Having made the logical leap that things never match exactly, I've managed to work up this motif from the Mammen dig. It takes rather a bit more card twist than previous work I've done, and with the time I've had to backtrack for having missed a card it's taking rather a long time to work each motif repetition, but I keep reminding myself that I can only do better for working hard on it.

The trip to Sweden with smarriveurr for celemon and graylion's wedding was lovely. We flew through Helsinki each way, but still managed to spend 6 days exploring and being sociable. The happy couple were married in a lovely church with a fantastically eclectic audience, and the reception held to traditions (like having a Toast-master space out the various speeches) that I think ought to catch on in America.

Aside from wedding-ness, we visited Gamla Uppsala and gawked at the grave mounds (I climbed up the Thing-mound, because I am a dork) and the lovely little church. We saw the cathedral, so I could press my nose against the glass and refrain from drooling over the Sture garments in the Treasury. We toured the Museum Gustavianum, so I could scratch my head over the new Viking women's dress reconstruction (verdict: much ick!). We fed the Swedish economy with our devalued US$ by wandering around some of the design shops in the area. And we certainly dined on/drank some lovely fare. Group consensus among those on the not-quite-pub-crawl seems to be heavily in favour of the local Slottskällens Decennium Jubileum brew, with their blond ale and a brew by Eriksburg at close second. (Just don't expect to see a pub open on a Sunday.)

We'll need to spend a week in Stockholm on our next trek over. ;)

Pictures here, with more to come as the week progresses.

Progress is obvious, at this point, for which I'm grateful.

Have finished and attached the new collar panels to the rest of the collar. They look a little strange up close, but less so from a bit further away. Still berating self for making the original too small. Will get photos of that once I attach the collar to the body. Have also sewn the shoulder seams that weren't in the original, and inserted the neck gussets.

Have mostly been putting together the sleeves, though. As you can see, at right, I've taken liadethornegge's suggestion for hemstitching, though with a variation. The very wrist end of the sleeves had a bit more fabric left over, so I've edged it a little differently to minimise the visual impact by drawing out threads at 3 and 7 threads away from the embroidery, but only hemstitched the outer (doing both looked kind of funny--ought to have drawn two neighbouring threads--learn and live). Like I mentioned earlier, each cuff was too long, but rather than unpick Holbein stitch or cut the embroidery, I've just folded the edges under to keep structural integrity. It's edged in buttonhole stitch.

I'd thought to gather with an obvious thread because the original Pemberton portrait has little speckles where I assume the cuff joins the sleeve. Gathered the ends of the sleeves by stitching to the count of 6 threads, then pulling the fabric to be the same length as the cuffs. Tied off, ironed--and whipstitched the cuff over the gathering thread because it didn't look that much like the original. I think the stitching is just decorative, now, rather than functioning for gathering. Oh, well. Also whipstitched the sleeve to the cuff on the inside, too, as this particular cuff doesn't fold over to hide the "wrong" side, like the cuffs do in the Warwick shirt. My embroidery is too reversible to hide the wrong side.

The underarm seam I'd intended to be interlaced insertion stitch, as I'd heard from the WMS, who have sent me a .pdf of their accession records that is quite descriptive of the shirt in question. Have made the stitches too close together for anything more than single-herringbone stitch to look good, though, which is somewhat awkward and cause for unpicking my attempt at double-herringbone without the interlace, but it's still pretty shiny.

Have sewn the ties on a little prematurely, just to give you an idea what the finished sleeve will look like. I'm rather happy with it, even if I've deviated from my plans by rather a lot at this point. May need to call it something other than Warwick, as I've really not used many of the Warwick techniques for it.

Oh, how spiffy is this? I took liadethornegge's advice, drew the fourth thread out from the embroidery, and hemstitched the edges. The result is, indeed, quite sexy.

As of Sunday, in Knoxville and still rather addled by flu, I was rather afraid of cutting into the linen on which I'd embroidered, for fear of disrupting well over a hundred hours' worth of work. Well, I got over it. It wasn't until I got back to NJ that I really figured out hemstitching, but I have since finished the collar, and it looks absolutely lovely.

Have hit the snag/fuckup for this project, however. In embroidering, either I'd gotten my measurements a little strange, or I'd simply figured someone else would solve the problem, as I seem not to have appropriate sizes for each of the pieces. The collar, e.g., is probably around 10/12 cm too short to go comfortably around his neck, while the cuffs are each about that length too long. (Yeah, I don't know what I was up to.) Am solving the cuffs by just tucking the excess under and not worrying too much about it, but I may have to add length to the collar by some means. Whatever I manage, I'm sure it'll eventually look like a feature. ;)

There's finally enough light to shoot, today.

