Wow, its been a while since I last caught up on things but the world has been busy. In the book department I finished #26 which was AWESOME!!! and then read #27 On Raven's Wings which is a Poe inspired short story anthology. I'm now reading #28 which is Cool for Cats. I have been busy making presents. The biggest of which was the belated baby gift for american_knight and duchess_asa of a personally designed Captain America Shield Blanket.

( Blanket )

I also made a cowl for Bryan, a thingy for Shanda, a Scarf for my cubemate and I'm working on a pair of socks for mel. Plus I've been working on a pair of socks for myself. So I've been busy in the crafty department.

( More pictures of projects behind the cut )

Work was a bit stressful the last few weeks. I've been trying to close things out for the year and meeting some resistance to change on other things. I wasn't supposed to be in the office this week but I clocked in 12 hours over days. Along with work stress Benton has been biting again. We haven't found a trigger other than transitions between tasks at daycare. He's been actively teething for weeks it seems and well things are getting kind of dire at daycare that we are now having to take some more radical action. My personal fear and real life worry is that we will get kicked out of this daycare for an "aggressive" kid even though he's uber sweet most of the time. Its been a trial and I've had to come pick him up more than once from daycare way early. Sighs. The joys of parenthood.

Other than that I have been getting back to the gym and have been meeting some fitness goals I have set. I'm now running 2 miles of intervals at a crack..not very fast but I'm still running the whole way. I've also been working really hard on my core and my stoopid pulled muscle is behaving itself. The fitness has meant that even though the scale isn't moving in the direction I want the clothes are starting to fit better and that is really what matters most.

We are having a mostly small Xmas. Have a few folks over for Xmas Eve and for Xmas day. I hope to get out and run tomorrow and try to get out for runs or walks with the boy the rest of the week or so we are off. I've been baking pies this evening and working on mel's socks. My goal is to finish the one sock for Xmas and the second sock for new years.

Oh, also in news I've stepped down as Seneschal and am now the emergency deputy. Still helping out and working on somethings but its kinda nice to not be in manager mode with things. I'm very happy I stepped in to help but I'm also very happy to be back to doing my own things. I've missed not hitting knit night every week. Seriously missed it.

Oh and in other SCA news I took swordmage as my student. It was done at scribble since the Pas was cancelled due to field conditions but her head of house was there to accept the wereguild I got and I made her a nifty pennanular brooch with some of my glass beads on it to ID her as "mine". So if things work out in 6mos-1 year we will discuss apprenticeship.

( Student Stuff )

So, yes, we've been busy...seriously...way busy. Glad for some down time now. I will try to post more and probably shorter posts as the new year starts. All good.

Well, things are done, it was a great weekend of family ,friends, food, frolic and fun. I'm in such a good headspace right now that I think I could take over the world without trying. Seriously, awesome feeling. My biggest fear was that Asa wouldn't like the masterwork and wouldn't wear it. But the reaction was priceless from TRM and the crowd gave the biggest collective oooooh that I have ever witnessed. So, all good and she was wearing it with pride on Sunday!

OMG!!! I was so happy and ecstatic that bertana surprised me with a visit! Woot!!!!!


For those in far locales...here is my mastwork, an 11th Century Viking/Rus Chatelaine with a Toiletries Kit



Here's the Documentation:
11th Century Viking/Rus Women’s Châtelaine with Toiletry Kit

This piece is based upon finds of châtelaines, toiletry kits and similar items from Novgorod, Russia from the 10th -13th Centuries. Novgorod was part of the major trade route from Viking Scandinavia to the Middle East. Toiletry kits such as this included an ear scoop, tweezers and nail pick suspended from a châtelaine by S-shaped rings. Similar kits were found in Viking graves of both sexes. This piece is made to be hung from the brooches of a women’s hängerrock.

The châtelaine was inspired by the double horse head style of amulets of the time but was personalized for HRM Asa with double raven heads. This particular style of raven head was also found in Novgorod. The motif was carried onto the styling of the bone ear scoop.

The châtelaine and nail pick were sand cast from brass, using carved wooden masters; the tweezers were forged from brass sheet. These same techniques were used in the construction of the originals.

All good. And extended version after a few meetings.

Well, I was doubtful but I made it almost the entire day. I was tired when I left work but the drive and being home kinda woke me up a bit. I still took a nice hour or so nap. Mel was also tired when he got home and it was kemp nap hour for a while. The girls were very happy to have a snuggly mom. I watched a bit of tv. Watched Ivan and Gallant keg beer for my vigil and dinked around. I did work on the masterwork a bit. Still have one last design decision to make before the heavy work tommorrow. I have gift basket stuff to finish tonight and to laundry. I need to get packed up for the weekend, though we've modified our plans slightly. We're not gonna stay for feast...we're gonna go to court and then head home on saturday. I have too much work to do on the masterwork still and tuesday is my cut off day. Since I really need to work on the house. Anyone who would like to help clean and set up for the vigil between tuesday night and friday day, please contact me by email. I'm not talking scrubbing floors..we have lots of clutter and things that have to be shuffled around to make things look neat. Plus decorating for the occasion and dusting.

I also have bunches of other things like a necklace to make and not to bug my husband since he still has to finish my boots. sighs...not enough time. Well, here's to getting productive today and carrying that on through the next 7 days. sighs.

My throat is still irritated but I'm thinking its allergy driven since I took some benedryl last night its not so harsh. I'll probably get back on the allergy meds and skip the asthma ones for a bit to see how I do.

Well, Thursday was not too bad...work was not great but I survived. Had to pick mel up and then go get the truck from the dealership. The new building doesn't have parking if you're picking a car up and that was annoying. Pulled out of the dealership and I saw stuff pouring out of the truck undercarriage. Had mel pull over and after a bit of investigation we got reminded about the baseball sized hole in the muffler which was holding water which would then blow out when its in use. Need to fix that after estrella. Got home and felt, well, not busy enough and had a hard time focusing. I did manage to pull together stuff for my classes and then work on my masterwork. So that is good. Not as far along as I wanted but its okay. I did almost all of my laundry and have a load and some blankets to go. I was happy with things by the end and that was good. Being a technical copier for drawings I was having issues scaling things correctly but eventually got it. I had used my sketch from many weeks ago and then redrew with some modifications and mirroring. Though I left them at home, I was going to use copier fu to work on the actual final piece. Well, I may be able to hit kinkos tomorrow to work on it too. I'd like to have that out of the way. That would be nice.

well, off to meetings...its already been a busy day.

Thanks to scribe_ari