Three Ideals & A Declaration

*Dusts off blog*

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, but hopefully I’ll have a little more free time over the next few months to get back to a semi-regular schedule.  Today’s post is due to some observations that I’ve made recently, and the conclusions I’ve drawn.

When we join the SCA, one of the earliest things we learn is that our Society is built on the ideals of chivalry, courtesy, and honor.  These are things that we should all be striving for, if we are playing this game.  If you ask any given SCAdian, they will tell you that absolutely they try to live up to those ideals.  But as with so many other things in the world, I am finding that not everyone practices what they preach.

I have had occasion to witness behavior that does not fit into these ideals.  Now before anyone starts saying “hello pot, this is kettle”, I do not claim to be perfect, and do not claim to live up to these three goals all the time.  We are all human, and we are all going to have times where we behave a little inappropriately.  That is not the circumstances I’m focusing on.  I’m looking at the people who consistently behave in a manner that is hurtful and detrimental to others, and to our game.

I realize the people I’m friends with, and who will read this blog, are not the people I’m writing about.  The people who inspired this will probably never read it, and that’s okay.  Sometimes it is enough to get a concept out into the world, so that others are made aware of it.  That way we can all be more vigilant, and when we see something happening we can step in and address it.

So, what’s happening? To be perfectly honest, the specific details aren’t necessary.  The basic problem is that there are people who are regularly being unkind to others.  Ridiculing someone in front of others.  Chastising someone for voicing an idea.  Speaking ill of others in public, especially when it’s to somebody who is friends with the person being bashed.  Putting people on the spot in a conversation by asking them something that is personal.  Actively campaigning to persuade others of somebody’s “bad nature”.  Just plain saying things that are unkind and unnecessary. 

Sadly, these are all things that I know are happening.  So where does that leave us?  If we approach the ones committing these acts, especially if we were not present when it happened, then we become the discourteous and un-chivalrous ones.  But on the flip side of the coin, if we do nothing, are we not just as guilty?  How do we balance doing the right thing while still upholding our ideals?

These are the questions that I have been asking myself lately.  As a peer, I feel an even greater obligation at this point to try and prevent as much harm from being done by these people as possible.  I have a few ideas that I’m trying to run with for right now.

• I’m trying to be mindful of who is associating with these people, especially those gentles who are new to our game.  Perhaps if I can make myself available as another source of advice and assistance, the gentles will feel less need to get involved in the bad situation.  You can’t stop people from being drawn to a magnet, if there is no opposing force there to counteract it.
• I’m trying to be more aware of what is going on around me, in hopes that I will witness something that I can address immediately.  It seems that the people who do these things try to keep it as private as possible.  Perhaps if the opportunity arises to call them out on it, they will be embarrassed enough to cease.
• I’m going to be as good of an example of courteous behavior as I can be.  If enough of us behave appropriately, then more people will learn what is correct.  When somebody then behaves inappropriately, it will be more noticeable and less accepted.

I realize that these are very small things, and may not make a huge difference in the end.  But if I don’t step up and make an effort, who will?  If I don’t make my voice heard, than I have effectively stepped aside and accepted the bad behavior.  That’s not what I signed on for when I joined this Society.  I am standing up and refusing to let others tarnish the Dream I enjoy so much.

How do I know when I know enough?

Greetings, and welcome back to a normal episode of Pegasus Wanderings, instead of the frantic ramblings of my last post.  J  Yes, the insanity is over, I have officially been turned into a bird, and I can now put Mistress in front of my name.  Woo hoo!!!

Now that I can turn my thoughts to other things, they of course have found their way back to art/sci.  I made a very wise choice not to try and throw something together in the 2-3 weeks I had between my elevation and Summer A/S Competition.  I probably could have done it, but it would not have been up to my standards of a proper project.

So now I am working on a couple things, with plans to enter at Village Faire in the Regional Competition, as well as Kingdom’s Winter A/S Competition.  Village Faire (VF) is in September, so I have been trying to determine what I can have ready in that time frame, and what will be better waiting until January.  It looks like the winner is going to be a 16^th century Tudor coif, which I’m actually pretty excited about.  By doing this one now, it means that I can follow up with the knitted flat cap I’ve been wanting to do for Winter, and the two will go together beautifully.  I’m also really wanting to do a tablet weaving entry, so I might see if I have time for both this and the cap for Winter.  I’m not entirely sure if my skill level will be up to par for the weaving by January, so we shall see.  I will push it off to a later Regional competition if I need to.

