Amazed!

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Stunned. Smiling. Flabbergasted. While I wanted to give back to the sewing/costume community that has fired my imagination, I never expected the boom in stats over a hat. A hat that drove me crazy trying to get it done. I was beginning to think that I’d never manage it.

Bespoke Viking Hat.15

 

I did though, and wrote up a tutorial. I’d had people ask me about Viking Hats, and figured it would be easy enough to document how I made them. Once I did that, I updated the Viking Hat page and added the tutorial. Then I posted the link on Facebook and G+.

I figured maybe 50 or 100 people would ‘like’ it and a quarter of that visit the blog. That’s been the average when I’ve made other things, like tunics or apron dresses. That was on February 2nd. Since then I’ve had over 2000 views on the hat. 🙂 (about 1000 actual visitors)

I’m happy.

Bits and Bobs

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At least that’s what it feels like we’ve accomplished since we came home from Battlemoor. Lots of little jobs. Clean this area, cook dinners, work on the gardens or the Wendy House. One big improvement was storage. We ‘floored’ the loft over the kitchen and rearranged the storage. No more tubbies on the ground. Plus, we added coat hooks, hooks for the iron, etc. It makes life just a little more livable. I even had a Western Scrub Jay come check out RedTom’s food dish.

Some of the time has been spent with Morgan. Her 18th birthday was on the 10th. Wow has time passed. I made green chile and a carob mayonnaise cake. The recipe uses may instead of oil and eggs. Our friend Mark and his daughter Catherine came over for dinner and cake. It was a good evening. Thursday night we went to their house. Friday was chaos.  It was Cold! I think we got to 41F! Fire in the wood stove and heavier clothes than I’ve worn in months. Brrrr!

Inside there was packing, laundry and trash. Morgan was getting ready to move out. Dan took her to do laundry and a few errands. Morgan left for Fowler, a room mate and a job on Friday night.

Yesterday, Dan worked on organizing his office (an ongoing project) and concealing the network wiring. We no longer look like we live in an IT closet!

While he did that, I cleaned Morgan’s room, moved sewing storage tubbies in and made the last loaf of Artisan’s bread. This is the first time I’ve tried it. Very nice. I’ll be playing with the recipe over the next few months.

Then it was time to tackle the Wendy House. Threw all the scatter rugs outside, and emptied the bathroom and Brandy’s area. Swept, mopped, dusted, etc. I wiped down everything in the bathroom as I replaced and reorganized it. I hosed down the rugs and Brandy’s bedding. Most of them were too doggied to throw in a washer. While I was doing that, I got bit by red ants. Ugh… It burns! It swells! It makes me feel horrid! I slathered on Benadryl and kept going. Vacuumed the bedroom and swept the main living area. It was so nice for it to be clean.

Plus, while we were waiting for things to dry, I had a thought. Brandy would be warmer if her bed wasn’t on the floor. While trying to engineer this in my head, I was cruising Off Grid Quest, a website I visit. I came across one of the pallet stories and *POOF*! An idea was born. Dan went down to our local feed store which gives away pallets, and grabbed a load. A bit of circular saw work and Brandy had a bed platform. She was a bit uncertain at first, but it looks pretty good. We might fancy it up a bit, but for now, it works. We also have pallets for future projects and/or firewood.

Today is going to be low-key. I still feel like dreck from the ant bites and all the dust I ejected from the Wendy House. Dan mowed my parents yard and is finishing up the last of the office work. I’m going to make another batch of artisan’s bread and dinner with all of the veggies from the garden.

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Battlemoor V

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Ah what a lovely war! We got there on Wednesday, much to our relief. It has been a hectic month, and we really needed a bit of down time.

Thursday it rained. It was cold. But… we had a great time watching the Oubliette Tournament. Met a fighter named Bron, who gave Dan a length of bamboo for a sword. He may start fighting. He’s thinking about it. We didn’t party, but were in bed by 8:30pm. I heard the drummers at the party for oh… 10 seconds.

Friday we relaxed, visited with friends we hadn’t seen in a year. I took a class on Russian clothing and Dan took one on glove making. We visited the Shire Villaleon party and then headed home.

Saturday. I taught a darning class, visited and we went shopping. I got a new badge. Once again, we crashed early.

Sunday, I taught my nalbinding class in the afternoon. It went really well, and then we had the Fiber Guild meeting. After that, we dropped the tent. My friend Ceddwyn came down for the day. It was so good to see her.

Monday. Sad day. We packed up and were home by noon. 🙁 We are 99% unpacked. I have a slight mound of laundry to do, but that’s about it. We are exhausted. I’ve posted pictures, and will do so here in a series of posts. There are 93 of them.

First up, Artisans Lane. Blacksmith’s shop, Medieval kitchen, a woodworking shop, classes and our tent. Oh, and Lothar de Sauvage. (aka Dan)

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Boxes and screws and paint, Oh My!

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I am exhausted. After our adventures with the Front Range Open Source Hardware Symposium, we went shopping on Friday. Trader Joe’s and IKEA. Yes, the crazy Swedish store, that I love!

