So, he says

"I want more new spiffy garb. I need pretty stuff."

Like the stuff I make him isn't pretty. So I says, "Like what?" and He says, "Like I don't know." So I says, "OK, go look at (all my numerous) costuming books and tell me what you like." So he says, "I don't like those because I can't tell what they would look like on." So I says, "Fine! Go here and tell me what you like." So he says, "ooooo, I likes this:"



Ah, the G63. OK, looks like I get to draft a new pattern this week. I'm presuming he wants it to go with his lovely new chausses and braies.

I've got some lovely bright blue linen that will be lovely. The only thing I object to this is that he will insist that it be made "just like this one" but he will never button the collar because A) he has such a huge thick beard and B) he doesn't like things up around his neck.

At least he will wear hats.

Middle Eastern coming along!

Well, I have 2 of my pieces of Middle Eastern garb cut out and sewn. I made the Pirihan out of some lightweight white cotton gauze from this pattern. Although I think it is bigger than it should be. it is comfortable, though, and I know, now, where I can decrease it in various areas to make it fit better. I also managed to get the Salwar cut out and sewn last night. I used this pattern to make it and in actuality, despite what I told Greet, the 47" measurement was just perfect. However, I'm thinking that gores are set just a bit too low for me as they seem to hang at my knees and they really do feel too wide, even sitting cross-legged on the ground (not that I'm going to be doing that much as my poor old body just doesn't sit well on the ground for much longer than about 10 minutes). So the next ones I'll make a big narrower with smaller gores at the inseam. 'Twill do fine for sitting in a chair, dancing and my other activities.

I'll try to get some pictures posted of them later today when I get some batteries for the camera. And speaking of not sitting on the ground well, I've been looking at a few portable stools to take to events rather than the Silly Tailgate Chairs we have been hauling around. I'm particularly fond of the Lund Viking Stool

As it is A) Viking B) something to sit my butt on and C) small enough that it can be carried without having to break it down. However, I'm also partial to a bit more leg room so that I'm not as close to the ground and have been looking at this stool:



This is easily made from 1 6"x10"x8' length of lumber and folds flat. The problem I see with this (for me at least) is keeping up with all the dang pegs. I can easily see them being used by A Certain Unnamed Child as building blocks for some Rube Goldberg machine. There are pros and cons to both. The pros for the first are that it is small, portable, Viking and can be easily made with much less wood and the legs can even be made from Miscellaneous Turned Legs found at most hardware stores. The cons is that it isn't portable and it is a bit lower to the ground than what I really want. The pros for the second are that it would be very inexpensive to make, it could be accented, carved or spiffied up at some point later on and that it is taller than the Viking stool, meaning I wouldn't have to get up and walk around as much to save my aching hips. The con is that it isn't my period and the aforementioned pegs into toy problem.

I'll have to give some thought to this. It would be nice if I could have them by May Crown (hint hint to the person who complains I don't update my blog enough.)

Fabric For Middle Eastern

Yes; 2 posts in 2 days. Don't get overly excited. Since Greet has pointed out that A) we live at the same latitude as Cairo and share very similar temperatures and it would behoove us to look at alternate clothing from the chilly European regions; B) we live in a kingdom that has quite a few Middle Eastern themed events; and C) cotton is cheaper than linen and wool, I decided I should at least put together a rudimentary set of Middle Easter Garb. So I found the perfect soft white gauze for my bottom most pirihan and some lovely aqua cotton/linen ($2 a yard, you can't go wrong) for my Salwar. I thought I had the perfect fabric for a top layer pirihan, but I've just discovered that it has a huge hole in it after washing it. Was probably there when I bought it and I just didn't see it :( I'll pattern it out and see if it can be salvaged, but I don't think so. It may become a loose fitting caftan. But I do have a piece of teal cotton (which I really don't want to use for this outfit as it will be too much blue IMO) with some open work in it that I may use instead. Not sure yet.

