Notebook Entry - 080501

Finished Views


a North pole view  
an angled view showing equator section  

Source

Japanese book Cosmo 5 (ISBN 4-8377-0283-0) color picture pg.17, black and white picture but no diagram pg.71

Classification

C10, interlocked, 5 point star, basketweave, wrapped bands,

Size

29cm circumference

Materials

Wrap
blue cone thread
Marking
Gold sewing machine embroidery thread
Design threads
DMC floche yellow (727), lt green (907), purple (208)

Division/Marking

C10

Diagrams


Diagram 1: Red pentagons, blue line shows first of interlockes bands  
Diagram 2: picture of ball, all of the first set of bands are done, note the two additional bands inbetween (highlighted with red).  
Diagram 3: Placement of 5 point star outside of wrapped band  
Closeup of placement of points of 5 point star  

Directions

  1. Wrap mari and mark a C10 using a thin inconspicuous thread.
  2. Stitch a closed pentagon at each of the 10 way intersections. Place the stitches on the short lines so that the stitched pentagon is offset from the usual C10 pentagon. This pentagon should be about 1/5 of the way to the next 10 way intersection. (see red pentagons in diagram 1.) I used the thread doubled and did one row of yellow and one of purple three times for a total of 6 rows. Be sure to end with purple.
  3. Wrap interlocked bands of yellow, green, yellow following the edges of the pentagons just stitched. (See blue line on diagram 1.)
  4. Add in the other wrapped and interlocked bands paying close attention to the weaving pattern. There will be two bands in between the bands around the pentagons. (See picture diagram 2, bands for this step are highlighted.) These bands will not give a complete basket weave on the ball so some band crossings will have three lines and some will only have two.
  5. Stitch a 5 point star just outside the bands that are closest to the pentagons. (See diagram 3, green line.) The actual point of the stitch is just below an intersection where three bands meet. (See closeup picture.) Start with purple and alternate yellow and purple until the space to the next band is filled. You need to end with purple so that the stripes work out correctly. Nudge the bands as necessary so the the space is filled.

Notes

This one seemed to take forever to stitch, not because it was particularly difficult or long, but because I have had so little stitching time this spring. I really enjoyed doing the basketweave. It is the first one I have done like this so I was pleased that I only had to take out one band to redo it because the weaving was off. I have some more ideas to play with now that I have done it once.

Once again I find that I really love stripes but they are quite challenging to space correctly when you are working within a confined space. I suppose the design is advanced because of all the interlocking of the bands, but the stripes really put it over the top a bit. You really have to be able to eyeball how many rows to do on the initial pentagons so that it will all work out in the end.

The floche is a fairly soft thread, about the size of two strands of regular floss. It tends to cling to the surface of the mari a bit making it nice for designs where you need a little friction to keep things in place. It is a bit soft for all of the weaving though and I found myself getting tired of it at the end. I worried that it would show a fair bit of wear after all of the weaving through, especially in the later rows. When it was all done and displayed across the room from me I found the shine of the thread to be wonderful. It was very much like silk.

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