. My friends who come up with these names are amazing. :)

平和島静雄と七松小平太。。。二人ともすごいキャラだな。笑

私がスピードを出してるくせにブレーキが苦手と言うとこから付けられたらしい。

部活ではロンスケ歴の長い先輩に無理矢理止めてもらうときもある。（と言うより止まれなくなったときに助けてもらう）

さらに私は過去に酔っぱらいの女子大学生の集団をロンスケで引きそうになった事がある。

最近は猛スピードで坂を下るとき無意識に「イケド〜〜〜〜〜ン！！！」と叫ぶくらい。

どうしてくれるんだK子、コレじゃ私はただの変人じゃないか！？

Lately I've been having issues with extremely loud squeaking from the trucks. I tried the soap in pivot cups method but it isn't working so far. Maybe I'm not using enough soap? I'll just keep trying I guess. Does anyone have problems like this or is it just me? I use Paris 150mm trucks...