One of the things I’ve been doing to determine which project to enter at VF is evaluating how much research I’ve already done on my various projects.  Each time I come up with a new idea for a project, I start a folder on my flash drive for it.  Then I promptly start a “What I Know” grid, so that I can fill in my facts as I find them.  When the grid is complete, I’m ready to start writing and making my project.  What is this grid, you ask?  Why, it’s one of the best tools to use when working on a project for art/sci.  It is simply a table or spreadsheet listing the ingredients, the period method, your source, your method, and your reasoning.  For example:

Ingredient / Material / Method	Period Method	Source	Your Method	Your Reasoning
Thread	Silk thread Worsted wool thread Linen thread	Silk - Purstringes pg 2 Wool - Images 1-4 Linen - Images 5-8	Silk embroidery thread Wool embroidery thread Linen embroidery thread Cotton embroidery thread	I am following the period method by using silk, wool, and linen threads.  I have chosen to also use cotton thread in order to compare the period fibers with a modern fiber.
Loom	Fingers, 1-3 people	Purstringes Textiles pg 138	Fingers, 1 person	I am following the period method of using my fingers to create the braids.
Securing	Fasten to a fixed, sturdy structure.	CA pg 8 Textiles pg 138	Metal straight pin, securing the braid to a small fabric covered table.	Source CA recommends pinning or tying the braid to something.  I chose to use the pinning method as I felt it would be more secure than tying.

This is part of my grid from my fingerloop braids project.

Every single component of your project should be listed in the Ingredient column.  Then as you do your research, you fill in the Period Method column.  HOWEVER, do not write anything there until you have a source to back it up.  If you can’t list a source for how you know the information, than you don’t get to write it down.  For the Source column, you can use an abbreviated name for a source, as long as it's listed in full in your bibliography.  For example, I list "Textiles" as one of my sources, which is short for "Textiles and Clothing c.1150-c.1450".  I have the full citation listed elsewhere, so I can use the shorthand version here.  Once you know the period method and you have a source for it, you can start filling in the rest.  As you make your decisions for the ingredients and methods you’re going to actually use, you write those in, then write why you made those decisions.

If you can completely fill out this grid before you start making your project, you will know everything you need to in order to have a well-documented entry.  Now, as much as I would like to take credit for this wonderful tool, I am not the creator.  My amazing teacher Mistress Adelheid (soon to be my Laurel!) taught me about this.  The real trick is making sure not to leave anything out from the Ingredients column.  Adelheid will tell you that on her enameled glass entry that went to Gulf Wars, she forgot to include glass.  Which was the most important ingredient.  She knew all the information, but completely forgot to write it down.

To all my friends (and even those I haven’t met yet!) who are working on projects, or thinking of working on projects, I strongly recommend you try out this tool.  My coif grid is pretty much full, so I will probably start writing that in the next week. I already have the linen I need to make it, so I should be able to start the construction soon as well.  I will be hand-sewing the entire piece, which is a little intimidating, but it is small and my handwork has gotten much better courtesy of the trial-by-fire that was my elevation gown.  Yes, I will post information about that soon as well.  I need to do a little info digging on that one, though, before I write a post for it.

I believe that’s all for the moment, folks.  I’ve got lots of project ideas in mind, though, and lots of research to do.  I hope you all stick along for the ride!!

I'm Turning Into A Bird!!!!

Hello, my long lost readers!  I apologize for the unusually long delay between posts.  Things have snowballed in very interesting ways over the last few months!!  Let's see if I can get you caught up.

My last post was in November, which is when I was in full, crazy-making 'must finish this before Christmas' mode.  I didn't want to post what I was working on, on the slim chance that one of the recipients might see.  I was able to complete most of what I wanted to do, and only had to give one item as an IOU.  You can take a look at my Ravelry profile if you would like to see some of the stuff I made.  The dishcloths were a big hit, and I already have orders for more of them.  Yay!!

Once I got past Christmas, I got to breathe a little, but as I mentioned I still had a project to work on.  Then we had Trident Tourney, which was quite fun, and Winter Art/Sci, where I found out that I was chosen as a Gulf Wars Champion.  Holy cow!!!  I was quite astounded, since it never even entered my mind that that was a possibility. 

That takes me to the middle of January, which is full-blown insanity time at work.  Our season runs from the first weekend in January until the end of May.  Needless to say, I did not have any time to do my usual research forays.  I poked around a little bit, and came up with an idea or two for future art/sci projects (embroidered handkerchiefs as favors!!) but nothing concrete or informative enough to post about.

