Summer's End and Shoot in the Wildwood/Seven Pearls

The past two weekends have been quite eventful. At Summer's End I was able to help out with my friend Abigail's (Gail Kellogg) vigil, guarding the food from cross-contamination.  I made a fantastic marzipan with her recipe:

• 2 cups almond flour 
• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water 
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten (frothy) 
• 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom or rose water 
• Confectioner’s sugar, as needed (about 1.5 cups) 

Bring the sugar & water to a rolling boil, add the almond flour, stirring quickly on low heat, turn egg whites into the pan while hot. Keep stirring 1-2 minutes, add rose water (or other flavoring), stir to combine and turn hot marzipan out onto sugar dusted surface. Knead with a spatula to start, then your hands, adding more confectioner's sugar as necessary until smooth like play dough. Shape by hand or cut into cubes. It will keep in the fridge 2 weeks.

On top of this, I retained a few shifts, I got Peer pressured into soliciting a Pelican (I was going to do it at dinner, anyway), and I helped serve feast.  For as much as I love cooking and eating, serving is by far my favorite role at feast, since it lets me bounce from table to table and socialize with everybody.  And get them drunk.

This past weekend at Seven Pearls/Wildwood I also had a blast retaining and serving feast.  The kitchen left some amenities to be desired, which made the feast appearing to go off without a hitch even more impressive! 

Sunday was a fantastic experience.  I was allowed to attach myself to a team from the Hael for Cast Iron Chef and loved the challenge.  We were given three and a half hours to cook a five course feast for 6-8 judges.  Our great archer Simmonetta got us a 6" cube of venison roast and two 1" thick boneless porkchops. Dagonall the Fool, the team leader, got us the rest of the ingredients from the pantry at the beginning of the challenge.  After that, I spent three hours buried in a 10x15 foot fire pit running a three ring stove.

1) Ricotta with honey, lavender, and fresh figs.

• Mix together, serve with flatbread.

2) Breaded pork chops with chopped apples, onion, and celery.

• Bread the chops and sear with vegetable oil on a hot pan.
• Mix chopped plants and steam as long as possible to achieve an "apple sauce" substitute.

3) Venison stew with pears and root vegetables

• Sear roast, stick with garlic slivers.
• Stew with chopped pears and multicolored carrots.
• Add 2 long pepper cones, 6 cubeb beads, and salt as needed.

4) Armored turnips

• Slice and steam one large turnip as long as possible to get soft.
• Incorporate 4 oz cheddar, garnish with another 4 oz.

5) Indian rice pudding

• Boil 1lb of rice until cooked.
• Add 1 qt butter milk, 2c sugar, 1tbsp lavender, 1 tbsp cinnamon, and clove.

The competition was well fought!  We scored 42/60 points, with first and second place getting 43.6 and 43.  One of the other two tables got a score in the 20s and I don't remember the fifth table, but I'm very happy with how competitive it was.  Everything I tasted was delicious!

Later in court, Barron Ixac of Delftwood designated our venison as the Barron's Choice.  This made me very happy because a) he "doesn't eat red meat" and it still won him over, and 2) I've never cooked venison and I didn't fuck it up!

The last great thing to happen to me was that Elska gave me her Bead Of Inspiration.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this past half year in the SCA and I really hope I can keep going with the same strength once the semester kicks in.

Oh, and I got a proto-ge friendship bracelet that I singed in the fire >.> At least it was cotton?

Tablet Woven Garters

Holy crap was this a labor of love!

Weaving isn't a difficult task.  Yes, it takes some practice to get even tension and packing, but all in all, if you are doing a basic striped pattern, you can crank it out in a couple of days.  So I did, twice.

It took me a few weeks to find all of my materials.  I ordered 60/2 silk from https://www.redfishdyeworks.com/ in three colors and took a week to ball it all up.  I then strung it up on my inkle loom with poker cards, only two strands per card.  I made two and a half garters on this setup and hated every minute of it.  The string had no agency, so unless it was very tightly warped, the card corners would get caught in them and tangle up.  This chewed up the cards pretty bad and stretched out the packing, really messing up the design.

I managed to borrow some wooden cards and a weighted loom at Pennsic and then managed to crank them out a lot faster, and with an even packing.  The problems I had here were that I didn't take into account the warp shrinkage and adding waste to the setup.  So it didn't take me too long to do the actual weaving, but I did take three times as long to add some waste warp and everything else that deals with reorganizing and untwisting the warps.

