Are you going to Pennsic? Have you registered? If not, remember that the deadline is June 16, 2018! Get your registrations in!: https://www.cooperslake.com/prereg/account/index.php
I know I am a bit lax on the Pennsic posts this year, but things have mundanely been crazy, and add to that a new kitton addition to the house... well, I am swamped with life and am trying to play catch up here, and everywhere else as well. If you need to see totally adorable pics of him, they can be found here: https://themerryrosette.weebly.com/
But back to Pennsic. My classes are officially all on 8/7. I will be teaching my "Deeper Look at Textiles & Trim of Viking Age Dress" at noon (it is a 2 hour class) and that will be immediately followed by my Beyond the Aprondress class. At this moment I am planning to also teach a "Basic Viking Clothing with No Regreats" class, that would discuss how I would approach crafting a Viking Age wardrobe based on what I know NOW (so that I could avoid my past mistakes). The plan is tentatively to do this as a traveling class and I will teach several sessions on the same day in several private camps. I will update this blog with information once I have it all set up.
I also want to toss out some links to my older articles, because they tend to be well received by new folks each year.
Tips for Enjoying your First (or Tenth) Pennsic:
awanderingelf.weebly.com/blog-my-journey/tips-for-enjoying-your-first-or-tenth-pennsic
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I also want to talk a bit about a few things that make my Pennsic life much easier. There are numerous conversations to be found online about ways to have a power source in camp (for those not lucky enough to have an electric outlet nearby). For many years we used deep cycle marine batteries and a couple of solar trickle chargers to power necessary things like phones (and unnecessary, buy very cool things like coffee makers). That type of system works fantastically, and with a good inverter it was also good for keeping large air beds inflated. However, I switched from air beds to a cot several years ago and now drink my first cup of coffee in camp before heading to town for Second Breakfast. I no longer needed that much of a set-up (and no longer wanted to deal with carrying those heavy batteries).
I was looking at various types of new solar panels, as well as storage batteries for them and was honestly, overwhelmed. Talking to a few friends, I found that many prefer Goal Zero system over other things they have tried. I broke down and bought one and while it was costly, I have been using it for years now and it is perfect. The kit I got consists of the Sherpa 50 and a solar panel. The Sherpa is a batterpack that you can charge with the solar panel and then us it to charge or run devices (it has a inverter with it). You can also directly charge a device from the solar panel. I have never, ever run out of juice at war with this thing, despite that I often allow friends to charge phones from my set up. Beyond Pennsic, I use this for mundane camping, and if there is a storm coming, I often make sure the Sherpa is charged up and ready in the event we lose power. I absolutely do not regret spending the money for this set-up. |
What else do I totally love that has improved my Pennsic life? A very silly LED light that charges from a USB source. It was cheap so I got one to try out last year and discovered this one little light is enough to light my entire tent at night. I only charged it once during War (my BF has been using his for various tasks since September, as well as a camping trip, and only just charged it last weekend). And with the USB cord attached, I can charge it directly from my Goal Zero.
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Why else is this little light brilliant? You can charge your PHONE off the light as well. This gives you an additional back up power supply should you need it. It also has little hooks (and a magnet) on top, to allow you to hang it in your tent, or even affix it to a metal surface if you are using it as a work light. I actually plan to buy a second before I go to Pennsic this year, because it came in very handy for helping light the kitcehn making pancakes late at night at War! |
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