Soo I got to thinking about my fitted caftan and have been poring over pages and pages of ME garment pages, including extant pieces, fabric descriptions and weights. (Greet, what was that I said about not having a real interest in learning anything about ME garb except to get a basic set made?) So I have a vague idea of what fabric would look like. Armed with this new found knowledge, I go to JoAnn's to see what I can find. And I found the following:



So from top to bottom:

1. Is a cherry red with small rondels with daisies and a bit of a floofy leaf swirly thing that isn't too obvious. The rondels are the part that caught my eye and while I think it would go well with aqua and orange (or teal) and black.

2. Is sort of a nice creamy color with blocks of leaves. It's fairly simple and frim the 5 foot rule you cant really see the "countrified" grids behind it. It's sort of boring. But would work if need be.

3. OK, this is probably my favorite. It's a deep fuschia with pink daisies (no, there's no theme) and goldenish ovalies. The ovalies (yes; that's a technical term, it's why I used it twice) are what really gave it a ME look along with the continued repetitive pattern in the daisies.

4. This is the aqua color for my pants

5. This is the lovely orange gauze with the hole.

I have some black cotton and I don't think you need to actually see a scan of the white gauze. I mean it is white. And gauze.

OK, so, which of 1, 2, and 3 looks best? I'm ready to go to JoAnn to lay down money for this. And it is all on sale or I have a 40% off coupon. Help me spend more money :)

Buttons!

I finally got the pictures of the buttons we are casting uploaded to the computer. They are so pretty and shiny!! They are made from pewter using a three -part mold. The design is a snowflake for Lord Gunnarr who is fighting for THL Lavena in Crown List in a few weeks. I'll post pics of the Meridian Cross medallion that we got cast last week. Project night is at my house this week as our normal hosts are out of town. So we've got the casting stuff here.



This is the completed button. Isn't it shiny? I put this picture in to show the size of the button. They will be used for sleeves and down the front of cotes.



This is the button again:

The back of the button showing the shank:

Fabric Acquisition Supreme Team

Well, we were at it again. Lavena and I headed to JoAnn Sunday for another round of FASTing (has nothing to do with going without food and all about shopping for fabric.) JoAnn is having one of their 50% off their clearance fabric, including upholstery. Ooo la la did we have fun. We got there at 9am sharp only to realize that JoAnn doesn't open until 10am on Sundays. That meant we had to go to Books-a-Million and have a cup of tea and a pastry while looking through this week's sales ads (and aquire some more coupons for JoAnn- Lavena's paper had FOUR in it!)

When we finished tea, we headed back to JoAnn. Lavena picked up a few random pieces for her hubby and son. We fussed over whether the lightweight striped fabric was period, hemming and hawing about it for a while and finally decided that it wasn't as nice even as bleached muslin which we could get for less than $2 a yard. There were probably 4 bolts of this which made us go, "uh, maybe?" but decided we would stick with what we got. Lavena also picked up a nice piece of "Cody blue" linen blend for Gunnarr a new outfit for Crown List in a few weeks.

I was on a mission as I needed fabric to do some false sleeves for Emily's tudor. I snagged 5 yards of some lucious brown velveteen. This will go lovely with the burgundy kirtle and gold gown. Now to get all this going. I also picked up some gold flat braid and some cream colored pearls to do some sort of decoration on the false sleeves and head dress. I picked up another 4 yard piece of some very soft cotton for Keon a new tunic or two as well as a few miscellaneous pieces that were too good to pass up. My Big Find was some blue linen that I had my eye on last year that is embroidered with daisies. Can you say cote-har-deeeeee!! Oh baby! And at $2.50 a yard versus the $16.99 a yard it was this past spring! I need to carve out some soapstone for buttons for the cote and get Cato and Solva to cast them for me.

There was some lovely lozengy fabric that I thought would be truly awesome for Italian Ren, but passed up on it. Anyone in this area of Meridies who needs assistance shopping for fabric let me know. I'm good at spending other people's money on fabric! And I'm just 5 minutes from JoAnn (which has its faults as well as its advantages.)

