Spring Break...

After today begins the wounderful week we call, spring break! I plan on practicing my Kitsuke... and maybe even going to that jap garden i have spoken of.... yay!

but i have one other goal... To reorganise my kimono collection... I've run out of space once more, which means its a good thing i am on a kimono buying break... Oh well... goals are goals!

outfit planning!

K in my last post/ Rant (of sorts) I said that i would be going to the japanese garden in my local area! well i will the date is just undesided, as it is with kimono you have to be carful of the weather, more so here in america (because there are no profesional kimono cleaners in site) so its lucky i live in texas.... dry and hot! Thats Texas...

Um so back on topic, i'm sure you all are woundering what i will wear well here it is! though this is just to check....

the moment i set those boots beside everything else i KNEW that i needed brown boots, light to medium brown for the best look... i need to get some because i have none at the moment.

So just for background purposes. The kimono is my newest tulip baby but since its all red i figure a little late is ok. the obi is a Tsuke Obi and much warmer then my winter bridge tsuke obi which on a side note is from the same person. It came in the mail two days ago and i am very happy with this purchase... I now have 7 obi (soon to be 8) 5 kimono(one has no obi officaly) 10 michiyuki, 3 obijime, 4 obiage (ok i admit some are scarfs), and i love them all so over all my collection has 29 peices at the moment. wow i sound kimono rich this way...

wow i got compleatly side tracked... The obiage is a green scarf i will be useing in place of an obiage... and the obijime is a handmade cord useing Kumihimo which some of you may recall the fact that i desided to try it out... years of finger weaving and such has given me patenience in this area...

So yeah i don't know exactly when i will make my debute (my first public kimono wearing which this will be it) but it should be in 2-4 weeks. except for the boots  realy like how this looks, very springy and fresh and almost a little mellow, makes me think of a flower...



Something to look forward to...

Just had to get this kimono related bit out...As some might recall i visited my local Jap garden on a scouting mission a few months back (yes i said i would posts pics but i never found them...) well also some months back my friend who is in photography class at school expressed an intrest in going with me and takeing pictures when i whent again in spring.

The only diffrence in this would be i would be wearing kimono, the garden would be half dead with stagnant pools and only 1 big Koi, hopefully it would be quite alive and better taken care of because spring is 'THE SEASON' for the Austin botanical gardens... Also i will probibly be driveing... i should practice getting in and out of the car in kimono...

So as to what i will be wearing well... it will be my newest peice, my red lovely, a nice pair of boots i will have to take a pic of, An obi i just won off of ebay (its cream, yellow, peachy amd a little gold and all geometric but its very mellow and will still contrast nicely) Also i hope to have a green Obiage(i just bought a nice green scarf i can use) and i will probibly use my new Kumihimo disk to make an obijime, (colors are undesided).

the obi should be here in a number of days, i will try and take pictures of the outfit layed out(i can show you my boots, by the way i'm wearing boot because the garden has this nice loose graval on a good number of the paths and i don't want my geta to be ruined and i need to test how long i can wear my Zori without pain... not ideal of a photo shoot!)

In other kimono related news... the obi i mentioned will be my last Major purchase for the next month or two. I may buy some new Tabi, heck i might even get an obiage or obijime... but no obi or Kimono... I am going to begin to save so i can buy myself a nice Ko-furisode Hakama set of some sort, maybe a new juban that will be long enough in the sleves for the Ko-furisode and most definatly a cute hanhaba obi, all i have right now in that deparment is currently pink or purple and they are both plain... so yeah saveing up for a big purchase... though it probibly will not change my posting  frequency... which is when ever i feel like it/ have something TO talk about... XD   )

New hobby

Ok so i took up a hobby that also has its origins in japan. Kumihimo braiding. My little foam disk came in yesterday and so i tried it out with yarn right away, i made a basic black and white spiral cord around 10 inches or 25 cm.

Since it worked well on my first try i broak out some nice satin rattail i bought last week end to prepare for this awsome event and poped in a movie and began to weave. Watched 1 and 1/2 movie... the first movie was so depressing that i had to stop it and watch something much more light hearted... so around 3-4 hours later i found i had enough woven to work as an obijime so i cut off all the bobbins(made it so much easier not having to untangle it every few moves) and tied anouther knot and proclaimed it as done.

I used 8 diffrent colors... and each bobin can really only make 1 obijime so i guess i can make some  bracelets or necklaces or shorter cords for any new kinchaku bags i deside to make. oh well it works, i can do it and it looks great!

here is what my disk looks like. its about 6 in or 15cm

My beautiful new obi!

Ok so some time ago i won a beautiful obi off of e-bay (like i have been doing). I just could not resist this beautiful one... It is pretty much good for all seasons... So far what i can idenify is Ume,

Chrysanthemum, Tachibana(i think, i am pretty sure), pine, peony, and of course the birds that i have no clue what they are. It is stunning so i must show you all just how stunning it is with thease pics!

New Phone and Zori

Ok so I didn't mention it but I got an IPhone for my birthday a while back and I finally got a cute phone case for it! Also I got some silver Zori!!! They are a tad to small I think my heel hangs off by a half cm too much but oh well! Guess that's it bye bye!

Unexpeced gift

As many of you know (because i posted it in large letters) not long ago was my birthday... well i got an unexpected birthday gift in the mail today from my uncle and aunt whom i have only seen maybe 5 times total in person... wither way why would i mention this gift you might add well as i post the pics you will see why.
so here they are:

this was my late birthday present... i do beleive it is a Maiko music box... the music box part is for sure and from what i know she is PROBIBLY(being the key word) a maiko... you cannot see the music box pat but there is a switch and you flip it and she begins to slowly spin as a japanese-ish music plays... the song is about 30-45 seconds long and pretty...

Cool gift right?