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a lovely little event
Apr. 15th, 2018 12:35 amWhen I woke up this morning I realized that Monday will be three weeks since my Viking Coat vanished at the Helsinki airport. Their lost and found office promised to watch for it for two weeks. Therefore there is probably not any hope of my seeing it again. Therefore I went to the fabric cupboard and took out the lovely grey diamond twill fabric that I bought at Double Wars a couple of years ago, and the super soft very dark blue wool twill, found the fur I bought that goes well with the diamond twill, and grabbed the two rolls of tablet weaving I have yet to attach to a costume, and added it to the pile of things to take to the event.
Then I went and picked up Hezekiel, Eino, and Siri and we headed south to the site. The day time part of the event was a course on doing illumination for scrolls, taught by Agnes, Princess of Nordmark. I was signed up for the course, but decided that I need a new coat more than I need to learn a new art, so while everyone else in the gym made beautiful things with pen and ink, I stood at the edge of the stage and measured, planned, and cut. The blue wool fabric was just slightly narrower than the grey, and also much easier to draw on with chalk. Therefore I drew the pieces on the blue, cut them out, and then set them onto the grey with a slight gap between each piece, basted each blue piece to each grey, and then cut the grey.
I had just time to do all of that, and start sewing the triangles of the back center gore together before it was time to change into costume for the banquette. There were only 24 people at the event, so the people setting up tables decided that they would rather have a single long table in the little room off of the kitchen, rather than setting up the feast in the large hall (gym), because it would be more cozy that way. This was partially a good idea. However, several of us, myself included, felt that it soon became too loud in the small room, with everyone talking at once. If we ever use this site for a small event again, I will encourage us to use the gym for the feast, and leave space for dancing. I think that the higher ceiling would have meant less intense noise, which would have been much nicer.
However, that was my only complaint about the event. It was delightful to see people, and good to have an excuse to put on my costume. We did hold court in the gym, but again opted for a "cozy" option--we all sat on the stage with her Highness". Most of us sat on the floor, but a few chairs were provided for those who needed them. The first order of business was her highness explaining that she was rather disappointed by her first visit to Frostheim, for our summer event a couple of years ago, as she saw no snow, and no reindeer. This visit, on the other hand, gave her plenty of snow, and she found out that there is, in fact one reindeer in Frostheim. Then the herald called up the reindeer, and its keeper.
The reindeer in question is a small stuffed toy that was presented to one of the Frostheim Archers when they were in Rengaarda for an event while I was in Ireland. (The Swedish word for Reindeer is "ren". Confusingly, the word for "clean" is also "ren", so that the phrase "en ren ren" means "a clean reindeer". I think that gaarda may be an archaic form of "gård", which means "farm".) Apparently Eldor won, or at least placed well in, enough competitions at their event that he is now a guardian of their herd, or something like that, and they gave him the toy to protect. The Princess was so delighted to meet this reindeer that she presented it with a scroll, which was read too quickly for me to have been clear as to the details, but it seemed to be an appropriate award for a reindeer.
However, then the Princess pointed out that it would never do to have just an ordinary person caring for such a special reindeer, so she felt compelled to award Eldor with his arms, making him noble and of sufficient rank to take care of the toy. Then the herald called forth his lady, and she also got her AoA. Then they called each and every one of the other Frostheim archers (who all joined the SCA together, and have been a delightful and active part of the group ever since) up in turn to give them all their AoA's. At which point the knight, standing behind the Princess, holding a sword, wanted to know if there was a reason she was making noble so many archers at once. Was she contemplating having need of them when she travels to Aarnimetsä? (The SCA branch in Finland.) The Princess, of course, just smiled and looked innocent.
After desert Kjartan and I massaged her Highness a bit--she really needed it, her back, shoulders, and calligraphy/drawing arm were all quite tense. Then there was a bit of singing, but given the noise levels in the small room, that didn't last long. Around the time I was thinking I was tired and wanted to head home Hezekiel told me that he and Eino were thinking of heading home, so I happily agreed, and packed up my stuff and did my goodbye round of hugs.
