This is the last Wednesday of the month and I am posting what I was up to that month for the past five years. I hope you enjoy the trip down the memory lane with me.
2004, Stockholm
Fun things to do with your friendly neighbourhood birch. Part I, Part II and Part III.
2005, Stockholm
2006, Dublin
R's Mum died from cancer, I still miss her occasionally.
2007, Dublin
Leaving the house we shared with friends
2008, Stockholm
Some weight loss musings and a gripe about daylight savings.
Would you look at this?! This is the most creative use of knitting I've ever seen.
Fluid Sculpture from Charlie Bucket on Vimeo via String or Nothing.
Riding horses is fun. Each horse is different, with different personality traits and that makes riding interesting. At least for a noob like me. Learning how to adjust to a particular horse's canter and how to get them to do what I want them to do is fun.
Scary too. The horses know that I'm a noob and some try to test me, see what they can get away with. Being jolted out of balance while trying to maintain a rhythm while cantering wan not particularly fun, but educational. I didn't fall off and he wasn't serious about getting rid of me either, otherwise he would have. He was trying to get an upper hand, but every time he did that, I made him stop and ruined his fun that way.
A friend of mine co-owns a horse and regularly goes to the stables where he is kept. I've gone with her once before and this Saturday I was given a lesson in riding. I didn't do too badly for a noob who'd ever ridden about ten times before. Mostly on horses that are not trained for dressage, only for riding with tourists.
Dexter (the horse I was riding) is stubborn and doesn't really like to do any work. Which is excellent for learning, because I need to be clear in what I want him to do. Poor thing, I confused the heck out of him a few times. It got better in the end and I learned a few new moves. I also got to practice steering with my legs only and I loved it.
Of course my thighs complained loudly about mistreatment on Saturday, they still do, in fact. No matter, they can complain as much as they want, I'm not giving up. I need muscles and riding is a good way of getting muscles in places I really want them to be. I need to remember to stretch after riding and, ideally, before riding too to not get so sore.
My friend took a couple of photos of me riding and gave me a permission to post them.
Canter on Dexter. He wasn't trying to pull me out of balance for a change here.
Once my thighs allow me to walk normally again, I'll go back for another lesson.
This morning I realised that I have A) three hoodies and B) all of the hoods on them them have liripipes. Talk about a fashion detail from 14th Century being resurrected in the 21st!
It is interesting that the modern designers have adopted this particular detail. Probably unknowingly, but still... The funniest thing is that I didn't even consider the liripipes to be anything other than cute detail when I bought the hoodies.
I need another pair of trousers. No, I haven't shrunk out of the current ones, but I'd like to have more than one pair in the rotation. I have two pairs that fit perfectly, but one of them has chains on that are not removable. It's not a big problem to wear to work occasionally, but not every other day — I jingle too much and I don't want to inflict that on my colleagues that often. I'd like to find another pair of black trousers with cargo pockets and wide legs. Without chains or with removable chains.
I need a new shoes too. My current pair of cloth shoes with bats on has developed holes in the fabric of the uppers. I have clogs as well, but I've worn them so much I'm tired of them. They are too high quality to toss, but I want to wear something else for a change. I'd like to find another pair of fun cloth shoes and black platform clogs for this summer's rotation.
Other than that, I'm happy with my current style. In fact, I'm happy to have a style again. There were years when I bought clothes only to protect myself from the elements, regardless of how they looked. Nowadays I try to buy pieces that fit in with the other clothes I have and present a cohesive image.
There is an exhibition about Pre-Raphaelite art in Nationalmuseet. As the Pre-Raphaelites got some of their inspiration from Medieval and Renaissance art, I was interested in going. Some of my friends were interested as well and one of them noticed that there also was a lecture about the artists on Friday.
We went to the lecture first and then looked at the paintings. The imagery in those paintings is fascinating and quite different from painter to painter. Portraits, medieval stories, religious allegories and Shakespearean plays were all represented.
There was one room titled "Inspiration" that showed a medieval Madonna and a Renaissance one with a Pre-Raphaelite painting. It was very interesting to see the difference in texture of the materials. Where in Medieval, and to some extent in Renaissance paintings, one can sometimes identify the fibre that the fabric is made of. If you look at those paintings enough, you'll learn what silk, wool, fur and linen look like as depicted by the artist. In some paintings you can see seams, lace and embroideries with enough detail to be able to copy those elements.
