Happy New Year! I know I'm way late and I have no excuses for not updating this blog because I've been unemployed for the last 10 weeks. I got all excited about all the time I was going to have for SCA things after I finished uni, but then Christmas happened and I discovered I was seriously lacking motivation for SCA things. It's difficult to get back into the swing of projects and stuff when you've completely checked out for six months. So what have I been doing? Not much. I spent $70 on 1000 pearls from China and had some interesting conversations with the people from customs because apparently 'cultured pearl' is not enough of a description for them to know what was in my package. There were multiple emails and I ended up sending them the internet listing for what I had bought. But when I got the package they'd opened it anyway. Not that I mind, but what was the point of all the emails? Anyway, that was over a month ago and I haven't done anything with them since. They're for my Saxony Gown, in particular the goldhaube/hat dealie thing. I need to buy the silk for them to go on but then the US exchange rate turned to shit and I started procrastinating instead.
I made a hood! There was a open A&S competition at Midsummer feast a few weeks ago and I decided since I needed to make a hood anyway and I had all the materials I should enter it. I thought about it for two weeks and then freaked out and put the whole thing together in the two days before the feast. I scored 33/50 which isn't bad, but I think I could've made a better hood and written better documentation if I'd gotten my act into gear and given myself the time to actually do it properly.
I made it without the skirt that covers the shoulders because I had this idea that I'll wear it with a partlet and cloak at Rowany Festival. Whenever I wear a cloak and a skirted hood I have a lot of trouble keeping the hood from slipping off or twisting around. It's an absolute pain and I usually only resort to wearing both when I'm stupid cold so I'm already grumpy from being cold and it just makes me grumpier and more uncomfortable. Anyway, I made this hood from some blue wool that Lady Mery gave to me as a birthday present a few years ago, and some gold silk dupion I found in my stash. I tablet wove the edges like on my other hood. I had an idea that I'd wear this with my linen huva cap for extra warms and to grip the silk. As you can see from the pictures, the silk is really quite stiff. When I wore it to Midsummer it sort of wobbled around on my head and didn't change shape. I also had problems keeping my huva cap on my head because the string was too long, and I actually thing the cap itself is too big because the edge doesn't sit flat around my head, it's sort of wibbly. I might need to make a new one from my own pattern instead of just copying Mistress Catherine's pattern :P
I also did a big no-no and didn't pre-wash any of the fabric. Gasp! Horror! I know, I'm lazy. Anyway, I decided that I didn't like having such a stiff hood because it felt silly. I've heard that silk dupion gets softer the more you wash it, so I decided to give the hood a wash and if the colours ran or it shrank weirdly then I hadn't really lost anything because I was unlikely to wear the hood while it was all stiff anyway. I hand washed it in some lukewarm water with fabric softener, and nothing drastic happened. The colour didn't run at all which was awesome because I really wouldn't have been surprised if everything turned blue. I think the silk shrank slightly, but not enough for me to care. More importantly, I'm pretty sure it's less stiff than it was. Mistress Catherine suggested washing it in vinegar to soften it, so I might try that too. I do have an issue with wearing it with my huva cap though. It makes a lump at the back of my head because that's where my hair is, and it makes the back of the hood stick out. It's the right look for a veil and wimple, but looks a bit silly without. I might make a new huva cap that fits properly and experiment at Festival with wearing the hood with and without the huva cap to see which works better.
I've also been plodding away at my embroidery. I'd like to have it finished to take to the WCoB meeting at Festival to get graded, but I worked out that I need to finish half a motif every day, which is about five hours of embroidery. It's do-able but I'll be cramming it in around dance classes, job hunting, SCA training and all the other things I need to do for Project Warm for Festival. So far I've done nothing except the hood and I've bought some cotton flannel that I'm going to turn into long sleeved chemises to wear under my cotehardies. I need to rummage through my fabric stash because I want to make a wool half cloak lined with linen. It'll either be parti-coloured or I'll use some of the maroon wool that I have tonnes of. So far I've borrowed one pair of thermal leggings and a thermal shirt from my mum, I'll just sleep with the shirt under my fleecy tunic but I'm intending to wear leggings every day so I'll need at least another pair. I also need some more woolly socks.
