A Sailor’s Hat

 

(This paper was submitted as documentation for an Arts and Sciences competition. The intention is to be a historical fiction)

 

A Sailor’s Hat

Figure 1 A nalbound beret in 90% alpaca, 10% silk handspun yarn.

The following text is from the diary of a young sailor. These pages were found in the attic of a house in Palos de la Frontera, Spain. We are fortunate that some of the pages have survived the years, although the name of the sailor was lost.

 

“The year is 1519, and I have signed onto a ship, it being my seventeenth year and I am anxious to see the new territories that so many are journeying to. We set sail from the rich shores of Spain to travel to the new world. This will be my first journey across the sea.

I have learned much in the past few months. Swabbing the deck day in and day out. Repairing sails. Endless hours in the crows nest watching a never ending expanse of water. And knots, so many knots, will these nautical men ever complete their list of knots? Salt fish, salt beef, hard tack, their culinary skills leave much to be desired. It is not all bad. There are many fine men among the crew. And the shanties, ah the shanties. Some are haunting, some cheerful, and some are downright risqué. Such language! And put into song!

We stopped to resupply in Santo Domingo, our new port in Cuba. My what a lively town! The nights are alive with noise, while the mornings are very quiet as most everyones’ heads are hurting. But we are continuing on to Peru, and the captain has been putting many a grumbling man in his place.

After many months my gear is in a sorry state. I am particularly sad about the state of my boina, the excellent cap which one French crewman insists on calling a béret. On sunny days I move the body forwards and it shades my eyes. How I wish I had bought a second, but alas, we are so far away from Maria’s little shop.

While it is good to have land under my feet for a time, I did not expect to be a mountaineer! It seems that these mountains go ever upwards. Vast expanses of sand, rocks, and short stubby grass. It is amazing that anything lives in this land.

We have finally found a village. The air is so thin up here. Everywhere you look it should be a desert, but it is cold! It must be the heights.

The locals have a strange animal. It is like a sheep, but not like a sheep. They call it an alpaca, and they live in great herds. The most striking feature of these wooly animals is their long neck, it is so long that one can look me in the eyes. Instead of a deep throaty baa, these animals make a soft hum. Until one gets excited, and then there is a great trumpeting EEEE EEE EEEE, which sometimes appears to be for joy, and other times appears to be an alarm. They have amazing wool, which the locals spin into yarn, but it doesn’t have lanolin as a sheep, instead these animals appear to take dust baths, and is a source of great joy to them.

My boina is so threadbare at this point, I really must replace it. My poor head was so cold during the night.

Success! One of the young ladies gave me two balls of yarn! It is gorgeous stuff, and so soft. I need to find some knitting needles. The young lady seemed rather pleased, is she being generous? Or is this local courting behavior?

I have not found knitting needles! How is that possible in a crew where so many are talented with strings and ropes! The local vegetation is not yielding substitutes to make my own. I may have to suffer the cold for the rest of this excursion.

Bjorn has offered to teach me a technique from his home in Norway, he calls it nalbinding, and we can use a blunt sail needle with my new yarn. He has had the least amount of trouble with the cold, and has told us many a story of cold snowy nights, with lights dancing in the sky. He says that his mother and grandmother practiced this nalbinding during evenings around the fire, and made many hats, mittens, and socks.

I really am putting all the new curses I have learned to use. This nalbinding is like sewing, but it is not like sewing. And here I thought mending a sail was difficult. How does one keep track of all these loops?

It has been a few days. My head is still very cold during the night. I am now more determined than ever to finish this new boina. Bjorn says that I am improving.

It is done! My new boina is very warm, though much more floppy than my old one. This alpaca yarn does not act in the same way as a sheep’s yarn. It’s odd, but for something so fluffy, it has a weight to it. Captain has said we are leaving in the morning, at least I get one night to test if my head will now stay warm.

Goodness! The young lady who spun the yarn was very sad this morning when we left. Her father seemed pleased though. Maybe having so many guests was a trial for him, it seems that they would be having a nice quiet life when there are no visitors.

We have made it back to the ship and have set sail. Already the mountains seem like a dream. A dream where I can reach up to my cap and touch a cloud. I really must get some sleep before watch.”

 

*The above is a work of fiction, any resemblance to an actual diary is purely coincidental. Palos de la Frontera, Spain is the port where Christopher Columbus set sail a few years earlier. Santo Domingo, Cuba served as a Spanish port during the Age of Discovery. Alpacas actually do hum, trumpet, take dust baths, and live in herds.