In the end, the garters came out nice.  I attached them to some buckles I'd picked up at War Practice and they did their job.  But they were a bit on the short side after cutting them off.  Maybe some day I'll make a third attempt >.>

What’cha Wanna Weave?

Pennsic XLVIII

-        Questions to ask before you begin:

o   What kind of project are you weaving?

o   What width?

§  Wide fabric? Full loom

§  Narrow fabric? Belt loom

§  Band/belt? Inkle, box, table loom

o   What length?

§  Continuous warp

§  Open warp

o   How intricate?

§  Rigid heddles

§  Finger picking

§  Card weaving

§  Floating heddles (punch cards)

§  Fixed shape

-        Full/floor loom

o   Width of your wingspan

§  How far you can repeatedly throw a shuttle

§  Normally up to 5’ (60”)

o   Infinite length

o   Varied complexity

§  Rigid heddles (4 is common)

§  Punch cards

§  Finger picking

o   Takes up a large space/small room

-        Belt/back strap loom

o   Most traditional fabrics, still used by modern native cultures

o   Only requires a couple of sticks, two bands (or belts), and an anchor (tree)

o   Shoulder width

§  Vikings ~ 26”

o   Infinite length

o   Varied complexity

§  Rigid heddles

§  Punch cards

§  Finger picking

-        Small looms

o   Box, Inkle, Card weaving looms

o   Inkle

§  Normally has one set heddle

§  Small work space that can be used for card weaving but can be tight

§  Has a set maximum yardage

§  Has small width (couple of inches, depending on loom)

o   Card weaving loom

§  Set maximum yardage

§  Small width

§  Larger working space

o   Box loom

§  Variable length

·        Weighted warp or wrapped around peg

§  Width often up to a foot

o   Weighted loom

§  Open ended warp that wraps around a peg on the finished end and floats off the edge on the far end with weights on each warp

·        If using poppable bobbins or washers, you can run a bolt through the centers to keep them in order

o   Tapestry/Pin/Frame loom

§  Hand weave each thread

§  Constrained to a fixed shape

-        Warp

o   Depending on the tension of your warp, your fabric can be Warp Facing or Weft Facing

o   If using a fixed length loom, your warp is going to get tighter as you work, and your image will begin to lengthen.

o   Tablet weaving can quickly tighten up your warp if you continuously rotate your cards in the same direction and twist up your warps.

o   You want to make sure you “pack” your wefts evenly so as not to distort your image (a plastic ruler works very well)

o   You also want to keep your warp threads at a consistent width

§  Keep the tension in your weft consistent so as to not choke the warps

§  Different cards can space your warps more (wood, bone, hard plastic) or less (poker cards)

§  Rigid heddles and combs will space them out a lot

§  You can use a spacer (which also helps keep threads from switching places)

-        Thread

o   Make sure you are using the correct thickness and “polish” for your project

o   Crochet cotton has a good thickness and resilience for beginners

o   Wool can felt if it rubs together too often

o   Silk can chew through thinner cards

o   Metallic thread can be used but isn’t very structural.  You can run a structural weft thread and then shadow it with the foil.

o   Card weaving will produce a fabric twice as thick as other techniques because it alternates between four (or six) threads per stitch instead of two. This also allows for different designs on both sides.

Decanting for Pennsic

Six boozamahals have been steeping for this year's Pennsic!

MIXED BERRIES CORDIAL
I did the first sitting for about a month, decanted and refilled with vodka and let sit for another month.  Today I checked the flavor and bottled it and I'm not in love.  I don't know if it is that I used a different vodka than previous years (Platinum 7X instead of 360) or I just need epic fucktonnes of sugar and some water.  But it is lack luster anyway so I just left it as is with about a cup of white sugar.

BLACK BERRY CORDIAL
I only had one vodka pour of about two cups and five or six weeks.  I ended up adding about two cups of white sugar and a cup of water.  It's drinkable, but not my best work.

BLUEBERRY CORDIAL
This one had only been going for a week. I poured out about 12 oz of liquid, then combined the blueberries with more vodka and brought it up to a simmer since I'm only going to be able to leave it for a couple of days.

