12:36 PM Sherwood Forest Faire Opening Weekend 2013

Since the first day Sherwood Forest Faire opened I have been dying to get to take a trip down to the Austin area to attend.  I had heard so many things about what kind of faire it was expected to be and then I heard so many rave reviews once the first season finished.  The only bummer was that half the faire run overlapped Scarborough Renaissance Festival (Scarby).  And March is always a Very busy time for me as there are several cons and festivals I participate in happening all throughout the month.  Not to mention March is my last minute preparations month for Scarby.  I was pretty convinced I would never get to attend Sherwood.  Then they moved the season up so that Sherwood concluded just before Scarby began.  And at that point my only problem was getting over camping in the cold.  I am Not a fan of cold!  And I'm no where Near prepared for it.  Lucky for me, this weekend turned out to be rather moderate.  We were expecting a deluge of rain, so the camp site was light, but we had an Amazing time anyways.  The rain gods smiled upon us and didn't really let us have it until the wee hours of the morning when everyone had pretty much decided to go to bed anyways.  The rain gods were also kind enough to stop the rain just before time for everyone to start waking up, so really the worst part was if you were a light sleeper and then you were probably worried your tent was going to fly to OZ.  I am not a light sleeper.  I didn't hear a thing.  I very well Could have landed in OZ and stayed asleep for all I knew.  Good thing it was just a storm and not an act of magical travel to an alternate dimension via a funnel cloud.

Here I am in my basic wool medieval dress.  I made this years ago for a 12th Night feast I attended with some SCA friends.  It is from the La Fleur de Lyse Woman of Medieval Romanesque Period 1060-1150 pattern.  If I remember correctly I made a bunch of adjustments to the fit as I wanted it to be plain like the peasant dress, but more fitted like the lady dress.  Now that I have worn the dress a few times, I may actually go back and let out some of those seams because I think it would look better.  I also want to go ahead and put some sort of embellishment on it so I feel like wearing it more often.  I have a feeling it will get more wear at Sherwood now, so I just want to make sure I enjoy wearing it.  I prefer plainer, lower class garments to highly embellished fussy ones, but this is a little too plain.  Even for me.  I have to say that I LOVED wearing the turban the whole day!  Holy crap that was incredible not having to worry about what my crazy curly hair was doing in all that damp.  Not to mention it is in a strange short transitional stage right now.  

In another Rennie life I sometimes work with a joust company.  I was a lady rider for New Riders of the Golden Age for a few years.  Two years at Scarby and one year at Norman Medieval Faire.  I also worked the kiddy warhorse rides.  This year the joust troupe contracted to work at Sherwood.  I was really torn between working and making Sherwood a play faire.  In the end I opted to play at Sherwood this season.  I haven't been able to properly play with my Rennie friends in quite some time and so I decided that was more important this time.  But of course I got to chat with my old joust friends and smoosh horsey faces.  And marvel at how the horse I rode last time at Scarby has grown.  The horse in the red and gold above...that's Abraham.  He was just a baby joust horse when I rode him.  He has grown Quite a Bit!  And he's a full time jousting horse now.  I'm so proud!  

6:15 PM This is how we Christmas

Christmas Eve is a big foodie deal in my family.  Thanksgiving is more of a formal food affair and we do have long back and forths over what food we're going to fight for to keep in the repertoire.  On Christmas Eve though, we experiment.  I can't remember exactly when we decided to do appetizers for the Christmas Eve gathering, but what I do remember is Mom being tired of cooking two large meals right after the other.  I think I was still in Junior High, or maybe I had just entered High School, but for me that translated into "more cheese balls and cookies!"  So naturally I was all for it.

These days our family gathering is much smaller than it used to be due to other parts of the family doing their own thing for the holiday.  But we still gather at one of the family homes to eat together and open presents.  Below is our Christmas table with all of our dishes.  Though apparently we were missing Mom's truffles.  For shame!

Mom is the sweets queen.  She always brings her traditional Christmas cookies and gingerbread men plus whatever other cookies or truffles she feels like throwing together.  It's not Christmas without those Christmas tree and candy cane sugar cookies.  I remember sitting around our kitchen table as a girl decorating those.  the trees have much less of those silver beebee looking candies on them now that I'm not decorating anymore.  I think our dental plans are thankful for that.

Mom also always brings the beef.  Our thinly sliced Burgandy Beef favorite was a tad overcooked this year, but it was still just as good as always.  I'm one of those people who prefers my beef on the medium to medium rare side.  I don't care what Mom said about the dish being overcooked.  I still took a baggy home with me to eat for the rest of this week.  Also seen here is the horseradish sauce that is to accompany the beef as well as my sister's shrimp dip and some cheezy things and bacon wrapped sausage appetizers.

