Mi Contra Fa

Anglo-Saxonish seat cushion

In February, I collected some information on Anglo-Saxon seat cushions. I wish I'd left myself a breadcrumb about where that document I made is, because it doesn't seem to be on my hard drive or in my Google Drive. I was thinking back then of weaving the fabric for the cushion, but in the run-up to Pennsic I found a pretty diamond-weave upholstery fabric remnant:

My fabric

And I made a seat cushion cover out of it:

Folding stool with cushion

The side seams are covered with an attempt at herringbone stitch (first time I've tried it) - I recall those being mentioned as a cushion seam treatment, maybe in conjunction with the Sutton Hoo burial, but I confess I didn't go and find my source first.  If I were keenly interested in authenticating this pillow, that would be a bad mistake.

However, I did remember a historical pillow that was shaped - it had oval/teardrop side panels.  I wasn't interested in try to do that, so I'm already ahistorical.  Add my fold-over flap on the bottom (to keep the pillow from crawling out of the seat cover) that I can't authenticate at all, and I'm pretty firmly in ten-foot rule land anyhow. (Oh, and it feels like it's polyester, like upholstery fabric usually is.)

I handsewed the edges with a blanket stitch to prevent fraying, using white linen thread.  The fabric is so thick, I didn't want to fold over the edges.  I handsewed up the sides with running and backstitches.  I placed the herringbone stitches in blue silk over the seams. I did fold under the edges of the pillow-keeper flap - I had to, or else they wouldn't line up with the outside edges of the pillow (which had seam allowance folded in). I thought about putting some trim along the edge of the flap, but found it hard to justify decorating a piece of the cover which will always be underneath the work.  If it starts to fray, I'll revisit that. 

I think it looks really good, actually. The edges are neat and even, the embroidery adds just a subtle splash of color, and the fabric is way better than the cushion cover I had been using.

How time flies

I'm teaching Early Period Music Theory again, first time in a while, and boy howdy those class notes from 2008 need updated...

Pennsic XLV: Camping report

My camp

I camped by myself this year, as an experiment.

Set-Up/Tear Down

This took longer than I think it should have, partly because I'm still learning to set up the tent, but mostly because of the ridiculous heat and humidity. I had to take a lot of breaks.  5-6 hours to set everything up, 3-4 to tear it down.

Tent

Tent was awesome, with plenty of room to store all my gear - even the folded-up EZ-Up I ended up not using.  And really, almost ALL - the first time it rained, I dragged everything inside except the table and the 0g chair.  We had reasonable rain - no crazy storms, but not just drizzle, either - and everything was dry.  I did cut a tarp to fit as a ground cloth - so the brown one is the one to use from here on out.

Stake tent corners, then up center pole, THEN stake sides. 

Oriental rug (4x6?) + double IKEA run (3x4) covered most of the floor. An old bathmat at the foot of the cot gave me a place to put the cast iron where I wouldn't have to worry about rust stains on the canvas.

Day Shade

The 9x12 painter's tarp worked nicely for a day shade. (Note to self: Do not face front of tent towards the south.)  I tied it to the tent and to some old poles, staked them down, and boom.  A few days in, it seemed saggy, so I took a fourth pole, put a mess kit pot on it to soften the point, and used it to push up the roof a little.  It would have helped if I could have run my guy lines out at wider angles, but that would've been in someone else's space.  It seemed to keep things 'dry enough.'  I wouldn't do calligraphy under it, or leave an important book out, but I could step out of my tent and make coffee without getting soaked, which was the goal.

I used a large linen tablecloth at one point, clothespinned on, to help block out more sun.

Sump

Digging through the matted roots in Pennsylvania clay with a hand trowel was hard.  I got a blister (wear gloves!).  But once through that, the clay was just powder I scraped and scraped until it was big enough.  I didn't measure the hole, but I'd say 6" x 6" x 6-8" deep, maybe? It seemed to hold around a quart and met my wastewater needs.

Food and Drink

I have to sort of throw my hands in the air.  I ate some of what I brought, but didn't touch a lot of it. I planned a lot of chicken stew - which it was too hot for me to want to eat.  I ate a lot of cold salami and cheese, though.  Bob's Red Mill mueseli with milk and fruit and hazelnuts made good breakfasts - and on the one morning that it was cold, I could heat it up on the stove.