So while all of this was going on, Hubby and I had decided that we were definitely going to Gulf Wars.  This meant that sewing was in order, with no time to delay.  I did make the wise decision not to make anything new.  Instead, I chose to fix and finish several things that had been needing my attention.  I put new gores in one of my underdresses so that it fits properly, tailored in a pair of pants and a caftan, and adjusted my cotehardie so that the neckline fits a little better.  (The cotehardie will need to be fussed with some more when I am ready to make a new one.  The neckline on the pattern we drafted really just doesn't work.)  Thank you Adelheid for helping make all that happen!!  I also finished (except for hemming) a 10-gore that I started several years ago, but I ended up not taking it with me.  Something about the sleeves just isn't working, so I think I am going to revisit it over the summer and see if we can work out the wrinkles.

Then there was Gulf Wars.  It was definitely a fabulous experience, much better than the first time I went.  I actually left camp and did things this time, mainly classes.  I was in one class or another almost all day, almost every day of the War.  The classes were awesome.  I took a 3-part series on card weaving that was phenomenal.  It inspired me to come home and start using my loom, and I plan to teach the class over the summer.  The teacher's method was the best I've taken, which is why I want to try teaching it.  I took two great spinning classes, and a bunch of knitting classes.  I took a few miscellaneous classes as well, that were also well taught.  Thursday of the War was devoted to helping with the Champions Battle A/S competition.  I will say, it was quite the eye-opening experience.  There may be people who are critical of our judging system, but they have no idea just how good we have it.  The judges from the other kingdoms were brutal.  There were a few of us from Trimaris that did well (I got the 2nd highest score for our Kingdom!) but in general they ripped us apart.  If I am ever chosen as a champion again, I will approach it in a much different manner than I did this time.

We got home from War safe and sound, and had 2 weeks to get ready for Coronation.  I was really looking forward to the event, since for once I didn't really have any duties.  The event was lovely, all the way up to evening court.  That's when it jumped to a whole new level, so to speak.  I had been asked at the last minute to echo-herald, so I had a prime vantage point from the back center aisle of court.  I was overjoyed when as the second piece of business they called up the Order of the Laurel, and announced my dear friend and teacher Baroness Adelheid Leinwater as a candidate to the Order.  My response was emotional, to say the least.  I think Adelheid said that I was all but suffocating her when I hugged her.  I finally regained my composure, just in time to be called up myself.  That is when the title of this post comes into play.  While I'm standing there, and the King is saying something nice about me (which I didn't really hear) I suddenly hear the court herald call forward the Order of the Pelican.  That's right, I have been chosen to join that noble Order.  The rest of my time up there is something of a blur, as my brain seized up once I realized what was happening. 

So I'm going to be elevated.  A Pelican.  Holy cow.  I'm still a little blown away by the whole concept.  I have regained enough mental ability to realize how much I have to do between now and TMT, however.  Adelheid and I have decided to join forces, and have our vigils at the same time / location.  They will be Friday evening of TMT, outside Verron Hall.  Our elevations will be separate, though.  I have asked for Saturday morning before Crown Lyst, and she has asked for Saturday evening court.

Since I'm one of those crazy late-period people, this all means that I am in panicked sewing mode.  I have a full Tudor outfit to create before the last weekend in May.  Not to mention figuring out and planning several other aspects of this shindig.  Fortunately I have great friends who are taking over a good deal of it, so that I don't have to worry about most of it.  Which is a good thing, cause I have more than enough with what's left!!

And by the way, I was supposed to be the feastcrat for Gathering of the Clans next month.  I was already panicking about that, and then I got announced.  (Adelheid's the autocrat - are we nuts or what!)  I have the best friends ever, however, in Brenna & Meghan.  There were the two amazing women who were going to be shadowing me, and teaching me how to do this whole feast thing.  As soon as I was announced, they offered to take over the feast so that I wouldn't have to worry about it.  After some thought, I decided to take them up on their offer.  It just made far too much sense not too.  So I will still be involved, and will be in the kitchen that whole weekend learning everything I can, but I will not be running the show.  Whew!

So that's where I stand.  A little dazed and confused, a little frantic, but very excited and incredibly honored.  If I'm a little quiet here over the next few months, I'm sure you'll understand.  Hope to see you at the party!!

