Cosmo threads on sale... last 3 days.

Our 'try me' special on Cosmo threads is just about to end. If you are considering this thread you just have 3 days* to grab some for your stash at the special introduction price of $2.00AUD and saving of 60cAUD!

I can send this thread anywhere but international orders will have an additional invoice sent for the postage as it is impossible to get a correct price for this in the shopping cart. Remember the special price only applies to shades that are currently in stock - these are shaded with blue over the number in the image.

Here's the link to the store... dash over there and take a look now.

I am still trying to source the colour swatches made of real thread for this brand... it is a little like pulling teeth to be honest but I wont give up until I succeed.

*This offer ends Midnight on April 30th, 2011 Australian WST.

Cosmo Temari Books and now Cosmo Pearl 5 Threads

I addition to stocking KYO Rayon temari thread I'm glad to announce that I have secured Cosmo Perle No5 threads to sell here in Australia. It is very exciting news and while I have only a small range (about 70 shades) to start with I will be expanding the colour selections going forwards. I want you to try them out so until the end of April 2011 I'm offering these beautiful threads at the awesome "try me" price of just $2.00 each.  This offer only applies to in stock colours. From May 1st the regular selling price will be $2.60.

If you've never heard of this thread here's what you need to know:
Lecien has been marketing COSMO threads since 1950. Today COSMO holds the No.1 position of total thread sales in the Japanese market.
COSMO is the brand of thread used in many Japanese temari pattern books including the Cosmo 1-7 series of temari books. COSMO threads are strong but soft and resistant to tangling, this makes them delightful to stitch with. The superior dyeing techniques used by Leicen have created threads that have an amazing level of color retention.

There are just over 250 colours in this range and they are simply gorgeous. Our price (even our regular price) makes them much better value than DMC or Anchor skeins and the threads are of equal, if not better, quality. The skeins are 25m in length and are a 2 ply single strand made with 100% cotton.

The colours numbers highlighted with blue in the store colour charts are in stock, all other colours may be requested but could take several weeks to arrive.

I have been using this thread for a while now and my most recent completed project was the Stitch for Japan temari.

Pattern play part two

I've been stitching my heart out lately but there's not too much I can show right now.  This week I have been playing with patterns again. I have been trying out different colours on a wrapped bands pattern. This is a fun activity and I learn a lot every time I do this. I've done four balls in this design and while I think I prefer the blue and red one, I can't really place the other three.

Which one do you prefer?

I have also been playing with one of my favorite patterns from Cosmo 1. I've mixed it up a bit and am plugging in different colours to see how they look. I really like the shape formed at the pole area. I can't say that I have ever seen this shape before... could I have stumbled on something new? Not too likely, with all the hundreds of thousands of temari that have been made over the years since the first temari was stitched, I am sure someone else has stitched this before. I've never seen it though.

Which colours do you like best?

This last set are to temari I made this week working from a pattern I stitched for my JTA submission (the red one) last year. Please excuse the stitching on the pink one, it is a bit wonky... I was watching a German movie while stitching this one and as I don't speak the language I was mostly reading the subtitles... when will I learn that I can't 'watch' a subtitled movie and stitch temari at the same time? I might go back and try to groom out that flat side which I hadn't noticed being so bad until I saw this photo.

The more I play at making temari the more obvious it is that selecting colours to use on a project can be harder than working out the pattern when written in Japanese. Sometimes the colours I select are bang on perfect and other times what seems like a nice combination in my hand looks hideous on the temari. I have grabbed a bunch of lovely pale colours only to see them turn out all faded out on the surface of my temari. The 'pop' factor can be somewhat elusive. Occasionally I've grabbed random colours that don't seem to match only to see them sync up on the ball like magic.  Also interesting is that the same set of threads can look wonderful on one pattern and terrible on another. This is why I really like the exercise of trying out several colours on a pattern.

3rd time a charm???

A while back I stitched a ball from Cosmo 2 page 1. I really love the design. I thought I had done a good job of it and decided to make it again in paler colours.

As I laid down the final round on the new ball I realised that I had done something wrong.  I then discovered that I'd made the mistake in reverse on the first ball. Oh my goodness! How did I not see it before? Can you pick the mistake? I bet you can. Here is the sample ball from the book.

Now here is the first ball I made. Can you see the mistake?

Here is the new ball. Now setting aside the fact that the colour palette is different, can you see the new mistake?

