Chinese Knots and Temari

This is the closure on my Chinese jacket. I took the picture in the mirror, which is why it looks washed out. I've been looking around the office, and almost everything meant for Chinese people comes adorned with knots made in satin cord. The closure on my jacket is from cotton cord, but it is for use, not for show. Anything for display will have red satin.



This is a plaque on the wall. The knot looks like a butterfly, but it is a square 2 layer knot. I will tell you next time the name of the knot; I will have to write it down to remember.



I have been playing with Temari this weekend. I tried an intermediate design, and botched it. This pattern is based on a C8 (complex 8) division, and is stitched with DMC perle cotton. The base is wrapped in cone thread. It's very pretty, but the weaving pattern is messed up, and it is not symmetrical at all. So I decided to back up a little bit.



I am very pleased with this one, and I want to explore this pattern a lot more. I apologize for the quality of the picture, I was trying to get too close. This is a chrysanthemum pattern. It was a lot of fun, and very forgiving of my inexact S12 division. It is stitched with DMC perle and metallic threads. This is the base my sister made for me last Saturday.



This is a S4 division; the squares are supposed to grow together, meeting at the corners, and leaving perfect triangles between them. Well, I got tired of stitching the squares, I wasn't too happy with the yellow, and the corners were not going to meet, so I stopped and drew in the triangles with DMC metallic. The yellow is DMC perle, the variegated is dyed by Laura Wasilowski. The color changes are too frequent for this use. The base is cone thread.



Now, though, I'm determined to get this done right. When my new book gets here, I'm going to work through it, and get to be good enough so I won't have to apologize for my mistakes. Besides, it's fun!