One gallon/day for washing seemed about right, but +1 gallon for every load of laundry.  4-6 bottles of water/day, I'd say.  The trick is that when I'm out of camp, I'll drink what I bring with me (usually two bottles) but then I'll have to buy or cadge water until I'm back in camp.  I had to buy Gatorade powder at the Cooper Store - I was really feeling the need for it, but hadn't brought any of my own.

Making a fire with just me never quite seemed worth it, especially in the mornings. Last year's bread-making worked because I had committed to doing nothing all War.  This year, I had morning commitments at 11am or earlier all week, and I didn't want to stress/rush through bread-making, fire putting-outing, clean up, and get to commitment.

New favorite thing: Make coffee, drink coffee.  Make coffee again, pour coffee into Goat Story horn.  Let coffee cool on ground while finish getting ready for the day. Put coffee in cooler.  When I get back to camp in the afternoon - iced coffee, ready to drink!

The bigger cooler was not as labor-saving as I'd hoped.  I started off with a 10-lb block, and I needed more the next day - got a 7lb bag of cubes because it was easy to carry.  The next day, I got 2 10-lb blocks, and those lasted that day and the next - but it took a few days to get the cooler full enough of melt water to have the thermal mass to fend off the heat.  With as much as I was out of camp anyway, I probably could have just used the small cooler and gotten ice daily.  Would have saved space in the car.

Sanitation

Pitcher + bowl worked great, actually.  I washed down with soap and water on Day 1, but ended up with a sticky soap residue all over on Day 2, even after 'rinsing' repeatedly with my 'rinse' washcloth.  (I used one with soap to wash, and one with water to rinse.)  After that, I washed my hands with soap, but the rest of me just got scrubbed with a wet washcloth. I felt clean (and the one day I skipped this - Wednesday night, before I left - I was itchy the next day, which I attribute to not having washed).  My hair didn't look nearly as bad as I'd feared.  I wet it down every day, too, and it ended up looking like I hadn't washed it for a day. Considering that I hadn't washed it for five days, that's not bad!  And it was usually under a coif, veil or hat.

My sister clued me in to the absorbing bags they sell for Luggable Loo.  Somewhat more private than dragging the thing to the privy to empty it, but they do have a kinda weird smell.  (The lid keeps the smell in, so it doesn't fill the tent, but it hits you when you use it.)  You can also buy those blue deodorizing pellets to help with that, but... trying to buy less gear, here.  I'm waffling on which approach I prefer.

The 'kitchen sink' we bought a few years ago finally got used. It's two folding plastic cubes, one for hot water (wash) and one for cold (rinse).  I'd put hot water and a few drops of dish soap into one, wash the dishes, put them in the other, and pour water from the pitcher on them individually to rinse.  Given that it was just me and not an entire Scout troop, this seemed to make sense.

True to the hype, my linen gowns could absolutely be reworn after an airing, even after pretty hot and sweaty days.  I did a load of laundry part-way through, just socks and bras (which I was short on).  I had enough underwear and bike shorts to get through without laundry.  I had four linen gowns and wore them all, generally on their own. At night, I wore both my red Frankish gown and a wool cloak at different times.  I wore my leather hood one cool night.  Two days, I schlepped around in linen pants and cotton shirts.

Health

Even with bike shorts all the time, I still ended up with some heat rash.  Not too bad though - I kept it powdered and it didn't hurt so much I couldn't walk.

Toe scrape on an iron tent stake - kept it washed (with soap) and bandaged (Band Aid with antibiotic ointment already in the pad) and it didn't infect.

CPAP battery got charged to full each day, even when it started to get cloudy.  The solar panel and battery (in its nylon case) even got rained on one day, and they were fine.

Furnishings

Cot + camp mat = perfect.  Maybe I could do without the camp mat, but it's just awesome with it.  Being higher makes the tent seem smaller (have to move in from the edge to cope with slanted wall) but then I get storage space underneath, which I totally used.

Folding side table = adequate. Even with the elastics at the corners, the top surface doesn't stay flat.  But it can hold jewelry, books, etc.  Just not anything that has to stay level.

Folding stool = useful.  Sometimes seating, sometimes a stand for the CPAP.

