Archaeological Textiles Review Issue 63 has come out a bit ago, and - as usual - you can download the pdf version for free from the ATR website.

The issue has articles about Nubian textile fragments, Greek clothing terminology, Viking Age textiles and tapestries, and tablet weaving from Hallstatt, among other things. If you're interested in archaeological textiles, it's definitely worth checking out!

I'm back from the winter break - so: Happy New Year to all of you!

There's a bit of catching up to do, obviously, and one of the most important tasks of today was finish packing all the orders that came in during the break. I've been working on that, and a bunch of other things, the past few days already. There were hopes that I'd actually get a bit more of the things on the list done, but website relaunches are a notoriously obstinate thing. (There's progress, though.)

Packing has been successfully done, though, and the things are going to the post now.

There's also some other shop stuff on the line, including a few new things to be sorted into stock - I have a new shape of spindle sticks. Those need to be described, and photographed, and put into the shop. I also have to take new photos of the pearwood spindle sticks, as the current batch is much, much more varied in colour and texture than the previous one:

[caption id="attachment_6666" align="alignnone" width="201"] New pearwood spindle sticks for the shop - now in a larger range of natural wood variation than before...


Already in there are the new online courses, both in German: One for Medieval Spinning on February 6, and one for sewing techniques on March 6.

It's Friday - but it's not only Friday, it is also time for the winter break here. I'll be taking time off for the holidays and then a few more days in the next year to work on the Bronze Age fabric reconstruction - so I will be back on the blog on January 17.



Until then, I hope you'll have a wonderful time - thank you for stopping by here, reading and commenting. I hope you'll have good holidays with loved ones and activities you enjoy, and a good start into a fine and healthy year 2022.

See you on the other side!

The imperial garments from Bamberg, topic of the special exhibition that started last year, are now featured in an online exhibition! So for all of you who were not able to go there in person to see these, you can now go and visit Bavarikon to view some very nice photos of the garments. These include a few close-ups that will bring you closer to seeing the individual stitches than would be possible in front of the real thing, as lights in the exhibition aren't too bright, and there's always a glass between you and the things.

In theory, the language can be switched from German to English, but there seems to be only German available - you can still enjoy the images, though.

Because things are so busy here right now (spinning, posting things, and getting the conference paper finished), you're just getting a cat pic today:



There's been a lot of spinning, and though it feels like it's not taking much attention while I'm at it, I feel just like the cat looks afterwards!

I've been busy today spinning, and bringing stuff to the post, and spinning some more, and then there was some spinning. The day was finished off with some desk work - most importantly some preparation for the TAG conference that starts on Friday.

There also was some baking yesterday evening. We're slowly approaching completion of the "these cookies are what we really want to have this year" stage - including, new in this year's line-up, Spekulatius (which is a simple brownish cookie spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom).

The worst thing about baking cookies for Xmas? They come out of the oven smelling oh, so nice... but when you try one of the freshly baked ones, they are still rather bland and not as nice as they smell. (Some very few exceptions to this rule exist, but they are really very few.) They need some time to rest in a nice little tin in a nice cool place - some will be fine after just two or three days, but most of them will want a week or so of rest, and the vanilla crescents that we make actually get really good only after three weeks or so. (Which is why they get baked as the first thing every year.) I won't complain too much, though, because that means the baking is better done spaced out and in advance, and you can even stagger the baking in a sequence that will have the ones needing to ripen the longest first.

So jury's still out on how this year's batch of cinnamon stars will have turned out, and if the new Spekulatius recipe will hold up to scrutiny. We'll know in a few days...

Cooking and baking is the stuff of the season - especially baking, at least here in Germany, where Christmas Cookies are still the Thing. I remember my gran on my dad's side bake a lot of different cookies each year, and those were a highlight in my childhood days - so much so that I feel the need to carry on that tradition, every year. (My other gran, though she had a lot of recipes that she made, is very much associated in my brain with a special kind of potato salad, by the way.)

Grandmothers are sort of pre-destined to be the source of recipes traded on in a family. In case you have not enough granny recipes from your own family, or from the grandmas of friends, here's a very interesting site for you: The Grandmas Project. This is a collection of films made by the grandchildren of their grandmother sharing (and making) a recipe. I really like this idea - and they are open to contributions, too!

(The potato salad, though, will not go in there. Although my gran is still alive and recently celebrated her 100th birthday, she has stopped cooking a while ago - her eyesight is almost gone...)