COLDBREW KRUPNIK
So far, so good!  I had about 3.75C of liquid after pulling out the coffee beans.  It could have been ok to just add potato vodka as is, but I'm greedy and filled it up with coffee grounds again,

MANGO HIBISCUS KRUPNIK
Is divine! Got two cups of liquid put aside, and added two cups of potato vodka to the solids for a couple of days before adding to the first pull.

OM KRUPNIK
This is also amazing in how it brings out all of the spices.  Same process as the mango.

I have no idea when I'll be headed to Pennsic (sometime this weekend? whenever I finish sewing) but I'll probably decant everything right before I leave to allow for maximum steepage.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

In egg news, I rejarred a bunch last week and added a can of sliced beets to that batch.  They tasted ok at first, but I am glad to say they did pull in more of the beet flavor in only a few days.

Sesame seed and soy sauce eggs

• 2 dozen eggs, hard boiled and peeled
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar

Boil soy sauce, water, and seasonings together.  

Add oil, vinegar, and eggs.  

Bring back up to a boil and split into two quart sized mason jars.

Refrigerate and let pickle for at least a week.

Orangello

• peel of two naval oranges and one grapefruit
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup vodka
• 2 tablespoons honey

1. Combine peels, water, and sugar in blender and pulse a couple of times to a coarse texture.
2. Heat in a pot right below a boil for about an hour.
3. Filter out solids and combine with vodka.
4. Correct flavor balance by adding water, vodka, and/or honey as needed.

There was a call for gifts for the Royalty of the East Kingdom (SCA).  In her writeup, the Queen stated she liked limoncello, which I know I can make.  But I decided to take some liberties to make something more palatable for camping in August.  Originally I wanted to use tangerines or Little Sweeties, but the only ones at the store were shriveled and unappealing.  The naval oranges ended up having the nicest of rinds, plus one grapefruit for more depth of flavor.  At the end of the flavor correction, I decided to add some honey to have a bit of softness that offsets the bitterness of the grapefruit.  The combination worked surprisingly well.

Honey and Anise pickled eggs

2 dozen eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon anise seed
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1/2 cup honey

Dissolve honey in water and add garlic and seeds, bring to a low boil for half an hour. Add vinegar and eggs and bring back up to temperature. Split into two quart jars and top off with more vinegar if needed.


Based on the article The Ancient History of Deviled Eggs: (emphasis mine)

According to Apicius, a collection of Roman recipes believed to have been compiled sometime between the fourth and fifth century A.D., boiled eggs were traditionally seasoned with oil, wine or broth and served with pepper and laser (which was also known as silphium, a plant driven to extinction by the first century A.D.). Another recipe called for poached eggs to be dressed with soaked pine nuts, lovage (an herb of the parsley family with an anise, celery flavor), pepper, honey, vinegar and broth.

Spicy MoFo Pickled Eggs

3 dozen eggs
4 Cups water
4 Cups distilled white vinegar
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon Pickling Spices
1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon dried minced garlic
2 Tablespoons brown mustard seed
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon hot hungarian paprika
1 Cup pickled jalapeño slices, with brine

Hard boil and peel the eggs (I can't recommend the Instant Pot enough!).  Place in giant glass pickling jar.

Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil, and pour over eggs.  Make sure all the solids make it in in case there is leftover liquid.

Cap, refrigerate, and let pickle for at least a week.

Hoods and head coverings

Eventually I want to run a small workshop on simple head coverings that would take only a couple of hours to make with very limited skills.  Here are a couple of examples that people are interested in:

Viking (Skjoldehamn) hood

- thorough study

- pattern

- full wardrobe study

- another pattern with measurements

- with decorations
Someone else's instructions:  measure from nose to back of head, then shoulder to top of head that gives you hood size (add +2" to each measure) the shoulder squares are then the same as the nose to back of head measure. With care it can all be cut (and sewn) from one single piece of fabric but separate squares make the seams nicer.

Jorvik (woman's viking) hood

- 10th century silk cap

- Jorvic and Liripipe hoods

St. Birgitta's Huva (cap)

- another tutorial

- tutorial with videos

Cofia y tranzado
- from a simple rectangle

- covered with a second veil

- study of portraits

- another study

Assorted headwear for sale

Beer Pickled Eggs

On the recommendation of the tea lady at the Hornwood archery event, I decided to make beer eggs. I started by hard boiling the eggs with an Instant Pot based on the recommendation of my friend Cassie.  They peeled like a dream!  Then I made pickling spice (because I was too lazy to go buy it) and followed this recipe for the actual pickling juice.  This is how I adjusted them for the jars I had that only fit 7 eggs each.  Since you aren't actually drinking the solution, the eggs should still be keto with minimal traces of carbs, but you might want to avoid if you are allergic to wheat.


