Compassionate Misanthropy

Bog Wood

2009-11-07T15:11:15Z

Have any of you access to pieces of bog pine or bog yew? Bog oak need not apply.

Chairs via Post

2009-11-06T04:05:03Z

We've finally made the last of our large furniture purchases to get our house in order. Today our dining room chairs arrived via FedEx ($235 p&p for 4), so we have a proper dining room suite to go under the chandelier, in time for smarriveurr's mum to come down for Thanksgiving.

Between that, the nice bed and my retirement account, I'm feeling remarkably like an adult.

Blue Yarn Remediation: Not a Success

2009-11-04T21:07:49Z

Remember how I'd been hoping to fix my blue yarn enough to use? I can definitely say that both conditioner and lanolin (especially the lanolin) do make the yarn much nicer to the touch, but do not adequately help the tensile strength to use the yarn for a project, even when I'm being gentle with it.

Dress Diary: Sture Doublet - Sleeve Success!

2009-11-02T22:59:28Z

With lots of fudging, and catlins2busy's patented "half-life method," I've managed to get the sleeves in without them causing too much wibble in the fabric right around the armscye!

Woo!

Dress Diary: Sture Doublet - Second Mockup

2009-11-02T03:02:15Z

A while ago I did a first mockup of a Sture doublet using a bought pattern, and had epic fail. The length of the front and back pieces were different, the armscye was way too big for the sleeve (which many people blamed on my adding extra width to the sides to accommodate a beer belly as I felt had been done in the original), and there were niggles that I had with the overall look.

I gritted my teeth and used the pieces as-was for a fitting with thirteenletters a couple weeks ago.

I've solved the front/back differential by cutting the torso back into two pieces approximately at the waist and extending it enough (2.5 fingers, so 4 cm or so) for the side seams to match up to a length that the wearer liked. I have no idea why the pieces didn't match up in the pattern, but I've corrected that with a minimum of fuss, and it went together fine.

It turns out that I needn't have added any extra width to the sides, as I just ended up removing it again anyway. That still didn't make the armscye the right size (argh!), so I did a bit of reshaping on the sleeve cap and armscye of the torso-front to make the sleeve more asymmetrical, and it laid perfectly on the wearer; most of what I removed came away from the front half of the armscye. Now that I've taken the fitted first mockup apart and attempted to sew the cut-down pieces back again I'm still having trouble with the armscye being too big (WTF!?!), but with catlins2busy's "half-life method" of pinning I've managed to get it nearly to fit. Maybe I just don't understand the sleeves on this outfit, or I just need to have thirteenletters stand around while I pin it to him and bloody well make it work. I've had problems with sleeves before, but not like this. At least this is the only oddity left in this pattern to cause me frustration.

In the pattern, the arc of the centre front seam had a decently sharp curve, but it didn't meet up adequately in the front. I did, however, end up removing some of the arc, thus adding width near the neck and the navel by basting on some excess fabric and cutting away what didn't look like a doublet (told you I was better at draping than at groking patterns), and the new torso front is much more squared-off than that in the pattern. Moral of the story: extra fabric for the beer belly goes around the beer belly, but you all knew that, I'm sure.

The point on the skirt front was indeed too sharp, so I've cut off a small triangle there to make it look much more like its analogue in Patterns of Fashion. I did end up adding a couple cm to the width of this skirt to make sure it'll match up with the new width of the torso front, but the back skirt seemed decently fine. As laurensa suggested, I might have problems with it matching up once I eventually pair this doublet with plunderhose and need the skirt to accommodate poofage around the codpiece, but we'll burn that bridge when we come to it. I bought the recommended yardage plus extra "oh shit" room, as Herself calls it.

I've also had to reshape the shoulders to handle a greater slope, and extend the torso toward the neckline, so I've also had to come up with a new collar piece so that it'll stand properly. It took a couple tries to lengthen the two pieces appropriately for the adjustments I made to the torso front, but they went in smoothly and I'm pleased with the way it stands. Shall probably put in some pretty hefty buckram or the like to get it to stay.

Effectively, the only pieces I haven't altered substantially are the wings over the sleeves and the back skirt. We'll do another fitting with this second toile to see how much I've managed to improve. These mockups are a lifesaver.

Upgrading the Kit

2009-10-30T02:06:21Z

I've made my new needlecase. A new pair of Oseburg-style shoes ought to be turning up in the post within a couple weeks. I've been upgrading my re-enactment kit since Pennsic, and I'm pleased with the results thus far. Am wondering about my knife, though. I like it, and I'm going to keep it, but the leather sheath that came with it looks too machine-done, and I don't like that.

Those of you who do a female Norse impression: how do you hang your knife from your brooches?

