Who Am I? And Why Am I Here?

Elewys of Finchingefeld, GdS, JdL
Barony of Aquaterra, Kingdom of An Tir

This is a place to which I may post my research, my experiments, my successes...and yes, my failures...for medieval re-creation and research on my never-ending quest to learn and revel in knowledge and experiences.

I am a lady of many times and many places. Currently using a 15th century English name, dressing in a 10th century Danish dress, and camping in a Mongolian round house. "Lost" doesn't even begin to describe my persona.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Warped.

Or is it Obsessive Compulsive behavior?


I warped up a small piece--about two yards--in black and white and red all over.  I was trying to re-create a woven piece I found online, but it appears that you need six hole cards to make it.  I don't have six hole cards.  :o(  Yet.  :o)  But I got out a spreadsheet and marked the colors in it and when I was satisfied, I strung it up and started weaving.  This is what I ended up with.  Not what I was aiming for, but it's still pretty.  I may donate it to some largesse or prize tourney.

When I pulled that off, I warped up a longer piece--all four yards--in red, purple and yellow of something that looks like Korba, but I put a dot in the center of the piece instead of the edges.  Maybe I'll call it "Zorba".  It's weaving up nicely and distracts me from some gloomy thoughts; a life-long friend of my sister's is very ill.  I've known her since I was about 3 years old, and she is the funniest, weirdest person I've ever met.  And I'm good with weird...I love weird!

Looking forward to doing more, but I think I need to order more Maysville carpet warp.  If anyone has ideas of other supplies I could use (other than crochet cotton, which is OK, but it's not light fast), please let me know!

Also, I need more patterns.  In particular, I want to see *period* patterns for four-hole cards without having to lay down huge piles of cash for out-of-print books.  I have the Crockett beginning cardweaving that everyone has, and put a few on my Amazon wish list, like Sara Lamb, Egon Hansen, Peter Collingwood, John Mullarkey (awesome name!), and Nancy Spies.  I have another of Nancy's books on the Modelbuch, and she *signed* it.  How awesome is that?  I didn't know that I was buying it from the author when I got it online!  Score!

I'm about 3/4 done with the Zorba piece.  I may donate this to Ursulmas largesse as well.

Elewys

Monday, November 28, 2011

More stuff!

Just a few more things I was working on...

A 25 card piece using An Tir and Aquaterra colors!  I hoped that it might represent the barony within the Kingdom, sort of surrounded by it, but yet woven firmly into it.  Since I'm not an experienced weaver, it was sort of an experiment that I thought wasn't working until I realized that I had the cards flipped the wrong way, so I was looking at the reverse side of the weaving on the top.  Then I decided that it was a success, although I hadn't thought about it at the time.

Here is the finished piece, which measures roughly 4 yards (based on my body measurement of fingertip to far shoulder, not some mundane tool lying around the house).  For this piece, I finished it by twisting the ends and knotting them to create a sort of fringe.  I like the effect and will have to do that for future pieces.

I used this pattern that I found on a web site owned by Camilla Whitney, aka the Evil Queen of Spades (EQOS).  I found this sheet on a Google image search for Card Weaving patterns.  The Baronial/Kingdom weave is the Andred pattern in the lower left.  There are a few other patterns on this page I'd like to try as well.  My next project may be Korba or Pilka, or maybe Vytine.  I love that these are mapped out, but there are several more that she has made that I would like to try, but not all her patterns are available.  I tried emailing her, but it seems the only way to comment is to sign up for the web site and I do not need any more subscriptions to anything.  I did sign up for SCA Card Weavers Yahoo group, however the email I sent does not appear to have gone through yet--and it was a couple days ago.

I'd love to try some period weaving, but I am having difficulty finding something that is easy enough for a beginner--most of the extant pieces and patterns are quite advanced, or at least have cards moving in opposite directions, which I don't know if I can master at this point.  I haven't seen all of it yet, of course, but I'm looking.  Luckily, I have my Emergency Back Up Laurel I can consult with.  I should probably do that.

Elewys

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Slow Season

Greetings, fair friends!  It has been a slow season, indeed.  A great deal of attention has been paid to the stocking of the pantries for the winter and tending to the children, and not nearly so much in my creative outlets, save for some necessary work to keep food on the table and pocket money to purchase supplies for my crafts.

Lately, I met with my young friend, Aenor, who taught me a new pattern for my loom using four-hole cards.  I haven't been able to finish any project using cards, mostly due to my frustration with making it look right, but she taught me a simple enough pattern to allow my simple mind to grasp it.  I warped up 18 cards' worth and wove this piece that is just a bit longer than I am tall.  It will make a nice belt, I think!



 The only clothing I have made of late is a pair of outfits for two young girls.  This young lady was celebrating All Saints Day by dressing as Margaret Ward, a brave woman who rescued a priest from prison and was killed for it. She had smuggled a rope into the prison but the priest was injured during his escape and left the rope behind.  A similar outfit was made for my own daughter to wear.

Little else to report at this time, although this completes three more items for my A & S 50 challenge!

Elewys