Out of Avalon

November 19th, 2008 by Ascelyn

I’d like to get some dyeing done over the winter once we get the wood stove going.  While I didn’t originally want to do any of it indoors, since we can’t open windows and air out the house due to lack of bug screens, I’m rethinking that problem.  So long as I stick to dyestuffs I don’t think should be hazardous (based on use in food, mostly) and only mordant with alum (which is itself used in pickling), I feel confidant I’m not going to cause any long-term damage to my personage.Plus, with Schrödinger gone, I don’t worry that the pot will get dumped all over my basement or kitchen while I’m sleeping because he decides it looks tastier than his own water.

Not only is dyeing something that just seems uber cool and very much something I’d get into regardless of outside uses, it’s also something I can do that’s useful.  Maybe if I have one or two useful attributes, the La Belle people will continue to not despise me.  Right now, I have absolutely nothing that I’m good at or even know how to do besides a few simple fingerloop braids.  I want to be useful.

Dyeing is also on my list of Things to Do for my A&S 50 challenge, which I’ve sadly neglected of late.  I need to get started again, though I believe most things I want to do prior to seeing anyone from La Belle again (assuming I have such good fortune) will transfer perfectly to my challenge.  It was, after all, largely focused on creating a more authentic kit and experience for my persona and learning more about what her life would have been like.

Below the cut are my very tentative and incomplete working notes regarding the dyestuffs currently in my possession or easy to get.  And by “very tentative,” I mean what I dug up this morning online, sans documentation or reliable resources, and pretty much existing for my own reference and to prove that I’m actually working on something.

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June 25th, 2008 by Ascelyn

Call me crazy, but I think I know what my “thing” is going to be.

You know, your thing.  What you do.  Your uber-cool answer for when people meet you at an event and ask, “So, what do you do?  What’s your thing?”

And yeah, my answer will be uber-cool.  I. Am so. Psyched.  And I haven’t even started yet!  Obviously, I mean, since it just exploded into my skull about an hour ago.  Jason’s just going to stare at me when I tell him, after many months of plotting and scheming and trying to convince myself that it really wouldn’t work or be worth the time and effort…while all along I’m accidentally convincing myself that yes, it would be, my heart becoming more set upon it with every passing day.  But then the news must be broken to The Man, which will occur only after many false starts and with great trepidation, and he will gve me the look.  You know, the look that say, “I think you’ve really lost it this time, but I’m hoping that you’ll just dream about it endlessly and never really get around to doing anything about it.  Thank goodness the girl has such a tendency of never getting around to things.”

I know how it will go down because that’s exactly how it’s happened so many times before.  The only one I can readily think of that actually worked was the Discovery Center.  Being realistic, I’ll probably never get around to this.  If I could, though, it would be a grown-up version of so many things I tried as a child, just like my feeble attempts at archery now are grown up versions of making bows and arrows with sticks, vines, and sharpened rocks.  It would also be a great way to tie together so many of the things I want to do in the SCA–the things I really want to do, not the things I do to keep myself busy at events.  And applying it to our future kids, as I always do with everything in life, it would make the most awesome play stuff ever!

I want to build a house.  A cottage, I suppose.  Small, one-room, either stone or wood.  I would research it thoroughly, make a scale model, and finally build it myself with the appropriate materials, tools, and techniques.  It would have a fireplace that I could cook over, possibly a small kitchen garden outside with period plants, and hopefully be located near our future orchard, where I’m hoping to include one or two period fruit trees along with the modern, easy-care hybrids.  As I get furniture to fill my pavilion, it would be stored in the cottage, making it functional as well as storage space at our garge-less house.  I could do my dyeing there, try documentable recipes the right way as opposed to over an electric stove, and really get a more “living history” experience than many people in the SCA ever will.

It would be a ton of work, but I think it would be worth it.  I think I could find most of what I’d need on our property, which would be more correct for what I’m thinking than special ordering it from Lowe’s anyway.  It would be a singularly amazing learning experience, but it would also really improve so many other things I want to learn.  No longer would dyeing and cooking be attempted over a cinder block “grill,” or orange carrots be bought from Martin’s and cooked on the stove.  Once I save up and get cookware from Eadric…ooh, I can barely think about it.  Even better, I would have an easy ability to nestle it back behind the treeline where nothing modern would be in view.