 

Figure 2 Spinning a purchased batt (type of fiber preparation) into yarn.

Figure 3 Green is spun and plied, orange is being spun.

Figure 4 All spun up, ready for nalbinding.

Figure 5 The finished beret.

Berets have long been one of my favorite hat styles, so it pleases me that this style has been around since bronze age Europe.

This one is made using my handspun yarn, which was made from locally purchased batts (a style of fiber preparation), and is 90% alpaca, and 10% silk. It is nalbound, with the main body done in York stitch, while the brim is Mammen stitch.

 

State of the Workshop 2

 

 

Figure 1: Ezabi has taken over my office chair.

Been participating in the 100 Days of A&S Challenge. It is based on a similar challenge that our fighters do. In this we do 100 consecutive days of Arts & Sciences, at least 10 minuets a day. As per the group rules, research counts, and so do Mundane (modern day, non-reenactment) projects. Also have to remember to post your activities.

As I write it is day 66. This is going to end up being published on day 67, as there is still a considerable amount of formatting, captions, and other fiddly bits before the final posting.

 

Day 1) Went to the local Baronial A&S night. Spent a great evening geeking out about weaving, historical looms, and textile archeology with one of the other weavers in the group, and answering questions from a new weaver. Brought a knit shawl to work on while we talked and finally got to the first color change.

Day 2) Was in a mood after work. YouTube and shawl knitting.

3) Found one of my crafting books. Needed a review for an upcoming blog post. Think I may have found my demo issue from the most recent event, fortunately I still have enough for a second spindle so I will try it out.

4) Took a break from prepping the office for more paint. Made the framework for a camouflage item. Really hoping that the mundane item that will be inside it won't be negatively affected.

5) Put a covering over the mundane camouflage. Not happy with the results.

6) Checked on the drying camouflage, still not happy. Have to rethink my technique. Evening of a couple episodes of Star Trek while knitting a scarf. Have a trip coming up in January, and I want to get the base pattern set up for the flights and layovers.

7) Episode worth of after work shawl knitting, then on to the continued adulting of painting the office.

8) Baronial A&S meeting. We had fun playing with hot metal and creating wood smoke.

Figure 2: Wood burned holiday ornaments. A Japanese sailing ship, Norse Longship, cherry blossom, and Nordic snowflake.

 

9) Shawl knitting

10) Shawl knitting with frequent insistent demands for kitty cuddles

11) Missed that yesterday was the birthday of a friend who passed this year. Shawl knitting while watching her favorite TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Figure 3: Icelandic wool shawl. Pattern is from the TV show Outlander, colors are my own choosing.

12) Shawl knitting after breakfast.

Office painting after dinner. Got about a third done, so this makes first coat of the second 2/3. Looking forward to the paint being done, as it will mean I can move in my floor loom. Paint, then loom.... Our senior cat was an excellent supervisor, very good at being in the way, and talking my ear off.

On a side note, the hook I hung above the door for whip cord makes an excellent place to hang the portable speaker while painting.

13) Lucet after a late breakfast. Our youngest kitty had to help with pictures.

Figure 4: Rahja supervising office painting, and being in the way.

Figure 5: Ezabi has deemed the lucet an acceptable chin scratcher.

14) Lucet after work.

15) Baronial A&S night. Brought a purchased tunic that needed neck modifications. Conscripted an extra set of hands to measure where to cut the back of the neck. Cut, and got about half hemmed.

16) Finally de-skinned the mundane camouflage. Resin did not do what I wanted at all. Went on like syrup, so it didn't saturate the fabric. Also didn't harden like it was supposed to, even though the mix was right. So I still have the framework.

17) Lucet while watching one of the fish tanks fill. Completely replaced the substrate in my riparian plants only tank. (The Silver Dollars, which started this whole aquarium adventure, look on all plants as a salad buffet) Gravel got replaced with sand, which will be easier for the cleanup crew.

Figure 6: Obligatory Cory Cat picture. They are such cute little fish.

18) Lucet

19) Lucet. Tie for an arm guard is getting closer.

20) Shawl knitting. Mostly through an entire 90's movie. There were frequent breaks called for by the cutest of helpers.

Figure 7: Ezabi insisting it is break time from shawl knitting.

21) Supply run for paint, as well as some more brushes.

22) Baronial A&S night! Got there late because of adulting, but brought the tunic I am modifying the neck on. Got about half done with the hem.

23) Started composing an email to some museums. Am looking for some specific information on some textile finds, and need more detailed images than what is available. Plan on making a blog post with the results.

