The return of in-hand work!

Hooray! I can now think about finishing some of the hardanger projects or the beading project in my WIP pile.

Look what I managed to finish in only about 3-4 hours:

This is the primary Morning Glories temari from an online class with Barb Suess. There are two more from the class, and I hope to get to them soon.

I started this over the summer, but couldn't manage to work on it for any length of time. Now I can say that I've actually stitched a temari! It's not perfect, but I'm not totally embarrassed about it either.

I can honestly say that I have no regrets about going in for the carpal tunnel surgery -- except that I put it off for WAY too long. Aside from a bit of lingering tenderness at the incision site and the need to avoid heavy lifting or pulling, I'm almost completely back to using my right hand normally - including taking care of a certain little person.

Beginning temari

In one of the odd coincidences of the needlework world, Mary of Needle 'N Thread posted about her purchase of a temari book today, and Jane of World Embroideries has been posting about temari lately, too. Allow me to contribute to the discussion!

In yet another online class through Shining Needle Society (can you tell I'm addicted to these classes?), I'm learning to make temari with Barb Suess. The class will have one main temari (Morning Glory) with two overlapping techniques, and two additional "challenge" temari, each with one of the two techniques, but with less instruction.

The first lesson came out this week. This week's lesson is all about making the thread-wrapped core and simple 8 division guidelines. Here you can see my three temari cores in different states. The far left is a part of a stocking filled with rice hulls. The middle ball is a little further along, having been wrapped with yarn. The ball on the right has the outer thread layer and the guidelines in metallic thread, waiting for next week's lesson.Mary, in case you were wondering, it took about 2-1/2 hours to make the core and put guidelines on it. I expect the next couple to be a little faster, now that I've done it once. I don't blame you for "cheating" by purchasing the mari already in this state, especially if you just want to try this technique out!

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Erin update: 1 week down, 11 to go in the cast. She's adjusting well, and is slowly getting back to sleeping as well as she was pre-cast.

Check out the hot-pink knees on the little girl who looks a bit tired!