It would be heaven.  It would be learning, storage, everything in one convenient place, and you just can’t tell me it wouldn’t be the ultimate way to play house as a child.  To have…a house.  With your mother “playing dress-up” and coming right along beside you.

So excited.  Must look things up.  I think I should call the boys now and see about lunch, or else I’m going to sit here until they call me and get absolutely nothing work-related done.

June 11th, 2008 by Ascelyn

It has been a trying week so far.

I’m not pregnant, but nor did I expect that I was.  There’s something to be said for pessimism.  However, now I get to suffer all the consequences.  Much as I didn’t like some of the side affects of the pills, by all that is good and holy, this hurts.  I almost can’t wait to get back on them again.

I finished The Silver Chair last night, which means I’ve reread all the Narnia books except The Last Battle.  One girl at church has already tried to trick me by watching the movie instead of reading the book, but I caught her easily with the questions they had to answer to get the points.  Sorry, M, but there were no windows broken in the book.  Rather than go straight onto The Last Battle last night, I started Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold! by Terry Brooks, who I love.  I’ve been wanting to read it for ages after seeing it in the back of the Shannara books, but I just found it in a box of sci-fi and fantasy given to me by a fellow Freecycler.  By the second page, you find that not only did the protagonist’s wife die a few years before, but that she was three months pregnant at the time.  I stared at it for a moment, then threw the book at the floor and started crying.  Yes, I’m a hormonal sack of crazy wussiness.  Jason, sitting three feet away checking to see how well I’d stuck to my budget in previous months, stared at me for a moment and said not a word.  A few moments later he asked me whether a particular purchase at Lowe’s was for the house, the church, or an SCA project.  It was my turn to stare at him, blurry-eyed, in disbelief.  I love my husband with all my heart, but have a little sensitivity.

I abhor the country station more than usual lately.  Not only does the music generally make me want to puncture my own eardrums, but every. freaking. song. is about pregnancy, children, or death.  Give me some variation of acoustic instrumentals, screaming metal and punk, or driving electric and drums, please.  Preferably baby-free.

I’m having a rough time with the company building my tent.  More on that later.  Suffice it to say that I have gone from being quite hopeful to extremely displeased.

I’m beginning to lose my patience with Obnoxious New Guy and Annoying Intern.  Sleepy Intern has been reduced in status to merely juvenile and amazing in his unflinching refusal to abide by typical corporate protocols.  You know, the ones like “don’t prop your feet up on the conference room table and sleep through your first day in the office.”  Work stories, however, deserve their very own post.

KG’s pain has worsened again.  I’ve been forced to give her another “get help for yourself or I’ll get it for you” ultimatum, but have not yet set a date.  That will be discussed after church tomorrow evening.

I will likely be driving a Scadian lady new to our area down to Highland River Melees this weekend.  This means that I probably won’t be able to head down early and visit Steve, who leaves for good on Saturday.  I’ve met this particular lady exactly once, for about half an hour, and she makes me nervous.  Not in an “I’m going to stab you” sort of way, but in a typical Cumberland sort of way.  Also, she likes to talk about herself, to the extent that she talked at me for about half an hour on the phone while I was in Lowe’s the other day.  Just repeating the same things over and over–much like KG, actually, only an adult.  I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, nor convince her that I really had to go.  And yes, she knew I was in a store and that my phone battery was dying.  While I “talk” a lot when writing–my entries here and my emails will certainly attest to that–I try to be more courteous in actual conversation.  I’m also very bad at interrupting after spending my formative years being constantly interrupted by my father, who would tell me quite plainly that “[my] opinion doesn’t matter, so shut up about it.”  This is actually to the extent of being a fault, especially when it comes to the kids talking to me and needing to take control over the conversation so that we can continue with the lesson.  Needless to say, I’m not looking forward to the ride down.

The following whine might sound callous and selfish, but pray don’t take it that way.  It is simply an observation of what I’m finding about my inner self, which is essentially what this journal is meant to be:  records and observations.  So here it is:  I’ve never had a friend die before.  Oh, I’ve been around death, even the death of people with whom I was close or of younger people, but it’s always been older relatves or people I didn’t know all that well and with whom I had no real connection.  With Adam, it’s been hard.  I knew he was sick, but while I knew in my head that death is always a possibility even for the healthiest of people, I never really believed in my heart that it would come to that.  He was like a light in the room that is our world–you can’t really imagine it being gone.  Dimmed for a while, maybe, but not gone.  Now whenever I allow myself to come out of that mode of impartial observer, I find my eyes burning.  I can’t imagine him not being at HRM, or leading the Hagerstown group as it forms the canton, or waiting for the other gamers when I go to the community room to sew.  I hadn’t seen him in a while anyway, but I can’t seem to convince myself that I never will again.  I miss him.  And you know what?  It’s nothing like missing a grandmother who’s not been “herself” for some time, or a person you knew long ago but never really liked much.  I’m 22.  I’m not supposed to be losing friends yet.

