Obviously, not having internet access is a very good way to keep oneself from blogging. On the other hand, sitting somewhere more or less stranded and without internet is amazing at keeping distractions down and helping one get things actually... done. In this case, a few hours' worth of sewing.

A friend of ours needed a hand or, rather, someone to let the plumbers in while he's at work, so I was sitting there, waiting for them to finish their work, with my sewing kit to keep me occupied. Progress has been made (in contrast to when I was in Freienfels, where I managed to sew for about 5 minutes before something came up to interrupt my work*).

So, sorry for the belated blog post - I blame my lack of planning (I could have pre-blogged yesterday, right?) and me not being used to getting up that early, and totally forgetting that I had not blogged yet this morning. (The plumbers were a bit late, by the way. I could have blogged before leaving if I had known how much later they would be.)


* Taking the sewing kit to Freienfels was more or less just to keep me from fretting that I could have worked on it, which I surely would have done if I had left it at home. It's a rare event, though, where you actually manage to get all that done which you thought you might work on, at least in my experience. There's always something coming up - friends, some shopping, an unexpected but welcome chat, sudden hunger pangs that need to be dealt with, inquisitive people wanting to know what you are doing, you name it.

The season has started, and I am off to Freienfels. If you are in the area, drop by - I'm somewhere on the lower meadow.

If you'd rather read science fiction stories, you can go here and enjoy the links to finalists for the Hugo and Retro Hugo Award. (A friend sent me that link. I am not sure yet whether to thank her for it or not... so much to do, so little time. Having interesting stuff to read does not make it better.)

Regular blogging will resume on May 6 - so you will have some more time to read while I am off to sleep in a tent and have coffee boiled over a fire. (Yes, I know coffee is not medieval. I will enjoy it anyway.)

April is one of the special months for me - a few people that I really like have their birthday in April (three of them on one day, actually), it's peak hayfever time for me, the garden needs some attention, and preparation for the start of the season gets done (more or less, like you do).

The taxes also start to feel more urgent in getting done, and it's lovely to sit outside in the warm sun, and my craving for ice cream becomes much stronger again. This year's April has a few additional deadline sprinkles to its name, and I think it will be a while before I am back to normal levels of stuff to be done.

What April also brings, though... is the funny stuff. When I opened my HabitRPG yesterday, I found that my avatar now looks like this:

Very springtimey!


If you want more of the kind, look at the April calendar page on the Medieval Manuscripts blog, or have fun with the list of pranks put together at Archaeologik (partly German, partly English).
Another list is here - have fun!

Meanwhile, I will try to tackle my task list without making the tasks cry too much. These oniony charms, you see...

The most patient husband of them all has accumulated enough overtime hours that he has the day off today. As opposed to myself, who has a (thankfully diminishing) heap of clothing to sew.

There's only one last piece to be adapted (the man's hose), and they are comparatively quick to sew... so I'm hoping to make good progress on the remaining stuff today.

Thusly, not much for the blog today - as a little consolation for this, I point you to this gratuitous cat picture from a medieval manuscript. There is green cloth to sew. I shall be where the cloth is.

I'm simultaneously wishing it were Friday and wishing it were Tuesday - I am really looking forward to having a nice weekend and a bit of time off, but there's also still a lot to do, with too little time, as usual.

While I am trying to decide whether I would prefer it to be earlier or later this week, here are some links for you that you hopefully find interesting:

The Yarn Harlot writes about the importance of blocking. (For the non-knitters among you, that's finishing a completely knitted piece so it looks its best.)

On a similar note, here's a piece about why fabrics shrink when they get wet. It seems to mostly be about cotton, and the pdf linked in the post does not mention different materials (or material at all), but it might still be interesting.

Kristina asks who needs an osteologist. (Hint: If you are going to say stuff about bones, ask  someone who knows their way around them first.)

There's an exhibition about Tudor and Stuart clothing as shown in portraiture, in Edinburg. It will run until July 20.

And for those of you who read German, Archaeologik has an article about archaeological publications and censoring due to political reasons.

That's it for today... see you tomorrow, on the real Friday. (Can't wait. Oh no, wait, Friday already? Can I have Wednesday instead, please?)

Since it's very much March, and I am very much in need of some tea and some sewing time, here's your link of the day: A Calendar Page for March.

Also for those of you wishing to be tempted to buy some books - I have restocked the "Ancient Textiles, Modern Science" in my webshop, and they brought some friends, too. Take a look here...

And now I shall go and cut a lovely purple gore, or two, so that the lovely purple tunic becomes a bit more like a tunic!

I hope you had a good start into 2014, with friends, family or loved ones.

A lot of people I know have had to struggle in 2013 - things going wrong, and especially health troubles seem to have been around more than usual. I've heard similar things from all around, from people I don't know too well, so much that it seems to become one of the themes of 2013. So here's my wish for you for 2014:

I wish for you to receive lots of good news this year and little of bad news, and find more friends than you will lose. I wish that you will have joy, and peace, and a bit of spice in your life.

I hope that you will be healthy and that you appreciate your health if you are; and that your loved ones are healthy too, and able to share their life and their joy with you a while longer. I wish that whenever things look bleak and bad, you will still be able to think of something positive, and look forward to better times, and never lose your hope. I hope that you will find the time, or take the time, to do things that make you happy, and to spend time with people that make you happy.

May 2014 bring us all joy, wealth, and happiness.