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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Viking Weekend, a Summary

I spent the weekend at a Viking living history event, which was a lot of fun.  Having actual authenticity standards in how we do things and not all being lords and ladies is sort of nice for a change.  We were part of an historical encampment at a highland games in North Carolina.  In no particular order, here is what I accomplished/learned over the weekend.  Longer write-ups and pictures of many of these things are on the way.

1. Churning butter is rude.  It just is.  There's no avoiding the crude jokes with this one.
2. Half of my fiber processing tools are also rude.  This, along with the butter, makes for an interesting weekend
3. Combing wool is much easier than I thought it would be but just as dangerous.  Oddly, the dangerous part wasn't were I thought it would be (i.e. I didn't stab myself until I was rooting around in the basket with the wool combs looking for something else, not when I was using the combs)
4. Whipcording is easy!  And fun!
5. Spear fighting is also fun (when did my life turn into Game of Thrones?)
6. It is possible to do a long draw with a drop spindle, or at least something pretty close to a long draw, with nicely combed fibers.  Who knew?
7. Oh how I do love using a distaff, and oh how I do need to sand the hell out of the stick I was using as a distaff!
8. Bog shoes (the ones that look like gillies) hold a surprising amount of water in them.

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 24, 2012 at 11:46 AM

    authenticity should nevr be a dirty word, it increases your enjoyment.

    churning used to be a euphemism, wool combs are far more dangerous than any sword(just ask st blaise) and I've been grumbling for years that no one should even use a drop spindle in historical context without a distaff (distaffs are referred to in text more often than the spindle, and the depiction in art of a spindle without one is well nigh impossible to find. I get on my hobby horse about that a bit)

    besides, if you think your textiles tools are rude, theres an english reenactor named will who keeps a special basket of historically accurate dildos that he shows only to the select few (his carving skills are quite remarkable)

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  2. HeidiApril 24, 2012 at 12:29 PM

    I find a focus on authenticity to be fun, but some people in my local SCA group don't get it at all. My feeling is that being perfect all the time is beyond anyone's ability, it's the effort to get better and keep learning that's the challenge.

    Everyone should have a distaff. I may have to sand some sticks just so I have some extras to hand out to people who don't have one, it makes things so much easier. Plus a wool lollipop is just cool to carry around. :)

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