Tanka challenge 11/20/11

Window frames rattle
As shingles echo with the
Drumming raindrops.
I wonder, would a new house
Sound the same way when it rains?

Can one call in sick for one's weekend?

Came home from work Friday with a headache that wouldn't quit. Woke up Saturday feeling stuffy headed and logy, so I decided not to go to Investiture (a shame, judging from some of the photos posted to FB as it looked like a nice event). Instead, I pressed endless strips of silk that had been torn up into equal batches and previously dyed, then began hem stitching edges on the parts meant to go into sleeves. Each strip is 60" long. 60" x 8 = 480 inches of hem stitch, resulting in my left index finger feeling somewhat hamburgerized, particularly for the portion done while viewing La Princesse de Montpessier On Demand with subtitles. Also caught Voyage of the Dawn Treader (cute, but not as good as the first Narnia film) and part of an eye gougingly sappy Ingrid Bergman thing called The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.

Rainy out anyway, so just as well that I stayed in. Much tea has been consumed.

Today's antics involved whopping up a tamale pot's worth of green dye: Jacquard Acid Dye "Teal" and and "Gold Ochre" blended and tested on paper towel swatches until it started to look right, then on a swatch of the light green taffeta when I was close to sure of what I was going to get. The dyed hitoe just came out of the dryer and the color is what I wanted and should really pop under the other layers all is said and done.

Four hem-stitched false sleeve edges have been layered and sewn together and two of the other four needed for the second sleeve are done at this point. I should be able to finish tonight and maybe even tack them into the sleeves of the outermost uchigi. False collar layers next, then the front edges and hems. I would like to get that done by the end of the Thanksgiving break if possible.

EDIT: Sleevy bits are attached to the uchigi and look good. My hands hurt though. The uchigi is a heavy, almost spongy silk herringbone and the false edges are a tightly woven silk broadcloth so getting a needle through multiple layers was a push.

In the meantime, I'm going through TTV withdrawal. Comcast put Vietnamese programming on the channel where I was catching NHK's English language feed. Supposedly it will be coming back in December on another channel (got this through my taiko sensei, whose Japanese wife called to complain). In the meantime, I am struggling with periodic visits to TV Japan further up the dial. None of their programming is in English or subtitled, except for the occasional commercial. While I can generally tell the difference between proper names and other words, I'm lucky if I can pick up one word in ten, which makes watching the news pretty much a waste of time. I did catch a bit of a Taiga drama called "Gou," which had lovely costumes and I was able to piece out that it was set during the early Edo period (a search on the title bears this out).