Day 24) Purchasing a mixer is suddenly very tempting. These cookies are proving to be a workout.

Figure 8: Shortbread dough in process. Turns out you need to get your hands in there, much easier than the available mixing tools.

Figure 9: Finished stamped shortbread. Not bad for a first attempt, and tasty too.

25) Neighboring Barony had a Baroness's Tea. Absolutely awesome idea! Casual hangout with friends and snacks. Brought my lucet and two plates of homemade shortbread cookies. Got a fair amount of luceting done. Also only took home two individual cookies, so I am calling that a win.

26) Saint Distaff's day! Had to start a new spindle. Also got the first coat on my office/mini studio closet door. Goodbye eggshell, hello nutmeg! Getting closer to being done with painting. Paint, then loom setup...... Paint, then loom setup.....

Figure 10: Behold! St Distaff's Day!

Figure 11: Closet looking much better without the eggshell. Eventually we will replace the door, but this is good for now.

27 & 28) Continued spinning of some Icelandic fleece that is very minimally processed.

29) Trying a different tying method for my distaff ribbon. Previous methods continue to spin at the attachment, meaning that no matter how I try the prepared fiber also spins around the distaff. This time I am trying some waxed cording and several lashes. Initial testing is so far good, if this works I will do the same on my other distaffs. (For those also in aviation, yes this is wire lacing cord)

Figure 12: Trying out tying with waxed cord to stop the ribbon from spinning around the distaff.

Figure 13: Waxed cord is already showing promise.

Day 30) Spun a bit more on the minimally processed Icelandic. Decided that it was time to re-wrap the distaff, as quite a bit had been used between the two spindles. I should have taken pictures. I have no idea what experimental tying method had been used, but it was very obviously when I was new to distaff spinning. Since I was already this far I decided to repeat yesterday's distaff ribbon tying experiment with a waxed cord attachment. Between the two days I am currently sold on the method. Re-wrapping was a breeze, I wasn't chasing the ribbon around and around the knob. Fiber is being held much more solidly than past versions. Drafting seams to have improved as well.

Figure 14: Had to redress another distaff. Since it was already unwrapped, I did the waxed cord trick here too.

 

31) Fell down a YouTube rabbit hole. Had started to consider some sort of hair wrap. As much as I love my completely anachronistic hair cut, sometimes I just don't want to deal with it, sometimes the particulars of the event would work better with a head covering, etc. I play early period, mostly Norse apron dresses, and Norse tunics. If it is hot out I will usually do Roman. Had briefly considered arming caps, but am not fond of the style with my face. So I looked up Rus head covering videos. This also led to finding videos from various Orthodox communities, including videos about the Jewish Tichel, of which some of the veil style wrap ties would work for events. Fun and interesting information about other cultural practices! In my area, with the exception of Russian Orthodox and Ren Fair/Society events, you really don't see veiling practices. I do love videos where you learn something new and fun.

32) Continued painting the office/mini studio. Getting closer to the end. Closet is done. Next up is the second coat of the second 2/3. Then moving the desk and bookcase for the last 1/3.

33) Hemming some tablet woven trim. These are leftovers from a purchase, as I haven't had the time to weave all of my trim myself. Bonus is supporting other artists. Leftovers from two rolls were enough for four bands. Each is long enough for either a headband, or a garter. Ends were later soaked to rearrange the fringe. Of course I had feline supervision.

Figure 15: Ezabi getting her paws into the work.

Figure 16: Fringed and hemmed some ties.

 

34) Shawl knitting. Lots of kitty help, mainly by making sure my project doesn't go anywhere.

35) Baronial meeting. A&S officer had great things to say about the last year, the contests, the classes, and the awesome participation. After the meeting some of us played with different styles of head wraps/tichels. It was really cute, reminded me of kids playing with each other's hair.

36) Tape work on the office/mini studio. So much tape. Next will be adding more tape, and finally getting to the second coat of the second third.

Also packed for a work related trip, made sure to pack the scarf knitting.

Picture of suitcase void, helping me with packing.

Figure 17: Nero wanting to go on vacation too.

 

37) Practice with different hair wraps. Brand new fabrics came in.

38) Hair wrap in action, simple one worked well, discussed tips and tricks with others.

Entered an A&S competition for unfinished objects. My tablet weaving did very well. Tons of gorgeous objects were entered by the populous.

Knitting on a plane. Eventually had to put it away when the ride got too bumpy for lace knitting.

39) Some start of day knitting before the day gets busy.