Grilled Artichokes with Smoked Tomato Mayo

2009-10-27T03:05:39Z

For drmcsexypants and femmetofarad: I adapted the recipe for the grilled artichokes with smoked tomato mayo portion of tonight's supper from an online source, though I made a few changes.

Obviously, no onion. I roasted two quartered tomatoes at 350º for three hours, tossing in 7 cloves of garlic for the last hour; I did not roast the poblano that I substituted for the pasillas. I also changed the chili powder and the cayenne for three pinches of jalapeno seeds, and used maybe half the mayo.

The salsa was totally winging it.

Technical Difficulties

2009-10-24T22:22:12Z

Due to the massive storms in our area, AT&T service is out, so if you've been trying to contact us on phone today, we're not going to get the call--only emergency numbers are working at the moment.

Birthday cake

2009-10-23T02:03:23Z

laurensa, this cake is freaking amazing. Thank you! I'm sorry I wasn't there for it last night.

Yoshida Brothers

2009-10-14T00:29:32Z

I'd mentioned the Yoshida Brothers (I believe to rorschach at drmcsexypants' party) as shamisen-with-electric-guitar. Here is an example, originally gotten from parowa:

Viking Age Needle Case Project

2009-10-12T23:05:28Z

Having taken a class by Lady Blitha of Wolfhou on medieval needle cases, I decided that I wanted to make a more contemporary needle case, as the one I've been wearing for several years is technically Bronze Age, and I knew I could create something both shinier and higher-status. I used a 9th century Norwegian find, on p. 241 of Roesdahl and Wilson's From Viking to Crusader catalogue, as my inspriation. It turned out to be rather easier than I'd expected.

I picked up thin sheet brass at a craft supplier, and was able to cut it relatively simply to the dimensions of the original find.

Lady Blitha had recommended bending the brass, then drilling the holes, but I decided that it made more sense for me to pierce the holes before I rolled the brass.

I used one of smarriveurr's dowels as a form, and bent the brass by hand (with a little hammering) while it was wrapped in a piece of leather to keep it from slipping or getting scraped.

It took a little futzing, but it went together eventually.

smarriveurr came up with a method for twisting a chain that looks very similar to a chain at Kulturen in Lund of which m_nivalis had taken a photo, which I'd seen when she and I were there a couple years ago. It's a little involved, but I think it looks nice, and it's not going to come apart at all.

The original was stuffed with wool. If you stuff it enough, and you push the needle into the wool, the friction holds the needle in place. I whipped it around a bunch, trying to get it to fly out, and the needle stayed put very well.

So I now have a pretty new needle case, more accurate than the one I'd had before. Actually, I have four of them, as I think they'll make lovely pressies for fellow re-enactors, or largesse donations...or maybe I'll put a couple up on etsy.

Dress Diary: Sture Doublet - Muslin Mockup

2009-10-10T19:01:15Z

I'm making a Sture outfit for thirteenletters, and it's not going well yet.

Normally, when I sew, I apply fabric to the end wearer, and remove what isn't the garment in question. I decided to use a paper pattern for this particular outfit--Reconstructing History's 506, informed by Janet Arnold's take on the same outfit--and I feel I'm way outside my comfort zone. I have several problems in this garment so far that tell me I simply do not grok what's going on.

Way out here so far it looks fine. I can adjust the center front seam around thirteenletters' actual shape when I see him again; the wings over the sleeves look fine; the collar looks like it stands the way it's supposed to.

But once I get below the arms, it all starts to go pear-shaped. Admittedly, this is very likely to be my fault. The original outfit was shaped with a great deal of taper in the torso, and thirteenletters is simply not shaped like that. So, as he had the same problem with fit as Svante Sture, the original garment's owner, seems to have had, I tried to solve the problem using the same technique. In the original coat, there was a small panel added right under the arm to accommodate extra width, and so this is where I ended up adding a bit of extra room to make sure the waist measurement would fit. I definitely anticipated problems in having done this without understanding intimately the pattern as written, but I figured I could probably fudge it. The issues currently in the mockup are way beyond fudging room.

To begin with, the front panel seems to be way longer than the back.

The sleeve, also, has turned out to be rather smaller than the armscye, though more by a dimension on the scale of the disparity between the length of the front and back panels, and less like the 1.5 cm adjustment I did to the waist.

Am wondering if I didn't piece it together correctly, or if I'm not taking into account the correct seam allowance (the pattern never mentioned at all whether seam allowance was included, which I thought odd--I didn't end up adding any extra, as laurensa and I both agreed that it looked like it was already included), or what. I obviously have a serious error, though.