INGREDIENTS

14 eggs, hard boiled and peeled

1.5 Cups white vinegar
8 oz Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 tablespoon pickling spice

PICKLING SPICE

1 tablespoon brown mustard seed
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 bay leaf
1 mexican cinnamon stick
3 cloves (the ones you shove in oranges at christmas)
1 tbsp dried minced garlic (because I misread the clove part)
couple of shakes of nutmeg (instead of the allspice)

RECIPE

- Borrow gallon Instant Pot from friend.
- Fill with one layer of eggs (about 15) and 1 cup of water.  Close lid and vapor valve.
- Use EGG setting to hard boil eggs.  It  takes a couple of minutes to reach pressure, then it will count down 5 minutes. Once done, open valve to release steam.
- Place eggs in cold water in fridge to cool.

- Place all spices in grinder and turn into a powder. Place in air tight container. Can be stored for a month, but will lose potency with time.

- Combine vinegar, beer, parsley, and pickling spice in pot on stove and bring to a mild boil and remove from stove.

- Shell eggs, wonder how you have shelled 180 eggs this year without going to jail for murder, and divide into two jars.

- Pour liquid over eggs and try to distribute the solids evenly.

- Lid jars and place in fridge.

- Let pickle for minimum of three days.  If you go longer, flip the jars once a week so top and bottom eggs get better contact with liquid.

Red Beet Eggs, Kelda Edition

RECIPE

2 cans 15oz sliced beets, saving the juices

1/2 cup dried onion

1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp whole cloves (about 30)
1 tsp salt
33 eggs
2-3 cups water
2 cups apple cider vinegar

• Boil and peel 3 dozen eggs. Donate three eggs to science!  Or have them explode in the pot, because one always commits sepuku.

• Combine the juice from the beets and all the spices and bring to a simmer.  Let sit until onions are reconstituted.

• Alternate layers of sliced beets, eggs, and onions in a gallon pickle jar, trying to get a decent distribution.

• Pour remaining onion mixture, water, and vinegar into jar.  Add some water if you need to reach the shoulder.  Flip lightly a few times to get the liquids mixed in.

• Place in a pot of water (on a stand so the jar doesn't touch the bottom) and heat up until egg mixture is almost boiling, with the lid OFF.  Once hot, remove from heat and replace the lid, let cool at room temperature.  This will help create a vacuum seal once it cools down, after which you can store in the pantry or fridge. 

SCHPIEL

What, the recipe at the beginning?  BURN THE WITCH!

Yeah, it pisses me off when I can't find how to make something until scrolling through seventy three pages of memories and pictures.  I can just add them at the end.

Like I recently posted, I've been getting back into the SCA quite a bit and will be feastocrating a vigil this Pennsic for my friend Kelda.  I saw her at Crown Tourney three weeks ago and was complaining that I had hardboiled 90 eggs and very few were eaten at the event because it was so freakishly hot for early May, so I was thinking about pickling them.  Luckily, she said she loves pickled eggs, so now I've made five dozen for her this week!  The last three dozen are in that beet jar, and the first couple went into Pickled Ramp juice that I got from Astrid at Aethelmeark War Practice a couple of weeks ago.  She said she mostly followed this recipe and they were beyond amazing!  Should do a good job with eggs, too.

After complaining to a coworker about peeling them, he suggested I steam the eggs (I normally bake them when in large quantities) and then tumble them in the bowl after they are cold to lightly "bruise the shells".  This apparently makes even the freshest eggs come off very easily.

Limoncello

So what do you do when you get guilted into participating in a brewing competition and only have four days?  You make a cordial! Limoncello isn't completely "period", but there's enough speculation around it not-not being period.

RECIPE

10 lemons
1 naval orange
1 blood orange
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup water
750ml vodka

• Strip all of the citrus of their gorgeous skins, avoiding as much pith as possible.

• Macerate the peels with enough sugar to extract a lot of the oils through abrasion.

• Transfer sugared peels to a sealed container that can be closed and rubbed, like a ziplock freezer bag, along with half a cup of water and half a cup of vodka, and place in hot-but-not-boiling water for a few hours to coax more oils to release.  I used a closed steamer basket to keep the bag from touching the bottom of the pot.

