Author: Greet Gijsberts

Greet Gijsberts is a persona created to play in the Society for Creative Anachronism. She authors this blog in order to document her projects and adventures, and share them with a wider audience.
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Sunshade!

Greet Gijsberts

Remember how I was copying a sunshade from Gulf Wars? Here it is! This was the test run in my driveway on Friday afternoon. Despite the breeze, I still got it up All By Myself.I did this by laying out the corner poles in an X, then laying the canvas on top, which told me where the stakes should go.  So I pounded in all the stakes, which are the cheap modern type that have a prong and an upper nub.  (That part is important later.) Then I pulled up each post halfway, and tied it off using a sailors’ … Continue reading Sunshade!

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Gardening 101

Greet Gijsberts

I’ve been substituting my normal History Channel habit with an online BBC gardening show from GoogleVideo the last few nights.  It’s 8 episodes of "How to Be A Gardener", and although there isn’t much in it I haven’t heard before, what is really helpful is that the whole agricultural process is shown and explained in order, in a logical learning curve. I’m finding the presentation to be very motivating.  I’m also finding that I did a very good thing last fall when I went about stealing all the leaves I could find and piling them into my beds.  This week … Continue reading Gardening 101

Events4 Comments

UWF Festival on the Green

Greet Gijsberts

I am utterly exhausted.  In a very good way. Today I went to University of West Florida, about an hour away, and participated as a presenter in their Festival on the Green.  This is what I took with me. My new sunshade.  Worked great, and kept a quick rain torrent off nicely. Spinning wheel with lots of fiber: Midnight’s espresso alpaca with newly refurbished carding paddles.  Raw natural flax.  Raw bleached flax.  Mystery wool from spinning guild.  Last of pink/purple corriedale.  Off-white mohair. Niddy-noddy, loaded with Midnight’s espresso alpaca, yarn version. Loom, loaded with Midnight’s espresso alpaca and linen, being … Continue reading UWF Festival on the Green

Events2 Comments

GW: Meridian Court

Greet Gijsberts

Although I had heard from various people that ‘Court is Boring’, I was mildly interested, being a newbie and all.  My host Gabrielle agreed.  "We’re going to Court," she announced, "and we have to sit in the back (since we have low/no rank) but we’ll get you on the edge, so you can hear."  Good thing, too, since the current king is funny, and some nifty awards were given out. Here’s a couple of worthies getting recognized.  No, I don’t know who they are.  From the left is King Gunther, Queen Kora, Prince Boru, and Princess Deirdre.  For the mundanes: … Continue reading GW: Meridian Court

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GW: Tablet Weaving

Greet Gijsberts

Okay, this is one of those embarrassing times when you struggle and struggle to understand something new, and then when you finally get someone to show you, it’s suddenly easy. I simply did not understand the ‘rotate the cards’ aspect of tablet weaving – I kept rotating them sideways in my mind, and not understanding why the bottom never got hopelessly twisted.  It didn’t occur to me to rotate them as if they were rolling along the warp.  Now, I am enlightened, and feel I can indeed follow print directions, and buy this book. (Check out the sunshade beyond in … Continue reading GW: Tablet Weaving

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GW: Blacksmithing

Greet Gijsberts

I decided to go check out the Early Period Life village – it’s meant to encompass Vikings, etc.   Of course, as soon as I got there, I got derailed by the smithy. This kid was taking turns pounding on his blade, that his dad is helping him make.  These other guys, what are they making?  Tongs!  The sort that are being used to hold hot things.  When I got there, I had to ask what it was they were doing, it bore so little resemblance to the finished item.  No need now!  See that hinge?  That started life as … Continue reading GW: Blacksmithing

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GW:Leatherwork workshop

Greet Gijsberts

I went into the leather workshop intending to answer questions about how best to go about the stopwatch case that Daan wants made for his new analog watch, and I did that (use neoprene, come up with some clear plastic band across the front, and then cover it with leather if you want) but I came out with this, that I made under the guidance of Baroness Etheldred Nic Eoghainn – she’s called Dredda. Isn’t that lovely?  I’m going to sew it on my do-bag that I made out of my embroidered herbal.  But of course I could use many … Continue reading GW:Leatherwork workshop