New book

The mail brought me couple of weeks ago an interesting new cookbook. It is The book of Sent Sovi, Medieval recipes from Catalonia. The book is very young (the relase date was at Sebtember 2008). The text is based on the oldest surviving culinary text in Catalan. It is an anonymous and it has been written around middle of 14th century. I haven’t read the book yet so I don’t really know if it is good or not but I am very happy that I now have more recipes to use for cooking.

Again another great weekend!

Finally I can write about last weekend! It has been very difficult to write anything here because we had a secret about we were going to steal lady Sahra and take her to Tallinn to have her bachelorette party. And I have to tell that last weekend was real fun and my abs are still hurt for obvious reasons (laughing too much). Coming back from Järvenpää last evening wasn't fun because of snowstorm. But thank god I didn't have to drive back to home. I had my naalbinding things with me and I know now how to make thumb for the mittens and my first naalbinded hat is almost done. I will give it for Ulf for Christmas present. At Tallinn we went to fabric stores and I bought some green wool. I didn't buy so many things during our trip because I didn't have car with me.

This is the hat:But now I really have to go to read some articles. We are making an extra arts and sciences number for our Barony’s (Aarnmetsä) magazine. And I have lots of pages to read… and very interesting stuff..

One more thing....

This is me making embroidery at Lahti handicraft Fair couple of weeks ago

17.11

I have finally started to make my Flemish open-fronted gown. I cut the fabric to the bodice last week and I started to sew the bodice last weekend while visiting friends at Turku. At Saturday I bought some silk threads and stuff for the gown and some wool threads for tablet weaving (I hope that I have time in near future to do tablet weaving because it has been too long since I have done something like that). Then Elsa and I went to a small fair where small producers sold lamb and goat products. At the fair I bought about 3 kg wool thread (lamb) and a bone needle for naalbinding. And later at the evening Susanna taught me another way to make naalbinding and I really think I now know how to do it.

11.11.

Although this week has been and is going to be hard I try to start making the Flemish open-fronted gown this week. I was going to star cutting the wool yesterday but I found myself playing new Fable II game and reading emails and doing other stuff. Buying new x-box 360 games is not good for me if I really want to make something else. But sometimes it is very good to me do something else like play games than watch TV or making handicrafts if I can stop playing after one hour or less. Well it means that today I will have to cut the fabric and not play because tomorrow I will go to Hämeenlinna (I have couple in-service training days there). Next weekend I will go to Turku and I have change to buy more silk sewing threads and other things I need. And next weekend may be one of the only changes to buy some Christmas presents before it is too late. I am tired zzz-zz.

Another great weekend

This weekend I attended Lahti Handicraft Fair with Medium Aevum Hollolense re-enactment group. I took some pictures at the fair but the pictures are all blurry and not very good. But there are some pictures at the group’s web pages http://www.keskiaika.fi/?sivu=Kuvagalleria&id=248 and you might found me also there doing some blackwork embroidery. I had my Assisi tablecloth project with me and a lucet. It was good idea to have two handicrafts with me because after awhile you probably want to do something else. Medium Aevum Hollolense group was the only history/ medieval/ Viking re-enactment group at the fair so they got lots of attention. There were lots of old ladies and lords who wanted to talk about old handicraft techniques and for example naalbinding. And of course there were lots of artisans who were interested in our clothing and especially the thing that we do so much with our hands. The lodge next to our lodge was selling embroidery machines. It was pretty comical to sit next to the embroidery machine to do embroidery by hands. So the machine and I had a little competition about the spectators attentions. 

Because I have been extremely busy during last weeks I haven’t have tome to do the open-fronted Flemish gown or even started to do it. Last week I managed to make he sleeves for the gown. So I don’t know yet what to wear at St Homobonus Feast this weekend. I have been sick today so I might wear something old but warm.