Here we have the Mushroom plate.  

First up is my Mom's stuffed mushroom recipe and her rye bread snacks, which also have a small amount of mushroom in them.  Both of these items have been on the Christmas menu since we started doing this appetizer style meal years ago.  They're one of those items that we all insist on reprising every year.  This year I was supposed to make the stuffed mushrooms, but Mom's recipe ended up being put together by my Brother-in-Law since the makings of that recipe were one of several which were left at my house accidentally.  He did a great job with them considering we realized I got the wrong kind of Parmesan.  The greener of the stuffed mushrooms are Walnut and Spinach Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms from Foods for Long Life.  That recipe was a new one for me.  I've always wanted to add in a raw vegan option for us to try out.  I finally made it this year.  Except, I didn't have time to dehydrate the mushrooms, so they ended up getting lightly baked anyways.  They were a hit in any case, but I sure would like to try them out as they were made to be eaten sometime.  The little white bread appetizers are my sister's mushroom canapés.  If I remember correctly there's mushroom, mayo, and fried onions mixed together on that bread.  

On this next plate we have the Pumpkin Pie Wontons from food.com and Pear & Brie Tart from Beantown Prepster.

Those Pumpkin Pie Wontons were also made by my Brother-in-Law as yet another pre-prepped dish forgotten at my place, but it as it turned out, his were better than mine!  I actually made the Pear & Brie Tart, which was just Divine!  That recipe was a first for me and I was a little nervous about how it was going to work since I've never really worked with phyllo dough much, but it was very easy to put together and it tasted wonderful!  If you click on the link, there is mention of Philly Cream Cheese for the herbed cheese.  I used Boursin cheese because I never saw any such garlic herb Philly Cream Cheese.  But Boursin cheese is made like Neufchatel, which is fancy cream cheese, so it's the same thing.

I had one other item that didn't make it out to the table setting this year.  My Sweet Potato version of Perfect Parsnips from the Good Mood Food Blog.  These were another example of a pre-prepped food that was left at home, so we hurridly tried to replace them.  Unfortunately, I didn't put enough oil on them during the baking process, so they were too flour-ey.  Then after I added the oil, the cheese started over cooking, so the potatoes didn't ever crisp up.  But they tasted ok mushy, so we all snacked on them as we were cooking everything else.  By the time we were ready to put the last food on the table there wasn't even enough of the potatoes to put out.

For Christmas gifts, the adults in the family draw names for gift giving.  But we go all out for the kids.  Since my niece is the only girl child in the family, I've been making her fun costumes or purses or accessories every year for a while now.  I really enjoy it.  This year she asked for Renaissance Faire garb so she can be in costume for Scarborough Faire.  Her little brother also asked for garb as well, but he's still little enough that I think he forgot and would really rather have toys when it comes down to it.  I still made him garb.

Here they are in their new Rennie fashions:

I made my niece's dress from my tried and true Tudor Tailor patterning book.  This is actually the pattern I've used for most of my own garb.  It's simple and easy and can be worn under more embellished looks or alone.  I made it a little big so she has room to grow.  It laces on the sides and in the back and the shoulder straps are  loosely stitched so they can be adjusted as well.  The skirt is a separate piece for mixing and matching as well as full adjustment.

My nephew got a basic Tudor shirt with a collar and basic straight legged pants.  There's going to be a doublet later to fancy it up a bit.  I have all kinds of great fabric to dress him in, but since this was the first thing I made for him, I wanted to make sure I had basics first.  He should be able to grow in that shirt and the pant legs have several inches of hem to give.  Plus if he stays thin he can wear the pants as highwaters and wear cool socks with them.

I hope all of you had a great Christmas and have a Happy and Save New Year!

6:55 PM Workin' on the weekends

As if my regular Monday - Friday 9 - 6 job wasn't enough, I often like to work on the weekends too. Fortunately, I have the presence of mind to work at something fun and rewarding on the weekends, otherwise I think I'd turn into a crazy person. Wait, ummm...

So the weekend of the 19th I was off on a road trip with the boys of Hate City Pictures to Larkspur, CO for the Colorado Renaissance Festival. This is the last year of filming for their documentary Huzzah! The Movie. Being that we are Texans used to a land of Flat, we went a little crazy with the mountain photos once we hit New Mexico. Seriously, there was nearly 200 pictures of Just mountains. Here's one or two.

This is a volcano. Seriously, a volcano. See that line that spirals up? That's a road that takes you to the top. There's supposedly a giftshop up there. Did I mention I come from the land of flat?

Ooooh, pretty!

