Fun stuff

I'm off to go to a concert of 14th century music by Ensemble Fortuna, which I'm looking forward to. It takes a while to get there on the train, so I'm taking Anne Hagens book on Anglo Saxon food with me to start preparing for our Anglo Saxon feast at the beginning of next year.

Tabletweaving

I'm learning double face tabletweaving, and am working out plans to make garters. In the pictures are the front and back view of the design.

I put the design in Guntram's Tabletweaving Thingy, which was surprisingly easy!

I'm using DMC Petra cotton no. 5. The band will be 14 tablets wide. Each garter will be made up as follows:

3 cm solid color for attaching the buckle

2 cm solid before the design starts

a set of 3 leaves

2 x 2 picks solid

1 castle

2 x 2 picks solid

a set of 3 leaves

solid color until the total length of the garter is 71 cm

I've calculated the length of the warp for weaving 4 garters at a time, since that lenght will hopefully be managable to set up.

4 x 71 = 284

20 % loss = 57

50 cm

Total lenght 391 cm

Hm, the total length on the sheet I worked it out on comes to 4.40 m, why?

We've decided to switch the weft color, to see the effect and to mark the beginning and end of each garter. If one color weft looks much better than the other we might change our minds about this.

Green Knight at Peace of Lissberg

We made a blitz visit to Peace of Lissberg this weekend, staying at a hotel nearby to avoid the hassle of camping, and going up to the site on Friday night and Saturday. I mostly hung out with the kids and chatted. Lots of old friends were there who we hadn't seen in years, and that alone made the trip (4,5 hours one -way, typically one of those sca undertakings that earn you uncomprehending looks from the people at work when you tell them what you did on the weekend) worth it!

The pictures here are of court, where a Green Knight came and challenged His Majesty. The Green Knight has made appearances in Polderslot in the past, but never before was he so impressive or wellspoken. He complimented Her Majesty as the fairest bloom of summer,and presented her with a flower. He spoke of the might and reputation of the court,and his wish to see it proven on the field. The fall is the season for fighting this man of the woods said, and the place should be neither a land of castles, nor of woods, and thus he named Polderslot as the appropriate place for the challenge fight. We were greatly honored by his choice, and not a little awed, and thus we volunteered immediately to host the fight at our event in november, November Nights. Thus the Green Knight from our past returns on the 20th anniversary of our Shire with his hauberk and spear, and we hope the might and glory of the Kingdom will there be presented to him!

Sonderlinge lieden in augustus

Op 8 en 9 augustus waren we weer in het museum, zondag met z'n viertjes en zaterdag met Boris erbij. Met zo'n kleine bezetting hebben we alles zo simpel mogelijk gedaan. Vooraf leek het ons wat ongezellig, maar uiteindelijk beviel het eigenlijk prima. We hebben rustig aangedaan, maar toch best een boel gedaan. Meegedaan met kinder-doe-activiteiten, en zondag ook zelf krakelingen gebakken op het vuur, Emma heeft geleerd te fingerloopen (supertrots was ik! en tevreden, want het kwartje is gevallen welke variant kinderen het makkelijkst kunnen leren). Floris heeft met emaille en brons geexperimenteerd in de smidse en ik heb een flink stuk geweven. Prima dagen!

Ik had ook allemaal inspiratie voor de volgende keer, die ik hier maar even bewaar: schrijven met ganzeveer van het museum, nog eens koekjes maken of wafels met wafelijzer, poppenkleertjes maken, kaartweefsel opzetten voor de kinderen om te proberen en een afwasteiltje meenemen om te doneren voor het medewerkershok.

Challenge

As part of the A&S 50 challenge I am working on several linnen tunics, getting practice at handsewing and finishing them.

I made two for the children, and that went pretty well, even though they still aren't completely finished. Part of my goals for the challenge is to really finish things, so I guess I'll take these with me on the drive to Italy this summer to finish all the seams.

Right now I'm racing the clock to finish the linnen dress I am making for myself, so I can spend the weekend (with predicted temperatures between 25 and 30 C) in linnen in stead of wool. A good reason to work hard, but so far it's going one step forward, 5 steps back.

I originally cut the linnen a couple of years ago, but only started putting it together this past winter. When I started putting in the sleeves, it turned out that they were too narrow, so I've had to go back and make new ones. Now those are finished, and I started putting them in, and it turns out I've been stupid finishing the seams connecting the middle to the sides. I'll have to put up a diagram to show this, but in the end, the only elegant solution was to take out the two seams at the back that had already been finished, so I can fold them over in the other direction :(

Anyway, I'm getting lots of practice in handsewing and finishing linnen seams...So, fingers crossed I'll be able to post a picture of the three of us in new linnen tunics; sewn together, but not completely finished...

bloemenkransen

Ineens hadden we wat bloesems, dus heb ik alvast wat geexperimenteerd met de bloemenkransen. Werkt prima, met dank aan Marieke voor de tip van het raffiastro.

• Vlecht met 1/3 van een bundeltje raffia een krans, niet te stijf, want dan krijg je de bloemen er niet prettig tussen.
• Meet de omtrek van de krans op het hoofd.
• Bind de uiteinden bij elkaar met een stukje touw.
• Vlecht de bloemen ertussendoor.
• Klaar!

Springtime!

Yesterday we had our first day at the museum again, and it was wonderful. Wonderful weather, everything green and fresh and beautiful. We worked on various projects, chatted, explored the museum with the kids, made music and ate wonderful food made by Gerulf and Hilde.

Here are some pictures of a dish they found in the book Van Soeter Cokene by J.M. van Winter. The dish is from a german cookbook (I need to look up from when), and is called moriljes (a kind of mushroom). A dough is made with white bread and eggs, and then fried around a piece of wood to make a bowl. In the bowl goes a filling of eggs again, and finally the whole thing is dipped in a batter of eggs and fried again and served with mushrooms. All in all, the result tasted good, but had gotten a bit too greasy. Perhaps we will try it again, without the final step of frying it again in batter.