Figure 18: Knits on a plane. Simple lace diagonal in qiviut.

 

40-45) Knit, knit, knit, yarn over, knit two together...... Takes a long time to get significant fabric with lace weight. But it travels well, the whole project fits in a dice bag (nope, no nerds here ;) ) It was also a nice little break between massive amounts of studying every afternoon and evening.

46) Spinning for a good chunk of the day. Breaks insisted upon by the cutest of kitty supervisors. Getting close to having to re-dress the distaff for the first color change with this BFL/silk roving.

Figure 19: Got some progress done on the trip.

Figure 20: Almost through section one of a three color BFL/silk roving.

Figure 21: Break time with Ezabi.

 

Days 47 & 48.

Got to my first color change in the BFL/silk roving I have been working on. Originally split this roving down the middle, so when I ply the colors will approximately line up.

I got a new book! One I have long been wanting, but never quite got around to purchasing. A long time ago I saw an episode of The Woodwright's Shop, where Roy's guest was talking about Roman low work benches. Well this is the book! With plans! Now I need to figure out who in my area can make a big slab of wood..... probably someone with a home saw mill.

So reading in the morning, spinning in the evening.

Figure 22: New book! With color two of the BFL/silk.

Day 49, and an evening addition to 48.

49) Morning of reading about historical work benches. Authors are currently talking about Renaissance paintings, which had been proceeded by images of benches in frescoes and woodcuts.

Evening spinning while watching some YouTube on natural dying.

48 additional) Our Baronial A&S night. This time it was making various cords, so I brought along the whipcord I have been working on. A friend was kind enough to video me working on it solo.

After the meetup I had the idea to turn the video into my first ever reel. Shorted it up, added some music, and never could figure out how to remove the original audio, but made the audio work for it.

I am astonished. Truly astonished. Flabbergasted and humbled. I knew the power of social media in that I have watched others become successful because of it. But also my little blog only gets a handful of readers, which I am honestly ok with. This one little reel however got over a thousand views in less than 24 hours. That is just mind blowing to me.

https://fb.watch/pYh4EwPpmp/?mibextid=Nif5oz

50) Shopping for a slab of wood to make a Roman low workbench.

51) Supporting the arts! Going to see a play. Bonus is that a friend is the MC.

Figure 23: Play time! This was so good! A friend was the MC, lots of puns, some local culture jokes, and swords! Intro to stage swordplay after the show.

52) Spent a very lazy morning watching YouTube and stitching a headband. When I had been looking up head wraps and head scarves, I kept finding foundation headbands and caps. Similar to how several friends who do Slavic have a band to help keep their scarves from slipping. A dear friend had suggested wig clips to help keep this headband in place. Worth a shot, and she has been using them for years. My online order finally arrived, so I found some woven cotton fabric and proceeded to start stitching. Due to my very anachronistic haircut, the two clips are very close together. Worked great. Wore around the house this evening, cooking dinner and doing general puttering.

Tonight's quality inspector is Nero the Stout.

Figure 24: Nero checks out the head wrap.

Figure 25: Nero has to check out the headband.

Figure 26: Headband with wig clips sewn on. The clips attach to your natural hair and keep the band from shifting.

 

53) Suddenly I am extra excited for spring! (For reference, my house got six more inches of snow on Saturday) Planning planting beds.

Also making sure the battle snails are well fed. That cucumber didn't stand a chance.

Figure 27: New seeds arrived.

Figure 28: Battle snails in one of the fish tanks

 

54) More workbench reading. Finished the section on the Roman low bench (the one I am planning), and now we are moving forward in time.

55) Baronial A&S night. Started surgery on a pair of pants. Talked to a new weaver about 2/2 twill. Discussed the upcoming Collegium. In general had an excellent time with the chosen family.

56) Very sore from work. Did a bit of knitting on the shawl. Ezabi made sure that it will be acceptably snuggly.

Figure 29: Ezabi snuggled under the shawl.

 

57) More reading about workbenches. The book took a turn, and we learned about securing wood to the bench through the ages. Pegs, palms, holdfasts, notches with wedges, and vices were all discussed.

58) Collegium! So many classes, the hours absolutely flew by! I attended wood block carving for fabric stamping, 14th and 16th century button holes, consorting 101, and the patterning section of leather covers for notebooks. Unfortunately I then had to run off for some officer duties, but I only missed about a half hour.

59) Plauge of locusts! Actually one isolated house plant turns out to have scale insects. Surprised me, because that plant is doing amazing. Ah well, small scale agriculture and removing said pests. Reminds me spring is coming, as I look outside to the three feet of well packed snow, don't even remember how many inches it was when record breaking fluffy.

