Weekend Workshop

Ahhhh we are having a bit of rain today and my garden is so thankful as it has been particularly thirsty weather for the last few weeks.

Last weekend I had an awesome workshop with 9 ladies in South Perth. One participant flew all the way from Melbourne just for the weekend. On Saturday morning we were so lucky to have Miho come to help as everyone marked up C8 division temari, for some ladies this was their first time to mark a into C8.

We stitched our way through several temari designs together over the weekend. I managed to convert one lady from foam bases to rice hulls when I gave her one of my bases because her prepared base was just a little too small for the design we were stitching. Once you go hull you don't go back.

This week is a bit quiet... for the first time in ages... I am waiting, waiting, waiting for a giant delivery from Japan. I haven't done much stitching (my neck, spine and arm are playing up) but I have something to show which is my latest effort. I finished this one last week but hadn't had time to take a photo. I think the pattern is from Cosmo 2 but I can't remember because I started it a while ago and it sat for several weeks waiting to get the last light yellow triwing  stitched on it.

I am beginning to suffer from increasing numbers of UFO's again. I am hoping to get some of them finished soonish. Some of these may get wrapped back over and started again as something else. Let's see: I will finish off the green based one (right) and the one on the front left but the middle one is just a ball I use for laying out new patterns and the one at the back is Joan's stitch along I still haven't finished. I don't like the colours so it will get wrapped over or pulled out and something else done on it. Also you can see through the bag my latest thimble bead almost done, this is the item closest to finished so this is the next thing I'm doing.

Now that I look at the photo it's not too many UFO's... I just have to put out of my mind all the crafty things I promised to do for everyone just now. [Just kidding people... you know who you are]

I am looking for C10 projects to make right now. I need two awesome temari to finish off my JTA requirements. When I started the C10 above I planned to use it as a JTA submission ball but in all honesty I did a terrible job of the stitching and when I tried to diagram the pattern... well let's just say I couldn't without just redrawing exactly what was in the book. I like to make my diagrams from my understanding of the pattern rather than just reproducing one verbatim* from the source.

*I know this means word for word... is there a term that means picture for picture?

I had a Chinese hacker attack on one of my 5 email accounts twice last weekend. Grrrr!!! I don't even recall opening or clicking on anything dodgy recently so goodness knows how it happened. I want to apologise if anyone got a weird message from me... I wasn't even aware of it until some kind folk began to email me to tell me what they received. I've changed everything, every password for every account and my modem and anything else I could possible think of and now I scan every hour (instead of once a day) for potential problems. There seems to be a lot of nasty Internet goings on at the moment so let's all stay alert.

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.

My Lazy Daisy Haze

I am working ball two of Barb's Sunflowers class this week.  I am totally enjoying it. This week I have learned that the Aussie colloquialism of 'She'll be right mate!!'* does not work in the world of temari making.  Put another way... if the instructions have notations that are printed in bold red and include the word 'not' in capitals... it is a jolly good idea to follow those instructions in a fairly specific way.

Save it to say that my ball was not exactly to the size specifications on the pattern and I needed to make some slight alterations to the pattern to fit it all in.  I know you read my blog Barb and I offer my unequivocal apology for the outcome of my ball.  Having said that I did unintentionally learn a lot about adapting a pattern. But I promise ball 3 will be perfect.

My lazy daisy stitch is really quite awful on some of the faces but they got better as I continued around the patterns.  I finally understand the french knot which is brilliant.  I don't know why some instructions don't penetrate my brain but I have never quite got the concept of how to make french knots until yesterday. (Yes you are all allowed to giggle at this) I can for example work out this formula but I have never mastered the times tables.

 (BTW it is part of the Black and Scholes option pricing model and I am learning the times tables with my 8yo son) If your brain just bugged out seeing that formula, you'll know how I feel whenever anything math related is discussed in temari... although Debi A's math info site is a great remedial help when taken with a small piece of chocolate.  Mmmm chocolate.... what was I writing about again???


Ah yes! OK on to some photos

The faces are 1>4 going clockwise from top left. The lazy daisies are progressively less dodgy on each face.  I might go back and do some more french knots on the 1st face and I didn't have space to finish the final row on some faces so I left it off all of them.
I have started the 3rd ball for this class... all marked up and the first few rows are completed on each end.


* 'She'll be right mate' translates to Don't worry, No problems or It will turn out alright.  We use it even when we know it probably wont be... see the link above for examples.

Latest Temari

As you all know I have been taking Barb Suess' Sunflowers Class.  It is progressing really well, and I am enjoying it a lot.  So today I have some pics of the first completed ball.  I am glad to have discovered that I have a similar purple to the maxi-lock thread supplied in my own stash so I may make the biggie big ball in the same colours... if I can get the same stitching thread colours here.

I am loving this class and find myself salivating all day on Sunday at the prospect of the next installment the following day.  I am not surprised at all to see several names on the class data base of people who also took the Echo Stars Class early last year.  Also I noticed that there is one other Aussie.  Hi J.C. from NSW!!!

Also here is a SPOILER ALERT in case you are doing the TT March Mystery Ball.  My attempt is pictured below. I remember now that I don't really adore making spindles.  Perhaps I am too rough but they love to scrunch in on themselves at the sides (if that makes sense) when they are single.  I never (touching wood here) have this problem when making layered spindles which cross near the center.

Now I had heard of Crocus flower but had never, to my memory, seen one.  So after I stitched the ball I googled Crocus and here is what came up with.... the image below is from here and there are a bunch (pardon the pun) of really lovely flower photos at this site.  I think I will save this link to my favorites.

