Yuzawaya Tales

A party of ten set out for Yuzawaya's flagship craft store in Kamata. We went by train but I felt like I was traveling in a pea-green boat with a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker. All of us are Navy spouses but our affiliations are marvelously heterogenous - line and medical, officer and enlisted - and our hobbies run the gamut from fine arts (painting) to scrapbooking. My hobbies, as you know, change hourly.

No one came home empty-handed. We found craft supplies arrayed in eight different buildings spread over four city blocks just outside the train station (this assumes one leaves the station by the South Exit which, of course, I did not but several very nice Japanese ladies kindly pointed me in the right direction).

One thing I did not find is wooden balls so I won't be doubling my kimekomi collection anytime soon. I also did not find any Totoro fabric for Diane and Kathleen Jr so, shucky darn, it seems I will have to drag Margaret up to Tokyo for a thorough exploration of Textile Town before she packs her bags for Florida.

My consolation purchases included Anpanman fabric (for kitchen window toppers, snicker) and blue yarn (my sister has commissioned a scarf and I am on track to get it whipped up by the time she celebrates her sixtieth birthday in 2015).

The hat and gloves shown here were created by zany Betty of the (depending on the week) pink, green, or yellow hair who first endeared herself to me by passing along knitting tips and recently cemented our relationship by sharing her well-thumbed copy of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. When I wasn't laughing out loud at the book's take on Armageddon, I was wondering why one of the Peck kids or Casey or Pete failed to pass this book along to me about 15 years ago. I can't imagine they haven't read it.