Monday, May 16, 2005

Who knew it would actually be good for something?

When I was in grade school I, like a good percentage of Indiana children, participated in 4-H. I don't remember pledging "my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service, and my Health to better living," but I do remember baking cookies, organizing collections, wrapping gifts, and sewing skirts. I especially remember the sewing. It's not that I was good at it. It was that my grandmother was good at it, and I spent hours at her house laying out the pattern, hemming, and stitching up the ugliest skirt I have ever seen. I won Honorable Mention for it.

That project workbook and the hours with my grandma's sewing machine paid off today as I began my first sewing project since 7th grade - I'm making a yukata, a summer kimono. It was my friend Mayo's idea. She's helping my friend Katie and I make yukata for the Gion Matsuri so that we too can join in on the traditional feeling of an old Kyoto festival. My cloth is a light red sprinkled with small white sakura and accented by some other maroon flower. I think it's going to look great. Now, if only I could find geta big enough to fit my enormous feet...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting blog. It reminds me of my time at Kyoto University. However, maybe you should have it reviewed by a native English speaker... "She is helping I make yukata"...? The grammar is distracting.