Embroidery Goodness

Things have gone a little crazy at work lately, as my entire department will be moving to a new building 15 minutes away.  Part of the craziness is trying to clean out our cubicles, and get rid of stuff we no longer need.  In doing this, I noticed a list of embroidery links I had saved at some point.  Since there's really no reason for me to be keeping this list at work, I thought I would share it here and immortalize it forever.  :)

In Prayse of the Needle  This site hasn't been updated in quite some time, but it has a wealth of information regarding tudor/elizabethan embroidery.  The author has created several projects herself, and has a number of very helpful class handouts.

Historical Needlework Resources  This site is pretty fabulous.  It covers several different countries, and several different time periods & styles.  It has beautiful examples, and also explains how to execute the various stitches.  I found this site extremely helpful when I was researching 16th century embroidery.

The Atlantian Embroiderer's Guild  As with most Kingdom guild sites, this one has lots of good information.  One of the best features of this one is that they have created patterns for the populace badges & ensigns of all the Kingdoms in the Knowne World.

Auntie Elspeth's Book Reviews  I realize that this sounds a little strange, but this is a very helpful site.  This page is a collection of embroidery book reviews written by a lady in the SCA.  If you are considering buying something, I would suggest taking a look at this page to see if there is a review on it.

West Kingdom Needleworkers Guild  Like with the Atlantian site, this is another Kingdom guild site.  This one has a particularly good list of articles written by its members.

I do enjoy embroidery, and I am fascinated by the heraldic quality of 16th century English and Scottish embroidery.  I know I will do an art/sci project on this eventually, but right now there are lots of other fiber arts winking at me seductively.  Be patient, embroidery...I shall return to you someday. 

Textile Goodness

I know I've mentioned that at Village Faire, I took a wonderful class showing how to build a pvc tablet weaving loom.  I had been wanting to do this for a while, as I didn’t want to invest in a nice wood loom until I knew for sure if this was an art I wanted to spend time with.

Now that I have my loom, ideas are sneaking through my head of what to do with it.  I’ve already bought red and black thread for it, and I now have the shuttle that my father-in-law made for me.  (Which is very cool, and I think I might eventually paint it something heraldic.)  I’ve been trying to ignore all these sneaky little thoughts, as I still have a good amount of knitting to do before Christmas.  I’m not quite sure if I will make it that long, however, and it’s not all my fault.

Last night, some friends of mine told me about something evil.  (Thank you Your Excellencies!!)  On the web, there is a site with a card weaving pattern generator.  Yes, you heard me right.  And you can download it to you computer.  And it appears to be free.  Yes, yes, I know, right now you’re looking at the screen and saying “you plan to share, right?”.  Well, obviously, that’s the whole purpose of me telling you about it!  The website is called the Card Weavers Studio and all the information is right on that page.  I played with it a little, and it appears to be very cool.  Hopefully when I get home tonight I can download the program onto my computer and have some fun with it.  If anybody else downloads it, let me know what you think!

So as all things do, one thought led to another and I started looking at some of the other sites that had come up on my search.  I found the site Textile Techniques & Tools which looks very yummy.  There are scads of links on this page, some I already know and lots that I don’t.  I really haven’t had any time yet to go through them, but there’s enough that I know is good to make me want to share.  I also found Þóra Sharptooth’s page.  She has loads of links as well, and I’ve heard from lots of people that she is an amazing resource for textile information.

Calontir has a very cool website for the Fiber & Needle Guild.  There are several very interesting articles and links on this page alone, and I didn’t really go through the rest of the site.

I found a really cool page that talks about Tablet Weaving for Kids.  This isn’t really pertinent for somebody wanting to learn tablet weaving themselves, but is awesome for those wanting ideas on how to teach it, especially to children.

There are lots and lots of other pages out there, so I won’t even attempt to list them all.  If you have a link that you have found extremely helpful and informational, please share!

The Kirk, the Saints, and a Place to Live

This week has been mostly about saints and religion.  Living in early 16^th Scotland, Ilene would most definitely have been Catholic.  The reformation didn’t really take hold until the 1560’s, and I have placed myself as currently living in 1540.  Being Catholic, saints would have been important to me.  When I was asked in my persona interview who my patron saint was, I managed to rattle something off, but afterwards I was a little appalled that I never thought to research who it would be.  So that’s what I’ve been doing.  The best part is, it’s a wee bit complex. 

Patron saint of Edinburgh  Living in Edinburgh, I would have known that the patron saint of the city was St Giles.  I also would have known that there was a church on the Royal Mile dedicated to him.  

Patron saint of Cordiners  As my husband was a cordiner (shoemaker), I would have known who the patron saint of the guild was.  In this case it was St Crispan.  He was also the patron saint for lace makers and weavers, which I think is very cool.