Despite being tired I decided to check messages when I got home, and an hour and 20 minutes have slipped by. It is now after 01:00, and I should do my yoga and get some sleep. Tomorrow my apprentice is supposed to come over to work on her thesis again, and it would be nice to work on my own while she is here.
Then I went and picked up Hezekiel, Eino, and Siri and we headed south to the site. The day time part of the event was a course on doing illumination for scrolls, taught by Agnes, Princess of Nordmark. I was signed up for the course, but decided that I need a new coat more than I need to learn a new art, so while everyone else in the gym made beautiful things with pen and ink, I stood at the edge of the stage and measured, planned, and cut. The blue wool fabric was just slightly narrower than the grey, and also much easier to draw on with chalk. Therefore I drew the pieces on the blue, cut them out, and then set them onto the grey with a slight gap between each piece, basted each blue piece to each grey, and then cut the grey.
I had just time to do all of that, and start sewing the triangles of the back center gore together before it was time to change into costume for the banquette. There were only 24 people at the event, so the people setting up tables decided that they would rather have a single long table in the little room off of the kitchen, rather than setting up the feast in the large hall (gym), because it would be more cozy that way. This was partially a good idea. However, several of us, myself included, felt that it soon became too loud in the small room, with everyone talking at once. If we ever use this site for a small event again, I will encourage us to use the gym for the feast, and leave space for dancing. I think that the higher ceiling would have meant less intense noise, which would have been much nicer.
However, that was my only complaint about the event. It was delightful to see people, and good to have an excuse to put on my costume. We did hold court in the gym, but again opted for a "cozy" option--we all sat on the stage with her Highness". Most of us sat on the floor, but a few chairs were provided for those who needed them. The first order of business was her highness explaining that she was rather disappointed by her first visit to Frostheim, for our summer event a couple of years ago, as she saw no snow, and no reindeer. This visit, on the other hand, gave her plenty of snow, and she found out that there is, in fact one reindeer in Frostheim. Then the herald called up the reindeer, and its keeper.
The reindeer in question is a small stuffed toy that was presented to one of the Frostheim Archers when they were in Rengaarda for an event while I was in Ireland. (The Swedish word for Reindeer is "ren". Confusingly, the word for "clean" is also "ren", so that the phrase "en ren ren" means "a clean reindeer". I think that gaarda may be an archaic form of "gård", which means "farm".) Apparently Eldor won, or at least placed well in, enough competitions at their event that he is now a guardian of their herd, or something like that, and they gave him the toy to protect. The Princess was so delighted to meet this reindeer that she presented it with a scroll, which was read too quickly for me to have been clear as to the details, but it seemed to be an appropriate award for a reindeer.
However, then the Princess pointed out that it would never do to have just an ordinary person caring for such a special reindeer, so she felt compelled to award Eldor with his arms, making him noble and of sufficient rank to take care of the toy. Then the herald called forth his lady, and she also got her AoA. Then they called each and every one of the other Frostheim archers (who all joined the SCA together, and have been a delightful and active part of the group ever since) up in turn to give them all their AoA's. At which point the knight, standing behind the Princess, holding a sword, wanted to know if there was a reason she was making noble so many archers at once. Was she contemplating having need of them when she travels to Aarnimetsä? (The SCA branch in Finland.) The Princess, of course, just smiled and looked innocent.
After desert Kjartan and I massaged her Highness a bit--she really needed it, her back, shoulders, and calligraphy/drawing arm were all quite tense. Then there was a bit of singing, but given the noise levels in the small room, that didn't last long. Around the time I was thinking I was tired and wanted to head home Hezekiel told me that he and Eino were thinking of heading home, so I happily agreed, and packed up my stuff and did my goodbye round of hugs.
Despite being tired I decided to check messages when I got home, and an hour and 20 minutes have slipped by. It is now after 01:00, and I should do my yoga and get some sleep. Tomorrow my apprentice is supposed to come over to work on her thesis again, and it would be nice to work on my own while she is here.