Hari-Kuyo: Laying our Needles to Rest

Today is Hari-kuyo, the Festival of Broken Needles in Japan.

As you know, I've been busy preparing for this day for a few weeks now. I've got a few butterflies and a bit of nerves, but I am mostly excited and can't wait to share this great little book with all of you.

What better way to celebrate our needles than to launch an E-course that creates a home for them. I remember very distinctly this day last year when I began my year of honoring my needles and caring for the ones which broke along the way. And I wouldn't have even made a needlebook if it hadn't been for my friend Carol Ann who encouraged a whole group of us on Stitchin Fingers to do something to honor our needles on this day.

So this morning, following last night's full moon, I went out to my back yard and buried my broken needles.

I had read that the Japanese remove the needles from the shrine, wrap them in paper and toss them in the sea. I'm not sure if this is true or not but the closest body of water to me is the Patapsco River down the street. Unfortunately, too many fishermen wade into that river for me to want to place the soles of their feet in danger. So...the backyard it was.

I wrapped them in an old piece of pattern tissue...

And I buried them in the ground along with a prayer of gratitude and a few wishes for my new needle year.

And then topped them off with this grave marker...

I buried them on the mossy side of the yard so I'm hoping mother nature creates some magic on that rock as well.

My crazy friend's husband, Lane, is a student of all things Japanese and prepared this poem for us honoring this day, A Needle's Lullaby.

It was such a gift to all of us that he chose to share our observation of this special day. And it's nice to know I'm not the only one full of sentiment for this tradition.

It leaves me with a good feeling to lay my needles to rest and honor them in this way. And I'm really looking forward to sharing my special book with all of you.

So, here's a link to the page that gives you all the details about the Hari-kuyo Needlebook E-course. There's a tab for the page under the header of my blog.

I've set up the course to be flexible for those who would like to make a needlebook similar to mine and for those who just want the pattern and would prefer to use their own supplies and perhaps design their own cover. One course price kit includes the kit, the other does not.

Many of my friends from the pilot group intend to make another one now that they have the pattern and have successfully made one.

I will eventually offer a .pdf pattern for download but it won't be available until after I finish offering the E-course.

For those that are not interested in the E-course but are interested in purchasing a set of labels for an existing needlebook you may already own...

You can find them for sale individually in my Etsy shop here. They are woven sew-on labels with the text embroidered on the label. You will also find pre-cut felt for the needle pages for your convenience.

Thank you all for coming on this adventure with me. I have lots of fun planned over the course of the next few weeks and I cannot wait to get started.

Should you enroll, you will be receiving a welcome email from me early next week inviting you to the private course blog and giving you more specifics on how we'll get underway.

And here's a button for your sidebar...

Happy happy day to you all.

And thank you to all of your broken needles.