Originally, we just went in to grab a few bits and pieces. Napkins for my mom, a couple of light bulbs, that kind of thing. Well… we walked through furniture, trying to figure out how we were going to deal with a few issues on the Wendy House. That’s when we found this wardrobe. Normally it was $250, but discounted down to $179, as it was discontinued. We bought two. Plus we got a file cabinet and a kitchen table piece that we are going to convert to our bathroom sink stand. Yes, we spent a lot of money, but oh was it worth it.

Saturday, we cleared the area and began to build the wardrobes and the ‘closet area’ that we were going to put them in. Also known as “Yet Another Change of Plan.” It worked out much cheaper and over all better than what we’d planned. We worked until 10pm, collapsed in bed and slept.

Sunday, we woke up to SNOW. Not a lot, but enough that we would not be mowing my parent’s lawn. Instead, we came home and worked on the Wendy House. We got the wardrobes all finished, and moved into place. We were so tired, that we crawled into bed and just shuddered until our bodies decided that they’d punished us enough for all the hard work.

This morning, I shuffled clothes out of various spots. The wardrobes work a treat. Next on at least my agenda is to move the vanity and the big blue dresser out of our bedroom. They are both empty. Then I can re-arrange the bedroom/office side of things. Wheee! It grappled for a few minutes just before Dan took me out to lunch. This week the low temps are all suppose to be in the low 30’s. I had to bring all my plants inside!

Now if only I can move out of this chair… (creeeek!)

Closet project 2 Closet project.1

Front Range Open Source Hardware Symposium

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Thursday we left Walsenburg around 10am and headed to Boulder for the front Range Open Source Hardware Symposium. Originally, we were just going to attend. Congressman Jared Polis was going to be there and some of the companies that do Open Source Hardware (OSHW), like SparkFun. This is the point where chaos stepped in and twirled us in a waltz. Dan got an email asking us if we wanted to attend as presenters, and showcasing the Ground Sphere receiving station that we’ve been working on for months with Southern Stars and Mach 30. So, we went as representatives of Mach 30.

Panic ensued, but we managed to pull enough stuff together to show. We managed the drive in plenty of time, found our hotel, relaxed for 10 minutes, and then headed out for a late lunch before setting up at the event. We found the place, The Studio, ahead of time, which was a good thing. Downtown Boulder had some interesting construction going on, and it was right in front of the turn off for The Studio. At 5:30pm, we returned and set up. We met Alicia Gibb, the executive director of the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA), got set up and began to chat with people.

It was a small crowd, maybe 50 of of at the peak, with nine other presenters besides us all from Colorado’s Front Range. (ok, Walsenburg isn’t exactly front range, but it’s close. ) Nathan Seidle of Sparkfun, Jeff Moe of Aleph Objects (Lolzbot), Michael Ossman of Great Scott Gadgets, Ryan Edwards of Sparky’s Widgets, Eric Schweikart of Modular Robotics, along with people from Denver and Loveland Maker Spaces. (can I find all the business cards? No! Awgh!!!)

Dan took part in the roundtable discussion with Jared Polis. Questions were asked about What part should government take in the OS movement. Sort of a help or hinderance viewpoint question. Another one was how could Colorado help with the growth of the OS movement and what the benefits could be. This morphed into a discussion of the benefits of OS versus patenting. Last, a brief bit on how the companies present had helped the economy.

Interestingly enough, the most correct answer for most of these questions was Advocacy, Education, and Don’t get in the way of progress. Very much a “let people invent!”, and don’t stagnate. As Nathan said on his TED talk, that people have to innovate. Otherwise, they are unfit. Business moves too fast for patent law, especially as it only pertains to US patents. The TED talk is well worth the watch.

I had a lot of fun talking with the people there. The ground plane that I made got a lot of attention, as did the whole project that is Ground Sphere. I even managed to talk about Dan’s part of the project without messing up too badly. 🙂 Guess you could say I earned a few geek creds. And best of all, as with any symposium or conference, you get to see all the gadgets that everyone makes. I got lots of ideas. Oh, and Nathan gave us a lab coat with the Sparkfun logo on it and the word GEEK over the pocket. We gifted it to Mark Thompson, our STEM teacher. 🙂

We helped take things down and were back at the hotel by 10pm. It had been a great evening, and I’m looking forward to the next one. We got lots of invites to hacker/maker/creator spaces, and we will be taking them up on the invitations.

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Switching Centuries

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Last week was a small bit of hell. There is an event in late winter which we had planned to attend. This is Corazon de Leon III. It’s held in La Veta and put on by our own shire. Shire Villaleon. I wanted to make some new clothes for the event, as it is a Winter event. A nice balance to Battlemoor, held at the end of August.