I'm sure you worked it out. But incase you didn't, here is the problem.

Look at the top layers of star points in the original photo you will see that one side lays over the top of all the pentagon sides. In the first attempt  I managed to get most of my top points underneath (instead of over) the pentagon sides on most of the 12 star shapes.  With the second attempt I did actually think about the need to weave the top layers so you can see that most (but not all of the points are laid over the pentagon sides. I'm not sure how I missed this crucial element when I first stitched this design. Maybe it is because I tend to follow the instructions until I think I've got the idea and then put them away. I don't recall even looking at the original pattern for my second attempt. Which was a big mistake because instead I chose to refer to my own pattern notes (which didn't account for this part of the design element as I hadn't noticed it at the time) and the actual ball I had previously stitched. It was only when I noticed that the weaving was different in some sections that I referred back to the image from the book. Oh well you live and learn I guess.

I have another ball wrapped and ready to try this pattern for a third time. Here's hoping I can get it right this time! I'll post a pic when it is finished.   See this post for the 3rd ball.

C10 Project from Cosmo 6

This is the 49th post for 2010 which equals the number of posts for entire year in 2009. Only 2 more posts to make 100 altogether. How did I find so much to write about? Because this post is special I decided to post something a bit different.


I have decided on my next temari project.  It is a C10 from Cosmo 6. It is pictured as number 4 on page 25 (pattern on P26/27).  It is on my temari to do list - so I am glad to be reducing this long, long list.  The first job to do even before making the base is to try to establish how to stitch the temari.  In this case what the pattern is saying.  Sometimes a temari can be reverse engineered (worked) from just a photo (often there is no pattern when we see a temari we want to make so it is our only option).

If you have never seen a Japanese pattern before this is what it looks like. Now I don't speak, read or write Japanese fluently. In fact I only know just enough to get me into and occasionally out of trouble. But even with my basic understanding I can gain a lot of information from 'reading' this pattern. First off the text runs right to left top to bottom when printed vertically. When printed horizontally it reads left to right the same as English. Members of Temari Challenge have access to a nice English/Japanese conversion sheet for common terms.  There is also something similar on the Temarikai website but it is a little more difficult to read. Sometimes I even use google translate to type in English words I think the printed text might mean and see if I can find the same kanji in the translations offered.

Straight away I can see from the larger text the name of the pattern (flower and star - it is just lucky I know these particular symbols: first symbol is 'flower', the middle one is 'and' or 'with' and the last one is hoshi which means 'star') and under the name is reference to the page number (25) where the colour image can be found in the book.  From the text under the picture I can see it is a C10 division. Sometimes you can easily tell the division from the picture alone - but not always.

The first line of text (I mean the far line just to the left of the picture) tells me the circumference (33cm) and diameter (10.5cm) of the base mari. The usual size of temari that I gravitate to (what feels comfortable in my hands) is between 24 and 26 cms so all the blanks I made last week are too small. Thankfully I had one a little larger (28cm) that was still wrapped in wool so I added on a few more cms and got it up to 34cm - but then it actually ended up at 31.5cm as I think I was a bit stressed when I wrapped the final thread layer so it is a little firmer and more compacted than usual. This means I will need to adjust the number of rows I will use.

The second sentence tells about the thread wrap colour.  It is a Cosmo brand thread in white.

The third sentence tells me that there are 4 Cosmo perle 5 stitching thread colours used. The colours being pink tones from light to dark 206, 204, 112, and 111. Also a gold metallic thread is used. I plan to use 4 blues on a white ball with silver.

The next section of text relates to Jiwari (marking lines) and Kagari (stitching) directions.

[1] Says to mark the mari into C10 with Gold thread.

[2] Says in the 6 part triangle add extra marking lines to make a total of 12 lines. Extend the lines into the pentagon areas so they end near the short lines out of this center. The place to aim for seems to be 1/2 way along the short lines from the pentagon centers.

Now this is where it can go a bit pear shaped - translation wise. So what follows is my best estimate of what is written in Japanese.  This is a bit harder because my computer has lost it's ability to use Japanese characters since it was repaired - so no easy google translations unfortunately.