• Let sit in a dark place for a couple of days (or as long as possible) to continue extracting.
• Throw the mixture into a blender for further maceration.

• Extract all the liquid from the peels by passing through a sieve and then a fabric filter (like a clean bar towel or cheese cloth).
• Throw the peel solids in the blender with enough water and/or vodka and extract three more times.  Between each iteration, taste to see which of the three is necessary.  Later extractions will get mellower, sweeter, and less tart.

• Once you have enough liquid and are pleased with the flavor profile, make sure you have filtered as much of the solids. I didn't manage to get it to go through a coffee filter because of the combination of oils and water surface tension.

SCHPIEL

I had a blast participating at the Brewer's Competition at AE War Practice XXX, despite having no idea of what I was getting myself into.  I've had experience in the past with making a simple strawberry cordial and krupnik, but they take at least a couple of weeks to get a proper extraction.  This one only took three days in a cupboard and a couple of hours the first and last days for peeling and filtering.

It went well; I won the cordial competition!  Mostly because I was the only entry, but I got very good reviews despite that.  I got a little medallion from Anna Leigh at court and a sweet bar rag that I plan on embroidering with the event name.

Oddly enough, I never blogged about the Strawberry Ghosts (Pennsic 2014) or the Mexican Krupnik (Pennsic 2017) that were also very well received.

Strawberry Ghosts were pretty fantastic!  I put a pound of frozen strawberries in a container covered with vodka and left them in a closet for four weeks.  Eventually I was left with the souls of the strawberries in a beautiful liquid to which I added I think a cup of simple syrup and called it a day.  The leftover strawberry corpses were just little bursts of vodka that were very entertaining to eat.

The krupnik was for a competition at Caledonia that I also happened to win.  To the best of my knowledge, I stewed a pound of honey with cacao nibs, chili peppers, and dried mangos, and ultimately mixed it with Luksusowa potato vodka.  I got a nifty sipping crown out of it and I need to organize this year's competition (because I completely forgot to do it last year >.>)

Oh yeah!  Almost forgot.  I also volunteered to help run the Boozy Food division at next year's War Practice...

100 Days of SCA lite

A bunch of friends do A&S challenges, but as much as I love crafting, I also love service.  So after having taken an LOA from derby for the month of May, I realized I had done something SCAdianish every single day.  Here are some of the smaller things and a calendar I will be updating as I go.

1.  Done on April 30 instead of May 1st because I had to give out my final exam. 
• Started to plan a Spanish Trenzado coif.
2. Researched bobbin lace patterns.
3. Pulled out my pillow (purchased and last used in 2008 >.> ) and made my first foot of lace!






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4. Saturday, went to Queen's Rapier Championship
• Did some kamikaze calligraphy over someone else's art.  Not my best work, but I blame it on not having my own equipment and having to cram too many words in a very small space with a failing marker.



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5. Found out that the hat I want to make follows the pattern for a St Birgitta Coif.
6. Found patterns and fabric for the coif.
7. Went to the Spinners Guild meeting and talked with some weavers about the AEWP class I was planning. 
• Hunted down tubers for soups for sideboard.
8. Pinterest hole researching bobbin lace.  
• Found sources for weaving silk.
9. Nithgaard business meeting
• Sliced up All The Tubers.
10. CLEANED.  
• Hardboiled 90 eggs for Crown Tourney. 
• Worked on blanket stitching the edge of the braid case.
11. Crown Tourney, worked kitchen and setup, shenanigans.
12. Peeled and steeped lemons for Limoncello. 
13. Drafted Venetian bodice from saturday's fitting, realized I missed a couple of points >:[
14. Bought some embroidery books at the PSU book sale
• Went to Joanne's for bobbin lace thread.
15. Got 10 books out of the library to use in my weaving class. 
• Decanted and refilled limoncello peels.
16. Nithgaard A&S meeting.  
• Drafted up my weaving class while Andreas taught calligraphy. 
• Finished up limoncello and balanced the flavors.
17. Went to Æ War Practice!  
• Taught my first class "Whatcha' Wanna Weave?".
• Participated in the Brewer's Competition, won the Cordial category (only participant), got good reviews.  Volunteered to start the Boozy Food category.
• Was the Resident Scribe and found supplies for Maddoc to sign in an apprentice.
18. Worked the Scribal breakfast.
• Carved my first soap stone medallion! Thoroughly enjoyed Shea's class and giving him just enough hell for a new teacher to learn. 
• Went to the Brewer's mead tasting class and learned how to give an evaluation.
• Got great tokens at Court for teaching and winning the competition, and a nifty bar towel that I want to embroider the event on for participating.
• Found amazing pickling recipe!
• Made contacts with a pig farmer.
19. Worked the Scribal breakfast, again.
• Caught people to measure for dresses.
20. Made AEWP recap post.
• Researched linen for dresses.
• Made a list of all the projects I need to complete for Pennsic -____-
21. Started making scroll cases from leftover breakfast bread boxes.
22. Bought and washed linen for two kitchen dresses and two chemises.
23. Cut cardboard for 8 scroll cases.
24. Test out camping equipment for Pennsic.
25. Bought fiber for project
26. SCAdian family party.
27. Spent way too much money I don't have on stuff I will probably only ever use for Pennsic (got a roof rack!), dried out the tent.
28. Beet pickled motherfucking three dozen eggs.
29. BLOG ALL OF THE BLOGS!
30. Get 50 cigar boxes for scribal retreat.
31. Sew scroll cases.
    
