Cutting out the muslin for my new arming cotte.

We were over at Clare and Eldrid’s last weekend and one of the projects worked on was my helm.  Gaston got some great in progress pictures of Master Eldrid working on my helm and they are now up in my gallery.  Check ‘em out!

Keeping up with my marshalate responsibilities has been taking up most of my copious free time but I’m sure things will be lightening up pretty soon.  I know I still owe you guys pictures of my Venetians (I promise they are coming!) but I’m already moving on to my new doublet.  Practice last week just reaffirmed that I’m really tired of not having my spaulders for C&T and my old fencing doublet is just too old to make adding points to it worth it.  So I really need to finish my new one.   Maybe I could finish start the alterations for my other doublet that I mentioned last month (or the new mending I picked up at Sapphire Joust…).  Two new doublets!?!  I don’t think I’d know what to do with myself.

This past weekend Wistric, Letia, and I piled in the car and headed up to St Pyr’s (a small local collegium) in Black Diamond.  It was a small, quiet event and I had an excellent time.  I taught the C&T Marshal 101 class to a larger group than I was expecting and spent the rest of the day enjoying Grettir’s I.33-Liechtenauer Symposium.  I thoroughly enjoyed his class and will be linking to his class notes once he’s had a chance to post them online.

I think the highlight of my day though was Letia’s now infamous creek incident but since I teased her fairly mercilessly on the drive back I will refrain (for now) from teasing her online.

Sunday was fighter practice and the baronial meeting.  I did some teaching, worked on some C&T, stayed for the meeting, and all in all had a great time.  We even went out for sushi with friends afterward.

In other news I spent last night working on my upcoming Foundations Revealed article.  So far I’m ahead of schedule but I need to make sure I stay that way.   I’m also working on getting my recreating Elizabethan bodies tutorial up on the website by the end of the week.

This week I made it out to not one but two practices.  I know that’s not a big deal for some folks but I’ve only rarely done more than one practice in a week even if that week also included Baronial Practice.  I was a little worried I wouldn’t have the energy for two practices back to back (Wednesday and Thursday) but once I got going I realized that wasn’t going to be a concern.  Today I’m only a little tired.  It’s a good, satisfied tired so I think I’ll keep this up.  Plus the light patina I acquired over January and February are now mostly gone so that’s kind of gratifying to see.  Sadly though I still can’t see in the dark so I’m probably going to have to make 8pm-ish my personal cut off unless there is space to fight directly under the lights.

More later.  Tonight I have some more work to do on my upcoming Foundations Revealed article and there are some software updates for the site that I’ve been putting off that I need to take care of.

The fighting was a lot of fun, even if my head wasn’t in the right space.  With the wait while people moved their cars of the field so we could start fighting and a few other things that went on I found it very hard to focus on the fighting.  I still did very well in the speed tourney, making it into the double elim.  I did not do as well in the double elim as I did in the speed tourney but I know the adjustment I need to make.  It was very different than the Ymir tournament that I am used to, but it was no less enjoyable.  The only real drawback for me was that the tourney style that was run didn’t really allow for the personal evaluations I like to be able to do at Ymir so I will need to find another tourney where I can make those evaluations.  All in all though I had a great time.  I did end up missing the tavern brawl melees so I could attend a vigil but I made it back in time to watch the Free Scholar prize and get in some pickups.

One of my favorite parts of the event though was getting to spend some time chatting with people I do not get to see often.  Lately it seems that when I’m at an event I’m always running to the next thing and I never get the chance to really stop and talk to my friends.  It’s a bit disappointing because so many of us seem so spread out and busy now that we only get to see each other in passing at events.  This event though I really tried to take more time to hang out and chat.  I still didn’t get to chat for as long as I would have liked with some but it was still really nice and really enjoyable.  I’m going to make a point of slowing down more at events in the future so I can spend more time chatting with the people I went to the event to see in the first place.

The last highlight of the event was finally getting off my bum to talk with Master Eldrid about some heavy armour I’ve been meaning to commission.  We talked about a helm, gauntlets, and some other small things.  I want to get back out on the field with my spear for wars and I’d like to pick up a few more authorizations so I can fight in some Pas.  I’m pretty excited about it.

