Where Did The Summer Go?

Prize bag I made for Egils.

Well, that went fast.

Summer zipped by like a shearwater skimming over the waves. We went to five events over the course of tourney season: Summits Spring Coronet, Egils, AnTir/West War, September Crown and Summits Fall Coronet. Despite my aspirations to make all the things, I did not get in a lot of crafting time between the start and end of the season. It was still great, though. Gwyn got a new linen tunic in time for Egils, I made an embellished satchel for one of the prizes at the event, and I've been steadily (slowly) working on a pair of nalbound socks. Oh, and a hand-stitched hood and some leather stab-bound journals and some pincushions. And a bit of scroll-painting. Ok, maybe a bit more than I first thought.

For next year, we want to work on adding a canvas tent to our gear. We have a yurt that we haven't set up yet; it needs a new khana and additional rafters. Having had a yurt in the past and knowing how much work it can be to set one up, I'd like to get an additional canvas tent that will set up more easily for smaller events. Gwyn isn't wildly enamored of long tents/wedges, so it might be a wall tent. We shall see.

From there, we're going to work on additional camp furnishings. We have a couple of good, wooden camp chairs. I have all my old slant-sided tourney chests, but as those take up more room in the van, Gwyn is going to make some six-board chests. We've got camp tables and fairly decent lighting. More lighting would be very nice. With the fire season we just had, we had to rely on battery/solar powered lighting an awful lot.

With bedding, we are just about done with the foam camping pads on the ground. Next year, we're going to try memory foam over an air mattress, possibly with a rope or slat bed to support it. I dislike air mattresses, but the memory foam might mitigate most of what I don't like about them. Otherwise, our bedding is excellent. Flannel sheets and a down quilt with wool blankets on top have kept us warm through several very cold evenings. I'd like to make an embellished wool bedspread for next year, so the bed will be both warm and pretty.

For personal kit, we both need more garb, especially Gwyn. He needs a good wool coat, cold weather gear, and a few more pairs of pants and tunics. Also, shoes and a decent satchel. I could use a few more apron dresses and a new coat (I've got some great brown diamond-pattern wool for this). We both could use some nicer garb for court. For him, I'm thinking black pants, white tunic, red overtunic or lapped coat. For myself, I'd like a black apron dress, white underdress and something in forest green to go over the top. Maybe some kind of coat.

Anyway, so, a ton of projects for the short days and long months of the coming seasons. I'm already looking forward to camping under the stars again when the sun returns in spring.

Always Coming Home

We're getting ready to dip our toes back into SCA waters, my husband and I. It's been a few years. There have been changes and upheavals and not much in the way of resources for playtime, but things are settling down, and we miss our friends.

At a fundamental level, I miss making. I miss participating in the world made by hand that is the SCA. I miss the many opportunities to learn new things. My husband misses the social time and the fighting and the chances to help out. After a certain amount of gentle social pressure (looking right at you, Lawrence), we're giving things another go.

I wanted to see if my husband and I could find a way to bring our disparate personas closer together. His was a 13th century welshman, mine was early period Scandinavian. Jorvik, if pressed. He wanted to stay Welsh, I wanted to stay early period. I started looking at Norse settlements closer to Wales, and found the Isle of Man. Oh, right down the research rabbit hole...

I have to admit to being just a bit hipsterish about the idea of becoming a Manx Viking. I've never heard anyone say that their Norse persona was on the Isle. Jorvik, Birka, Oseberg, Hedeby, Dublin, but not Man. Gotta admit, I just really like the idea of having something new to research that seems like not a lot of people have focused on. That's ok, having lived in Portland, I can embrace my hipsterness. And laugh at it. We're not going to take things terribly seriously.

So, we're going to be based on the Isle of Man with additional lands in Wales, early 10th century CE. Gwyn ap Llewellyn is still going to be Welsh, Rafny Garansdottir is still going to be Scandihoovian. We've got a prosperous farm (I'm tempted to add, with a sheep and a cow and we're going to breed horses - not really, but total bonus points if you get the reference!). I'm going to use this blog to blather on about our adventures in the Current Middle Ages, persona building, and to share research into Norse culture on the Isle of Man and what it was influenced by.

It's going to be awesome.