32. (June 1) Scribal retreat: Macclesfield Psalter Pg 161
    
    
33. (2) Scribal retreat Part 2: Macclesfield Psalter Pg 170
34. (3) Put away everything from the past three weekends, start coordinating feast
35. (4) Ball up weaving silk
36. (5) Emotional Support Drea, talk through summer plans
37. (6) Nithgaard meeting, continue balling up silk
38. (7) Make a bliaut
39. (8) Scarlet Guard Inn
    
40. (9) Go to Pittsburgh Pride, scare Heavy fighters
41. (10) Make SCA resume
42. (11) Warp and start weaving
43. (12) Weave
44. (13) Nithgaard meeting, weave
45. (14) Didn't want to tame my hair, so I made a Birgitta coif and inset the first bobbin lace.
46. (15) Æthelmearc Æcademy 
47. (16) Beer Pickled Eggs
48. (17) Weave
49. (18) Finish weaving!
50. (19) Research "Ancient Deviled Eggs" and krupnik
51. (20) Meeting with Italian White Vine class! Start Om krupnik.
    
52. (21) Try to sell helmets
53. (22) Read about wild fermentation
54. (23) Read about Basque names, order library book
55. (24) Hood class outline
56. (25) Hibiscus mango krupnik, name research, print old handouts
57. (26) Coffee krupnik, Vigil organizing
58. (27) Spicy pickled eggs
59. (28) Make new shirt for Dave
60. (29) Kingdom For My Horse (so much fun!)
61. (30) 
62. (July 1) Buy way too much linen
63. (2) Cut out Helga Ball dress
64. (3) Sew together Helga Ball dress
65. (4) Hand finish seams
66. (5) Pack for PAX, fit dress
67. (6) PAX Interruptus, retaining
68. (7) Add gusset to Helga Ball dress, hunt down pizzelle press
69. (8) Jump on Jen's elevation dress
70. (9) Meet with Jen for fitting
71. (10) Orangello, dress bodice lining
72. (11) Honey Anise eggs, dress kickplate, Nithgaard potluck
73. (12) Bog Three Day, kitchen prep
74. (13) Bog Three Day, kitchen and retaining
75. (14) Venetian bodice
76. (15) Soy eggs, bodice
77. (16) Blueberry cordial, bodice
78. (17) Bodice
79. (18) Chipotle honey mango eggs, bodice
80. (19) National Museum of Art: 16c research
81. (20) Drive back from DC, post pictures
82. (21) Line bodice
83. (22) Line bodice
84. (23) Finish lining bodice
85. (24) Sleeve panels, viking underdress
86. (25) Decant boozes, Sleeve panels, viking underdress
87. (26) Class handout, Sleeve panels, viking underdress
88. (27) Tiki!viking dress and underdress
89. (28) Last viking under dress, and PENNSIC!
90. (29) Æthelmeark hospitality
91. (30) Get weighted loom form Hrolfr, start new set of garters.
92. (31) Take classes (Aztec Illumination)
93. (August 1) continue weaving
94. (2) Morning Troll, airport
95. (3) Archery, Process at Opening Ceremonies with BMDL, man radios at the Watch
96. (4) Finish apron dress, stamp cabbages on 28 aprons, HOLY SHIT SERVE VIGIL
97. (5) Finish weaving garters, stage makeup for Comedia
98. (6) Retain for TRH at Great Court
99. (7) Teach class, Cartridge pleat Venetian, serve Seven Pearls dinner
100. (8) Attach skirt to bodice, party like a Roman
101. (9) Tear down Æthelmeark Royal, host krupnic "competition"
102. (10) Close up camp and drive home.
103. (11) Three loads of laundry, two of dishes, put bulk items away

