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Happy Holidays!

12/26/2012

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I hope everyone had a warm and lovely holiday! We are dealing with some rather unpleasant weather so I am hiding inside and plan to work on 12th Night decor and will look more at the lovely books my mother got me for Christmas.
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Also managed to finish my first weaving on Lilly before the holidays. After wet finishing it came out exceptionally soft. I am very happy with it. 1 yard, 35 inches of the herringbone. Definitely enough to make a hood.
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OK, I Can't Help Myself...

12/18/2012

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There is a conversation that recently came up on the Kingdom list that bothers me.  The more I think about it, the more I want to talk further about it (even though I already did so on the list).
 
In short, the topic arose when the subject (again) came up about same-sex monarchs.  I won't go into my thoughts on that at this time, but one of the arguments that comes up every time this subject is broached is that of historical accuracy and lack of historical same-sex peers (as partners) as precedence. 

There were some very good arguments made about how much of what we do really has no historical precedence at all.  Some of what we do is part of our SCA conventions/traditions (such as our Kingdoms and the fact that women can fight for Crown) and some of it is based on modern necessity (sneakers, modern eyewear, wheelchairs, restricted diets... even things that are a result of personal finances, such as substituting cheap cotton or synthetic fabrics when our persona would have worn wool or silk).  There were some very well thought out posts much earlier on the lists about these things and I think they made quite a few people, myself included, think further about the whole topic.

Eventually, however, this topic digressed and a statement was made that corporate should impose more strict historical guidelines.  It was also suggested that we should no longer claim any historical base because we do not have a set of standards beyond the Attempt at Pre-17th Century garb and that we should drop our classification as an educational organization.  Eventually, one poster stated (after several-rounds back and forth with people) that corporate needs to set the tone for the rest of us in terms of accuracy.  (Note, I have no issues with someone have their own opinions about these things, I just happen to feel differently and want to put my thoughts here.)

Many, myself included, disagreed strongly the idea that we should have a list somewhere that says you cannot "play" unless you have X, Y and Z in your kit. 

As I said on the list, I have done other forms re-enacting.  I was an American Civil War reenactor for many years and actually was starting to get involved in 1812 at one point as well.  These groups can be great to observe or be part of... but I really felt that there was something missing (for me), when I attended these events.

Despite my love for history, those Living History functions had little appeal for me in the long run.  Why?  What makes that and the SCA so different?  I still strive for accuracy in what I do in the SCA.  If anything, it is even more difficult to do now as there are no fashion books I can buy for the time periods I choose to recreate. 

Part of it, for me, is something one poster mentioned during this debate.  And this is our ability to use Experimental Archeology in what we do.  For some time periods and cultures, you are pretty much limited to this.  I think it is wonderful to be able to cobble together the bits of information that you can find and come up with something you think is more then feasible and present it to others as your interpretation of whatever the item or custom was.  Hopefully, that engenders further conversation with others and maybe, just maybe, we, as a whole, get a step closer to the truth of the matter.

So yes, I love that, but what really makes the SCA for me, is the people.  I love to come home from Pennsic excited about all of the wonderful things I saw, and learned and actually tried!  It leaves me energized for months afterwards.  Never once, in my years as a CW reenactor, did I come away from any event with that feeling.  The ability to learn so much is exhilarating.  And, it is also just as exciting to help others learn something new and progress on their personal journey within the SCA.

Most importantly though, it is not just the Laurels and the master artisans and teachers that can leave you with that energy to take on new tasks.  It is just as exciting to see someone new who is proudly displaying or talking about their new found skill or creation. 

This environment exists, in large part, due to the Society's policy of inclusion.  Everyone is welcome to come play and, unlike similar hobbies with a historical basis, there is very little you need to do to start playing.  You can just borrow something from Gold Key and attend an event. And best of all, you don't even have to do all your research before going to that first event!  You can dive in and learn as you go!  And yes, you may never choose to delve entirely into creating a persona, because there are so many other aspects to this organization and not everyone is required to do all of them.  As I have said before, that person in the cobbled-together garb might actually be the hardest working person in the local group, because running events might be their forte.

Additionally, I do not think status as an education organization should be revoked because a newbie is taught to make their first tunic with a borrowed sewing machine rather than by hand with a bone needle and linen thread.  The initial investment in time and money is minimal and that makes the hobby open to so many more people.  I think this policy of inclusion also alleviates some of the newbie anxiety about whether they are "doing it right".  We are still constantly educating ourselves and others, and do not need a set of standards that says what is, or is not, acceptable education.