0g chair = not used enough to justify. Last year, when my highest goal was to see how long I could do nothing, this chair was the bomb.  This year, I didn't kick back and chill in it hardly at all.  A regular folding camp chair would have been good enough, and would have packed way smaller.

Table = somewhat small.  I could generally to any two out of three: cook, food prep, clean up.  Not sure the additional convenience of not having to juggle would be worth the additional gear. Also, the day shade probably would not have fit another table.

Food trunk = too heavy. Picturesque, but oy.  Tough to shift around.

Accessories chest = just right.

Clothes Rubbermaid = ugly but useful. Garb guaranteed dry (I Kondo'ed my gowns, rolling them and standing them up, and I could see my wardrobe at a glance) and I put the pitcher and bowl on top when I did my evening wash-up.  Maybe I could paint it or, at a minimum, throw a cloth over it.

Pennsic XLV: Bardic report

It was a good War for bardic for me.  I want to remember what happened, when, and what I learned, so I am writing it down.  I'm not going to brag, but I am going to note what I accomplished.

Saturday: I taught my 'Developing Historically-Informed Performance' class. It was reasonably well-attended (10-12 people?) and the students were engaged. Two people (including Master Efenwealt) told me they'll be stealing the class notes to teach students of their own.  Sweet!

Saturday night may have been the night Lord Richard Wyn requested 'To Put the Devil Into Hell.'  That would be the first time someone has asked me to do one of my period pieces, I think. Yay!

I stopped in to visit Mistress Dervila, who unfortunately and unfairly broke her ankle at War.  Her husband Thomas Drum-Maker and Baron Talorgen were there as well, and we had a bit of a mini-bardic for a while.  Along the way, I mentioned the Irish saint and the otter story I wanted to put together, but was having a hard time getting to gel.  She asked when the last time I read the source material was; I guessed a few months. She said that was about the right amount of time to get some distance from it, so I could re-imagine it as the story I wanted to tell.  What was the point?  I protested that figuring out the point was my problem, but after a few days of ruminating on it (with 'permission,' as it were, to deviate from the source), I feel like I'm making progress. So it was really very good and helpful advice.

Sunday: I did 'Beowulf challenged by the coast guard' for the Atlantian Royal Bardic circle. I used my lyre (not the harp, which I've practiced with more), and the sleeve of my red cote kept buzzing against one of the strings (which at least two people noticed).  Anyhoo.  Master Rhuaidhri suggested that, although many people at this circle got the reference and where this was from, and that it was really cool, I might want to go with a more visceral battle scene to grab the attention of the non-English majors in the crowd.  We spoke more on Tuesday, and he had very good advice on appealing to the kinesthetic learners in the crowd.  I respond well to images (I am hugely visually oriented) and also sounds, so that's where I tend to go.  But there are people for whom images are just a big pile of 'meh,' and they need to hear how things feel in the body.  "Show, don't tell," in other words, but a much more targeted take on it.

A lady performed a song she later told me was for the Gulf Wars War Bard competition.  Not being a fighter but rather a waterbearer, she wrote a piece from the point of view of a female camp follower, a medic.  She sang it as a fight song - fighting to save soldiers' lives - with as much passion and determination as any war song might have.  I got shivers.  We get some songs about service and kind deeds, but not generally ones that make it so outright heroic.  I hurried over afterwards to let her know how much I liked the song, and gave her the pin suite I was wearing.  Alas, kinda useless if you're not wearing 7th century Kentish, but I was out of other tokens in my bag.

I also took Magistra Fiona of Clare's class 'Introduction to Old English.'  Excellent class - not only did she hit the expected notes of how to pronounce which letters and such, but she explained some of the tricks you need to navigate the glossaries.  That's gold, right there.  I did not get to attend her poetry class, but I mean to email her to ask for the handout.