So in other words, the week itself has kind of sucked.  But take heart! for the weekend was far better.  No, before you ask, I didn’t even touch a needle and thread.  As the pain in my abdomen seems to be less curl-up-in-a-ball-and-scream intense today, I hope to get some done tonight.  That leaves tomorrow after church and Friday morning for the mini pineapple upside-down cakes for the bakesale.

What I did accomplish was filling my new herb garden most of the way with dirt.  Very lovely dirt, actually, rich and black with an abundance of worms.  Unfortunately, also an abundance of ants (thousands! millions!), but they’ve settled down over the last few days.  Better yet, it was all free.  Most of it was dug up when Randy helped us level the site for the shed.  I’m not sure where it came from, considering that the rest of the cleared property is a massive shale bed, but I’m grateful for it.  We’ll top off the last inch or so with bought topsoil, I’ll work in organic fertilizer (basically chicken droppings) and corn gluten meal (keeps weed seeds from sprouting by impeding the growth of the first roots that emerge from them), and I’ll transplant my poor little herbs.  About half have died since taking them outside, and the rest get watered twice a day and still dry out in between.  The weather’s been up in the 90s for days.

I also hung the hammock I bought in Honduras over the weekend.  I heart my hammock.  Too bad it took about a year to the day to get it up.  It’s heaven made from fibers, hanging in my own yard.  We even found the perfect place for it, though I didn’t think there would be one.

I made strawberry daiquiris, sans alcohol.  I’m working on perfecting my own mix so I can avoid the glut of corn syrup present in the cans of frozen daiquiri goo from the grocery store.

I bought a quart of fresh strawberries from the farmer’s market yesterday.  The ones on the bottom were half rotten.  No worries; there were three other people selling them.  I’ll go elsewhere with my $3.50 next time.

I made meatloaf for the first time in my life and chicken cattiatore.

This has become long enough already, so the rambling will stop here.  I need to go make some phone calls anyway.

May 22nd, 2008 by Ascelyn

I tried to sew yesterday. I really did.  I went ahead and put Blue Stocking #1 together entirely and tried it on.  It’s just messed up, and I honestly can’t figure out how.  Obviously my spatial skills leave something to be desired.  As far as I can tell, I’m using all the right pieces and putting them together in the right ways, but half of the sole ends up on top of my foot, and part of the side wraps around to my heel.  In the end, I did what any tired, nauseated person would do.  I gave up and went to bed.

On the other hand, I made a double batch of bread last night.  Note to self:  Don’t do that, stupid.  Your oven only fits two cookie sheets, and if you want them all to fit, you end up making some strange little rolls to go in the corners instead of bigger rounds.  Or, just make big ones to start with.  You know, like the instructions said.

I’m stuck here for another 40 minutes, then it’s off to beat…I mean, teach the children and home to pack.  Sometime in between thosetwo I need to run to the market to get fruit and ingredients for the bridies, then actually make the bridies themselves.  Oh, and try hardboiling some eggs.  (Yes, Father dear, I know my last attempt was an unmitigated disaster.  I’ve got to try again sometime.)  If I’m particularly adventurous while the eggs are boiling and the bridies baking, I’ll fix the neckline of my old cotton undertunic.  The stocking adventures are over until after the event.  I’ll wear stained and oversized stockings on the main day and hideously modern tall dress socks the other days and be thankful for my long skirts.

Sapphire, here I come!

May 21st, 2008 by Ascelyn

Last night was the first of my two potential days to sew, at max, two pair of stockings, two sleeveless shifts, and a semi-fitted cote.

Last night I accomplished…nothing.

Not really nothing, not in the sense that I sat around all night and didn’t even try.  I managed to find the torn-apart muslin copy I’d used as a template for my yellow stockings, and I traced that onto the same rich blue linen/cotton blend from which my Norman gown is made.  I cut the pieces for the first stocking, stitched the leg piece and the part that covers the top of my foot, and tried it on.

