Pennsic Projects, Finished

I've finished (or mostly finished) some of the lingering SCA projects recently!

First is the Gunnister Purse, finally done. I finished the knitting last week while we were in Illinois, but the drawstrings and tassels have taken awhile. The drawstrings are fingerloop braids, which require a period of uninterrupted time - and I wound up doing two sets because I thought the first (5 loops, with a red one) were too reminiscent of sock monkeys. This 3-loop braid of brown and white looks better, and uses up the last of my brown yarn.

I modified the design just a bit. The original has a single drawstring; I added the second and the tassels to make it look a bit older, since I'm most likely to use it in the SCA. The original was found with a coin from 1690, which puts it pretty far out of the SCA period, but it's a nice example of early knitting, and seems to resemble earlier work, at least to my untrained eye. (By the way, here's a really great list of pictures and pages on early pouches of all kinds.)

Now my current knitting plans involve finishing projects. First, finishing some things for my Secret Pal - then going on to knock off some of the many works in progress.

I also finished a strip of tablet weaving that I'd hoped to have done before war. It's supposed to be a copy of one of the Snartemo bands, although now that the war's over I have second thoughts. (The "Advanced Viking Tablet Weaving" instructor said that many bands which were thought to be two-hole patterns have proven to be four-hole patterns with two threads rotted away. So I'll have to look for recent thoughts on these bands.) But one way or another, it's a nice looking band and easy to weave. I've used Louet Gems here, and wound up with a band that's about an inch wide.

It's going to be a strap on the water bottle Aaron made for me. I just need to figure out how to attach it and how long it needs to be, and turn it over to Aaron for a cork. Then I'll have a lovely (and slightly scary, thanks to the dog) water bottle that will keep me well-hydrated at events.

All future textile projects may be on hold for awhile. Tomatoes are coming in like crazy, and I'm learning that they can be hard to give away - everyone at work has a plant or two of their own. I blanched and froze a bunch of sweet corn last night, and tonight my attention turns to cheese and peaches. But I need to get back to tablet weaving, soon.