Disaster in Japan

Words of a taiko sensei

See what sensei Walter Tsushima has to say about taiko... it sounds a lot like what I was saying in my last post, doesn't it?


He's going to teach us a class at the end of the month; I can't wait!

As you train in the taiko arts, you will see improvements in your speed, flexibility, coordination, discipline, confidence and ability to focus your mind.  You will find that the skills that it takes to succeed in taiko are the same skills that it takes to succeed in life.  The lessons that you learn in taiko can be applied to every area of your life including your education, career, relationships, and overall philosophy of life. 

If you can master taiko, you can master anything.

Read the full thing here (at the bottom of the page).

Learning taiko

I have been taking taiko lessons with Arashi Daiko since September.

True, taiko is, before anything else, drum playing. But it is so much more than that. It is profoundly intertwined with Japanese cultural under- and overtones; while at the same time being far less rigid than you would expect from an art emanating from Japan.

There is no right way of playing taiko (there might be wrong ways, though!). This might be unsettling for a beginner; having a different teacher every few weeks sometimes teaching contradicting techniques. But it is also a  very efficient way of growing, very fast.

What is taiko? Think of it like a martial art. A way of concentrating all the energy of the universe in your center, then channeling it through your arm, into the tip of the bachi, into a drum. And the drum answers you.

This feeling is not quite attainable with cheap practice drums. But on a real taiko, it is an exchange of energy; you give energy to the drum; the drum gives back energy... You give energy to a room full of people; they surround you with pure energy.

I am slowly learning to get blisters on my left hand. This means I am slowly learning to use it to do more than follow my right, as an independent entity. This is a great mental challenge.

I have learnt what kiai means. Shouting to gather energy seems pointless when you're not doing it. When you've been playing continuously for 20 minutes and you're exhausted and you feel yourself slowing down, shouting out releases energy and suddenly, the arms start moving again. And somebody hears you and answers, and you move together.

Taiko is becoming the reason why I stand tall and feel strong. If I can play the o-daiko, then there is nothing to fear in the world. I have never done anything that made me feel this confident. 

Not because I am a good taiko player, but because it makes me grow, and learn about myself and others, and share an unshielded part of myself. When you're playing taiko, you have to give it all. There is no other way.

A new technique

I have now learned a new knitting technique. Socks, toe up, two at a time on one long circular needle. It went like a charm and I love it! More to come! (Pictures too!)

New books!

I haven't written much lately, for two reasons. One is, quite simply, the Holidays, with the cooking, shopping, tree-decorating, gift-wrapping and, let's not forget, being on vacation and doing nothing except eating, sleeping, watching TV and doing crossword puzzles.

The other reason is that two of the projects I'm working on are for people I'm afraid will get the bright idea of reading this blog. So, you'll have to wait until the projects are finished to see them!

But I'm here for a reason tonight: I wanted to talk about my new books!


Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks
Publisher's site

First there's this one I've been wanting to grab for a long time. The main reason I want to learn this technique is that my mother gave me wool she bought in New Zealand. One ball is supposed to be enough for a pair of socks. I have small feet so I'm not afraid to run out; but wool this special, I want to use it all, I don't want any leftovers! With this technique I can knit from both ends of the ball and have virtually no leftover at the end!

The Ohio Knitting Mills Knitting Book
Here's the publisher's site.

I saw this one when it first came out and thought it was a very beautiful book. I had only seen it online though, I'd never leafed through it. Those are patterns I'd actually like to make!

Socks à la carte 2: Toes Up!
From what I can gather, this is the publisher's site.

I've been wanting to try different styles of heels for a while, and this seemed like a great reference for the most common types of toes and heels. It also shows several different types of toe-up cast-ons.







Creepy Cute Crochet
Publisher's site

Finally, I splurged and bought a sqweeeeee! book... you'll see... they're squeeeeee cute! And... this will force me to learn to read charts, which can't be a bad thing, right?








Lots of projects to come!

Good night everybody!

Done!

Pics! This is what I wore to the office today. Of course, it was originally meant as a Steampunk outfit... it turned into a riding outfit missing a hat ;-)... for now!

Fitting the bodice

If you've read my previous post, you'll know I was dealing with fitting issues and waiting for Richard to get home and pin the bodice on me.

What I found out: it was too long in front, but the back seemed to be the right length and the darts seemed to end in the right place. I guess it was just made for BIG boobs, and mine weren't sufficient to fit it ;-) Richard pinned along the shoulder seam evenly, a good 1/2 inch pinch, so I removed a full inch from the shoulder seam, but only at the front (and that was after removing an inch in overall length before I even got started!). Since this meant the front was now one inch higher, I had to redraw the neck opening (one inch lower). The front piece now being one inch shorter, I needed to also shorten the front lapel.