Do I think most of what we do is Living History?  In short, no.  There are too many modernisms floating around, and, in fact, we do not portray history, but rather a collection of historically based (some more so than others) personas who have come together under fictitious kingdoms' banners.  Do we, however, selectively represent parts of history?  Absolutely.  Are we historical reenactors?  Absolutely.  Do we educate others?  Absolutely.

I also said, several times, that historical accuracy should not be enforced by the SCA corporation, but rather, it should be nurtured and encouraged by the SCA populace.  If you want too see people take steps towards more accurate clothes, culture, camps, then TEACH it.  Help others work on their kits.  Help run better events.  Do your best to present your own best representation of history and be known for very much enjoying what you do and that more than any imposition of corporate law compel others to take the next steps themselves.

(For those who care, I have a couple other posts with my thoughts on generic garb, anachronisms and authenticity here: A mix of random blathering, some of which is relevant now )


(And because I also can't drop this one, I do have to note that some of the other arguments from the "against" consortium are really surreal... in fact, I really love the one about two Dukes fighting for each other, over and over, and never let anyone else have the fun of sitting on the throne.  Really people???  First, the current Monarchs would have to allow it to happen - and I can only hope they would have sense enough not allow them to fight at all - and secondly, they would have to win. Every. Time.  Come on folks, I think there are more interesting things in the world over which to create conspiracy theories...)
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Never Enough Time!

12/17/2012

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So many projects, so little time! 

  1. I finished a project on the rigid heddle loom this weekend.  It has been wet finished and ready to be wrapped.
  2. The apron rod on Lilly is about to come over the back beam, which means the end is in site.  My plan is to finish that Friday and MAYBE get the next warp on her before the holidays.  Project #2 is a Shetland wool warp with my hand spun (entirely on the drop spindle) Icelandic.  I only have about 300 yards for the weft, so we will see how much fabric I get out of it.  I already pulled a Birka diamond twill draft from Medieval Textiles for this. 
    http://www.medievaltextiles.org/birka.html
  3. 12th Night is coming along.  I believe I mentioned that I had to can the idea of having my A&S entry ready, and I am thinking that the applique work will not be finished on my dress either.  BUT, the decorative items I am working on for the event are looking very nice so far, so I am pleased.  I am crossing my fingers that I get the tablecloth for High Table done tonight :-)
  4. And finally, I need to stay off the forums for awhile.  I had considered making a post here about some of the things that have been thrown out on the AEthelmearc list, but I have already said them here, so (for this moment, at
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Lilly Part Two (and other weaving excitement)

12/10/2012

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I am thrilled to report that I finished setting up and dressing Lilly this weekend and, yes, I even have about 15 inches of successfully woven cloth to show for it!

In the last post I showed the warp chains ready for the loom.  Here is my snarled messy warp laying in the lease sticks across the back of the loom (with my homemade raddle being used to space the warp).  I made an error with one of the bundles and ended up excluding it completely, the rest desnarled enough to be passable.  I did make some errors during this part of the process that I will not repeat next time.  I also plan to try using two crosses on the next project and see if that doesn't help me.
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The next step involved threading the heddles.  This was only an issue until I remembered I could totally remove the breast beam to get in close to the shafts.  After that it was time consuming but simple.  I threaded the four shafts I have installed for a straight twill (1, 2, 3, 4).

I made two threading errors in this part which I caught as soon as I wove my spacing rows.  It was simple to unweave the couple rows, untie those bundles from the apron rod and rethread the 4 heddles that had errors.
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After threading the heddles it was time to sley the reed.

Again, I made a couple of errors here.  I missed two dents in the reed and in one other I had sleyed two threads.  It would have required resleying the entire reed to fix these, so I opted not too.  Theoretically, the extra spaces should work themselves out during the wet finishing process when I am done with this piece of weaving.
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Here my bundles are tied to the apron rod and I am ready to start weaving!
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A view from the back of the loom with the warp totally threaded and spaced in the raddle.
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My header row!  This as I mentioned, was actually my second pass at this, after I fixed the threading errors.

You can also see the two spots where I missed a dent in the reed.  The warp is Lion Brand 1878 wool and the spacer is a cheap heavy cotton yarn.
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I set up a small area to use as a bobbin winding station.  In this image I am winding the purple weft onto a bobbin (this is also Lion Brand 1878).

