Little Red Viking Hood

Sitting in camp at Gulf Wars, a Viking friend took notice of my blue linen hood and asked if I might make her a hood.  No problem!  It's a simple 3-4 piece pattern (depending on the fabric width) and uses less than 1 yard of material.  I took her measurements and we discussed materials.

Fast forward to summer, and the fabric (vibrant red wool) was delivered safely into my possession via a system of person-to-person relays.  Time to get cutting!

The body of the hood is simply a 12" x 50" (plus seam allowances) rectangle.  The front and back gores are right-angle pieces with curves toward the seams.  The back gore is a little bit deeper than the front gore, which adds some extra wiggle room for the shoulders.

I sewed this piece with red poly thread, keeping the stitching as inconspicuous as possible since the owner will be adding embroidery.  The seams were finished with herringbone stitch (tiny tacks on the right side of the fabric, practically invisible), and at the edge of the cape I sewed a narrow rolled hem, again with itty-bitty stitches on the right side of the fabric.

I delivered the completed hood at Kingdom A&S, and despite the heat and humidity in the display hall, Olrun popped it on for a fitting.  She was happy with the final product, and I hope to see it in action at next weekend's Coronation - or if the weather isn't quite cold enough then, it should be by Christmas Revel.

Barricade the sewing room door!

Just make sure I'm inside it!

I've started my A&S submission for Gulf Wars (a new Monmouth cap) and the documentation. I have a sketch of my device proposal for a herald consultation, and somewhere on my harddrive is documentation for my name submission. I picked up some muslin for a quickie chemise, along with bias tape for use on my wool gown and a new box of ball-head pins. I manage to lose pins quite frequently.

Before heading in to work today I want to have all the rest of the body panels cut out for my wool gown. When I come home, I think I'll tackle the sensitive joining-of-the-brim on the cap. This time around I'm following the same method Jennifer Carlson used, but in a different gauge, so I'm not following her pattern stitch-for-stitch.

To add to the maelstrom of ideas pinging around in my head, I'm doodling ideas for a 15th century cap. More on that story as it develops.

Hood progress

Just gotta do some buttons and buttonholes ...
Oh, and find some less-obviously-mundane pins to keep the "wings" in check.
However, it's rather cold in my house today and I think I'll put my mittens on as soon as I hit the button to publish this entry!

Wiki wiki, to you, too

I'm on the Wikipedia now!

The other night I was looking over my Flickr account and I'd been left a message from a Welsh gentleman asking if I'd be interested in changing the license on a photo of my gold Monmouth cap so it could be added to an article. This is part of a project to get the people of Monmouthshire involved in developing a cluster of articles about their corner of the world - notable people, events, and artifacts associated with Monmouth.

Holiday wind-down

Christmas Revel this past weekend was fabulous - Bacon Bit won both the youth heavy and rapier tournaments, Morgana antler-bombed no less than a quarter of the populace in attendance, and our newest Pelican, Mistress Barbara Sterling was elevated to her peerage, surrounded by old and new friends who cherish this wonderful lady and her decades of service to the Society and our young Kingdom.

April took a few full-body shots of me in my brown kirtle, off-white apron (I don't think I told you about that one), and gold Monmouth cap. I'll get that posted asap.

Alas, I am unable to deliver a project-completion update, as my mundane job got in the way, and I was asked to fill in at a store roughly an hour's drive from home. I can offer you a teaser photo of my grey-brown wool hood in progress, though.



Since taking that shot I've attached the center-back gore and sewn the seam up the back of the head to the liripipe attachment. That leaves the liripipe seam, the buttons and buttonholes, and some seam finishing.

There are no more events this month, and all of January's are too far away for me to consider attending. The next feasible event, Candlemas, will be held near Memphis at the beginning of February. After pulling a five-hour drive from the Gulf coast this past Sunday, the two-and-a-half hours to Memphis seems like a breeze, and I can crash with my sister the nights before and after the event, work schedule permitting. After that, a month-long research and prep fest for Gulf Wars XXI! That's right! Gulf Wars will be old enough to go to the Known World Party. I'm going to do my very best to get three or four days off for War, which means working things out with my boss many, many weeks in advance.

I know I'll need a wool gown for the inevitable chilly nights, and a cloak with a clasp or pin would be really useful. A red-and-black parti-colored gown would be nice to have available during muster and at the Gleann Abhann court, but party clothes come after wardrobe staples on the priorities list.

So, to my three official followers and everyone else who stumbles across this blog for whatever reason, I wish you and your loved ones health and serenity this holiday season, and an optimistic outlook for the new year.

- Mathilde de Metteneye

Monmouth cap

Until very recently I avoided knitting in the round. Most of my projects consisted of rectangular shapes, with the odd hat every now and then - always with a seam up the back. Well, no more! I bought myself a set of straight double-pointed needles, an interchangeable circular knitting kit and some lovely soft wool yarn as a birthday treat, and got to work that very night.

My gauge for worsted-weight yarn on size 7 needles is about 4 stitches and 7 rows per square inch. I decided to work the brim in a double knit stockinette, so I rounded my head circumference up to the nearest full inch and cast on double the number of stitches I would need for a single layer. I think my mind wandered a couple of times while I was working the brim, but the mistakes aren't glaring. Once the brim reached the desired height, I joined the two layers (K2t, repeat to end of row) and continued in stockinette stitch until the total height reached 4 inches.

I divided the total number of stitches into 8 sections for the decreases, and did some maths to figure out how many rows to knit between each of the decrease rows. The crown of my hat has a more gradual slope than the extant piece referenced by other recreationists, textile archaeologists, etc., but all in all, not a shabby attempt. I'll jimmy with the decrease scheme to try for a flatter crown and try my hand at fulling the next cap.



Now I'm working on a dark blue wool cap for my dear hubby, who doesn't dig the whole "dress-up" scene, but does appreciate a warm cap knit with love.