Imperfectly Period

A friend with a late period Italian persona was elevated and so I decided a mere two months beforehand that I was going to knit her replicas of the silk stockings in which Eleonora di Toledo was buried in 1562. I had no real goal in mind other than pretty silk stockings that were reasonably historically accurate. As they’re very well studied, I looked at patterns drafted up by other re-enactors, such as Dame George Anne of Æthelmearc OP, and compared them to high resolution photos of the originals as well as Richard Rutt’s section on them in A History of Hand-knitting . The modern interpretations were accurate for my purposes as I intended to shape them to fit the recipient rather than making carbon copies, although I did mix methods and came up with my own version. Looking at commercial yarns used by those who’ve knitted them before, I went with Ashford Silk 20/2 since it was available at a local yarn shop. The silk was undyed and the recipient’s favourite colours were silver and pur...

Turbans, Onions, & Cheese, Oh My Women’s Headdresses in 16th Century Ireland by Bantiarna Máel Brigte ingen Aimirgin Only secondary and tertiary sources of 16th century women’s headdresses in Ireland remain and those come from foreigners who often had a poor view of the Irish.  Foremost among them were the English, who colonized Ireland and justified it by claiming to civilize them by wiping out their culture, including fashion. There are, however, enough commonalities between disparate sources that suggest they were more or less accurate despite any prejudices held by the writer or artist. (Abbess) (Unknown Woman) The most unremarkable of the headwear reviewed here is probably the veils found on stone carvings at St. Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny.  An abbess from a fragment of a chest and the tomb of an unknown woman wear the round veils so common in earlier centuries throughout Europe.  It’s quite likely the simple style was worn by women of various walks of life the...

I'm a bit of a perfectionist.  This is the second attempt at embroidery on this cap and it's still bugging me because the little blue florets (or whatever the heck they are, I don't even know at this point, some even look downright phallic) aren't uniform.  Then again, I just eyeballed them.  Why the silk embroidery?  Because I had to hide my sloppy handstitching. I had to get going on it though because it's for a largesse competition at May Crown next weekend.  I don’t particularly care about the competition portion, I can't even make the event, but without deadlines I'd never finish anything and there have been repeated requests for headwear. Remember how I said I hate practicing without something to show for it ?  Largesse is my favourite way of learning and practicing.  Even if it's not good enough in my eyes, it'll be good enough for someone else and I'llnever have to see it again.  Or at least that's what I keep telling myself. ...

A&S Award wording in Welsh Words by Maminka Every year, An Tir does a competition to eat away at our scribal backlog.  Entrants get 48 hours to prepare and research, then another 48 hours to start and complete the scroll.  The top two of each category (novice, intermediate, and advanced) gets bragging rights.  The only downside to not finishing in 2 days is being disqualified for competing for bragging rights. I don't do it to win, but rather because I'm weird and enjoy it despite the undue pressure I put on myself.  I'm rather neurotic about my own authenticity.  I'm not really concerned with others', but I see it as a personal challenge because I know what's accurate for my persona (Irish without specific time period) and I know how to achieve it.  In theory, anyway. How does this fixation relate to the competition?  Well, the recipient’s persona is a Welsh potter and how did I spend my prep time?  Translating the wording into Welsh, of cour...