For Level 2 certification, not only do you have to submit 10 temari but you have to submit 6 patterns - 3 each on C8 and C10 divided mari.  As I have said in other posts, the patterns do not have to be original.

When writing up a pattern it must include a picture of the temari and a line drawing and written directions. The directions do not have to be highly detailed as if it was for a beginner. But you have to give the mari size, the type of marking, number of threads for stitching, with generic color names, and enough information to stitch it such as where to place pins and what type of stitches or wraps.

Since the course work is 12 lessons and I have to have 6 patterns, I decided that after every even numbered lesson I would do a pattern.  This week, I finished my second pattern which was based upon a picture I saw stitched by another temari friend. 

Here are pictures and the line drawings of the two completed so far. The first pattern is Rainbow Ribbons on a C8 and the second is Diamonds and Triangles on a C10.

Update: Between writing this post last weel and then actually posting it, today I wrote a third pattern. It is also a wrapped bands pattern, but on a C8. This one has a bit more info to assist in getting the over/under order correct.

This lesson is about temari with kiku designs on combination divisions. Combination divisions are when more division lines are added to make  more centers of the same starting value, symmetrically arranged around the ball. The most common combination divisions are the C8 and C10 but there is also a C6 and a double C8 and even though it is not considered a combination division, a S4 with an obi (equator) is a C4. 

C10 marked maris have pentagons, diamonds and triangle shapes formed with the division lines. C8 marked mari have squares, triangles and diamond shapes; and C6 marked mari have squares and triangles

I started this lesson at the beginning of March and then I went to Mesa, AZ for a metal/patina workshop.
I worked on the first temari, Blue Poppies on a C10. A good way into it I knew it was a massive fail. The measurements were not consistent from center to center and the more I looked at the mari I could see it was not really round.  So I set it aside and started over. 

Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit and in someways my life bordered on chaos.  It wasn't until the end of March that I even felt like doing any stitching but I did finish it. Though I like how it looks I doubt I will stitch this pattern again for a very very long time. 

Then at the start of April I started the second temari, Emerald Isle pattern in the lesson which is stitched on a C8. This was easier but I found it boring. I finished it in the second week. 

But they are both completed.  Next up is writing another pattern as I have to submit 6 as part of my certification work; luckily they do not have to be original patterns!

Last weekend I went to Mesa for a workshop on Patinas. I spent most of it in the studio working but here are some photos of what else I saw; the metal vessels are by David, who taught the workshop. 

Bunny Bravehart came along, of course, but spent most of the time in his pocket so he would not get burned.

After finishing Lesson 3, I decided to make this wrapped and woven temari as it had been on my to do list since the start of the year. This took me over a week of evenings, while watching the TV, as the instructions provided did not match up to the pictures provided which resulted in me having to once again UN-wrap various steps and do them over. I also wrote my own instructions so I have them for the future. 

Here are my process pictures, which start at the weaving part. There is also a small video at the bottom showing the completed Temari.

This lesson was fun but at times a bit confusing or frustrating.  Wrapped designs by themselves are not that difficult but when you are weaving the bands over and under it can get messy with the threads either hanging off the ball while another color is being worked OR getting everything in the correct order; if not then there can be quite a lot of UN-wrapping.

I have done wrapped designs before and I have even come up with a few on my own but the patterns for this lesson were let's just say minimal in the written instructions. I get it, this is the next level of certification so you should be able to look at a diagram or picture and have an idea of what to do, which I did for the first 2 temari. it was the third temari that was difficult. 

As you can see the first 2 temari are wrapped with a single thread of pearl cotton. The colors alternate on opposites so this requires either one long thread to hang off the mari while winding or to have multiple starts and stops. Each thread color is wrapped around the mari once and then the other color is wrapped so there was no weaving but keeping the order and direction being wrapped is important so the over/under's are correct.

The third temari was the most difficult.  This is made with 6 strand floss NOT pearl cotton. The floss has to be separated and de-twisted from the hank so all the threads lay parallel to each other. Luckily I saw this ball when I went to the John C. Campbell Folk School in 2018 (sorry no post) and I was given pointers on how to de-tangle the skein and also how to wind the 6 threads onto the mari at the same time.  I had the first black section wound and the dark blue and had started the second black when I realized I was winding it wrong; I had to unwind the black keeping all 6 threads from getting tangled and then I unwound the blue. I was able to keep all the threads attached to the mari so I could then rewind the blue and then resume the black. I went slow and finally was able to finish it with no other winding mistakes. 