:D

I took the test "The Which Wife of Henry VIII Are You" http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-which-wife-of-henry-viii-are-you-test-1

I am Jane Seymour

Weaving and books

What a weekend! I feel quite relaxed after last weekend. Last Friday was again a day off from work and I went to the Helsinki Book Fair with Tofa. Actually there was a book fair and a food and wine fair at the Helsinki Fair Center. I bought about ten books at the Fair. Some of the books are history novels, but I bought also for example a book about cruelty in medieval times, a book about perfumes (contains history also), a book about green tea, a book called “From Magic to Medicine” it’s about science and belief in 16th to 18th century art, a book about notorious Gilles de Rais and a book about beauty opinions in 16th to 17th century. Now I have a bigger problem with the books than before going to the Fair. I have too many books and not enough shelves for them. If I get one shelf... it might not be enough. So I should get more shelves before buying more books from this day forward. But anyway I was surprised that I didn't buy any cookery books (modern ones... there wasn't any books about medieval cookery that I don't already have... well there is only one interesting and new cooking book written in Finnish at the stores and I have it.). Um.. ok, the green tea book contains some recipes.. but anyway.

At Saturday evening I started to weave a Viking Finn apron. I continue on weaving at Sunday also. I made it quite slow because I didn't want to be too sloppy. I managed to weave about 20 cm altogether. I was satisfied for the result considering that I am a beginner with this all weaving business. There are some mistakes in the fabric, but nothing too bad to me to be not satisfied.
The weaving was fun to do and I can't wait till I go to Tofa's next time to continue it. But I have to say that it was at time to time very hard and irritating because my weaving material is wool and wool threads snap quite easily and when you make a knot then the knot will slide open soon. So sometimes it felt like I could only do two cm in an hour.

Argh!

I just founded the perfect kind of silk thread for sewing the lace holes for the Flemish under dress. Well it is too late now, I have made those lace holes with DMC. I tried to find the thread before I started on making the holes over week ago but I didn’t found this thread in the box where I keep my other silk threads. I have too many boxes… 

Crown Tourney and other things

I am not yet recovered from last week. I am still very tired. The week was fantastic. Not only I had the whole week off from work but I managed to get my hand sewed white partlet and a black partlet ready for the event. I was satisfied for the result. Both partlets look quite good. After the event I realized that there are some strawberry pudding stains in the white partlet… I have to find some way to get rid of those. Quite many people said to me at the event that I may have too fancy outfit for the kitchen. But these are really clothes for the kitchen because the people use these kinds of clothes at the kitchen in renaissance. Some day I will make a fancier outfit that I will not use at the kitchen :D. 

As I told earlier at the weekend before the event we went to Turku to make special things, gingerbread castles, marzipan dragons and kings and their soldiers (marzipan also) for the feast. The feast went also well… actually I didn’t have much time to eat anything. At the middle of the feast the feeling at the kitchen was quite hectic but not too much. I am very happy for all the help we got before and during the event. And I am still very very happy for every gift and good words we received. 

Next event for us is going to be feast of St Homobonus at 7.-9.11. That means I will have only three weeks for making the open-fronted Flemish gown and the sleeves and I don’t have proper headdress for the outfit yet either. Sounds like impossible task because I will have a day off from work at Friday and I am going to Helsinki book fair and I will stay at Tofa’s at the weekend (I hope that I have time to start making my next long term project… Viking outfit… at that weekend also). And weekend after that I will go to the handicraft fair at Lahti with Sahra. And one other thing is that there is a really big mess at our house… I have fabrics, books, papers, notes, threads, pots, baskets, sleeping bags etc all over. And Sahra asked me to give my Italian ren. outfit for their display at the handicraft fair. So I might want to do the sleeves for that outfit too. 

It is almost done...

This is the mantra I am chanting today. That means the under dress for the Flemish peasant wardrobe is almost done. I need only to sew the hem and make the lacing holes.

Last weekend was wonderful! We (Ulf+I) were at Turku making special things for the Crown Tournamet’s feast. It helps a lot to have so much good friends who are willing to help us. And I wouldn’t be this far with the under dress whitout Teresa’s help. So they helped us not only with the special things but making me feel happy to also have something new for me and that makes me feel very good. And thanks to Elsa I don’t have to make the cookies and I can concentrate on doing other things during this week also.