The only minor weirdness so far seems to be in the pointiness of the front tabs. I honestly thought they might have gone on backwards, but referring to Janet Arnold makes it look like they're on the right direction, if a little pointy.

The original tabs do seem to have had much less of a point, but I'll check to see how the center seam lies on thirteenletters before I snip anything off.

Overall, I think it'll work if I can figure out what I've done wrong with the major errors. I just hope I figure it out before Tuesday night, as Wednesday-Friday I won't have time to sew and next weekend I'll actually be fewer than 500 miles away to do a proper fitting, and I'd really like for the pieces to go together before I attack thirteenletters with fabric and pins.

Pasta with Sausage, Broccoli and Clams

2009-10-09T23:06:23Z

Pasta with Sausage, Broccoli and Clams
Originally uploaded by Ragnvaeig.

Leaving class today, worrying that trying to lead students to knowledge can be like trying to herd cats, I thought to myself that I wanted something really nice for dinner. (I also thought that I'd like a stiff drink, but I try not to think that.) My only real constraint was that it use broccoli, as I had some from the farm stand earlier in the week that I ought to use up. (Wine was just a bonus. I swear.)

Normally, as I prefer dry and oaky wines, I don't like white; I find it tends to be too sweet or fruity. This recipe, though, seemed both interesting and useful with things I already had in the kitchen. All I needed was the clams and a bottle of white. Even smarriveurr liked it, and he doesn't normally eat "sea rocks." And I didn't even need a stiff drink.

Pasta with Sausage, Broccoli and Clams

250 g pasta
300 g sweet Italian sausage, in bite-sized pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
red jalapeno, julienned
bunch broccoli, done into florets
dozen Maine clams, scrubbed
4 dL white wine (I used Yellow Tail sauvignon blanc, which is surprisingly layered for an Australian wine)
tbsp butter

While doing the rest of this, cook the pasta. In the last couple minutes of cooking, toss in the broccoli. Drain. Put into serving bowl.

In a large saucepan or pot, brown the sausage. Remove the sausage to your serving bowl. To the same pan add the garlic and jalapeno, and cook for about a minute. Pour in the wine and clams, turn up the heat, cover and steam for about 10 minutes (until the clams open). When they're open, add the butter and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the pasta, broccoli and sausage.

The original recipe from which I adapted this called for a topping of parmagiana and fresh parsley, but it was still tasty without.

Happy birthday

2009-09-29T10:54:30Z

Happy birthday today to damionreed who with R is currently jetting around Europe. :)

Madventures

2009-09-27T03:37:10Z

Just quickly before bed, am entirely entertained by Riku Rantala/Tunna Milonoff and their show Madventures, which seems to have been in production in Europe well before now, but has just made it here. If you like Tony Bourdain's No Reservations, this is even more entertaining in that "are you out of your mind?!?" kind of way.

On Non-Social Networked Web Presence

2009-09-27T03:15:17Z

Back before social networking--back when imagemaps were the state of the art in HTML--I had my own web presence. I first used it to showcase some of my creative work, then my historical research projects. I felt it was useful for disseminating information that wasn't otherwise available on the 'net at the time, and it provided me with a space I could share with other geeky friends around the world through frequent updates. This space went through a couple design iterations of various levels of technical difficulty, and I felt it gave me a little more geek cred. Last I updated it, I was still an undergrad. Now that my name starts with "Dr." I'm sure you can figure out how much I've felt like it's a useful part of my digital persona, but it was there, and a few friends have offered to hook me up with hosting I'd like more than my last host.

Now, I'm conflicted about the usefulness of continuing to have that kind of presence. Flickr and LJ take up most of the social aspects of what I want to do, and I also use these venues to disseminate nearly all the same information I used to disseminate in HTML. I still want to feel like I know what I'm doing with the development end of things, but I don't know that creating a new space would be anything more than a technical exercise; I'm not sure it would fulfill the same purpose it used to.

One of my other considerations is identifiability. One of the motivations I might have for creating this space is a professional portfolio, and I'd want to put my name on that. I would have to be okay with the fact that there are people out there who may have the intent to find me by my legal name--something I'm obviously not interested in, for several reasons--and I would have to reconcile the desire to put my name out there with the fact that I could be found by people with whom I desire no contact.

Am still not sure it would be a positive, at this state, especially without knowing exactly what it is I want out of it. :/

Archaeology News

2009-09-24T22:47:59Z

I came home to no fewer than 12 emails from different people about the new Anglo-Saxon gold hoard just found. Thank you, but I saw it on the Beeb this morning over coffee before work.

ETA: Current Archaeology has prettier pictures. Am only now catching up with CA as I've just been inundated with student papers today, too.

