I had a wonderful time, and took not one useful picture, except three bad twilight ones of Gefroi, getting his AoA.  (Gefroi, if you’re reading this, I’ll get those to you this week.)  I am a bad blogger.

However, I know ones were taken of me, so hopefully Gail (sp?) and Alicia will share.  It was a fabulous sunny and windy day, so they should be pretty.

(Though of course, I flouted the sunscreen and paid handsomely for my foolishness with a red face.  I’ve got to get in the habit of putting some on everyday, no matter what.)

Staying in the bastion was neat – under heavy brick vaulting, and sloshing through a puddled tunnel to get there.  (Wooden sabots make sloshing romantic – I imagine those in turnshoes felt differently.  Huzzah for pattens!)

I spent much of the day with Mistress Marion, a Laurel from Gleann Abhann.  I met her husband Sir Elesar, was shown the merits of his Charles de Blois pourpoint (that he made himself, ooh), and taught how to finger-braid a round cord rather than a flat one.  She also sat in on my Seed to Shirt class, pronounced it magnifique, and set me a lovely new direction for my investigations on my 14th century work.

I am to investigate the extant garments at Marc Carlson’s page.  She is reconstructing the Moy garment.  I don’t know why I hadn’t quite thought in these terms before: Lavena had waved the Mary Rose extant objects around nearly a year ago, Eoin lent me the Crowfoot/Pritchard/Staniland book, and then the Egypt Pritchard book had me thinking about weaving trim in replica of extant garments, so I suppose it’s Just Time to go to primary sources for clothes construction.

More on that another time – I am already intrigued by Herjolfnes No. 39, and the cloth construction of many of the pieces.

I was also pleased to observe more good SCA garb.  Both Gwen and Marion had hoods of a construction that I covet.  Rather than a circle just hung about the shoulders, these were a sort of cone, double-faced.  So when my knit chaperone blew around in the wind, theirs sat still.  I will ask from whence is the pattern.

Marion wore a bliaut, which helped answer more questions for me.  A side-laced fitted garment, from the 12th century, with long draggy sleeves, and a sash wrapped under the bosom, crossed behind, and tied on the hips.  Very pretty.  She said that it ought to have a seam on the shoulder due to a narrower loom width in that time and place – which led to a discussion of weaving.  Also this gown was handsewn in a day while she was laid up.  I think I could do that if I didn’t have to stop and do research along the way.

Her bliaut was a ‘coat wool’ which she said she could wear in all weather.  She also said the difference between ‘coat wool’ and ‘suit wool’ is the spaciness of the web, that suit wool is firmer.  And that I should full my mantle, which I think I will do, it’s big enough to shrink considerably and still perform.