It didn’t fit.

I flipped it around, trying to figure out what was wrong and how I could avoid having to rip out every single tiny stitch I’d sewn so far.  I finally just removed the part covering my foot and proceeded to hold that in every possible way to determine how it should properly go.  After all, that had to be the problem.  The leg portion fit beautifully.

It still didn’t fit.

Okay, I can do this.  I must have grabbed the wrong pattern piece.  I made multiple muslin attempts before settling on the current pattern.  But pulling on my finished yellow stocking, the piece seems to fit.  It’s likely that if I would have just finished sewing on the sole, it would have been okay.  By the, though, the movie Jason was watching was over and it was aready 9:20.  Too little sleep the last few days an a miserably nauseating migraine dictated that I not attempt to stay up late and finish.

The real kicker?  After patching up a few holes along the seams of my yellow stockings, I put them on one final time to make sure there was nothing else that needed fixed.  While nastily stained from the mud at the Celtic Fest demo, there are no major holes to deal with now.  But they also don’t fit.  I’ve lost enough weight that my only finished pair of gorram stockings are practically falling off my legs.

May 20th, 2008 by Ascelyn

It’s not that I don’t have work to be doing.  It’s just that I don’t particularly want to be doing it.

Okay, that sounds bad.  But I can’t update the equipment spreadsheet because the guy I need to do it with is out golfing (in the rain, because even that’s better than being in the office).  And those PPCBs I’m supposed to be doing?  I don’t have half the info I need, and what I do have is spread throughout three binders and four manuals.  And it doesn’t really need to be done for several months.

You see now why I always ended up doing my term papers in the few days before they were due.  As in, deciding on my topic and starting the research that week.  Sure, I could do it earlier, but I’d just sit there and stare blankly at a screen, knowing full well that I didn’t really need to be doing anything yet.  What can I say?  I work better under a small amount of pressure.  Just not too much, please.

What I need to be doing is prepping for Sapphire Joust this weekend.  Even after determining that I’ll probably just wear old t-tunics on Friday and Sunday, I still need two more pairs of stockings.  If I’m going to make stockings, I might as well make the shifts.  And if I’m going to make two more shifts, then why not make another undertunic?  It’s not like I don’t have plenty of material for all of them!  But I also need to make food, which can’t be done too far ahead of time like garb can, and I’m leaving Friday morning.  Thursday night is practically useless because of the kids, and yesterday was spent eating out and going to the theater for Jason’s birthday, so that means I have two days remaining.  I want to work late to make up for taking Friday off, so I probably won’t get to leave work until around 7:00.

Wow.  I think panic should start setting in about now.

I’ve also been staring at a partially finished email for several hours now.  Since Aaron will be staying with his grandmother, I’m going to be watching Mathilde’s two boys.  Sounds great, right?  It is!  I love her kids.  The problem is that she asked about compensation, and I don’t know what to tell her.  I’ve always sucked at this part, but at least back in high school I knew the going rate, and it was purely a business deal.  It wasn’t basically watching the kids of friends.  I’m confused, but I don’t particularly want to sound like a little girl and do the “whatever sounds good to you” cop-out.  And while I believe she’s a sewing laurel, and she has a wonderful web page with lots of nifty info on the fitted cote and the hood she made–a page to which I will not link here, because she could track it back and laugh at me–I don’t know her well enough to try to barter.  Example:  I really want a hood.  I have the whole thing figured out in my mind:  teal-ish linen, liripipe, with dags and silver buttons down the front.  I sat up all night once trying to figure out a pattern in muslin and succeeded merely in wasting a lot of fabric.  But I know she can do it, and if she would teach me, I would be oh so happy.  If it were Eadric and Sam, I’d totally trade babysitting for help with my hood.  But I’ve only even really met Jeff and Charlotte/Mathilde once!

Sigh.  Maybe someday I’ll grow up.

April 9th, 2008 by Ascelyn

The following is a summary of my progress on my A&S 50 persona challenge.  I made a nifty table for myself to keep track of progress and completion on each goal, but it doesn’t want to copy into WordPress and I don’t feel like actually bothering with HTML right now.  Maybe later….

