Yay Camping!

I really do enjoy camping, especially when the amount of stuff I bring fits in the van with the middle seat still in and can be set up and taken in down in less than a couple hours.

Yeah, I don't pack light, but I pack with quality in mind.

Here is our lovely camp site from this last weekend





Our cute sitting area.





The double width shade fly worked a treat and we had Lilies strength wind on Sunday so it got a real test. I'm really happy with the wood support for the spare wedge, top notch!

The Barbie got to come out and play as well. I still cn't believe I am using that after all these years, and it stood up well to the rain on Saturday. I should have propped it up, the walls were a bit slack.





I got to carry the ceremonial axe into court on Sunday. This would be the 15th c. axe!!!!! Can you tell I'm pleased?






Finally FIRE! With flint and steel, even though my char cloth was not cooperating. Oh well.

Sunforger

For those who know me know of my passion for period tents and my plan to spread my knowledge until nylon is a thing of memory. This is my plan.

Currently I am helping 3 others to realize their own fabric wonderland of their own. A is making a GIGANTIC spoked round. R is making a far smaller spoked round. H made a bedhoin (by far the most sane project of the bunch since he finished it in one day).

In the last week I will have made 3 shade flys. One for a friend, one for my apprentice and one for me.

This shade fly is for K who will use it attached to her trailer or also free standing. I delievered it along with a stake bag and helped her get her ropes and rope slides in order last night. She will probably do a trial run in her back yard this weekend.

The other shade fly is for M to go on the front of her new wedge. The finished effect will be similar to this image, but not as big.


The third shade fly is for me to run between two wedge tents.
I have loaner tents. It's a thing. This is M's new wedge tent and my two are the same (cause I made all three).



The plan is to set up the two wedge tents with the doors facing each other and running the shade between the two uprights. The back will be staked close to the ground using ropes and the front will be lifted up with 3, 6' poles so people can easily come in and out. I have not done this before and it looks good on paper. I don't know what to expect when it comes to the actual set up. Friday may be interesting...

Rogue Monday? What's that?

Rogue has not been removed from the safety of her bag for a number of weeks now. Too many other things distracting (keeping) me from working on her. Getting ready for camping in June and July. SCA stuff, cooking, garb, and TENTS! Tons and tons of tents.

I will return to Rogue, but probably not until August. Now I need to figure out which knitting projects I should take on my camping trip in June. I have a whole week, I should have some down time in there. Hopefully. I'm thinking socks!

Camping moot

Camped overnight at the Caponi Art Park in Eagan. I just LOVE this park. It is so beautiful and secluded. There isn't any running water and you can still hear the highway, but it's very pretty.

The reason for the overnight was to teach a Camping basics course for people who have not been camping for a while, or needed to brush up on some skills or who have never camped in the SCA.
There were really only 2 people who have never camped in the SCA who were there, the rest were all fairly seasoned in my opinion. However we all learned something which is usually the case.

Here is our camp.




I spent most of my time cooking and teaching a course on cooking over the fire. We had corned beef and cabbage with focaccia and fresh fruit. Nummy!



Liz and I spent Saturday morning making poles for her new tent and despite being punked by a sticky metal sleeve, which hindered our progress for over an hour, we finally got it worked out and were sucessful in completing poles for 2 more wedges. She really likes her new tent and I think it will work out well for the camping she and her husband does. We may need to add on an annex when the baby arrives.


It was a lovely day, if not a bit long and I was thouroughly exausted after the weekend.
I'm probably going to camp over memorial day weekend so I left most of the stuff packed in the car. I wonder if I could make a double wide shade fly to set up between 2 wedges before next weekend.... Only if I can get my hands on 8 yards of Sunforger, and I don't think I have that many on the bolt at home, but I will check....

Syttende Mai!

For those who are not familiar, today is the Norwegian Constitution Day! A day to eat more food, wear funky outfits and parade around waving flags. Not a bad way to spend a day in my opinion.

I am approx 1/4 Norwegian and still have distant relations in Norway up near Trondheim. I don't speak the language, but I do make a number of traditional delicacies each year. No, I do not make lutefisk. In honor of May 17th I am wearing my Dale of Norway sweater, even though it really is too warm for it today. I also plan to have a lovely fish meal tonight.

I really would rather be in Skei, Norway or Bergen for the fest. We had such a nice time when I was there. We stayed at the Best Western in Skei and we had a gorgeous view! We were there in early May so we preceeded the tourists and had most of the hotel to ourselves. I fondly remember looking over the lake each morning with a plate full of fish for breakfast and traveling on the fjords each day on our tours. Good memories!

