I’ve added a new list of links on the left, called "Equippage." Generally, it’s a list of shopping sites I’ve used or plan to use. Much thanks to Ann, and Honnora for the reccs, and if anyone has a particular rec for fencing gloves that are brown and in a women’s size 7, I’d be obliged. Continue reading More links on the sidebar
As recently posted on the Phoenix Glade Yahoo!Group… Greet was using her foot for finger loop braiding. Not sure why she was using her foot but she was. Somewhere there’s a picture of me doing this. Until then, imagine me parked on a sofa, with my foot propped on a chair in front of me. I’ve got the knot end of the braid tucked into my shoe strap, and long loops hooked on each of my fingers. In order to keep the strands in proper tension, I ended up doing a kind of abdominal crunch on every thread braided. The … Continue reading Laces for lacing and ties
Go here, oh Francophile SCAdians, and play. It’s an interactive archeology site. Paris, A Roman City Continue reading Paris, A Roman City
For some odd reason, there’s a trebuchet craze going on online: Trebuchet PDF podcast Trebuchet video podcast Continue reading Trebuchet Craze
I am hardly the first blogger to recommend Michael Pollan’s long article in the New York Times. He’s the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, supposedly one of last year’s best books. But his article, and I assume his book (that I haven’t yet read), reinforces one of my major motivations for ‘playing’ with the SCA: Critical thinking about modern life. "Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks. Confounding factors aside, people who eat according to the rules of a traditional food culture are generally healthier than we are. Any traditional diet will do: … Continue reading Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
UPDATE (8/10/09): I'm leaving this up, but grudgingly. Knitted objects show up in the fourteenth century, but mostly in Knitting Madonnas, and I haven't seen evidence to support a knitted chaperone yet. So I'd have to come down on the side of PERIOD-ISH for this guy. And since I've discovered I'm not into 14thc any more, it's out of persona for me. But hey, it's an intermediate design, and it works to stay warm, and a kid would probably enjoy it. (This is my own pattern for a knitted hooded mantle, or chaperon, as seen below, and guessed at from … Continue reading Chaperon Pattern
OPENING – SENESCHAL – Gabrielle and ThomasPRESENTATION BY HERALD (with many flowery phrases) – of Floridagoodies to Sir Callidus, with appreciation for his assistancein qualifying fighters.CORRESPONDENCE – Read by Herald, featuring introduction tocheering for PG/Arenal layabouts1) Edward of Yarlborough – Muster call for Gulf Wars, email himat edofyar@bellsouth.net to answer: a- What you’re interested in doing (fighting/waterbearing/ soup-ladling) to help with Gulf Wars; b- How many are attending as fighters: Please wear Kingdom colors, etc. c- Warlords please contact me for briefing schedule. See Edward’s orig. letter in the Yahoo files.2) Live Weapons practice?2a) Arenal apparently has Live … Continue reading Biz meeting minutes, Feb 2007
This is the sort of spindle wheel that Europe imported from Persia/India around 1300. I don’t think the voluminous folds of the houpelande (c. 1400) would have been as affordable without it. Here’s a PDF of how to make one out of a cigar box. OFFER: If any woodworking person would make me such a functioning device, I will happily make them a knit garment, such as the Hooded Mantle pattern, in the color of his/her choice. Or how about a t-tunic? (Realize I’m not up to cambric shirts, yet, folks.) I want one of these for all future spinning … Continue reading Charkha spinning wheel
From the Old Farmer’s Almanac daily Q&A page: What exactly was a Victory Garden during World War II?To help the war effort, citizens were asked by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard to plant vegetables wherever they could find a plot of land to do so. By 1945, the year the war ended, an estimated 20 million victory gardens had sprouted in sidewalk boulevards, town squares, and odd parcels of land in the cities and out in the country. These gardens were producing 40 percent of the vegetables grown in the United States at that time. The term "victory … Continue reading Victory Gardens