There wasn't much of that in Pre-Raphaelite paintings. Sure, there are clothes depicted with meticulous detail, but one couldn't tell with certainty whether it was silk, linen, wool or cotton. Mostly I couldn't even hazard a guess. I suppose that particular detail was not important in Victorian England.
There were a few exceptions, though. A soldier saying good bye, on the eve of a battle, to his sweetheart who was wearing a silk dress that was hastily finished; and a scene from Decameron done in 15th Century Venetian style.
In general, I liked the Pre-Raphaelite style of paining, with it's meticulous attention to detail and their choice of subjects. If you are in Stockholm and are interested in art or art history, go take a look. Highly recommended.
A while ago I mentioned participating in a group project called 198 Countries Peace Project (link to Ravelry).
The author's description of the project:
The idea is this: a flag for every nation of the world, sewn together to make a quilt. At the center would be the words “Let there be Peace on Earth.” I think it would be much more meaningful if it was a group project, rather than an individual one. For more information on what exactly the project entails, and how you can participate, check out the group pages, or go to the blog www.knotmagick.blogspot.com and navigate using the Peace Project Menu in the sidebar.
I made two flags — Finland and Island. Estonia was taken and I thought it would be more meaningful not to make the flag of my own nationality. In the spirit of collaboration, peace, and all.
The thesis show was set up on 1st of March and the author posted pictures to the Ravelry board. Since I didn't take any pictures of the flags I sent, I am posting the author's photos of the show with her permission.
This is the overall shot of the project as it was displayed. Flag of Finland is the third flag on the third row from the bottom. The flag of Island is the penultimate flag on the last row.
The bottom right corner with a clearer view of the flag of Iceland.
It is amazing what can be achieved with a little co-operation. I continually fail to understand how come there is so much hate in this world. Why can't we all get along?
I weighed 65.7 kilos on Friday morning! Yay! I made my goal!!! I've updated the stats on the side bar and stop boring you with my weight updates.
Then I fetched some of my SCA clothes from the attic and tried on the 15th Century Flemish kirtle. It fit! ::happy dance:: I haven't fit into that one since I wore it to Spring Crown Tourney in 2004, exactly five years ago.
This is the picture I posted last year when I asked your help to decide which style should I go for. It's the blue dress on the left.
There was a very nice gentleman with a SLR at the event and I asked him to take a couple shots of me so I could show you comparison pictures.
The flight over was uneventful, my friend picked me up at the airport and we had a nice evening on Friday. I met my friends' neighbour who is a lovely lady and also in the SCA. We drove to the site on Saturday morning and arrived in time to change before the tourney. It was very windy and I was really glad I'd decided to take my warm cloak instead of the red Burgundian dress. Sir Gerhardt and Mistress Judith are the current Crown Prince and Princess to be crowned King and Queen at Midsummer Coronation.
After the tourney there were some classes and a scriptorium for us non-fighting folks. I got to meet a lady who works in the Museum of London and had a very interesting conversation with her about the 16th Century knit items in their collection.
I had much fun at the feast, catching up with old friends and making new ones. I crashed at about midnight and had a decent night's sleep, considering that it was cold at night.
We drove back on Sunday and I had a long, luxurious bath at my friends' place. They had recently renovated their bathroom and put in a jacuzzi. Bliss. The rest of the group was role playing a very interesting campaign and they didn't mind me sitting at a computer and listening in. They didn't even mind me contributing a few bits of trivia when it was appropriate. In the end I got an invitation to join the campaign and make my own character. Yay!
I had to be at Heathrow at 8 to make sure I had time to go through all the checks, so we got up early. In the end, I was through, check in, baggage drop, security and passport controls in 30 minutes. Which left me two hours before the flight left. I spent the time shopping and listening to an audio book a friend had lent me.
The flight was late taking off and arriving, so I was late for my appointment at hairdressers, but fortunately it wasn't a huge problem. The problem was that I'd forgotten my phone home, so I couldn't call ahead and tell her that I was running late.
As usual I had fun and was exhausted when I got home. I think I need to start planning to have some time off after the vacation so I can recover. :)