Alterations to the front and lapel pieces

We also pinched the side back seam slightly, since it was gapping at the back.

Side back seam, with extra removed

Fits much better now, doesn't it?

More progress

I worked a lot on this project this week, and I was finally able to start sewing today! The skirt is done except for buttons and hem. No pics because, well, when it's not being worn, it looks rather like a big pile of fabric.

The day started with a big scare. As I was lining up the skirt pieces for flatlining, I had a sudden feeling that I had cut the thing on the wrong side. See, this skirt is meant to cover the legs of a side-saddle rider, so it's long on one side. Normally, you climb the horse from the left (the horse being on your right), so both your legs are on the left side of the horse; which means that the skirt is longer on the right side, so it covers both your legs gracefully as you're riding. But since it's asymmetric, it has to be cut all from the same side of the fabric so the longer part is on your right. For a moment there, I thought I'd cut my fabric on the wrong side! Phew, I'm glad it wasn't the case :-)

My big victory of the day: I fixed my sewing machine! A while ago, I must have screwed the small screw on crooked, because it seems I stripped it. It still worked for the regular foot, but my double-feed foot is thicker so it wouldn't hold that, and I really needed it for this project. I went to the repair store a couple of days ago but even with the machine model, they couldn't be sure which screw to give me, so they told me to come back with my screw. Well, the store is far and I needed it today, so I asked Richard if he thought I might find a similar screw in a hardware store. He answered maybe, but you'd have better luck in an electronics store. So... I dug out the bag of various screws I inherited when I was having problems with my motherboard; I found a screw that is identical in every way, except for the head. I thought it would be too big, but... look at that picture! It's just fine! (And much, much better quality than the original too!) (It's the big screw on the right, holding the white plastic part onto the vertical shaft.)

Let me introduce you to my double-feed foot.

So, I was able to do a decent amount of sewing without swearing too much ;-)

The bodice pieces were all cut and waiting for me. On top is my fashion fabric (wool); middle is the lining (cotton/poly percale); and bottom is flatlining (cotton denim) to give more body to the fashion fabric.

I assembled it and had the very good idea to check fit carefully before I was done. Even though I removed a standard (for me) one inch in length before I even started thinking about cutting my fabric, it's still a good 1/2 inch too big in the shoulders, and, as usual, the back of the armhole gaps. There's nothing wrong with the pattern; my body is simply made that way.

The waist fits really well :

The shoulders and armscye, in the back, need some adjustments. Thankfully, Richard is extremely good at pinning on a live body.

Tomorrow, well... I'll see how I feel after taiko... but I'll try to finish assembling the bodice! If I can finish my own costume before the weekend, maybe I'll have time to make something for Richard after all!

I hate cutting, I hate cutting, I hate cutting!

I know I said it before, but I hate cutting. Blergh!

For the record, I'm cutting the pieces for the riding skirt. But since the pieces are so wide, there's nowhere else to do it but on the floor in the middle of the living room, after having moved all the furniture to the side. And then I went and stepped into my pins container and sent it flying all over the floor because I was trying to watch the Steampunk Castle episode at the same time. (Thank God for magnets!)

Taken from the middle of the stairs; say hello to giant piece. This fabric is extra-wide, so it really doesn't look as impressive as it was in reality; in fact this pattern pieces is something like 54 inches wide!

Got three of the six annoyingly large pieces done; after that, I can move back to the dining room table.

But, even when I don't have to do it on my knees, I still hate cutting ;-)

Corset done... what's next?

I seriously lost momentum. I was hoping to do Steampunk at Halloween but I got invited to... a Gothic banquet... So I'll dig out what I wore two years ago (pics here).

That leaves work. But it's not the same... Making a totally incredible costume to go to work where I'll be the only one dressed up anyway is... well... not like dressing up for a Halloween party!

In any case, I've kept pushing forward with the riding outfit. I don't know if it'll be finished in time, with only three weeks to go, but I'll try.

Here are the latest pics!

The corset, ready to cut:

The pieces, cut and the lining assembled to check the fit:

Then, the finished corset. Please note, it will be tied in the back, not around and to the front. This was just for trying it on without fiddling with the ties.

One thing I have discovered. I have absolutely no squish. They tell you that you should expect a 2-4 inch of squish. *I* squish about *one* inch. They tell you to keep a 2-inch gap in the back, but... well a 2-inch gap on a 25-inch waist looks really wide... So, the corset is a little too small, especially around the waist. The hips are just fine though, probably because the pattern isn't assuming any squish at all down there. Next one, I'll make a little bigger. And shorter too!

That being said, I still think it looks pretty nice :-)