And then there's the actual Faire.











Lookie there, this faire recycles!

This guy was pretty cool. He was etching glass onsite.

This is the Marquiche. What an Amazing character!!


Me Sunday AM feeling the burn of the first day of filming an uphill faire. Oh boy was I not awake.

Me after I woke up and the sun came out. Maybe about 30 minutes later or so.

And here's the crew...




Note my striped socks. You can't buy those at any of my local faires anymore for some reason, so I was just giddy over finally getting some striped socks.

So then on the following weekend I participated in the 48 hour Film Project. I was a part of a pretty sizable team. We pulled Suspense/Thriller out of the bag along with the regular requirements everyone else had. This was my first competition/race to work, so it was all new to me. It was also my first time as 1st AD. I usually just do Continuity.

Thanks to my crewmates from Hand2Toe Creative, there's a few pictures and some video to share.

First day of shooting
The Crane

And here's my little setup.

I'm now totally portable. My tripod is lightweight, yet sturdy. It was designed for nature photographers and thus for being mobile. The mod cost me all of $5. I think I'm going to collect scarves for it so it has a little glam rock personality. I also need one more contraption to hang my clipboard from. Hmmm...

Me, outside, workin' in the heat, with my trusty straw hat. I believe this is just before the temperatures became sweltering.

This weekend will be normal, I promise. I have shopping and BBQs. And chores.

10:59 PM New endeavor - Knitting!

One of my most satisfying hobbies is costuming. I love it. I love making clothes that I can't buy anywhere else. Or well, let me rephrase that. I love making clothes that I can't Afford to buy anywhere else. That's actually how I started. I was a poor college student and I had discovered Renaissance Faires. I went to my first faire in regular clothing and that was the Last time I did so. My next faire I purchased my first chemise and bodice. I still had to wear my jeans, but that was ok, it was a start. I broke my bank on those two items and they were the cheap discounted Rentals. It was at that moment that I realized I could make my own clothing for a fraction of the cost. And I knew that it would tickle my grandmother Pink if I picked up the actual sewing bug!

Today I sew anything from medieval to 1940s vintage. Right now it is the start of the Spring Faire Season here in Texas. Scarborough Faire has begun and the season has been delightfully cool in the early parts of the day. I've even been able to wear my latest wool kirtle without melting. And since the first faire of the season always gets the creative juices flowing and I'm Still Broke, I find myself looking for ways to get Really Cool Garb done on the cheap.

My latest obsession??? Socks. Striped ones to be precise. But for now regular colored will do. Actually, on the scale of pricey garb items, socks are on the Low scale, so the fact that I'm obsessed with making my own socks is less about funds and more about the challenge of making my own freaking socks! There's just something extra satisfying about saying you made something that most people let their pocketbooks take for granted. Even more so when those items are perfectly budget friendly. I think it's because when the inevitable question of "why?!?" comes, it just feels Awesome to be able to say, "because I can."

So socks. I guess this means I have to learn to knit. Actually, I've been wanting to learn to knit for a little while now. Everyone I know knows how to crochet. Me being the one who wants to do what everyone else Isn't, I have made it my mission to learn the art of knitting. Me? Bullheaded and honery??? Naaaah!

I began this obsession quest Sunday evening. I scoured the internet for free online tutorials. I snagged several and began my work learning how to Cast On. After at least an hour of attempting not one but four different methods, I quickly decided that I was somehow handicapped towards knitting and I dramatically threw down my needles and shouted. You think I'm kidding? I actually picked them back up at least one or two more times to try again and repeated the throwing and shouting process over again until I was sufficiently defeated and ready to go to bed angry.

Tonight, however, I was saved by a video version of one of the pictorial lessons I tried the night before. The video was provided by Video Jug. It was with this video of oversized yarn and needles that I Finally realized that I was doing the knitting thing Backwards the night before and That's why it didn't work! So after I watched, and re-watched the video several times whilst performing each step, I Finally accomplished the very beginner steps of Casting On.

Then I moved on to the video of the basic knit. Now that I had the Casting On bit down, the actual knitting wasn't that hard to catch on to. Although I'm Dreadfully slow. But I did manage to get Three rows put together! And I was so excited about it that I didn't want to stop! Here's my handiwork:

Cute huh?

I think I'll be alternating practicing this knitting business with handsewing my cotehardie eyelets for the next several weeks. I doubt I'll be doing socks in the immediate future, but I'm pretty sure I'll manage one pair by the time Texas Renaissance Festival rolls around in the Fall. Eventually, I'd like to progress to knitting dainty little silk stockings, but that's Waaaaay off in the horizon. For now, I like my goal of striped socks.