In other news of the medieval, the kids and I are working on a "box project" for the Crown. They need largess to give at Gulf Wars and other inter-kingdom meetings. Phoenix Glade is working on providing them with some of this largess. We've got leather bottle and pouch making, bead making, veil pin making, and box making. The kids and I are doing the boxes. We took boxes that we bought for 66¢ a piece at Michael's and took the hardware off of them. We sanded them and stained them yesterday and today we put the first coat of poly on it. We will sand them again tonight and put the second coat of poly on them so that tomorrow we can reassemble the lids and bottoms and put them back together. Trust me, they are NOT going to look like 66¢ boxes when we are done. Amazing what a little cherry stain can do for a cheap wood box.

And speaking of wood, I have wood shoes!! Greet found 2 pair at her local thrift store and bought both pairs. One pair fit her and the other pair fit me with some thick socks on. Woot! I'm going to make a quick pair of thin leather turnsole shoes to wear with them as well and need to sand down one spot that rubs wrong on my right foot. I'm thinking seriously about woodburning my daisy into the back of the shoe. What do you think? I haven't found any documentation into doing such, but I haven't looked very hard either. I think this will be just the thing for my working women's kirtles.

The Nalbinding Tutorial

I greatly owe this to Mistress Maire from Artemisia. I promised her December of last year that I would throw one up on my blog. Hmmm. All good things?

Step 1: Assemble needed supplies: yarn, needles, scissors. In regards to the yarn, it can truly be of any weight. I've used everything from fingering weight to nice heavy lopi that came from Iceland. The difference is going to be how quickly it takes to do up. The finer the yarn the more stitches per inch (just like in knitting). The only drawback to using the lopi for socks was that it is a tad pebbly on your feet until the wool felts a bit (from being walked on). I have two needles shown. One is a simple wide eyed tapestry needle which is just fine. The other is made for me by my friend "Spoon" (his real name is TC Lowery, but his website is down.) Spoon makes hand carved wood spoons at Ren Fairs around the country and made me my lovely wooden needle from Ironwood. You don't need a lovely wooden needle made from Ironwood, but it does look more authentic when you are doing nalbinding at SCA events.





Step 2: Cut a piece of yarn that is about 18 inches long and thread your needle with one end. With the other end make a slip knot. If you don't know how to make a slip knot, Google it. It's easy.

The finished slip knot. See, that was easy.

Step 3: The general rule is "down through the working hole, up through the last two loops." For most of what you do is based on this rule. To start making nalbinding in the round take your needle down through the center of the slip not you just made. You can adjust the size easily. making it smaller as you go around. For now, leave it this size.

Step 4: Go up through the loop that was created by going down through the center hole, but don't pull it tight. Leave a bit of a loop left and hold this with your thumb and a finger (it doesn't matter which finger, just use a finger to keep it from closing all the way up). It should look something like this:

See, I'm holding the loop with my fourth (or ring) finger. You could use your index or your tall man or even your pinky if you so desired. Whatever is comfortable for you.

Step 5: Take your needle again and go down through the center of your slip knot. then come up through the loop you just made and the loop prior to that. It's hard to see in this picture, but hopefully it will help (clicking on the picture will make it bigger).

Yep, kid of hard to see, but trust me. Keep doing this (down through the center hole up through the last two working loops) until you have around 8-10 stitches on the loop. Then you can adjust the size of your slip knot. This makes your first round.

Which looks something like this.

Or this.

The second round.

Step 6: Now you are going to make your next round. There are a couple of things to remember. If you want to make a skinny tube (which I don't know why you would want to unless you wanted to make a cigar warmer or a woolen finger cot, again, not sure why you would want to) you would "sew" (for lack of a better word, since knit isn't right either) in each space. But we don't' want to make a willy warmer so we are going to "sew" about 2 in every previous row's stitch. I have found that if you do 2 in every previous row's stitch that it will be too much, so this is where you just have to eyeball it and see if you are creating a smooth increase. If you are not even with the previous round's hole then add another "stitch" in your working hole. If you are too far ahead, then decrease the number of stitches you are putting in each hole. You will get the hang of it.

This is a picture of the needle coming back up through the two previous loops.

Step 7: When you run out of yarn run the tail through a few stitches on the row previous to where you are working. You will want to go through about 3 or 4 stitches. Then to start your next row, simply run your needle through 3 or 4 stitches in the row you are currently working on, but don't pull tight. You don't need to worry about securing it with a knot or anything. It will eventually get "sewn" into what you are currently working on. Another way of starting a new yarn is to "unspin" the ends of both yarns and then respin them together. I've done it both ways and they both work. Personally I find threading it back through more time saving. Historically we are in a quandry as to actually take apart extent pieces would be a blasphemy to some and we can't tell easily which way was done.

