Year 40, day 138

Not a plant, for a change. This is a sample of the Japanese art of sashiko, which I have to make for my textiles course.

According to Susan Briscoe in "The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook", the sumptuary laws of Edo-era Japan (our 18th/19th century, I think) dictated that the peasantry could wear only blue or grey, with patterns no larger than a grain of rice.

"Grain of rice, eh?" said they to themselves. "Well, let's see, now..." Cue development of hundreds of intricate stitch patterns. I'm assuming this is an oversimplification, but it's a nice story.