Barefoot Shepherdess

:: Mint & Cream ::

The wooly kind.  With a bit of sparkle.

I know autumn is really here when I start to feel the urge to knit.  You could call it my seasonal crafting cycle.  There's nothing more comforting than the touch of soft, cozy wool and the repetitive, rhythmic movement of the knitting needles to fill a quiet, autumn evening.  Add a cup of hot cocoa and a warm blanket to that, and one could almost wish for cool weather all year round.

To satisfy my knitting side, I made another pair of wristwarmers.  I usually prefer to pair my yarn and beads in analogous colors; this time, I decided to try a little contrast-- pale mint beads with a hint of gold on cream-colored wool.  Turned out to be a fresh, cool combination, I think!

These were made for my shop-- you can find them here.

Autumn Moon

September 12th was otsukimi-- literally, moon-gazing day-- here in Japan, a time to celebrate the lovely autumn moon.  Each year, it falls on a different date, sometime in September or October and tradition entails decorating with susuki (Japanese pampas grass) and eating tsukimi-dango (rice dumplings).  While the weather isn't always cooperative, this year, we were very lucky-- the night was perfectly clear and the moon, luminous and beautiful.  As nighttime photography is not my forte, the above picture hardly does it justice.

Inspired by the occasion, I drew this sketch--

A pair of rabbits gazing at the moon on a clearing in a pampas thicket... perhaps feeling wistful for home?  Because an old legend here states, that there are rabbits on the moon.  I guess the shadowy areas on the surface of the moon looked like rabbits to people in the past.

The sketch turned into this embroidery--

I've yet to get a proper hoop frame for it, hence the makeshift cardboard hoop.  It's the one I use when I'm working on a new design, to help me decide on the exact portion of a sketch to use.  I find it really helpful to visualize the layout this way.

My favorite part of this embroidery is actually not the main stitching, but the moon--

I attached a piece of fabric for the surface and outlined it in silver metallic thread, which creates a faint shimmer along different sections of the moon, depending on the direction from which the lit hits.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out when I had the idea in my head, but I'm really happy with it!  The effect is really subtle and pretty and also gives the moon a certain dimension, an appearance of thickness that makes it more prominent.  Just right, for an autumn moon.

Workspace

In which the ironing board doubles as a lap desk.  And on it, my current work in progress.  Something with a more autumnal feel this time.

For a long time, I kept my starting end free as I stitched in order to work it into the back of the finished embroidery for a nice, clean finish.  But all too often, I would realize, with a sinking feeling, that it has gotten caught up in the stitches in a hopeless tangle.  So now while I work, I carefully pin the thread away from the stitching area, like this:

This way, I can ensure that the back of my work looks as neat-- or almost as so-- as the front.

On with the rest of the embroidery!

Summer's End

Despite the lingering summer heat, the season is slowly drawing to a close here.  The days are becoming shorter, the evenings & mornings are getting cooler, and the call of the cicadas are fading to the crescendo of the crickets.  Signs of autumn are definitely in the air.

We spent a relaxing summer away at my grandparents' place in Nagano, our usual August holiday.  It's always hard to return to the city after spending time in the mountains, enjoying the inaka life-- but bit by bit, life has resumed the familiary routine.

Still, I'm not entirely ready to say goodbye to summer yet.  For, I've got sunflowers on my mind-- big, cheerful golden ones like these that remind me of those that stood tall in my grandmother's garden this year.  I wanted to preserve something of it...  So I pulled out my favorite book for floral inspirations, colored pencils & paper, embroidery threads to match, a piece of linen-- and got to work.

I debated a good while on how to stitch the center-- french knots? couched filling? surface darning?-- but in the end, liked this effect best.  Not sure what I'm going to do with this embroidery though...

Speaking of preserving:

There's preserving of an entirely different sort going on too.  I brought home a bunch of homegrown blueberries and decided to make some blueberry wine.  It's the same basic process and ingredients as for the more popular ume-shu, just with blueberries.  Though a longer wait produces better flavor, it should be ready starting in about three months-- just in time for the holiday season!