Quest was an amazing event as usual. It's all the way on the other edge of the Kingdom, but the 13-14 hour drive is entirely worth it. I drove out with gflower</lj> and we chattered nearly non-stop for the whole ride. You really need to like someone to spend that kind of quality time and still be sort of sad to see them go...

This year I finally got into the sweet little cabin I'd been wanting for awhile. It's itty bitty - just one room with a bathroom - but it was perfect for my purposes. There is a queen bed and a tiny kitchenette and a bathroom so small my brooches clinked on the sink when I sat down, and I'm not a huge woman! But it had a fridge for my perishables and a heater for the cold nights, a sink in which to do my dishes and a shower in which to wash my person, enough space to host a half dozen friends or the dregs of the Bardic circle. Bliss.



As usual, my main activity was cooking for the weekend, so I packed way too much stuff (I take more to Quest than to Pennsic!) and WAY too much food. I like to collect all sorts of Viking-age foods, dump them in a larder and then cook as things occur to me. Often I cook by myself or just have intermittent students, but this time I had a whole gaggle of young folk who milled about my fire all day and cooked with me. This year we had bacon (one must season the pan, after all), beef, barley oat cakes, homemade butter, ulterior motive porridge (I had a new riveted pot to be sealed), bacon again, fried apple porridge the next day, sausages, skyr with honey and berries, and chicken stew. My student's husband caught some trout and we cooked those in the embers as well.



The chicken stew was the star this year - chicken, garlic, leeks, parsnips, turnip, salt, mustard, horseradish, and carrots boiled all afternoon. YUM!

And of course there was skyr... mmmmm... Skyr...



I also got to attend two nice bardic circles, spend some quality time with Owen discussing arts and science criteria and sewed a hat, a hood, and two bags, so the weekend was productive as well as social. 

Well, that's more photos than post, but I'm still beat and need to get to bed shortly, so there it is... Good food, good friends, good weekend, goodnight!

This evening Liz was working on a messy project and needed to keep Miss Em away from it. I thought I could keep her busy "picking flowers" (weeding Creeping Charley). Alas, no dice. She "picked" a few flowers, but then the siren call of stain and "helping" was too much, so we went on a little walk far away from mommy's 'ject. She's at a great age where her little mind is so inquisitive and acquisitive. We talked about how one crosses the street, the differences between doggie statues and live doggies, what different sounds were, and why birdies fly but chipmunks don't...

We ended up at the little park a couple blocks from my house, where there is a little wild conservation area and a playground. We had a good time hopping on the swaying bridge, swinging on the swing set, sliding down the slides, watching a doggie playing fetch with his daddy, and investigating the edges of the woods. Playing in wild spaces like the conservation area was one of the highlights of my childhood and I can't wait until she's older to take her into the woods and introduce her to that world of wood and green magic... It's nice to have some little person to show these things that I'd hoped to share with a daughter.  

Because I am highly amused and I know some of you are not on Facebook...

So, the Dons are notorious for being... discombobulated. Mine is no different, and I finally took action. Three matching bags, one small one with secure handles for books, one large one with small pockets for armor/garb/bulk objects, and one large one with a multitude of pockets for the organizing of Things. Embroidered name labels are courtesy of cass_lee, so when they get left behind somewhere, the bags and their contents will come home again. :P

Hm. I have conflicting emotions these days about a hard hand of solitaire/freecell that is only won after multiple tries of multiple strategies. There's the win of conquering the problem, of using reason and persistence to bring order to the universe... But then there's also the realization that in the real world, the universe does not give you infinite chances and that having learned how to address an issue may not be of any use, since you cannot replay the game - each scenario is different and the rules ever-changing, the only real constant is that nothing is ever the same. 

Sorry, being an equal-opportunity nerd, the linkdump continues with late-late stuff. This is what I get for having seventeen projects in the hopper...

Froggie purse
http://www.museumoflondonimages.com/image_details.php?image_id=79023

Coif with critters, including squirrel
http://www.elizabethancostume.net/headwear/pics/coif1.jpg

Misc coifs
http://www.elizabethancostume.net/headwear/coifpics.html

Basic blackwork
http://www.blackworkarchives.com/index.html

Extant examples
http://www.drakt.org/Embroidery.html

Misc sources
http://www.elizabethancostume.net/black-bib.html

Elizabethan embroidery techniques
http://medieval.webcon.net.au/loc_england_elizabethan.html

I love-love-love this technique and bought some pieces, but this is a skill I want to acquire for myself!

Passementery/Posaments

Silberknoten - includes a shop - beware! beautiful and pricey!
http://www.silberknoten.de/en/index.php?id=2

Page 6
http://fornvannen.se/pdf/2000talet/2006_312.pdf

Anderson, Eva. (2003). Tools for Textile Production from Birka and Hedeby: Excavations into the Black Earth 1990 – 1995. Birka Studies, Volume 8. Stockholm. ISBN: 91-7209-295-5 "Good discussion of textiles and textile production at Birka and Hedeby. Nice lists of findings at both sites including types of stitches found on textiles (Birka - Stem stitch, chain stitch, slingenstitch, cord-work, woven bands, passementerie)"

? Not sure if this is clasps or weaves or?
Richards, J. D. (2004). Excavations at the Viking Barrow Cemetery at Heath Wood, Ingleby, Derbey Shire. The Antiquaries Journal, 84. 23-116. Has some discussion of the metalwork found at Ingleby which was used for garment embellishment.

I really need to acquire at least one solid calligraphy hand and probably two - one early and one late...

Early sources to consider:
St Cuthbert
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_89000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Cuthbert_Gospel

Codex Amiatinus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Amiatinus

St Petersburg Bede
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg_Bede