Mid-June report

This is a commission for a Middle School friend who recently joined the SCA.  Tyrssen lives in the Middle Kingdom, which is many weeks' travel from here by foot or horse, but  we have been in communication in recent weeks.  He sent me his measurements and I made a tunic in some inexpensive fabric for him to try on.  He ordered four cuts of medium weight linen, which arrived the other day.  I made a few adjustments and will be finishing the seams on this tunic and sending it to him.  Hopefully the adjustments make this a perfect fit!  If it is, I'll make the other three using those final measurements.  Hopefully it DOES fit!

I began a pair of Turkish socks using the Fancy Feet book.  The instep has the pattern on page 21 ("Mirrors") and has a chevron sole.  The yarn is 100% alpaca from Norway that I picked up in Portland, OR about a year ago.  It's just silky soft and wonderful to work with, but I don't know if I'll be brave enough to wear them;  I'm afraid that I'll tear them apart on the first wearing! But they're very pretty!  And it's ITHRA colors!  

I've finished the khana phase of the yurt.  It took  about 58 yards of leather lacing and more than 12 hours of knotting, but it came together nicely.  Next will be the door frame, which we will be working on tomorrow.  This will measure 5' high and 3' wide.  I'll have to check with my resident woodworking expert to see if we have the best tools for the job.  The part that we're really stumped on right now is the tono (roof ring).  There are several different ways to construct it, but you have to make sure that it is both strong and lightweight.  

One of the things I wanted to do this year was present some items at Costumer's Guild for the challenges.  I passed the first two levels--Junior and Senior student--but I have to start doing more for my Journeyman level.  I have two items in the teaching/writing category that I can present (one on socks, and I wrote a bunch of articles for a newsletter a couple years ago), and I'm sure that I can pull together two garments, and possibly two accessories, although they'll be pretty plain.  That's six of ten.  I also have to find items from various regions and time periods...luckily I've changed personas often enough that I can pull from previous experience to make new items in period styles.  

Off to research Japanese costume for my big kid!

Elewys