Monday: Southwind bardic was this night.I read "The Saga of Fishflinger" early, cold out of my book, for the heck of it.  It got some laughs, but I got reminded why I shouldn't perform things I haven't practiced. I'm good, but I'm not that good.  The performance was adequate but not really skilled.  As the evening went on, the atmosphere got a little downbeat. There were many quite excellent performances of new material people had composed, but there was nothing for the audience to do.  So, after checking that this would please my host and Pelican, I did 'The Rattlin' Bog.'  On Tuesday, I learned that this effort had garnered me a nomination for sainthood. XD  The past two nights of bardic brought me to a new theory of Pennsic bardic:

The Internet and associated technologies have made it easier than ever for bards to write and share new material.  Bards who have written their own material, or learned interesting new material, are generally justifiably proud of this work, and they want to display/perform it.  Add to this a large bardic circle, where you may only get one or two chances to perform, at the largest event in the Known World, with many Notable People in attendance.  You will, naturally, reach for these pieces you've worked so hard on that you want to share.  And there is nothing wrong with that.

However, if you're one of the audience members who wants nothing more than to shout "MacIntyre!" at odd intervals, this is not going to be very entertaining.  More on this under Wednesday.

Monday was also Poetry Day in Artisan's Row.  I stopped by and chatted for a bit with Lady Katarzyna Witkowska (who was organizing it), Master Cerian Cantwr, and Master Olivier de Bayonne. It was good to finally put a face to Master Olivier's name.  The Known World Poetry Competition was canceled on account of mine being the only entry, but we sat and chatted for a while.  Lady Katarzyna requested a poem from those departing; Master Cerian warned us of the dangerous Polar Cow.  I recited 'I Drank of Mnemosyne,' which I had printed out from the replacement for Mystic Mail, so that I could perform it at the Depressing Song Competition.  Master Olivier gifted me a token, which greatly lifted my spirit.  The pieces I write for competitions frequently don't turn out so well (because they're written to spec rather than from the heart) so it was heartening that this one was well-received.

Tuesday: I ran through 'Mnemosyne' in my camp a few times, trying to see if I could get the music out well enough.  It didn't settle down to a single tune,  but it seemed to have a pretty solid musical idea that I was improvising on fairly well.  I waffled on whether or not to go ahead with it, but - I'm the one who wants to go toward improvisational music and even poetry composed on the instant.  Let's see how it goes!

 So I took the Pennsic Main Stage for the second time (I thought it was the first time, but no - I did my 'Beowulf' for the KW Harp Celebration last year) and improvised away. I had the lyrics in my hand, but only needed to consult them occasionally.  There were one, maybe two phrases where the music didn't land as solidly as I would have liked, but overall - I felt like it went very well.  I think I emoted and gestured without overdoing - easier on such a downer piece than the peppy ones, where I can get spastic pretty quickly.  I thought I saw at least one person wiping away tears.  A friend was in the audience, and afterwards, he asked if that was "Alzheimer's, but for the SCA."  So that aspect of it is getting through.  I made 4th place (in a field of eight or nine entrants)!  But even more squee-inducing - the 3rd place winner was a lady from far Lochac with a stupendous voice and fantastic presence.  She accepted the accolade, but couldn't take her actual physical prize on her return journey - so she turned and  gave it to me.  So very sweet of her.

Snake and coffin

 

I also learned an important lesson in discernment at the Windmaster's Bardic and Peep Sacrifice. 

Wednesday: Children's Fete. Two and a half hours of performing in a huge noisy barn. Master Rhuaidhri and Mistress Fevronia undoubtedly carried the afternoon with their amazing projection skills.  I think I managed some volume and managed to not destroy my voice. I really need to get some classes for improving projection and volume.

Wednesday was also the Bardic Symposium session where I was a panelist: Authenticity.  The two-hour discussion seemed to come down to Don't Be A Jerk, Stop Jerks from Jerking, and Lead By Example.  'Don't Be a Jerk' covers any and all performers who poop all over other people's performances - for being too period or too not-period - to make themselves feel better.  'Stop Jerks' encouraged bystanders who might be witnessing the Jerk in the process of pooping to step up and intervene.  And 'Lead By Example' meant that, whatever your feelings on performance and authenticity, you should do the thing you want to see done and do it so well it looks cool.

There was a second strain that ran through the conversation.  At first blush, it was the old 'fun vs. authenticity' problem, but Lady Lorelei of Skye clarified it. In addition to bardic being an art that we can re-create in a historical fashion, it is also a social function.  Like at the Southwind bardic, the general non-performing public wants certain things from bardic circles. If we stop providing them, we risk marginalizing the bardic community.  On the other hand, we are an educational organization, and as artists with an interest in historical performance, we want to do those things, too.  There was much talk of 'proper performances in their proper places,' implying that 'fun' and 'authenticity' have to stay in their separate boxes.