Patron saint of our church (kirk)  I would also have known which saint our church was dedicated to.  I have determined that if I was living nears Kings Stables Rd, West Port, etc, then I would have most likely attended St Cuthbert’s Church.  As the name implies, the patron saint is St Cuthbert.  Unfortunately the church took very severe damage several times over the years, so the current structure only dates back to the 1800’s.  St Cuthbert himself seems pretty cool, so I’m pretty happy with this discovery. 

My personal patron saint  So apparently in addition to all the saints I listed above, I also would have had a personal patron saint.  After talking to a friend who is Catholic both in real life and in her persona, my patron saint would have been a woman.  This makes sense, since there was quite a bit of superstition about the female sex, and there were things that could not be said to/in front of a man because of it.  For the time being I have chosen St Hilda.  From what I’ve read she was firm in her faith, but adaptable to the times as well.  She was both compassionate and business-like.  My friend is going to loan me some books on the Catholic saints when I’m ready, so that I can learn more than just the tidbits that are online.  Once I do, I might change this, but it will work for now.

In the midst of all this religious research, I’ve been trying to learn a little more about where in the city I would have lived.  So far I have not had much luck in determining when Kings Stables Rd and Johnston Terrace came into being, so I’m still searching about those.  I have confirmed that Cowgate Road and the Grassmarket were both most definitely in existence, as well as West Port.  I did find just this morning a great site with some period maps of the city.  It’s pretty exciting to look at them, and see how the city grew over the ages. 

I’m also finding quite a few books that are now in the public domain, and available for download via Google Books.  Here’s the ones that seem especially interesting.

• Burgh laws of Dundee: with the history, statutes, & proceedings of the Guild of merchants and fraternities of craftsmen by Alex Johnston Warden
• The incorporated trades of Edinburgh with an introductory chapter on the rise and progress of municipal government in Scotland by James Colston
• History of the incorporation of cordiners in Glasgow by William Campbell
• Old Glasgow weavers: being records of the Incorporation of Weavers by Robert M’Ewan
• The Baxter books of St. Andrews: a record of three centuries by JH Macadam
• Cassell's old and new Edinburgh by James Grant

 Needless to say I’ve got some reading to do.  I’m not sure what direction I’m going to take next in my research.  I know I want to find out what the restrictions were on purchasing wool and spinning.  Maybe I’ll head there next!  Anybody have any suggestions on topics?

Edinburgh - Finding Home

Shortly before Village Faire and the persona interview competition, I had made the decision to change where my persona lives.  I had originally placed myself in the Western March, as a Johnston married to an Armstrong.  After doing some research, however, I've determined that life on the borders was a little rougher than I would prefer.  Since I get to choose my alternate life, I'm picking one that's not full of hardship.  :)

Once I made the decision to change, it was natural to choose Edinburgh as my new home.  It was the capital city, and would be much easier to find information on.  There was all kinds of cool stuff happening there, such as the addition of a printing press very early in the 16th century, the creation of a school for surgeons, and so on.

Today I've been researching Edinburgh, seeing what I could find out about it's history, and where I might have lived.  I know that I would have been in what is now considered Old Town, as New Town was not built until after 1600.  I have found that the Grassmarket was the largest market in the city, and it was where cows and sheep were taken to be sold and then slaughtered.  The cordiners (shoemakers) guild was located at the west end of the market, in West Port.  Since my husband is a leatherworker, and specifically wants to be a shoemaker, it seems natural to pick a location near to where the guild was located.

Right now it looks like I will be settling either on King's Stables Road, or Johnston Terrace.  I'm going to need to try and find out a little more about the history of each before I make a final decision.  I am excited by the fact that where King's Stables and the Grassmarket meet is where the jousting grounds were.  This was also the main area for all things equestrian. HMMMM, I see this being figured into my newly revised persona story.

In the course of all my digging today, I found a few very cool sites.
National Library of Scotland - Online Resources  This site has a few Scottish bibliographies, that I will need to dig into further.  There are some other very cool resources on here also.
British History Online - Extracts from Edinburgh Records  This site looks exceptionally cool.  There are extracts from documents and records from Edinburgh dating to before and after the time period I'm looking at.  The only downside is that you can only view them on the website, there is no option to download the info that I could find.  I will definitely be spending some time on this site in the future.
National Archives of Scotland - Crafts & Trades  This site potentially looks like it will be a valued resource, but I need to dig a little deeper to confirm that.  The information is definitely there, but I'm not sure yet how much of it is available online.  I'll have to look into this further, and determine how much help it will be.