Garb:  I finished my first pair of fitted stockings.  The foot part is slightly too big, so the fabric bunches a bit behind my heel, but it was close enough that I went ahead and copied my muslin prototpye into a cotton linen blend that was laying around.  I also made and wore muslin copies of the veil and sleeveless shift I intend to eventually copy into linen.  My shoes are finished, and the wood is cut for my pattens, though I’m running into problems finding some sort of small nail or tack to hold the leather to the wood without splitting it.

Fiber:  I made a top-whorl drop spindle from scrap wood from the pattens and a piece of dowel with a hook in one end.  It’s not the prettiest thing in the world, but it works quite well.  I spun three little bundles of short-staple wool and one of a pretty grey and brown long-staple wool a friend had on hand at Highland Foorde’s collegium last month.  Since they’re probably not even enough to weave, I think I’m going to learn to knit or naalbind and use them for that.  I learned a new fingerloop pattern at the collegium, so I’m on my way toward my “learn five new patterns and actually use them for something productive” goal.

Plants:  Seeds are started indoors, cuttings are rooting or promised when I can pick them up, and I have the boards for my planned medieval herb garden.  This year I’m hoping to start with sage, chamomile, oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, chives, and a few others I’m forgetting at the moment.  I’ll have various types of mint in pots since I fear it would take over the whole bed otherwise.  Not all correct for my time and region, but at least they were known in our general period.  There will also hopefully be onions and strawberries.

Cooking:  I tried the 14th-century apple pie from The Forme of Cury as redacted at Gode Cookery, but the coffin simply refused to work no matter what I did.  Since it was for a potluck, I eventually just dumped the contents into a ceramic casserole dish and baked it like that.  Very tasty, but disappointing as a whole.

March 28th, 2008 by Ascelyn

Usually if I don’t write it’s because I’ve been down.  As I’ve mentioned before, when that’s the case, I feel like I ought to explain it, and that’s just not a good idea.  The vast majority of my writing is done at work due to the internet lackage at the house, and I have no desire to have my boss walk in on me in tears during my lunch break.

This time, though, I’ve just been busy.  Without violating any security regs or saying precisely what I do at work, I’ll just mention that a certain item we’re now needing to use has a 48-hour shelf life.  That’s just two days between the time when I make the stuff to the time the part has to be finished and in the oven, and it takes every waking moment of about 46 of those 48 hours to accomplish all that needs to be done.  There is very little sitting during that time, and it’s a killer on my joints.  It also contains a known teratogen, again as mentioned previously, which means I automatically don’t like it.

But that’s okay, because this month is not The Month.  A few hours before I was planning on taking a test and having real hopes of seeing those two little lines, it was decided.  I’m not pregnant.

I really did accomplish a good bit in the last few weeks, though.  My shoes are finished, and the wood for my pattens is cut.  We didn’t have a drill bit small enough to predrill the holes for the tacks I’d hoped to use, and they looked like they were going to be too short to hold the leather tightly to the wood anyway.  I made a new, smaller veil from muslin and liked its drape immensely, so I’ll eventually make one from fine linen when I can get my hands on any.  I gave up for the time being on perfecting my stocking pattern and made a pair in a soft yellow linen-cotten blend.  They’re a little too big in the foot, so the fabric folds a bit just behind my heel.  I’ll fix that before I make another pair, but they’re certainly functional.  I also made a sleeveless shift from muslin, which eventually I’ll copy into linen.  For now, though, muslin works just fine for my skin layer.

I learned a new way of doing the broad round fingerloop braid and a broad lace of five bowes at the collegium.  Squee!  I’m hoping that will set me on the right track to some of the others I have printed from fingerloop.org.  Since the chirurgeons who were supposed to be at the event didn’t show up (again), I spent the day playing with my new drop spindle.  For less than a dollar’s worth of dowel and hook and some leftover wood from my pattens, the thing works like a dream.  I spun three little balls of my own short-staple white wool, which ended up relatively thick but very soft, and a ball of beautifully colored grey/brown mix that Ed had with him.  It was a longer staple, which I couldn’t handle when I first tried at the fiber get-together over the winter, but which allowed me to spin a very fine thread during court at the collegium.  I’ve been looking around to see if I can get any wool locally, but due to the area’s refusal to put anything online, I’ve had no luck.  Maybe 4H would know, but I think I’ll just go to the Sheep & Wool festival on May 3 instead.