I like the result, definitely.

Have realised that the cat thinks that the autofocus mechanism on the camera is purring at him. He turns into a kitten again, convinced that I'm his mother. It's cute, except for the claws while he's kneading, and the biting the rest of the time.

Am looking rather masticated, lately, but I give you kitty cuteness!

From the warp threads left over after I made my latest card woven band, I started on a pair of socks in yellow and a couple shades of red/orange, as I've mentioned in stickn_with_it. Am doing these in Oslo stitch like a lot of my recent naalbound projects. Having tried the Uppsala heel variant in my last pair of socks, I think I'm going to go back to the York heel. Not using the needle my Dad made me, this time, as the stitches are tiny (deceptively not so in the photo, but they are).

Am debating how high to make these, once I turn the heel and stitch up the ankle. May try knee-high socks like the pair from 12th century Switzerland, even if they need cross-garters to stay up.

There are honest-to-Mergatroid icicles hanging from our eaves.

Back from Thanksgiving with the family in upstate New York.

Fed the chickadees at Mendon Ponds Park. They'll eat out of your hand if you stay relatively still.

mollydot requested that I take photos detailing the process of card weaving for those who haven't quite got the hang of it. Said photos can be found here on my Flickr, for those who might be interested. Please do let me know if there are sections I could clarify.

Caveat: I don't really want to deal with pattern drafting for this set, as that's a more intermediate skill; I just want to cover the basic mechanics.

Today was fun and interesting. I don't get to see damionreed anywhere near often enough.

Photos from today here, more to be added in the morning.

I was asked what goes into my self-portraits to make them what they are. I've ( collected a few thoughts on the topic. )

Have finally gotten through my memory card's worth of photos and have stored my Pennsic XXXVI photos here.

unicornlatte had asked me for a photograph similar to a costume I'd worn to a Halloween party a few years ago, where I wore a burqa over my belly-dancing gear both to keep warm and to keep prying eyes away. That burqa was repurposed into another dress, but I've covered about as much of myself here.

Stand and deliver. ;)

...I could be happy, the rest of my life with her.

j00licious wanted to see my interpretation of "Cinnamon Girl," which I must admit it one of my favourite Type O covers.

VoicePost 425K 2:12

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foxxydancr requested an interpretation of the Four Humours of Antiquity. I chose to do it on one of the few alchemical themes I know: alcohol.

1. Phlegmatic - Vodka 2. Melancholy - Absinthe 3. Sanguine - Pinot Noir 4. Choleric - Whiskey

Having an extra car about the place this week, I was able to escape the house for a couple hours' hiking out in the Watchung Reservation, and managed to snap this shot of what I believe is an "Ebony Jewelwing" dragonfly (Calopteryx maculata). Not rare by any stretch of the imagination--just hard to photograph for all the flitting!

Better when viewed at larger sizes.

caturah requested a shot while painting. Photography aside, I never really thought I was any great shakes at the graphic arts until I started using styles and motifs from northern Europe before 1200 CE. I can do primitives because they're more iconic than realistic, and my colour choices seem rather less odd.

The piece I'm painting is a panel for the sheet wall that will demarcate the front of House Three Moons' camp at Pennsic. The motif on the finished panel was taken from a rune-stone in Väppeby, Sweden. The red deer has become my hallmark, ever since I decided to paint one on my Viking chair in 2001, so the antlers were added as artistic license (but done in a Norwegian style!). I'd originally intended to paint the dragons a somewhat lighter shade and paint an inscription inside them, as per the original, but I couldn't think of anything that really needed saying.

Another action shot here.

graylion wanted to know what our kitchen looks like. I thought shooting photos of something requiring so little prep would be easy, but no! Because there's so little light in the room, I had to resort to a tripod and long exposures to keep the shots from coming out blurry. I think I've some good results, though; three (plus one from last year), to be precise. Each has notes explaining what certain bits are, so you'll probably want to click over to Flickr to read them. If there's a bit about which you're curious that I haven't tagged, let me know, and I'll do my best to explain.

No, you don't get to see the south wall. Even though the woodburning stove lives there, it's also quite cluttered, and not my responsibility.