I think after all my current projects are finished I will make a temari and yubinuki set. I think it might be interesting to try to make a thimble to use as a stand for a specific temari.  Hmmm maybe something to think about..... (brain beginning to percolate with ideas...)

Almost Easter... lots of projects on the hop.

The postman finally delivered my thread pack yesterday for Barb's Sunflowers class.  It actually made it here pretty quickly seeing as it had travelled 1/2 way around the world to get here. He (the Postman) must think I am a Psycho because I can recognise the sound of his van pulling up and tend to rapidly launch myself out of the front door to pounce on every parcel he delivers.  He is getting much faster at crossing from van to front door and back... maybe he is worried I might miss my target and accidentally scoop him into the house.

I have completed the first week of stitching on Barb's class and prepped all the other bases.  I have started on the March Mystery Ball from TK.  (No one cyber slapped sense into me and I have now completed the High School Classes and the TC Braided Challenge)

In this image you can see the 3 purple balls ready to go for the Sunflower class.  There is the white one for the MMB the only clues I have are spindle stitch and Crocus Flower (I have no idea what Crocus is - having a black thumb) and the coffee one is for my Adult temari class where we are making a C10 floral sampler.  The blue ball is just a blank I wrapped to try out the colour... now I need to think of a design to use on it.  Lastly, the huge black yarn wrapped ball is the extra challenge ball for Barb's class.  It has a foam ball inside (not for holding a bell but just to reduce the overall weight and at least 5 cups of hull.  My stocking hit maximum density so my only option was to use 150g of yarn (this was about 675metres long = 738yards) to get the mari to the correct circumference.  I don't know what colour I will wrap this base in... I don't know if I can get the same colour here as the other 3 purple balls so I might go for something else but I will definately wait until the rest of the class is finished before I start on it.

I am continuing to stitch on the white ball today. 

My latest temari set finished

I have been working on this temari set for months trying to get it PERFECT for submission to my temari mentor.  Usually I make temari just for me and rarely fix mistakes because I like to see how my ball making has progressed (of course when making temari for other people I do want them to be perfect too).

Now I have finished these and sent them to my mentor I want to share them with you.  Top left is a S4 Masu Kagari (Square Stitch), Top right is a S6 Mitsubane Kikkou Kagari (Triwing Stitch),  Bottom left is a S8 Jyouge Douji Kagari (Concurrent North South Stitch) and Bottom right is S12 Uwagake Chidori Kagari (Kiku Herringbone Stitch).

I think this is the last time I will be stitching with this colour palette for a little while, I have been using these colours so much since July I really need a change.

I am beginning my study on C8 now and to facilitate this I have pulled out all my Japanese Temari books (ok not all of them just the Cosmo 1-7 series and a few others).  I seem to have lost my list of dream temari to make so I am going back to the drawing board so to speak and selecting balls I want to make.

Current Temari Projects

S4 Masu Kagari (Square Stitch)
So I am revisiting the S4 square stitch temari - I have only done a few when I first began making temari and have either wrapped over, given away or otherwise vapourised them so I need to begin from scratch. I only have one face done so far - this pattern really tests the roundness of the mari and reminds me that I should at least try not to drop them so often on the tiled floor as nothing flattens out a mari like being dropped from the kitchen table onto tiles. The picture above is a progress shot with just one and a half squares completed.

S6 Mitsubane-kikkou Kagari (Triwing or Trefoil Stitch)
I have also tried out the S6 tri-wing with hexagon (I have never made them with the hexagon in the middle before) I think it turned out ok. I quite liked it actually and filled the negative space with a 1/4 and 3/4 starburst running around the equator.  As you can see from the photo above I am still using up some of the remaining red, white and green balls from the 27 I prepared in July so I have limited my colour scheme to include greens, white and black.

S8 Jyouge Douji Kagari (Merry go Round Stitch)
I also made a S8 JD-esque temari from the front cover of a little Ondori booklet that Michelle (check out her blog Little Rabbit Miniatures) and I both have. I like it but I can see where I screwed up the stitching so we'll call this one a 'learning ball'. It was fun to stitch because every second guideline was stitched from pole to equator and the others were stitched equator to pole.  In the pic above you may see where I have forgotten to keep the needle over the thread as I exit the ball in one of the early rounds so I have two threads that lie side by side... it is a pity and I probably should have ripped it out but it was a fun practice and I learned something too.

S12 Uwagake Chidori Kagari (Kiku Herringbone Stitch)
To know this pattern is to love it. I have made a lot of this one, but I do tend to make a ton of this and then none for a few months.  Ok this one is no where near completed but I figured that I'd add it too.  This is the ball I was playing with when we were at the Waldorf School Fair.  I am not sure where I want to go with this one so I haven't added more yet.  When I finish the masu (square) temari I will come back to this one.

Preparing for ... Christmas in July

Well being July what better time to look forward to Christmas? Last week I posted about the 27 balls I had wrapped in Christmas colours and here are a few of the photos.

As you can see I am working in Green, Red, White, Gold and Silver.

When I have completed these balls I plan to make more in 'Non-traditional' colours like Purple, Blue.

The photo of 3 temari show my latest efforts. The top left temari is the ball I was working when I wrote the last post. The bottom one I made whilst trying to keep my fingers from freezing watching my Son's soccer training and the right ball was made today. Although my boys say "Oh no! Not temari again..." stitching this one inspired my Son's little buddy to make a teeny temari today which we attached to a mobile dangle for his backpack.

It is pouring again outside so it looks good for stitching more temari tomorrow.....

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.