[3] Goes on to describe measuring a 1/2 mark on the added lines of the 6 part triangles and stitching around the path of 6 points starting at the point that looks like a sloped T and to the right around the points back to it. This forms a hexagon. 3 rows of pink in the lightest colour then 4 rows of the next lightest colour. Repeat steps 2-3 until 20 hexagon shapes on the ball are completed. Now I am not sure if it says to continue until all the hexagon stitching is done OR if you should stop here and come back to finish it after stitching the flower shapes. I am being honest here. My feeling is to come back to it but it doesn't seem logical to do that. Also it would involve weaving under the flower shapes to complete the hexagons.  ***

[4] In the 12 pentagon areas stitch 2 rows of pink followed by 1 row of gold. Start about 0.2cm from where the added lines on the 6 part triangle join the short lines from the pentagon.

[5] Starting on the inside edge of a pentagon side kiku stitch a 6 point flower over the top of the hexagon areas.  Inside points should be about 0.3cm from the hexagon pole. So that is the jist of the first sentence, but I can't make out the next 2 apart from the talk about the flower being stitched with 2 rows of darkest pink and one row of gold. There is a lot of Kanji text here that I can't read and I am sure the key to the whole pattern must be in this section.

[6] Inside the pentagons add some small stitches to the center in gold thread.

So here is the summary from the second picture near right of diagram:

On the 20 Hexagon shapes stitch:

3 rows lightest pink then

4 rows of light/medium pink then

4 rows of medium/dark pink then

1 row of darkest pink.

On the 12 Pentagon shapes stitch:

2 rows of darkest pink then

1 row of gold

On top of the hexagon shapes stitch:

Using kiku herringbone stitch

2 rows of darkest pink then

1 row of gold

Inside the center of the pentagons add extra gold stitches near the pole to create flower centers.

*** My plan is to completely stitch the hex and pent shapes then do the flower shapes on top. This will mean I will need to open up a gap in the 2nd and 3rd colours of pink in hex's to layer the meeting points on the kikus.

Here is my progress shot. I am using blue tones.  Don't look too carefully or you'll see how dodgy my uneven marking is and of course as I am practicing with this one the colours I chose are a bit off... the light blue is too light, dark blue is ok, but the two medium shades are too close in value to be seen in the photo. I am not being too fussy because this is about working out the pattern. The next time I make this I will ensure all these points are better taken care of.

Generally I do ok, when I can I humbly ask my SIL to glance over the Japanese pattern and then I suggest what I think it means.  She usually needs to give me several corrections... usually the points I miss are vital to the outcome.  Such is life.

Such is life is an Aussie expression which is used when expressing the acceptance of a frustrating circumstance. Usually said in a sighing tone. It is believed that these were the last words of  Australia's most famous bushranger Ned Kelly who was hanged at 10 o'clock on the 11th November 1880, at the Old Melbourne Gaol. His last words before he was executed were, "I guess it has come to this." and shortly after "Such is Life."

C8 frustration and what happens when plan B happens.

Ok so after making two C10's in a row I decided to try a C8.  I had seen a lovely set of snowflake inspired temari on Jane C's blog World Embroideries a while ago and really like the idea of trying something similar. In the image below you can see the red ball I was aiming for.  The pattern is in Cosmo 2 Page 4 ball 6. I really liked the idea and I set to work with a small 21cm ball and marked the C8 and wrapped the bands on the S4 & Eq. Given the limited amount of text in the pattern (which I admit I didn't even try to translate) and the funky diagram I decided that perhaps the next thing to do was the band on the 6 part triangle.  Then that is where I got stumped.  I don't know why but I just couldn't work out the rest.  My brain just stuck in neutral I was grinding away at the gears but none were engaging.  In the end I had a smallish size tantrum and decided to forget the pattern tidy up the ball and go to bed.  So this is what I came up with.

I knotted the 6 part triangle intersections, on the band intersections I stitched a single square over them to keep everything ship shape.  I quite like how the ball turned out even though it was NOTHING like the original design.  Looking again at the pattern today I can almost follow it and I am sure I have this design in one of the English books in my collection so I will go back to the drawing board and try again... when my brain is a little more rested. 

Second C10 for 2010

The second C10 for 2010 is from Cosmo 2 featured on Page 3 is ball #14.  As you can see from the inset picture it didn't turn out exactly right.  There are several factors that I think contribute to this. 

1 The ball was perfectly (insert not 100% but pretty darn close) round but was marked at the pool while watching swim classes and chatting to folk - so the marking is a bit off. 

2 The colours are not as striking in contrast as the original.  The orange should have been a deeper shade.

3 The measuring from center was not spot on and also the mari is different size than the pattern.  So the problem is that the pink diamonds were not started in the correct place so the open space is too big... then the burgundy diamond was a little squeezy and the orange hexagons did not meet in the centers of the diamond. 