This is how two complete rows should look.

To create a garment, such as a sock. you essentially just keep making rounds adding and decreasing stitches until you get the shape you are looking for. For a sock, you would want to go out until the circle is about as round as your foot and then you want to start making a tube by doing a stitch in every loop. The nice thing about this sort of sock construction is that you can try it on as you go (sort of like when you make toe up socks on two circular needles). When you have the tube as long as your foot (or at least up to where your ankle starts on the top, you then stop working on that piece and start a second piece (from step 2 - as you should already have your supplies assembled) and make a small cup that will fit your heel and is about as wide so that it will meet the tube you made for your foot. These pieces are simply worked together creating another tube that works it's way up to make the leg of your sock. This website has some drawings of learning nalbinding as well as sock part construction. You can leave a slit open in the front if you like. I did this to my socks, but the next pair I make I probably won't do this as it tends to flop open if you don't make a tie for it. Kind of annoying, but it isn't uncomfortable. It's just easier to get your sock on this way. Nalbinding doesn't have a lot of give to it. Although I think there is enough to put a sock on.

I love my wool socks. I like that when I wear my viking underdress and apron that I have socks that match. My friend Gunnar is sewing my viking shoes. I have them cut out, but just don't have the manual strength to be able to actually sew leather anymore. Darn old hands. I'm going to trade him some antler that I have for payment as he won't take cash.

Ooooo, New books

Ox Bow Books has several new books coming out that are on my definite wish list. The first is The Wooden Bowl by Robin wood which dates the turned wooden bowl back 4000 years through the Tudor period from the Mary Rose. The cost is $40.

The second is Purses in Pieces: archaeological Finds of Late Medieval and 16th Century Leather Purses, Pouches, Bags and Cases in the Netherlands (now that's a mouthful) by Olaf Goubitz. The cost is $35.

The final is Stepping Through Time: Archaeological Footwear from Prehistoric Times until 1800 by Olaf Goubitz. The cost is $65, but I understand that this is a paperback reprint of the hardback original that was much more costly.


Be sure to check out this website's other offerings as well. There are quite a few nice books in their discounted books including the Isabella Breviary for $9.98!

Pictures!

I found these online from RUM court. The first is the pic of me in court in my Flemish working woman's outfit.

The next picture if Lavena in her Busy Bee Dress. The Queen requested that she stand and show herself as well. So glad she did! Lavena has been working hard the past two weeks doing things for TRM at Pennsic!



OK, that's all for now. :)

Ok so it's been a month

Or more since I last posted. Sorry, just been busy and this is the blog that gets neglected. This month I have managed to make about a dozen original scrolls for the Crown of Meridies, a new kirtle, apron, kerchief and chemise, helped make peach mead, went to RUM (Royal University of Meridies) where I taught a class called An Overview of Hats, and recieved our kingdom's A&S award, which was really cool.

Aside from that most of what I have been doing is getting ready for a new homeschooling year (see our homeschool blog , knitting (check my knitting blog Knit Stuffs), and trying to stay out of the miserable heat (we have been having record temperatures well over 100°F with heat indeces at over 110°F!) I envy the 68°F that Portland was having yesterday while we were sweltering. It doesn't help the electric bill either when it is this hot. It's triple what we pay in the winter as we don't run the heater then.

