Saffron Crocus Update

 So exciting, they are starting to emerge just today!!

Second band, and must-have beginner weaving links

 The second band is going well!  It's so much faster now that I'm more used to it, and I can weave for about 20 minutes enjoyably before my concentration wavers.

Here is the collection of links that has enabled me to get where I've gotten so far!

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OkgSHcdxck&ab_channel=ImpendingLooms for mechanics of tablet weaving

• https://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2017/11/tutorial-warping-medieval-box-loom.html for warping the box loom

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiveXyUngKE&ab_channel=EllisifGydasdottir at 2:50 for how to start a weave

• https://www.keithweaves.com/finishing-a-band/ for how to finish a band

First woven band completed

 I learned so much, and there are things I need to remember, like not tightening the weft so much because then you get little checker dots of warp showing in your weave. And also I need to add about an extra foot of warp to get the woven length that I want.  I measured it to what I wanted my finished piece to be and didn't realize I would lose 6 in on either side that wouldn't be weavable. But I'm happy and I'm ready to do my next one! And this one is just long enough to be a veil filet which is what I wanted it to be. 

Learning is happening!

The next few inches of my weaving came out pretty well, and I've advanced the warp twice now.  Exciting!  This is becoming fun.  

Food, Farms, and Changes in 450 AD - 1500 AD England

 I saw a link on one of the Facebook Anglo-Saxon groups to Matilda Holmes 2011 thesis "Food, Status and Complexity in Saxon and Scandinavian England: An Archaeozoological Approach".  I've been reading it tonight and it's fascinating.  One aspect of the research is seeing where the various cultures predominated geographically by analyzing the proportion of various meat animal bones in relation to each other-- the Vikings' fondness for cattle shows up in the geographic regions of the Danelaw, for example.  If I wanted to set a feast in a particular time and place in England, I could use data from this thesis to make some educated guesses about what meats would be served.

Another aspect is seeing where trade and supply networks emerged, as seen by the bone records.  Some affluent and urban areas have subsets of animal bones, showing that they were acquiring joints of meat rather than being a place where whole animals were butchered.    

Holmes looks at the sizes of the livestock and sees that the larger, improved breeds largely shrank back to wild-like sizes after the Roman withdrawal.  Larger sheep were replaced by smaller ones closer in size to the wild Soay sheep that are the domesticated sheep ancestor.  Similar changes happened with cattle and swine.  So much interesting stuff in this thesis!

Her research on ResearchGate (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matilda-Holmes/research) offers a lot of interesting potential. along these lines and others.   Identifying draught cattle and the gradual switch in some places from plowing with cattle to plowing with horses-- the work makes changes in the bones that you can see in the remains.  There are several papers about agriculture and foodways, which would be of interest to culinary types as well, such as Feeding Anglo-Saxon England: The bioarchaeology of an agricultural revolution.

So many interesting rabbits in this hole!!

Climbing the steep wall of the learning curve

I successfully warped my Easy Weaver loom and started my first weaving ever. The first couple of inches is a little rough but it's getting better!  I am sure that it will turn into a relaxing activity at some point but right now it is too new.  Now I have to figure out how to take a break in such a way that the cats cannot get to the loom. 

Warping on a budget

I'm ready to create my first warp.  I'm using a box loom, not an inkle loom. I don't have a warping board, and none of my chairs have straight legs.  I could build a warping board, but then (ah yes, the catch) I would have to find a place to put it.  So instead I am buying this set of four 12-inch tall clamps to use as a warping system.   They are relatively cheap ($27) and are small and easy to store.  

I can warp small things like headband trim on my 4-foot wide desk, and larger things, like belts, on my folding 8-foot sewing table.  I'll use the 4th clamp on the bookcase behind the sewing table to get another 4 feet of warp.  That's the plan, at least.  Let's see if it survives contact with reality-- many plans do not!