I'm hoping this year will be better because Easter is a few weeks earlier than last year so it might not be quite as cold to start off with. I'm also coming so much more prepared with a thermal layer and more warm things, and I'm also sleeping in the dorms instead of a tent. So even if the evenings are still stupidly cold, I should at least be toasty warm at night. I'm bringing the same bedding I had in the tent, which had me almost warm enough, but the dorm rooms should be warmer since they have heaters and they're inside with beds raised off the floor.
Stay tuned for more updates on Project Warm for Festival :)
I made a hood! There was a open A&S competition at Midsummer feast a few weeks ago and I decided since I needed to make a hood anyway and I had all the materials I should enter it. I thought about it for two weeks and then freaked out and put the whole thing together in the two days before the feast. I scored 33/50 which isn't bad, but I think I could've made a better hood and written better documentation if I'd gotten my act into gear and given myself the time to actually do it properly.
I made it without the skirt that covers the shoulders because I had this idea that I'll wear it with a partlet and cloak at Rowany Festival. Whenever I wear a cloak and a skirted hood I have a lot of trouble keeping the hood from slipping off or twisting around. It's an absolute pain and I usually only resort to wearing both when I'm stupid cold so I'm already grumpy from being cold and it just makes me grumpier and more uncomfortable. Anyway, I made this hood from some blue wool that Lady Mery gave to me as a birthday present a few years ago, and some gold silk dupion I found in my stash. I tablet wove the edges like on my other hood. I had an idea that I'd wear this with my linen huva cap for extra warms and to grip the silk. As you can see from the pictures, the silk is really quite stiff. When I wore it to Midsummer it sort of wobbled around on my head and didn't change shape. I also had problems keeping my huva cap on my head because the string was too long, and I actually thing the cap itself is too big because the edge doesn't sit flat around my head, it's sort of wibbly. I might need to make a new one from my own pattern instead of just copying Mistress Catherine's pattern :P
I also did a big no-no and didn't pre-wash any of the fabric. Gasp! Horror! I know, I'm lazy. Anyway, I decided that I didn't like having such a stiff hood because it felt silly. I've heard that silk dupion gets softer the more you wash it, so I decided to give the hood a wash and if the colours ran or it shrank weirdly then I hadn't really lost anything because I was unlikely to wear the hood while it was all stiff anyway. I hand washed it in some lukewarm water with fabric softener, and nothing drastic happened. The colour didn't run at all which was awesome because I really wouldn't have been surprised if everything turned blue. I think the silk shrank slightly, but not enough for me to care. More importantly, I'm pretty sure it's less stiff than it was. Mistress Catherine suggested washing it in vinegar to soften it, so I might try that too. I do have an issue with wearing it with my huva cap though. It makes a lump at the back of my head because that's where my hair is, and it makes the back of the hood stick out. It's the right look for a veil and wimple, but looks a bit silly without. I might make a new huva cap that fits properly and experiment at Festival with wearing the hood with and without the huva cap to see which works better.
I've also been plodding away at my embroidery. I'd like to have it finished to take to the WCoB meeting at Festival to get graded, but I worked out that I need to finish half a motif every day, which is about five hours of embroidery. It's do-able but I'll be cramming it in around dance classes, job hunting, SCA training and all the other things I need to do for Project Warm for Festival. So far I've done nothing except the hood and I've bought some cotton flannel that I'm going to turn into long sleeved chemises to wear under my cotehardies. I need to rummage through my fabric stash because I want to make a wool half cloak lined with linen. It'll either be parti-coloured or I'll use some of the maroon wool that I have tonnes of. So far I've borrowed one pair of thermal leggings and a thermal shirt from my mum, I'll just sleep with the shirt under my fleecy tunic but I'm intending to wear leggings every day so I'll need at least another pair. I also need some more woolly socks.
I'm hoping this year will be better because Easter is a few weeks earlier than last year so it might not be quite as cold to start off with. I'm also coming so much more prepared with a thermal layer and more warm things, and I'm also sleeping in the dorms instead of a tent. So even if the evenings are still stupidly cold, I should at least be toasty warm at night. I'm bringing the same bedding I had in the tent, which had me almost warm enough, but the dorm rooms should be warmer since they have heaters and they're inside with beds raised off the floor.
Stay tuned for more updates on Project Warm for Festival :)
