What-What?! Week of July 7th

I don't know what we've been doing, but I guess we've been busy. xP

Last weekend, we headed out to an SCA arts and sciences event, set up to showcase artists' work and get feedback.  There was an absolute ton of stuff to look at, and a ton of people too, which unfortunately meant that I didn't get as many pictures as I would've liked.

I thought this weaving was very cool -- this lady had a few other pieces that, from even just a short distance, looked like paintings.

This is actually block-printed designs with embroidered edges -- but it looks like reverse applique until you get really close.

Ordinarily when you see this kind of weaving, it's in the thicker gauge that you see in the upper right-hand corner; the thread used for this piece is so much finer.  Very impressive!

I was looking at this person's display, looked down and saw this little strawberry -- I thought it was a delightfully playful detail.

Card weaving, featuring actual cards.

This is a girdle book -- basically a book with a convenient fabric handle.  I'd like to make one of these for my outfit, because I think they're cool.

Chart showing time periods with book making techniques/materials.

A lovely late 15th century (I think) German hat.  For a while, it was fashionable in Germany to have these square or circular flat hats, which (depending on the specific specimen) could be either elegant or comical.

This lady had some very nice geometric needlepoint designs -- I took this picture so I could look up German brickstitch, which I haven't done yet, but will... eventually.

What-What?! Week of June 9th

It lives!

I am still alive -- just been busy and monumentally tired.  The 1st was my birthday, which we spent camping in the mountains East of Granite Falls, at an SCA event.

As part of the SCA event, the husband and I made a giant wild pig pinata.  We made it over the course of about six weeks; we were given a base spine, legs, and head from the last year's pig, but had to build up a rib cage, muscles, etc.  It wound  up being a pretty serious commitment, and honestly took a lot more time than I was expecting.  That said, it turned out okay:

We didn't do too much at the event itself -- mostly we relaxed at either our camp, or our friend's camp.

We were camped out by the river, which was lovely.

Cooking up some mushrooms and bacon, yum!

Can you see the salmonberry they are looking at?

Oz was given this, and was very excited to show it off.

Saffron and I hanging out.

At Saturday court, the husband received his award of arms, in recognition of his involvement in encouraging new members.  The award grants him the right to be styled officially as "Lord", the right to wear a circlet, and elevates his device to an actual coat of arms.  I was very happy to be able to see him get this award -- I've missed the ceremony for every other award he's received (not on purpose!).

Being granted the award by our baron and baroness.

The actual declaration of the award.

All of the kids at the event were called up as well, to be given gifts -- it seems that our new baron and baroness are very interested in encouraging the involvement of families.  Unfortunately, there were so many children that they ran out of gifts before my boys had their turn, so they took the kids names and tracked us down later in the day.  It was very kind of them.

The husband, wearing his new circlet.  I told him to look regal -- did it work?

Us with our pig's head, post-pinata-beating.

What-What?! Week of February 3rd

Last weekend was Ursulmas, an SCA event organized by our barony, but attended by people from the entire kingdom.  It's probably the most public-facing event of the year, intended to foster interest in Medieval times.

The husband and I volunteered to help with the Ursulwick Village, which is a series of vignettes showing examples of historical life.  As part of this, there's a kitchen area, a small farm, a garden, and a dining hall.

For the display, we spent the two weeks or so before the event making a prop stove out of two-by-twos and styrofoam insulation.  Very pleased with how it came out:

Maestra Fiamma provided the other bits -- firewood, pots, standing portion, etc.  We were actually getting people walking up to it and touching it to see if it was real brick!

Another part of the kitchen area -- can you see the rubber chicken?  The table in the front area there held Maestra Fiamma's almond milk making demo -- we had raw almonds, a bowl of hot water (soak them in this to free the skins), and a mortar and pestle to crush the almonds.  My kids each spent some time working the mortar and pestle or skinning the almonds.

The barn and rose garden area -- this area was specifically set up to provide a nice photo opportunity.

Everyone look at the camera at once, and not look miserable?  Difficulty rating is pretty high.

Taking a break to play around :)

The husband, discussing the quern he was demonstrating.  This viking-style hand quern is family-sized, and was made by another SCA member.  Historically, this quern would be worked by the youngest children, and for long parts of the day that's exactly what my kids did.  It was pretty funny watching my two little boys squabble over who did what, and what order things should be done in, etc.  When they were sorted out and working as a team, they were a pretty good flour-making machine.  As you can tell from the photo, by the end of the weekend my husband was well-covered in flour.

Saffron, playing around with part of the quern demo -- this is a piece that shows how the grooves on the interior sides of the rocks grind the grain into smaller pieces.

What-What?! Week of September 23rd

Last weekend, we spend Saturday at an SCA event (http://www.sca.org/) called Bannerwar; the idea of the event is that the different "houses" present their banners and earn 'war points' based on different events, with a prize for the winners.  The location is up in the mountains east of Granite Falls, at a large park/camp ground up there.

We learned from the last event we went to and brought a crap-ton more stuff; extra clothing layers, toys, a ton of food, table, chairs, extra toys, extra dishes, etc.  Unfortunately, one of the husband's friends was not able to make it, and she had reserved a pavilion; she told us that we could use it since she wouldn't be there for it.  That was very, very nice; having a real roof and a picnic bench that you don't have to set up at all is fricken' convenient.  We're thinking about checking into reserving our own for future events.

In preparation for the event, the husband did a bunch of cooking.  He made some 15th century German sausages called servelat (not anything like the modern cervelat), which are pork sausages (mixture of some pork cut I don't recall and bacon) heavily spiced with what can only be described as Christmas spices: nutmeg, cloves, etc..  Also, a ton, and I mean a ton, of pepper.  They were spicy and delicious, though due to the spiced nature, it was difficult to eat a lot in one sitting.

The husband also made a braised goat leg, cooked with carrots, onions, and barley.  He braised the goat for about 6 hours, so it was just falling apart tender when we went to eat it.

We brought some hard cider to drink; this also improved things drastically.

Mostly we spent the event around the kids activities and the games tent; we did some visiting with various people the husband knows, and watched some of the events.  There was a demonstration going on for block printing, which one of the local old hand had recently gotten into.  I had a good time visiting with him and messing around with his lino blocks and tools; I did stab myself with one of the knives, though (oops).

It was a good time, especially being so much more prepared this time around.  Looking forward to the next one!

What-What?! Week of June 24th

A few weeks ago, we went to the SCA event called Boars Hunt.  One of the main festivities is people hunting various 'animals' (who are also people), using their hunting dogs (also people).  Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any of that event, but we did get to spend a bunch of time in the cook's camp, in the family area, and generally just hanging out.

The forest around the area is beautiful, though that day was rainy, making it incredibly muddy.  By the time we headed home, Osric's clothes looked like he'd rolled in it.  My boots are still not quite the same.

The husband uploaded pictures of the event here.

One of the last things that happened during the day was the evening court.  The husband was recognized for his volunteer work at a previous event, and was inducted into the Order of the Silver Dolphin, receiving both a handmade certificate and a pendant (picture of the pendant can be seen here).