Here are a few things for the German readers among you - with one bonus English article, so I'll start with that one:

A woman from a medieval monastery close to Paderborn has been identified as a scribe through blue residue in the dental calculus between her teeth. The residue comes from lapis lazuli stones, which were used as a pigment in manuscript illumination. Here's the German-language article at Spiegel about this, and here is the full publication of the research in English.

And on to German-only: There is a special exhibition called "Verehrt, verwendet, vergessen" at the Alamannen-Museum Ellwangen, which is running until April 28. It is looking at the Alamannen in the context of politics and (contemporal) history - a very interesting topic. You can find more information about it here.

Also at the same museum: "Lebendige Geschichte", a two-day workshop for Living History people on February 16 and 17. This year, focus topic of the workshop will be immaterial cultural goods - such as music or belief systems. Another focus topic will be how to handle visitors with extreme right political views, and I think it is a very good idea to include this. If you are interested, you can find more information here - registration deadline is February 10.

I also mentioned... sprang, right? There has been some spranging going on, both in preparation for the workshop I'll give (where there will be a little flower made as a pattern)...

[caption id="attachment_4223" align="alignnone" width="640"] The flower motif - almost invisible on the collapsed sprang...


[caption id="attachment_4222" align="alignnone" width="640"] ...but very much visible when it is stretched out a bit!


...and, as a sideline collateral, some spranging on a project of mine that has been in hibernation for several years. (I believe things like that happen to all of us.) It is basically a very simple thing - a circular (and thus "endless" warp), worked in simple, boring, basic interlinking... to the point where about as much is left over as would make a good bag handle.

The plan, you see, was to make this a bag, which would stretch to almost any form and size, within the (generous) limits that sprang fabric gives. I wanted a nice, long strap as a handle or carrier strap, though, and that is supposed to be a bit slimmer than the rest. The first thing I tried was just taking double threads as working elements, but that did not give enough of a slimming effect, and using 4 or 6 as single elements messes up the nice colour effect. So... double-layered sprang to the rescue!

I did a little test piece in green and purple, to make it easier for me to figure out how things are done...

[caption id="attachment_4224" align="alignnone" width="640"] Thanks to this twisting up on itself, you can see the striped beginning (purple and green following each other) and then, in the middle, the double-layer sprang (where I even did a tiny bit of colour changing).


...and then I started double-layering my strap.



You can see how it narrows down, and changes a bit in structure, but the colours stay similar. It's a little fiddlier than regular sprang, and I am still in the stages where I brain-mumble the mantra of "front layer, back layer, front layer, back layer" all the time (plus I already made one small mistake near one edge), but it does work quite nicely.

Now all that's left to do is a generous amount of double-layer spranging, and then, in the very end, doing double-layer sprang with knitting needles instead of fingers (which will be... exciting!) and finishing it up by securing the final shed (which I will do by weaving in a few threads, to have a firm, stable ending).

And then, eventually, I might have a bag...

I mentioned knitting being done in those past days, right? Well, here is the current status of the result of knitting:



That is "Vodka Lemonade" by Thea Colman, a cardigan with raglan sleeves, knit from the top down. I'm using Margit's naturally-dyed "Understatement" yarn, and the colourway is called "Honigtopf" (honeypot).

I'm already looking forward to wearing this thing, both the feel and the texture are just so nice! There will, however, be need for something additional, small, for my needles for the upcoming travel to Méry, where I won't want to lug along a half-finished cardigan...

(There's still a very few spaces left, by the way - so if you want to join in at the Weekend Weaving Workshop, you still can!)

I'm back from a wonderful and much-needed time with friends and family, relaxing, chatting, cooking and eating delicious food, playing games, going for nice walks, knitting, playing with sprang, and generally doing only fun things in a very relaxed way.

Now it's back to work - I have three workshop weekends to prepare for, which I'm totally looking forward to, and a few other things to do. The cat, meanwhile, goes on being sleepy and relaxed:



I still think it's a little unfair those furry ones get to sleep all day if they feel like it!

 

It's time for a winter break - 2018 was a crazy busy year, and overall I'm really happy with all the things that happened, or that finally got into gear. The second proceedings of the Textile Forum finally got finished, there's workshops planned for next year, one in Rothenfels and one in Belgium (still some spaces left for the latter! Come tablet weaving in Méry with me!).

Of course, there were a lot more things that did not come to fruition this year - I wanted to be a lot further along in the tablet weaving video, and a lot further with the book translation thing, and there should have been some more things for the shop, but plans met reality, and there you go. 2019 may be the year for these things, though.

So now I'm taking some time off for the usual end-of-year stuff - hanging out with friends and family, enjoying some quiet time and some nice leisurely chats and boardgames, good food and lots of tea, and recharging those batteries to get a good start into the new year.

[caption id="attachment_4206" align="alignnone" width="342"] Re...zzzzzz....charging.....


I'll be back here on the blog on January 8. Until then, have a good time, enjoy your favourite seasonal delights, and "Guten Rutsch" - see you on the flip side!

 

By chance, I stumbled across the advent calendar being done over at Historical Textiles - featuring a nice textile every day, such as finds from the Oseberg burial or Swedish church textiles, with lovely close-up pictures. Go check it out - I definitely will enjoy this for the rest of the advent, having caught up on the previous posts now!

The 60th issue of the Archaeological Textiles Review is due out soon, and this issue is focussing on the study of Early Modern knitted items. It includes articles on two 16th century caps (including the earliest known example of Danish knitwork), 16th century wool stockings, 17th century silk stockings, shipwrecked items including mittens from the Netherlands and Sweden, and a proposal for a new protocol for recording evidence for knitting.

The volume contains 99 pages devoted to knitted fragments and garments with many colour photographs and detailed specifications such as gauge, yarn and fibre for each item. It is available through subscription to the ATR friends and costs 250 DKK (which is about 34€ or 38 USD or 30 GBP).

The Uni of Copenhagen will decide on how many issues to print depending on the number of subscriptions, so you might want to put in your subscription as soon as possible if you want one - copies will be sent out early in the next year, according to my information.