Nothing wrong with focused bardics.  But I think I'd like to see general bardics with better balance.  Old standards plus new art. The thing there is, this isn't like putting together an album or even a playlist for a singalong, where one person engineers the tempo of fast/slow, fun/serious performances.  You've got a mixed group of performers. If the circle is big and the performances are long, you get everyone pulling out their Most Impressive Piece, which will generally tilt the thing toward the serious and slow, and away from the Old Chestnut Standards.  Keeping it smaller and faster-moving, and you'll have more room for variety.

Thursday: The humidity was making the heat just unbearable, and I left War early. I had to cancel the Lyre Roundtable, which I regretted, but I was feeling pretty miserable.  In the car, I thought some more about St. Kevin and the Otter (currently entertaining a version of Goose that Laid the Golden Egg, or else a parable on the hazards of self-denial).  I was also struck with the thought to write a song about the frankly amazing ability the fighters (of all kinds) have to tolerate said evil heat and humidity.  I got a draft refrain figured out somewhere on I-79.

I'm icky and I'm sticky, I'm sweaty and I'm hot
The dew point's up to eighty and my energy is shot
Wearing armor in this weather is really no mean feat
Fighters, can you tell me, how have you beat this heat?

 

Achievement Unlocked

I just repaired a wool tablet-woven strap I wove myself with thread I spun myself.

If there's anything cooler than making stuff, it's using the stuff you made. :D

Colonial Spinning

We just got back from a trip to Williamsburg, VA, where they hold drop spindle classes some evenings.  I plopped down my $25 for a spindle and some roving, interested to see their take on it.

Spindle: Bottom weighted, no hook, but a sort of ring had been cut out of the spindle to help hold a half-hitch.

Leader: First time using string for leader, rather than trying to finger-spin some of the roving.  It's certainly faster and easier.

Dressing the spindle: First time I've seen or done this. Take the leader (or yarn, later) from the spindle, loop down around the end under the weight, then bring back up and secure at the top of the spindle with a half-hitch.

Spin: Gah, my spindle wanted to wobble all over the place. Not sure if it was me or it.  We spun clockwise and were supposed to wind on clockwise.  I thought I was winding on clockwise but was really doing it counter-clockwise.  It still mostly worked, although maybe that was why I was having some issues with getting enough twist.

Technique: The instructor taught the usual technique for drop spinning these days.  We started with spin, stop, let twist up; spin, stop, let twist up.  Then she taught drafting.  A few folks started to experiment with letting the spindle hang, but mostly we were doing 'park and draft.'

She mentioned a couple of colonial American depictions of drop spindles, and I tried to ask about their posture - did it look like what she was teaching us, or did it look like the 'hands apart' pose?  "That's linen," she said, which seems to be the go-to answer.

I tried my "spin and pull" method, which still kinda worked.  I think the twist can climb up too high into the roving, which makes it harder to draft, and then I pull too hard and snap the string.  But when it works, it works really well.

Edit: Video of hand-spinnders. Slavic? I don't recognize the language that's being sung.  This is the sort of thing Fifteenth Century Spinning has shown on her blog.

Overtwist: Baroness Emma said that if the yarn tried to make string out of itself when tension eased up (self-plying), that was too twisted.  The Williamsburg instructor said that was the right amount of twist, and you were only over-twisted if the self-plyed yarn was twisty, too. I bet they are both right, depending on what qualities you want the finished yarn to have.

Edit: Janel Laidman at the Beebonnet Report has a great graphic that shows how to tell if you're over- or under-twisted.  The engineer in me really likes that sort of material properties-based evaluation. It's clear and seems pretty dang reasonable. 

Finishing: For singles, skein up the yarn on a niddy-noddy.  Place skein into hot (? maybe warm?) water to which a squirt of dishwashing detergent has been added. Rinse in cold water.  Hang to dry with about a gallon of water as a weight to pull it taut to set the twist.  If plying, create two balls of yarn (using toilet paper tubes or something as a base) then spin the yarns together with a counter-clockwise spin, if they were spun clockwise originally.  Then skein up the finished two-ply yarn and finish.  Weighting it to dry didn't seem necessary.