I’m working on garden plans.  I’d like to have a small raised-bed herb garden finally in place this year.  All but two of my planters have cracked, including all the pretty ones.  The chives don’t seem to care and have sprung back up regardless.  Several people have offered me cuttings, and even strawberry, onion, garlic, and potato sets from Eadric, so I need a place to put them.  Starting my seedlings and hopefully getting some building done are my weekend goals, along with a compost bin.  So exciting!  I’m still in my scheming phase–more coming soon on possibilities and likelihoods.

February 29th, 2008 by Ascelyn

Since I only have 20 minutes left before hopefully leaving, this will be brief.

SCA-wise, I’ve mostly got the muslins for my stockings done.  Since I have such a high arch, it’s giving me problems with how big I should make the ankles.  I don’t want them to be too loose, but I need them big enough that my foot will actually fit through.  I made a pair of red linen/cotton blend sleeves, though, that I can wear with the cotehardie or one of my tunics when it’s too hot to have three or more layers.  Just the sleeveless shift and the top layer with the sleeves pinned underneath, and no one will be the wiser.

In other news, we’ve been studying Abraham with the kids.  Last night we were taking turns reading, and while I skip over the not so child-friendly stuff, she did stumble her way through Gen. 24:16.  “The girl was very beautiful, a Virginian; no man had ever lain with her….“

February 25th, 2008 by Ascelyn

First off, why am I no longer able to come up with decent titles?  I guess this way at least I’ll know for certain what a post is talking about if I need to find it later, but come on.  “Shoes.”  How lame is that?

Last weekend I went to Ed’s shoe workshop and made a pair of turnshoes like these.  Only…different.  I Have one shoe completed and turned; the other is mostly stitched.  So far, the completed one has no lace or latchet, a small (off-center, unfortunately) slit, a glued-in rather than stitched-in heel stiffener, and criss-cross lacing on the join.  Since I have a very high arch, it’s extremely difficult to get it on, though it is possible.  I’m thinking about cutting the hole down farther across the top of my foot and maybe putting in a thong like the child’s shoe shown on the bottom of the instructions.

Yesterday I ordered most of the tools I’ll need to get started with leather.  Specifically, I bought 25 yards of waxed linen thread, 20 stitching needles, a cheap pair of leather scissors, a 4-in-1 awl set, a wing divider, and a spacer set (5, 6, and 7 holes/inch).  The site where I found these only sold Eco-Flow dye, which seemed to have iffy reviews, so I found the Fiebing dyes Ed had used, which were highly recommended in its place.  There was a combo of 6 Fiebing dyes (my color choices, 4 oz. each), 20 wool daubers, and 2 bottles of  leather sheen (4 oz. each of flat, satin, or gloss, my choice) on Ebay, which I just won.  I’m hoping I got a good deal on things, because I’m spending close to $100 on all of it after you include shipping.

After calling every store that sold craft supplies in the area, I found that not a single one of them carried anything for working with leather.  Why am I not surprised?  AC Moore carries Tandy stuff, and while I had a 50% off coupon last week, we didn’t have time to stop on our way to and from Baltimore.  Oh well–that’s what the internet’s for, right?

I just realized that I didn’t get anything for making slits or bigger holes to accomodate the drawstrings on my pouches.  In good news, though, I did determine on Saturday that Jason’s woodburning pen/Super Awesome Multipurpose Tool works beautifully on the leather Eadric gave me.  It’s dark enough on either side, but doesn’t show through to the other.  I’m going to try to get Shane to help me design them.  I’m also thinking about burning a pretty design into the bottom of my turnshoes, since these are going to end up being mess shoes eventually anyway.  I want to make a really nice pair to replace them when I have time, so I’m not too worried about it being super-authentic.

I also want to make a pair of pattens.  I’m thinking something like the ones Historic Enterprises sells here.  They’re 15th-century, so a little too late for my persona, but they look simple and easier to wear than some of the others I’ve seen.

Goal for tonight:  Finish a pair of stockings and some pin-on undersleeves to mimic the real kirtle/cote I’ll wear under my blue cotehardie once I get it made.  Make a muslin version of the shift, if I have extra time.  Somewhere in there I also need to fit in more cleaning, since the Western Reaches get-together will be at my house on Sunday.  I also need to cook, but there’s not much in the house to make at the moment.  I’m seriously craving teriyaki fish and rice.

Side note:  this entry was officially written over the course of eight hours.  Take that as an explanation if things are disjointed.  I’m not going over it again right now, because I’m going home!