Notice the small blue bowl holding my bobbins - this was made by a friend who does some exceptionally crafted pottery pieces.
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In addition to experimenting with a floating selvage (something you cant really do on a Rigid Heddle loom), I also used a paperclip temple to help keep the weaving from drawing in too much.

The first few inches were drawing in ALOT (it was a good 3 inches shorter than the width at the reed).  Part of this was me not allowing enough yarn out of the shuttle, and I think part was that I was not using a temple. 

For this you use paperclips, extra yarn or cord and something to weight the whole contraption. 
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I need to get some nylon cord that will not stretch as I only had the heavy cotton I used for the header rows.  You can see it is starting to sag in this picture.

Despite some issues with the cord I used, I did get my fabric to where it is almost the width of the reed again.

The process is simple though, you run a cord from breast beam to back beam and then suspend weights from another cord which is attached to a paper clip and hooked through the edge of the fabric.  Complete directions can be found here:  http://www.woolgatherers.com/id105.htm
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I think the most exciting part of my weekend was seeing actual fabric emerge!

I started by weaving a few inches of twill (with an obvious treadling error) and then switched to herringbone.
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By the time I wrapped it up on Sunday, I had close to 15 inches of fairly nice herringbone twill.
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Why only 15 inches?  Well, on Saturday I had the opportunity to go to the Potomac Fiber Arts Guild Auction!  Members clean out their stash and donate it to a large sale to raise funds for the guild.

I was more than happy to do my share and buy 50 pounds of wool yarn, a dozen magazines and two books that are on my Weaving Book Want List!

The company was fantastic (I went with two dear friends) and there were so many lovely people there.  The potluck brunch was excellent as well!
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Lilly

12/3/2012

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My new Oxaback Lilla loom has arrived!  I don't think I have been as excited about anything since the arrival of Nimar (an F1 Savannah cat). 

The loom had to "acclimate" for several days before assembly so we allowed it to do that and then, finally, on Saturday we put her (now named Lilly) together.

First was the simple part... the bench!
Assembly of the frame came next.

Yes, the desk behind the loom looks as though a bomb hit it.  And it sorta did.  I had to clear everything off the floor to make room for the loom.  I have already gone through my fabric stash to weed out some donatable goods, but it appears I might have to make a second pass to make sure that everything fits better into the sewing room.  (I also need to commit that old computer and monitor to the dump at some point.)

There were a couple of moments when the directions and photos provided by the shop owner did not quite answer our construction questions, but by looking a few things up online we solved all the issues and got her together.  (For example, we weren't sure if we were supposed to use washers between the treadles, but I found directions for a similar loom that had you doing so, so we made the call and used there here in that same manner.)
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Finally came the treadles, shafts and tie-up.  Initially, I installed all 8 shafts and treadles but I was having an issue getting everything lined up and balanced.  Most of my planned projects (for the time being) are 4 shaft/6 treadle patterns, so I simplified my life by removed 4 of the shafts.  After doing that the entire thing worked wonderfully.

Based on a suggestion from a blog, I chose to use Sharpie markers to color my heddles so that I can easily tell which shaft it is that I am threading.  The link to the blog is here:  http://madcitymike.blogspot.com/2011/02/warping-my-oxaback-lilla-floor-loom-for.html
Finally, I started preparing my warp.  I am using an inexpensive Lion Brand 1878 wool yarn for my initial test project.  The wool felt nicer than I expected and had about 18wpi so it was also a bit more fine than I expected. 

There were a couple of spots on the cone where the yarn was a bit ragged, but I cut out the three yards that had issues and the rest was very uniform.

I wound my warp in 3 yard bundles with 36 ends each on the warping board.  Right now I have enough chains to warp 27 inches wide, and I might wind off one more to make it 30.
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Warp chains waiting for me to start warping on Thursday!
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    About Me

    I am mother to a billion cats and am on journey to recreate the past via costume, textiles, culture and food.

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    Blogroll of SCA & Costume Bloggers

    Below is a collection of some of my favorite places online to look for SCA and historic costuming information.

    More Amie Sparrow - 16th Century German Costuming


    Gianetta Veronese - SCA and Costuming Blog

    Grazia Morgano - 16th Century A&S

    Mistress Sahra -Dress From Medieval Turku 

    Hibernaatiopesäke

    Loose Threads: Cathy's Costume Blog

    Mistress Mathilde Bourrette - By My Measure: 14th and 15th Century Costuming

    More than Cod: Exploring Medieval Norway

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