Archaeology News: Conservation of the Vale of York Hoard

2009-09-17T23:48:32Z

The Vale of York Viking-Age silver hoard is being conserved to ready it for display.

On the Screwing of History

2009-09-15T22:55:47Z

Every time a new Dan Brown book comes out, I want to commit grievous violence. At least with this one, it's the American Civ profs who'll have to unteach some wantonly distributed fiction, which rational adults ought to separate from The Way Things Really Were, but don't.

I swear, sir, I blame you for my lesson plans on Merovingians and Templars.

Cirque-ular

2009-09-14T01:13:30Z

Photos from the Friday night showing of damionreed's latest production here.

The Anthropology of Little Red Riding Hood

2009-09-11T01:46:16Z

It stands to reason that similar fairy tales throughout the world may have had a common root. One researcher in particular has determined the common ancestor for "Little Red Riding Hood" dates back at least 2600 years.

On it Biting You Back

2009-09-10T11:17:17Z

The heckler from last night's healthcare speech to the joint session of Congress has, overnight, just raised at least $44,000 for his opponent.

A Hell of a Day

2009-09-02T23:25:54Z

So, not only was today the first day lecturing again, I got stuck at the college late.

(Bright spot: I think the students may actually like me so far.)

Staying late made me so late for my other job that I had to skip lunch to get there only 10 minutes after I was scheduled to be there. Because I was late I felt I had to stay an extra 10 minutes at the end of the day, so I got out late.

(Bright spot: I stopped by a hand-made/upcycled shop on my way back to the car park, and picked up pretty new coasters.)

Traffic getting out of Harrisburg was hell, and just past the Turnpike I was rear-ended while stopped for the traffic ahead of me.

(Bright spot: Just a scrape of paint, no actual damage to either car.)

My new insurance card with the PA policy was supposed to turn up in the post today, which it did, but I felt I had to call the guy with my updated policy information having only given him the old NJ details. Before I could do that, though, I needed to stop by one of the local municipal buildings to pick up my potassium iodide ration, because I work within a 10-mile radius of Three Mile Island and in case there's another accident there, and workplaces have to arrange distribution on their own (I don't think my agency does.)

(Bright spot: smarriveurr had supper waiting for me when I got home.)

Plus loose ends from prior drama.

Please, universe, no more surprises?

ETA: I totally forgot the feces. There were rodent feces all through a set of papers I was handling at the second job, today--unexpectedly so--and I ended up covered in mouse poop. ::ironic thumbs up goes here::

Happy birthday

2009-09-01T23:37:14Z

Happy birthday today to laurensa!

Foodporn: Pear Clafoutis

2009-08-29T02:35:53Z

Pear Clafoutis
Originally uploaded by Ragnvaeig.

One of the perils of my chosen profession(s) is that sometimes it can be difficult to come away with a proper sense of accomplishment. Lacking a concrete product at the end of my work day, sometimes it really is much more satisfying simply to do with the hands, to make. Today was one of those days.

I've finished up a photo roster of my students so I can attempt to start learning names (always a slow process) before the semester starts. I've re-read Atrahasis and the Epic of Gilgamesh, and formulated questions and possible answers, for discussion section. I've integrated notes from throughout the week's reading into my semester's lecture notes. And at the end of the day, I'd done a lot, but my hands were itching to have made.

Luckily, the local farm stand has been providing us with amazing produce, which they sell in such quantities that I always feel I need to eat a lot of fruit and veg before it goes off, which is good for me, anyway. This past week, I picked up some blushing pears--I can't remember the specific cultivar, but they stay quite firm when they're ripe, only barely yielding to moderate pressure. Of course, I couldn't help but pick up a punnet of teeny little apricots (they were so coquettish!), too, which left me with a technical overabundance of fruit. But there is always room for dessert!

This recipe originally came from last autumn's issue of Edible Chesapeake, in an article on orchards by John Shields.

Pear Clafoutis

4 large eggs
6 tbsp/120 g sugar
0.25 c/60 g flour
3 tbsp (60 g?) butter, melted
c/2.5 dL milk
kilo ripe pears, cored and thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC and grease a casserole that you'd use for a 4-person dish (the recipe said 9x9x2").

Whisk together the eggs and sugar. Add flour and mix thoroughly. Pour in butter and milk, whisking until well blended.

Pour a thin layer of batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the pear slices on the batter (the recipe here recommended a spiral pattern--I ended up with a continuous spiral of several layers.) and pour the remaining batter over it.

Baked it 25-30 minutes, or until "just slightly firm." I baked it until it looked like an unbrowned Yorkshire pud and the skin on the pears (yes, I am a philistine and refuse to get rid of that gorgeous colour) looked a little leathery. Meant to serve six. Might last for two!