Another look back - It's not just embroidery...

Since I am right now in the boring "research" phase on two projects (for one the design has gone to the person who requested the project, for the other I have another week or so to finalize my design), I don't have much to talk about... so it's time for another look back.

Starting in December 2008, I knit a silk bag based on several existing ones from the 14th Century. (A project diary and link to the documentation are here.)

The inspiration for the project were several bags housed in Sion and Chur.  They are described in two books: Richard Rutt's A History of Hand Knitting, and Brigitta Schmedding's Mittelalterliche Textilien in Kirchen und Klöstern der Schweiz : Katalog, (no, I don't read German, I managed a general idea of what was said in that book about the bags by use of Google Translate, and numerous posts by other knitters).  I developed a design to incorporate acorns (an element of my household's badge).  The thread is Rainbow's Elegance (perle 8 silk) and it was knit with 5-0 needles. 

This was a fun project, though I'm not sure I'll do something quite this fine gauge again.  On the other hand, there's a knitted tube of unknown purpose pictured in Tissus D'Egypte that has called to me on more than one occasion.  I have a chart, and even yarns ... just need some time to work on my color work.... 

Meanwhile, some more photos of the relic bag:

Happy Thursday

It has been a slow crafting week so far.  Monday was early bed to be up early to open the polls. Tuesday there was some knitting (and some un-knitting and re-knitting), and I did pin up the hem on a skirt I've been occasionally working on. Today there was a little knitting, but not much else.

So, here's this week's status of projects in progress and "on deck":

Current project list/status (SCA/Historic):

• Motifs for coronation cloaks (different coronation) -- The two that are done were blogged about here.  I've started the outlining for the next one.  There was some more stitching on this, but I really need to knuckle under and get these onto the DONE page.
• Marshall Hanging -- the very large Bayeux inspired piece that I've been working on (on and  off) for just about forever.  Deadline, June some time summer 2016.  

• Hem stitched square -- Now 3 sides are done and the fourth one started.  I think this one has officially gone to "in stasis." 

• Additional couching & laid work pieces. The June 2016 deadline is for a very special presentation to the East Kingdom embroidery guild, Keepers of Athena's Thimble.  In addition to the master work of the Marshall Hanging, I need supporting pieces in other forms of laid and couched work.  This is what the timeline work has been about.  The items will have their own bullet points soon.  One of the first deadlines on my timeline is this coming Saturday -- the convent stitch piece design is to be in the contact's email.  Primary element has been determined and final design work will probably be tonight or tomorrow.
• Garb.  I have this lovely black silk for a tunic for my husband -- one which will have plenty of stitching on it.  Also in planning are a couple more coifs -- and shifts and shirts. Hope to have something ready for us both for an event in December. 

Current project list/status (Modern)

• Skirts for work.  One skirt that had been languishing in my studio has had some work done, and now just needs a hem (that's the one I pinned up).  I also have some lovely blue and white fabric waiting to be the next skirt. Yes, you're right, no change here. 

• Bay of Fundy Scarf.  Proceeding well.  This is excellent travel work -- it fits nicely in a project bag and is easy to pull out during lunch.  The first ball of yarn is about 1/2 to 2/3 done and I'm happy with how it's going.  Progress pictures will be on a Tuesday coming soon.
• Gift knitting.  I don't take on a lot of knitting for gifts, especially with my usual policy of only having one knitting project in progress at a time, but I found some lovely yarn at Rhinebeck for a scarf for a friend for an EOYHOYC* gift so that will enter rotation.  I've spent some time on Ravelry and I think I know which pattern I'm going to use.  I was meant to wind the yarn and get started on this, but it didn't happen yet, by the end of this weekend, for sure. 
• Knitted Salto fingerless gloves from Craftsy kit using Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend.  This was also finished and worn at Rhinebeck. I've been loving them.  They will probably be Tuesday's post, then to the Modern DONE page. The rest of the extra skein will go to a preemie hat for donation -- some day :)
• Studio project. Yes, the studio is in good shape, but I do still have that wall of desk and closets to finish organizing.  I did get the desk cleaned up and the new computer set up.  Next up is to get the WiFi booster set up, and the closets cleaned up, but this is doing well.  Every time I work in there I try to do a little more of the organizing as well. .

Blog notes:

• Still working on a three day a week pattern -- Monday for SCA/Medieval/Renaissance related; Tuesday for post 1600 to modern related and Thursdays for status updates.
• I've begun building the "DONE" pages, and moved links around a bit.  The "main categories" are to the right now -- that's the main labels.  Click on one and see all the posts with that label.  Down below are *all* the labels I've used.  
• I'm also considering a couple other pages -- one for links to museums and other excellent web resources, and one for a bibliography (with appropriate links).  

So, that's it for my plans for the coming weeks.  Now back to designing.

*EOYHOYC - End of Year Holiday of Your Choice -- a designation that started out kind of tongue in cheek but has come, for me, to express that I don't care what you call it, the end of the modern calendar year is an excellent time to spend time with family -- both blood and chosen -- and that's what the end of the year holidays are all about. 

Research tool box -- Google Images

This week I started the research and design for one of the pieces I am doing as supporting items for my Expert panel.  Because it is a surprise item, I can't talk much about the specific item, so I thought I'd say a few things about research. Today I'll talk about using Google Images.

For the project in question, I was given certain parameters (the embroidered item must represent "X").  Let's say "X" is an acorn (it's not, but let's pretend... oh, I see how this is going to go, I'm going to wind up with *two* projects).

Next, I want to have the project have a look appropriate to the person's persona time and place.  Mine is 12th Century and since the acorn is part of my Household badge, we'll use 12th Century.  Next I went to Google Images and typed "12th Century acorn."  Lots of hits.  Most of them not actually on point.  Many items not actually 12th Century, many not actually showing an acorn, but a few good hits.  Many of those good hits are on Pinterest these days.  That's ok as long as you follow the links and get to actual content.  Pinterest is both a boon and a bane to researching.  I happened to find this link to a file on Wikicommons.  I'll be filing that away for future research, though it may be a bit busy for my current design thoughts.  It does purport to be 12th Century, though, and certainly depicts acorns, so it's worth remembering for more info.

For the actual project, I did find a Pinterest link to a manuscript from the correct century with an illustration of the element(s) desired, and I'm pretty happy with it.  I was having trouble getting more information -- several Pinterest boards linked to the same broken link so I wasn't finding the actual source of the item.  That's when I used Google Image search again.  Now, I use a Windows machine, and I'm afraid I don't know how to do this on anything running a different OS, but I"m sure there's a way:  I right clicked on the image and selected "Search Google for this Image."  Another way is to save the image to your computer then, in Google Images click on the camera icon to search by image and upload it,  Using this, I found a link to a digitized version of the book the image came from.  With this I had the documentation I was looking for to be able to cite the source of the image.

Searching on Google Images can be a powerful tool.  Sometimes it takes a few tries to get some useful images out of the search (try "Medieval" or "Renaissance" instead of the century, for instance), and even the good hits will take some more research to determine if the image is what you're looking for, but it's a good jumping off point.  Keep in mind that it is a *start* but far from a *finish* for good research and documentation.  Another problem, of course is the rabbit hole.  For instance in the example above -- created just for doing this post, I have found an image that just yells at me to have something done with, both embroidery and the brain space going "look at that hood."

Now, I'm off to look at some more possibly 12th century acorns... I do have a couple other supporting projects to design.