Actually I could probably go back to this one and stitch some more around the hexagons to bring them more toward the center but there are 20 hexagons and the space between the diamond is a little tight to be stitching in so I will probably leave it as is... sigh... a lesson learned.

New Temari

Following my grand plan for making 15 each of C8s and C10s in 2010... Here is the first C10.

This temari is featured in Cosmo Book 2 Page 1 Middle.  I have included  the picture from the book as an inset into the pic of my interpretation.  I thought it turned out a bit too bright when I completed it at 2am this morning... but now I have seen it a few times in the daylight ... I quite like it.  The base mari was 2cms smaller than recommended in the pattern so the hex and pentagon are a little crowded but I still like it.  My next temari is also going to be a C10 from the same book but this one will be number 12 from page 3.  I will post it on completion... it may take a while as I am currently translating the pattern into English  :-s

In other news we are about to expand the book range in our supplies store... To have a look at the range click the link on the left bar.

Cosmo 3 Page 3 Headscratcher

Since I purchased the Cosmo books I couldn't get a particular pattern out of my mind. It was a real conundrum. This week I decided I just couldn't stitch another ball if I hadn't stitched out this design. In the top of the photo you can see a scan if the original picture. It had no instructions at all and wasn't even mentioned in the text.

I had a feeling it was a C10 and the stitching area was on the 6 part triangle. Also I could see that the shape was a mitsubishi stitch. I researched Mitsubishi stitching and discovered that the design is made by stitching and linking square or pentagon shapes. This meant that all the Mitsubishi were connected and this was not the case in the photo so this theory was a dead end. Additionally there was no way to get the points to meet inside the C10 pentagon if I followed this method and stayed with my C10 original thought.

What I didn't know was that when you see a shape in temari it is not always stitched the way you might expect and this can lead you to look for an answer to a much harder problem. I decided that the points were a kiku of sorts because I thought it would be too hard to stitch a triangle and then diamond shapes over the top. It must have been a continuous stitch. I had seen a kiku stitch similar to this that is worked inwards towards a center but it was always stitched into a star shape.

SO that was it I was firmly stuck. So after many weeks of trying to decipher its' secrets with little luck I decided to call on the brains trust at the Temari Challenge and Talk Temari groups. Thankfully the folk were more than happy to help out :)). I was on the right path but with the assistance received I was given the final piece of the puzzle and that was confirmation that what I had guessed was correct and that the stitch path could be adapted from a star shape to a triangle. The stitch used was Sakasa Uwagake Kagari.

I can now say that I have completed this ball and am moving on to my next challenge. Thank you to everyone that helped out on this one. If you are interested in temari and like to join the groups online the links are here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TemariChallenge/ and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/talktemari/.

Temari To Do List... a never ending challenge

Cosmo books have all arrived (apart from #7 which is currently out of print - I'll catch that one later...) and I have spent days pouring over them. I have distilled the first list, I am sure there will be many more, from the range which comes to approximately 80 temari. This will keep me busy for a good while.

I had a wrap-fest on Saturday which netted me a total of 27 balls which were wrapped in either Red, White or Dark Green thread. Can you guess that this might be the start of my christmas temari campaign? I made the balls with 3/4C of hull and used approx 500g of hull all together.

So far I have been working on Cosmo Book 1 and have completed 3 balls with a 4th in progress.

Cosmo Book#1: Top is #5, P6; R is #3 P3; L is #1 P2 (in progress)

I have made two of the design featured on ball 5 page 6. I made it the first time as a spindle (as I already had a ball with an obi on it) and then I made it again as a wrapped band. I liked how it turned out both ways, although the wrapped band method was faster. Although you can barely see it the 'in progress' ball has a dark green thread wrap (these are 3 of the 27 I wrapped on the weekend).

These are the first of my Christmas Temari. The tri-wing is also featured in the Cosmo books but a similar design is in Mary Woods book so I can't say which was the real influence... I guess I smashed both ideas together and arrived at something a little different.

Here are a few spindles I worked on back in June. They should have been in a previous post but I fried my SD card & lost all the data on it that hadn't been backed up :( Luckily it was mostly temari pics so I just had to re-shoot them. Sorry for the poorer photo quality but we haven't had a 'bright' day for a while and had to take flash assisted pics.