Cute Tweet picture

sniff...

Fine, I admidt it. I'm actually sick. Just your generic, my head feels like it's going to explode and I can't concentrate on things because my head feels like it's no longer attached to my body kind of sick. I also have the "I really don't feel like eating because I'm draining a quart of junk from my sinuses on the hour and I think I'm going to hurl" stuff. Furtunately I do feel better, and I have not had to miss work, even though I would prefer to be home, I don't "have to" be home.

Anyhow enough drama, sick happens...

Saturday was fab! There were pretty cookies and fun people and everyone ate!




This was dessert. Springerle, ginger biscuits, candied violets (thanks to birdkiller), and short bread. Very pretty! I sat and ate ginger biscuits last night and they actually calmed my stomach. The beautiful springerle mold is made by Merkle and I purchased it through La Cuisine. The cookie stamps for the shortbread are handmaid by Gene Wilson in IL and sold through his company Hobi Cookie Molds.

Here are some pictures of my cool servers and cooks!















The site worked pretty good and we used the space to our advantage. Good times.

I need to include a cute picture of one of my charges.







I don't think the cockatiles are too happy with Tweet. She wants to visit with them and when she is out of her cage she spends a LOT of time sitting on theirs. No fights, just some posturing and I don't leave them unsupervised. I think I will need to get tweet a companion once they go home.

Feeling inadequate lately?

My boss just bought this...

hmmmmm....right

Blocking done

Took out the blocking wires last night and let the whole thing sit undisturbed overnight. I folded and wrapped it this morning so I am all ready for Sunday. It relaxed only slightly, which it said it would in the directions, but the pattern is still very visible.

Saturday will be quite a day, early trip to site and a long day in the kitchen. Fortunately I have had plenty of help and many of the things are already made which should make for a fairly easy day, I hope. I changed the menu a bit so I won't have to rely on as many roasters, which is good. It also means that we are actually "cooking" 2 dishes on Saturday. YAY!

I really hope that people like the meal. I'm a little concerned that the beef will be dry...but there is plenty of mustard to go around so hopefully people will slather it on and enjoy.

First Lace Complete!

I completed the trellis scarf last night and began the blocking proceedure.



Knitknot loaned me her blocking wires and dang are they handy. I don't understand why they are not pointed on the ends instead of blunt, but I used a #2 dp to pick up stitches on the side of the scarf and put them on the needles. The instructions said to get the scarf wet in warm water and then roll it in a towel to take the excess moisture out. I then spent probably an hour getting the edges onto the blocking wires. Very tedious but it's probably better than using a trillion pins. By the time I was done the scarf was starting to feel a bit dry so I sprayed it with some more water. I covered my cutting table with some clean white towels to help absorb the moisture and pinned away. It was fairly easy and straightforward. I checked it this morning and it should be completely dry and ready to come off the wires tonight. I'm so excited to see Mom's reaction. I hope she likes it.

I think for my first lace project it turned out rather well.

I do believe that is LACE!

Will wonders never cease? I frogged the entire piece last night and started again and have managed to knit 3 rounds of the lace pattern. Right now it looks pretty dismil, but I'm hoping it will look better once it is blocked. I'm feeling quite pleased.

The 7 into 5 stitch is made quite easy with the help of Size B crochet hook. Darn handy! The needles are number 5 and the piece measures 7 inches. The finished piece will be approximately 60" (152.5 cm) long.

Happy Birthday MOM!

Hope you like the flowers and see you on the 14th!

New projects

I got a book last night from a very nice friend! The Cool Girl's Guide to Knitting. It has some very nice patterns including one for dog sweaters; one to look like a shark. I think I'm going to covert the shark into a dragon, FUN! I does have a completely scary "poncho" that I am tempted to make just for the humor of it.

I was instructed in the mystery that is the "7 into 5" stitch thanks to knitknot. Trellis Scarf Pattern found in Spring 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. I'm using the lilac Misti Alpaca. I think I may have lost my mind with this project. The 7 into 5 stitch is the most tedious thing I have ever tried and I think my mother will be dead before I sucessfully complete 1 inch of this pattern, let alone the 60" that the finished length should be. I believe I need a new pattern, or stronger drugs. I have opted to switch to circular needles, but to do that I need to purchase #5's, and I better get some point covers and a row counter while I'm at it. I'm hoping that I will get the hang of the pattern, but dang it is hard to see with this light weight stuff.