I bought the fabric in November, and figured that I’d have PLENTY of time to make two hats, a tunic and a new overdress. Silly me. Life in it’s own way got busy. So, on February 1st, I put my foot down. I was going to SEW! Keep in mind that my sewing studio is unheated. If you go back through my posts, you’ll notice something… Every one of them from November on has the word SNOW in the title. Can you see my problem? It was too cold most days to sit on the front porch and sew.

I also forgot to mention something. On February 19th, when we were up in Denver for the CASB Legislative conference, I slipped and broke my nose. Yes, big goose egg on my head, slight concussion and of course, the obligatory Black Eyes from hell. I managed one day at the conference before the bruises bloomed, but that was it.

It also put my behind schedule, because I just didn’t feel good enough to use a little tiny needle…

March 1st. Of course, there was snow. I managed though to plan out Dan’s hat.

March 2nd. Sewed, ripped, sewed, ripped the hat. Finally realized I needed fur. Rabbit fur. We had to order it. Fast.

March 6th. Cut out my dress and Dan’s tunic. Did a little sewing.

March 8th. It snowed, but I actually got some stuff done. Worked on the viking coat a little and did the last minute drafts for the tunic pattern. Keep in mind, that unlike most modern sewing patterns, medieval patterns are sketched and measured onto the fabric.

March 10th. Meetings. Awgh! Sewing like a crazy person. I used the machine on the major straight seams. All the flat feld seams and hems done by hand. 

March 13th. Dan’s hat is done, as is his tunic and the main portion of my apron dress.

March 14th. While with my parents in Colorado Springs, I’m sewing like crazy. Dad is suppose to be in hospital for bladder surgery, but instead we ended up in ER. They thought he had a stroke. Craziness ensues. Dad ends up spending the night in hospital, and we go home. Only good thing… I finished my hat.

March 15th. Corazon. Well, we managed to be there for about 3 hours. sigh… At least we got to see some friends and wear our new clothes for a few hours. Later that day we went up and got my Dad. No stroke, but not sure what happened. A very rough weekend.

Here are the pictures of the clothes and some of Corazon. This coming week, I’ll be doing some adjustments to the apron dress.

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Wind Whistling

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… through my ears, the walls and every crack it can find. We’ve had a lot of wind this year. The last really nasty gusts, 83mph, ripped our weather station off the roof. It still isn’t fixed, so now I check our local weather station. (63F and 20mph gusts right now) Our dog, Brandy, hates the wind. You’d think a coyote/Shepard mix wouldn’t mind. Wrong! So, we woke this morning to her whining and wanting IN!

WendyHouseWork10

Life is still hectic. While the last two weeks was busy with meetings and oddball schedules, the next two are travel heavy.

First off, I’m going to Denver tomorrow with my friend Jolene. We are going to IKEA to get stuff for her Pre-School class. Wednesday, after lunch with friends, Dan and I are off to Denver for a CASB Legislative Conference. It’s at the Brown Palace Hotel. Very swanky. 🙂 A pull out the high heels and leave the cowboy boots at home kind of thing. The last day of the conference is spent at the Capitol, meeting legislators.

When we get home, if the weather will allow, we will be doing more work on the Wendy House. Closets and maybe book shelves. That will open up the area and get our clothes out of the ‘dust zone’. 🙂

We’ve also been slowly whittling down our electric bill by using LED lights. Our next step may be solar and DC powered lights. We figured out how to replace the AC bulbs with DC LED lights, and not have to totally rewire. (thank you Scott!)

I’ve also got just under three weeks to get ready for Corazon. I bought a new book last night, Great Book of Celtic Patterns, by Lora S, Irish. Lots of very nice patterns to use with my Viking persona, Unna Farulfsdottir.

Dratted Cold Continues

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We did have a few warm weeks. However, Ground Hog’s day saw us plunge back into arctic weather. Snow and COLD. It was -22 Wednesday night. it would have been alright except for the wind rattling the trees and plunging us into wind chill cold. Speaking of wind, we had one tremendous wind storm just over a week ago. Just before it ripped the weather station off of the house, it registered 83mph.

It’s been busy since I posted last. Lots of school board meetings, stacking firewood, trips to Pueblo for all sorts of things, stacking more firewood, trips to Denver, moving more firewood, working on organizing the crafts area, taking care of my parents and their house, working on knitting and nalbinding needles, and trying to stay warm!

I have to admit that I am so glad that we have our little woodstove. It is our sanity saver even if it seems like all I do some times is move, stack, restack and move more firewood. 🙂

We are getting ready to build the closet in the Wendy House. Two weeks ago while it was still warm, we built a small cover for the plumbing and I bricked in part of the patio area next to the Wendy House. The cover worked pretty well, until two nights ago. It was too cold for any plumbing. At least we use Pex, and that is pretty sturdy.

I’m hoping to get the craft area fixed up this week if it is warm enough. I want to finish up a few projects and get going on some that have been burning my brain. 🙂 We have Corazon in about a month, and I want some things done so that we have warm gear! 🙂 I did get my socks done. I only did the first one in August, and didn’t do anything else for nearly 6 months.

Well, off to finish dinner. Italian onion soup. 🙂