Well, I bet you thought I’d forgotten completely about the DAL going on, right? Well, I’ve been busy with submitting and working on paid designs, but I had some time today and actually was able to sketch out the design.

Thanks to your input, I’m going to do a Japanese Tea Garden kimono top …

I grew up in San Francisco, and have very fond memories of visiting the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park … drinking tea, climbing the circle bridge and marveling at the beauty of the Buddhist pagoda. The bonsai and plantings were an oasis in a park filled with pines and running paths and buffalo.

For inspiration, I pulled up pictures from the Web of the pagoda, the bridge and the gardens … I placed this collage on my computer desktop, and I’ve been looking at it all week, allowing my subconscious to design the top inspired by these gorgeous images.

I was particularly struck by the dominance of red; and yet black, cream and gold are also present. The pagoda is very angular, with lots of striping and horizontal lines. The base is lots of white while as the pagoda grows, red dominates.

Here’s the top that I’ll be designing. It’ll be done in a DK-weight cotton. An asymmetrical closing will make a slight v-neck top with gold buttons (probably bars rather than round) running down the left side (starting just under the armhole and ending at the waist) and closing the neck over-lap. The top will end at hip height and the armholes will be trimmed in rolled SS; the edge of the top (which will be knit in one piece) will be done in black i-cord.

Cool, huh?

Now, just to wait till the yarn comes in … and I’ll be off and running ….