60) Herd management on a micro scale. Moved some of the battle snails to new pastures. Also harvested some of the floating aquarium plants to go to other tanks.

61) Podcast listening while puttering around the house. Tonight was a 2021 episode of That Jorvik Viking Podcast, though this episode was slightly more modern than the Norse. "Richard III and York with Matthew Lewis" is an interview with a scholar of the history of King Richard the 3rd of England.

Overall I recommend the Podcast channel. Am still currently in the early ones. My only complaint so far is that some of the episodes have a guest phoning in on a very poor microphone. Unfortunately that causes issues with my auditory disorder. Otherwise the episodes are really interesting and informative.

Figure 30: Class handouts, buttonhole samples, and random kids book we were using to learn how to pattern leather book covers. Everyone got a random book of varying size.

 

62) Received a custom printed Skjolehamn hood, took pictures with it in the snow. The maker included some printed patches and a test print. Test print was too pretty to just let it sit, so hemming it as a napkin.

63) Continuing the napkin hem. Using buttonhole stitch, which I learned at my friend’s recent class. Looks similar to blanket, but it has an extra twist.

Figure 31: Practicing the buttonhole stitch on a napkin.

64) Reading during lunch about the Skjolehamn bog burial from 11th century Norway.

65) Picked up the slab for the Roman Low Workbench. It is beautiful, and HEAVY. Super excited. This long term dream is becoming a reality.

66) Compiling all these posts into a blog post. Also ordered materials for legs and pegs on the Roman Low Workbench, and a tenon cutter for the tops of the legs.

67) Fiddly bits of blog posting. Formatting, captions, and finally making sure everything correct before hitting publish. Ended up dozing off at the computer, guess it's past bed time.

68) Napkin hemming while filling fish tanks. Last of the blog editing.

Figure 32: Watching a fish tank while hemmimg, Yuri passing by.

Goodness! Day one seems so long ago already, and I am not yet to ¾ of the challenge. Currently the plans for the future include putting together the Roman Low Bench, and finally finishing the office painting. We will have to see what the next 32 days brings.

Figure 33: My little shadow is never far away.

Garb challenge, horn, arm guard, general tinkering, more hats, and a musing.

 

Been up to several things since the last post. Made some new garb, took a cooking class, got an archery arm guard complete except for the ties, repainted a horn, made more hats, spun yarn, lucetted, worked on making coins, and of course went to events and had an excellent time hanging out with my chosen family.

Fighter demo back-to-back with a marathon water station was busy, but well worth it to spend time with excellent people. A few other events attended, as well as several A&S get togethers.

 

Figure 1: Nero helping with photography of the newest apron dress.

 

Garb Challenge:

There is a group on Facebook which is doing a garb challenge. The task is to create pride inspired items, which are then to be worn at your local Yule or 12^th night, depending on your location. I finished this four panel, four gore, apron dress and separate front panel in enough time to wear it to some friends’ wedding. Surprisingly this was the most subtle rainbow outfit of all the ones in attendance. Next up is a new linen underdress with rainbow trim.

 

Figure 2: Was able to do pretty well with matching the panels. Gores didn't have that option.

 

Figure 3: Photograph a dress, get a cat.

 

Figure 4: Friend wanted to make sure I had enough leather for the project, and Rajah decided to help with the photo.

 

Archery arm guard:

Decided that I was not finding the style of archery armguard that I was wanting, so decided to make my own. Leatherwork is new to me, so a good friend and I collaborated. He brought his tools and knowledge to a local craft and chat, while I brought leather and a willingness to learn. It did take two craft and chat sessions, one to carve and dye the leather, and a second to paint it.

Figure 5: Cut, carved, and punched arm guard.

 

Figure 6: Dye and grommets done.

 

Figure 7: Green was temperamental and required several coats.

 

Figure 8: Gold paint in progress.

 

Figure 9: Paint finished, need to make cord.

 

Figure 10: Horn as received.

 

Purchased horn repaint:

Found an inexpensive musical horn at a major online retailer, but when it arrived it was not what I was expecting. I could get a really pretty note out of it. However, the advertisement had led me to believe I would be getting a natural-colored horn, with black paint details and carvings. What I received was a marble brown painted horn, with natural-colored carvings. The brown marble paint just wasn’t sitting well in my mind. Dry sanding with fine steel wool removed the paint, but then I had to think about the repaint for several months. When going to the craft and chat to paint my new archery arm guard, I grabbed the horn and brought it along. Since I already would have paints set up, why not? Maybe inspiration would strike. The same friend who was helping me with leatherwork suggested an aurora theme, and I ran with the idea. Really pleased with how it turned out.