 This lesson is for the Rose (Bara) design, this design was first introduced in Lesson 3 of the Level 1 Certification. This time the design is not only done on a simple division  (first temari) but with a combination 8 division (second temari) which mean that the size has to be consistent on all 6 areas where the design is stitched. The third temari was "student" choice so I stitched it on a simple 10 so there were 5 sides on each layer and designed as I went; yes I did some un-sewing but it was fun to see what worked and what did not such that what resulted was a pleasant design. 

I have now begun working on my Level 2 certification. This level is called Koutouka Shuuryou which means "Higher Course" but I call it Advanced Beginner or Intermediate because the skills focus on temari stitching:

• Descending herringbone
• Rose
• Wrapped designs
• Kiku herringbone on C8 and C10 (combination 8 and 10 divided mari)
• Basketweave on various divisions 
• Flax leaf on various divisions
• Continuous path stitching on various divisions
• Thimble ring design
• Interlocked stitching on C8 and C10
• Layered stitching on C8 and C10
• HHG on various divisions
• Combination 8 (C8)
• Combination 10 (C10)
• Writing patterns for C8 and C10 temari

Some of these stitches were covered in the Level 1 certification but now the designs get more complex.

I have now completed the first lesson which is the Descending Herringbone. This technique requires close stitching and you are taking the stitch below and next to the prior stitches so you have to keep the stitches a bit loose so you can lift the threads to get as close as possible. The first temari has the added complexity of the thread being doubled thus care must be taken to keep the 2 threads flat and not twisted. 

.At then end of 2018, I finished the course work for the Level 1 certification and took a break from making any while i waited to hear if I had passed; and by mid-year 2019 I had and received my certificate. After that I did gather the materials I would need to start the Level 2 certification but I not mentally ready so I took a break, a long break. With the start of 2020, I decided that it was perfect for me to begin the Level 2 certification work as it consisted of 12 lessons and so that would work out to about one per month. In early 2021 I could be ready for the submission of 12 temari and 6 written patterns to demonstrate that I know how to write up instructions; luckily they do have to be original patterns (that's Level 3!!) .

To "warm me up" I decided to make a temari for the fun of it. This pattern is called Water Lilly and it is a massive 45 centimeters in circumference!  I also changed up the order of the colors from one side to the other just to make it a bit more interesting. I personally think it looks more like a giant dahlia than a water lilly. It took me 2 weeks of stitching - about an hour a night after work, and a few hours on Saturday and Sunday.

Here I am almost done with December and 2019. 
Earlier this month I was down with the flu, for about a week and then recovery took just as long. I canceled a metal workshop I was to teach and just slept, read, and zoned. I had not caught the flu or other bug that floats around during Winter in several years so I guess my time was due.

The year has flown by. 

We have been here for 2+ years now and we have settled into a route of sorts - I go to work weekdays and Erich takes care of the house, the cars, Cowboy Boots and me; on weekends he relaxes and I am in my studio.

Friends from California are getting ready to move to the area, early next year which will be nice as we have know them for as long as we have been married. 

I am planning my retirement from the day job - 2 years and counting. I will work for a while to take advantage of medical insurance, socking money away in the 401K, and of course the extra income. Eventually I go to part time work so I have more time to do what I want while still having some extra income coming in. 

​Here's a calm view, from the studio back door that I took last month. 

I have now been at this day job for 6+ months and I am finally feeling like I know what is going on. 

Usually with a new job, where I am writing software, you learn about the project and application the while working. But now, I am not writing code 100% of the time; I am also supervising a team in India plus two other contractors based here in the USA and are also remote. Then there are all the meetings I attend for planning and communications - I am not use to all this and it has taken me time to adjust.

I currently spend most mornings in meetings with a half hour to an hour+  in-between where I can get some "work" done. Then I have lunch and maybe another meeting after that. I have "dark time for Laurie" from either 2 or 3 pm every day where I can take care of my actual coding work. This is not to say that I am not working in all those meetings; it is just a different type of work. 

So what is it I do during my work (dark) time?   I write business requirement documents (BRD's); writing test scripts and testing code; planning for deployments and releases; and actually writing code which is very very little compared to prior jobs. 

On the other side of this, I work a normal 8 - 5 day though some days I work through lunch only because I don't want to stop what I am doing (and I am nibbling my lunch while I do it)

Plus I am not stressed which means I have am not having the pains in my chest like I use to.  Actually I have not had a chest pain in several months (watch, I have just jinked myself) 

I am ready lots of books and really enjoying my new-ish studio and I have even begun, again, teaching some metal classes. 

And come Thanksgiving weekend, I start my countdown to retirement. I may not retire when I hit full retirement age but then I will have more options to work at a day job full time, part time or not at all and spend all my time either on weaving, knitting, quilting, temari, or metals.