Plus so many things I forgot at Pennsic. I took Owen's whitework illumination class, Nicola's died parchment class, Aztec illumination and costuming, and German hats!  It was exhausting, amazing, and probably going to continue.

Viking (and Cranach)

 Yesterday was Easter, but the previous two weekends I went to SCA events.  The first one was Coronation and Anna Leigh's Strawberry Party, for which I made a Viking apron dress.  I lucked out and got the pink wool from Cassie because it was too scratchy for her, and it matched Ye Olde Bliaut I've been working on for five year enough to use it as an under dress.  I used the beads I strung for my Valhalla Back Girl costume from Rollercon last year and the ones I made myself about three Pennsics ago? Unfortunately that string broke at the Strawberry Pizza Party and I had to restring them for Ice Dragon, but Vera Fischer was amazing and gave me three new beads!  I also got a fantastic shot glass from Honnoria Thescorre (Gayle A. Erwin) with a mermaid and boobies ^_^ that is now hanging on a chatelaine. 

Because I am super vain and don't particularly care for Viking attire, I completely cheated.  Yes, they would have used pleating to store up excess fabric that can be let out when pregnant, and I used it to hide in princess seams.  They look straight up and down, but the secret is in how you tuck the fabric inside the pleat.  

I also wove trim!  Simple tablet chevrons.  I learned a lot about decisions I need to make before starting a new weaving project and I want to teach it at War Practice.  I need to get my shit together -_____-  But I'm glad that this all came together in just one week.  I'm impressed!

I also finally managed to wear my Cranach for Coronation!  And I forgot to pack the padded bra it was sized with.  It looked ok, but I have so many ideas of things I want to improve.  Of course.

Ragrets

Yesterday was easter, and I planned to take a cheat day for the past six weeks for a pierogie party.  First it was only going to be sunday, but Dave woke up and heated up sausages and grilled pineapple, so, welp.  I realized A LOT of things that made me feel gross and just not worth it.

BAD

- GF GS cookies - too sweet

- home made peanut butter eggs - meh, again too sweet

- candy - why bother?  There are great SF versions I can eat a piece a day

- cupcakes - never that fond of them, just tasted boring

- HFCS rootbeer - for as much as I love SF Barqs, the regular stuff left me nonplussed.

Mostly, what made me feel gross was the drive sugar produced in me to eat everything in sight.  So while maybe one cookie would have been ok, I had to rip myself away half a sleeve in.  I also found that I needed salt in everything, and that unsalted sweet things just didn't appeal to me, but that's pretty standard for me.  Unsalted butter is for animals.

GOOD

 - Pierogies - duh.

 - Chinese Wok

 - Pizza - yes, even bad pizza is better than no pizza

 - Bailey's

 - Cake batter - really good when mixed with vodka >.>

 - Peanuts and chips - aaaaaalllll of the chiiiiips is not the right answer

 - Krupnic - again, in sips, not half a glass

 - Ice cream - I can probably be more discriminate with this

 - Beer - I nursed a Winter Warmer for two days.  It was odd. It might be different with other kinds.

 - Jello - So. Many. Shots.

The things I did like were also impossible to put down, and I definitely felt worse and worse the more I ate them.  I don't know if this is more caused by the caloric restriction or the keto.  The next scheduled day off I have is in four weeks and will be War Practice, at which I have been invited to the Brewer's Guild Party. I plan on eating whatever I want, just forcing me to not snack or binge.

These last two times I've gone off keto I've jumped from 159-170-161-170.  It takes me about four days to get back to the bottom weight, and even then I didn't get all the way back to pre-binge.  I think I'm plateauing at 160 and definitely need to amp up the exercise.  Luckily I'm on Review Week and I get time back to myself soon!