Things are wrapping up nicely for the event. And I will begin shopping soon (probably next weekend as there weren't any great sales for what I need.) I'm glad that I budgeted using non-sale prices. Hopefully next week there will be some good prices on meats which will greatly help with my budget. I keep remembering things I need for the feast that aren't food related like dish detergent, bleach, paper towels, garbage bags, food storage bags for leftovers, etc. I still need to make the hats for the kitchen staff, so I may make myself sit down and whip out about a dozen of those tomorrow. They don't take long. OH wait, my sewing machine is crapping out on me. Hmmm. OK, maybe I'll make myself sit down and figure out what is wrong with the sewing machine tomorrow and then whip out a dozen of those. My staff looks well put together (no there will not be a dozen people in the kitchen at one time!) and things are shaping up nicely for the class. The Crown won't be coming (darn it) but that will probably be a good thing seeing as we have lots of fairly new people who might freak if royalty was present "What do we do? What do we do?" :)

A month later

I almost want to say, "Meanwhile back at the ranch" I keep meaning to update my blog, but time just gets by me. Then a month later I realize all the things I wanted to blog about but never got around to :)

So I guess we will start with cooking. I'm the head cook for the Shire of Phoenix Glade's http://phoenixglade.org event Daggers and Hemlock. I sort of fell into this. A portion of the menu is posted on the website. We had a great weekend of successful cheese making. Although Greet http://szarka.typepad.com/sca/ did request that more live cultures be added to assist those with lactose issues. Will do that in the next batch (especially since someone who will remain nameless gluttoned herself with nearly a pound of cheese in a matter of 3 days! Oh but it is SO good!) We also had a good turn out on the lentils I'll be cooking, although we've decided to ditch the eggs. Eggs cooked ontop of lentils that have had saffron added to them tend to turn a funky color if not consumed immediately. With all the meat that will be served we aren't too concerned about our guests not having access to protein.

Mead! We finally cracked a bottle of the mead we put up last year. I know I didn't talk about this, but last spring we put up many bottles of some ginger honey mead using two different kinds of honey. One was using honey from Aethelmearc and the other was using honey that Lavena purchased at Sam's Club. While we liked the pre-fermented "syrup" better, we found that we actually prefer the fermented mead with the cheap honey better. Who knew? They also tried the red hot cinnamon cordials as well, but I forgot to get some (too consumed in cheese making and mead tasting).

Garb and Grub was fun on Sunday. We ended up with a small tent city of 5 "EZ Ups", a table groaning with food, and lots of fun discussion. I think every group should have a monthly Garb and Grub just to get together, eat a bit and have it easy. The fighters did armor up in the blistering heat and Sulva had a few heat issues herself (mental note, don't take Sulva to Fighter practice in her heavy Italian Ren in the future.)

Sewing. Ive been doing quite a bit of sewing in the past month. It all started with Lavena saying, "Oh Melbrigda, you need a new dress of Kingdom Art Sci." So I put scissors to cloth and made a dandy (if I do say so myself) Flemish Working Woman's Kirtle complete with apron, chemise and kerchief. It actually wasn't as hot as I feared it would be and the kerchief kept my hair off my neck and allowed for breezes to pass through. It's heavy though and I've got the fabric to make another out of a lighter linen (currently it is made from $1.50 a yard clearance twill, but hey, it was $1.50 for all cotton!) I'm also in the process of making Cato some "fancy garb" because he wants to look cool. Reminding him that I just made him some cool looking garb last month with a hat no less he responded, "But I've already worn that to one event." He's turning into a real Garbie Doll. Speaking of which I really need to get the words to the song Garbie Girl that the girls have parodied from Barbie Girl. So I'm cutting out his tunic and hand embroidering the trim for it. I also have fabric to make Sulva a lighterweight Viking Apron to go over her plaid Viking Dress. I think the gray flannel is going to be too hot to wear until, oh, January!

Scribal stuff. I'm still working furiously on doing original scrolls for Their Majesty's scroll cases. I was so proud to be part of the first court (we think ever) in Meridies where all original scrolls were handed out. That was just so cool! It's no secret that I am not a fan of "pre-prints" or "paint-by-number" scrolls, so seeing all those original scrolls being handed out was ultra cool! Hopefully we can get more scribes doing original scrolls as they are just so nice! I sent up a batch to TRM last week as I had promised I would and have 4 finished and 2 lettered scrolls that I hope to finish today. I also need to mail THL Simon's Grant scroll to him now that I've got it finished. That's a "today project." I'm hoping that I will be able to at least take pictures if not scan this set of scrolls before they go out.

OK, all for now. Got a huge list of things to do that I put off yesterday since it was my birthday and I decided I really didn't want to do those things. :)