Smalls SAL for December 2023

Thank You, Mary (at Mary's Thread) for hosting this link up. If you also want to join, check out this page on Mary's blog to find out how. 

This month, I finished the Lizzie Kate freebie called Cozy Christmas Wishes.  The chart can be found here.

Friday Finish - the Beady Loop Fobs

These were fun to make, but they do take a bit of time. I made each one in a strip, then joined the two ends to make the loop through the slot in the hanger. I might make some more of them in the future.

Another New KitKat Flavor - Sugar Butter Tree

 

Can you believe it?  Another new KitKat flavor! When I first saw this, I thought, What is the flavor of Sugar Butter Tree? As I looked into it more, I discovered Sugar Butter Tree is the name of a Japanese Sweets Shop which was founded in 2010. The most popular sweet of this shop is the Sugar Butter Sandwich Tree, which is "made with a unique blend of fermented butter and a special cereal dough, with a center of soft white chocolate sandwiched in between."  It seems to be similar to the wafer cookie of the KitKat candies.

These special KitKats are sold in boxes of six or twelve, and priced at 702 yen and 1,382 yen respectively. I saw them on Amazon Japan for a much higher price - six for 1980 yen! I won't be buying any at any price, but they must appeal to some people.

Work In Progress Wednesday

Again this week, I have spent most of my stitching time on the hexagons.  I have worked on some cross stitch though.

Sneek Sampler progress

International Panda progress

Ueno Toshogu Shrine

After visiting the Ueno Zoo, I headed to Ueno Toshogu Shrine.

It was a great day to spend at Ueno Park.

Monday Morning Star Count - 162, Seven Rows

This week - seven new hexagon flowers for a total of 162, and seven rows of 12 connected. 

The hexagons and the flowers are small and great to carry around and work on when I have a few minutes. The big connected piece can only be worked on at home. Even at home, it is a bit awkward to handle.  It is fun to look at the different fabrics and combinations as I slowly connect the rows.  I'm pretty pleased with how it is coming together. I love the randomness and the colors.

Saturday at Ueno Zoo

 Last Saturday, I took the train to Tokyo to visit the Ueno Zoo. I like most of the animals, but I especially like the Giant Pandas.  It was an unusually warm day for December and a great day to go to the zoo.

The entrance fee for the zoo is 600 yen and they warn you about the wait time to see the pandas before you buy your ticket.

The wait time to see the adult parents of the twin two year old parents was only about 15 minutes. The female panda was behind a plexiglas divider and hard to see because of the reflection. It was feeding time and the pandas didn't seem to be concerned with the crowds.

The male panda looked like he was sitting in his recliner.

This was the start of the hour long wait to see the two year old twins. Only one of the twin pandas was in the exhibit area.

When I finally got up to the exhibit area, all I could see was a little white fur of the one twin in the exhibit area. It was disappointing.

I left the pandas and moved on the see the other animals. It was nice to see the signage in English. I think there were many foreign tourists at the zoo because I heard a lot of people speaking English.

The Vivarium was an interesting place, but it was hard to get good pictures there.

I found it interesting that the signs show what the animal eats.

Back outside again.

My pictures from inside the Small Mammal's House were not good.

There were still some fall colors to be seen.

I could have stayed longer, but after the elephant, I decided to leave the zoo. It was on to another place at Ueno Park.