the sun on every field

first day of the year:
it's the sun on every field
that brings such longing
— Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694)

I was looking at photos for ideas of field- and grass-evoking weaves. I already knew what colors I'd be working with, and thought about amime-giku, but that didn't seem quite right. I found and studied this photo of an example of a "merry-go-round" variation on JapaneseTemari.com, the website of Barb Suess (a link from the stitch glossary). The merry-go-round stitch (jyouge douji kagari) is a stitch that travels north to south to north, over the equator, around the whole temari. I've done this in a different variation before, in my first set of temari (companion temari no. 2), but for whatever reason I wasn't able to puzzle it out. Rather than going back to those instructions I just sort of "winged" it. I ended up alternating colors of threads so the overall pattern is layered. It turned out pretty much how I would have pictured it — if I'd had a clear picture in my mind.

Thread wrap in a sort of ochre dark gold; S8 division in matching #8 perle; embroidery in dark and light sage and dark and light yellow-gold. The haiku above by Bashō is in the bell box along with 12 brass rings (for the new year 2012). Circumference: 10 inches / 25.5 cm; diameter: 3.18 inches / 8.1 cm. Completed 23 December  2011 (no. 079).


Sold to benefit Kiva.org.