Figure 11: Paint removal in progress.

 

Figure 12: Paint removal complete. Nice warm spring day, and a slight breeze for dust removal.

 

Figure 13: Gold paint done.

 

Figure 14: Starting the aurora. Blue done, with purple in progress.

 

Figure 15: Adding green.

 

Figure 16: Black for the rest of the carved lines.

 

Figure 17: Blue in the knotwork carvings.

 

Figure 18: Finished horn and arm guard.

 

Figure 19: Hot crucible and mold for ingots.

 

Coin making:

As part of the Oerthan Mint the group will periodically have working meetings. This time I manned the crucible, then poured hot pewter into forms. The resulting ingots later get rolled out into thin sheets, cut, and stamped into coins.

Figure 20: Cooking instructor gave us all brand-new spoons. I now know why this was a favorite kitchen tool.

 

Cooking class:

Attended a medieval cooking class where we cooked over charcoal. I made a kind of meatball, with currents and a semi sweet sauce. Everything that was prepared by all participants was amazing.

Figure 21: Learning to cook over charcoal, and use a ceramic pipkin.

 

Figure 22: My favorite spindle and distaff, made by a wonderful craftsman in the UK. Currently spinning BFL and silk blended roving.

 

Spinning:

Currently working on a luscious Bluefaced Leicester and silk roving, which happened to be dyed by my Laurel. Can’t tell from this picture, but it also has silver and royal blue.

Figure 23: My favorite lucet, made by a local craftsman. For home use I have several plastic bobbins made by my best friend.

 

Lucet:

Picked up some large balls of crochet cotton. They are making really pretty lucet cord.

Figure 24: Hat specially made for an amazing friend.

 

Nalbound hats:

Made some more of my nalbound hats. Two had specific recipients, and a third went to Principality largess.

Figure 25: Mundane work trip had me waiting stopped for construction. At least I had good tunes and a project.

 

Figure 26: Special request for a friend.

Figure 27: Prize winning hat. Was donated to Principality largess.

 

Mundane life made it seem that I was not going to be able to attend the neighboring Shire’s event, but the day before plans changed, and I was able to be there for a half day. Actual conversation from this event.

"What are you working on?"

"Another hat, I make a bunch of these for largesse." *Hands over the red, black, and gold finished one*

"Are you going to enter this in the A&S contest?"

"I didn't know there was an A&S contest."

"You should enter it."

"You know your Highness, I do believe I will."

Long story short, I won the contest I didn’t know I was going to enter. As such I get to wear the Hrafnafjordr A&S Champion belt pouch for the coming year.

Figure 28: Hrafnafjordr A&S championship belt pouch.

 

Figure 29: New windows, and future home of my floor loom.

 

Windows and loom:

The new windows got installed. Now I can get my floor loom out of storage, and finally set it up! Super excited to have my four-harness counterbalance floor loom working again. Already have a few ideas for upcoming projects, mainly featuring my favorite weave structure, variations of 2/2 twill.

 

End note musings:

I had a couple conversations with friends at this Summer Coronet which have really stuck with me. Thinking about peerages in the Society.

I was talking with a newcomer about the meanings of different belts in the SCA, and a friend walked by wearing two belts, a white and a green. It was a perfectly timed example to show that you can be multiple things at once.

Later I went up to this same friend while we were watching the fighting and talked about conversing with this newcomer. My friend, the Knight and Apprentice, said of both his belts “I am but a student.”

Well, this rang a very familiar chord with me. In my mundane life in order to do our job, we have to take very rigorous tests in order to get a license from the Federal Government. It is a common saying in the industry that this is a “License to Learn”.  After almost ten years of having mine that rings more true now than I ever imagined when I earned the industry license.

I have heard several phrases over the years how a peerage is a steppingstone, the real learning now begins, etc. But somehow this friend’s simple statement “I am but a student” was the most powerful, and the most thought provoking.

Later that night another friend was sitting vigil for their very first peerage. As is custom she had lots of visitors over the course of the evening. When it came time for my visit, I brought up the conversation with the Knight/Apprentice, and how it had gotten me thinking. We had a good talk about the crossover of things we have learned in our mundane careers, and what we have learned in the SCA.

So, my personal crossover is that a peerage is a license to learn.