The only low light of the event was how late it was when I left.  Gaston had been onsite Friday night to guard for Melisent la Ruse’s vigil.  I had decided to daytrip so I could watch the puppies and we had both decided to come home Saturday night so we could have Sunday to put stuff away and recoup.  We took the dayshade down and were packed up by 5:30pm and that was the time I headed up to court.  Baronial Court was ending and I felt rather guilty for not knowing that it had already started.  I usually make it a point to stay for court.  You never know who will be getting an award and everyone deserves to have people there to witness their recognition.  Getting called into court is a very special moment, regardless of the award being given and I think it’s important to be there.  But I digress.  Royal Court was set up once Baronial Court ended and it started not too long thereafter, probably around 6 or 6:30pm.  I enjoyed court and I was happy that I got to stay to see Andreas’s Pelican and Liva join the Order of the Laurel.  Livia was the last piece of business and I left as soon as court was over.  Now I expect Ymir courts to be long.  There’s a lot of people and a lot of business.  But leaving site at 8pm to drive 2 hours home by myself has totally made it on my Murtaugh List*.  I got home and immediately told Gaston we needed to either stay on site next year or get a hotel room.  My vote is for staying on site.  Not only would we be waking up at the event but I would also have all evening to hang out and chat.

Sadly I forgot my camera so there aren’t any pictures.  I guess that makes two low lights.  Next time I’ll make sure I bring it and the Flip.

* Murtaugh List: From How I Met Your Mother.  A Murtaugh List is a list of all the things you are now too old to do.  It is a reference to the Lethal Weapon movies.  In this series Sergeant Roger Murtaugh was Danny Glover’s character and he spends most of the movies running around saying “I’m too old for this sh**!”

I’ve been feeling that way myself lately.  And I’ve come to the conclusion that sometimes it may just be better to shelve a project rather than to keep working on something that is no longer bringing you the joy it once was.  Sometimes its better to shelve it and free yourself up to take on other projects that will bring you joy.  After all, isn’t the fact that they bring us happiness and some measure of joy and fulfillment the whole reason we do these projects in the first place?  Besides there is nothing that says you can’t come back to that old project at a later date.

So I’ve decided to step back from the projects that haven’t been bringing me joy so that I can focus on the things that are.

What am I putting on hold?

1. The eBooks. Working on them and selling them through the site just hasn’t been as fun as I thought it would be so I’m shelving the project.  What will I do with the two I already have?  I’m not sure yet but I’m pondering several options.
2. The Flanders Gown. It was so much more fun when I started it but once the fur went down hill it just wasn’t as inspiring anymore.  Since all it needs are sleeves I will probably finish it but I’ll do something more simple that I had originally planned.
3. Commissions. I’ve enjoyed working on the commissions I’ve taken but now that my most recent one is done I’ve decided to take some time for myself for a while.  I have about 20 buttons to make and that’s it.  I’m going to finish them in the next couple weeks and then I’m going to focus on some personal projects that have really been calling to me.  The calendar will probably open up again for commissions at some point in the future but for now I’m going to focus on personal projects.

What am I still deciding on?

1. The Etsy Shop. I just don’t know what to do about it.  On the one hand I’ve enjoyed it and I have some big ideas for changes to it but on the other I’m not sure that the things I want to produce fit in best at Etsy.  Still pondering this one.

What am I going to do more of?

1. Fight. Fighting has been bringing me a lot of joy lately and I want to free up more time for it.
2. Sew and Embroider for myself. I have several personal sewing projects that are calling to me.  Plus less free time has meant less time for my embroidered jacket.  I worked on it recently and it reminded me how much I’ve enjoyed this project and really want to free up more time for it.
3. Enjoy the fresh air and warm sun. This winter was rather stressful but the thing that always made me feel better was going outside and walking around the building.  Now that its starting to warm up being outside is even more pleasurable.  I want to spend more time outside, go to fighter practice in the daylight, move my workouts outdoors, and get in a little diving.  I can’t wait for Spring.
4. Write. I’ve really enjoyed the FR and YWU articles that I’ve written and I have several ideas for new tutorials and HMA articles that I’ve been neglecting.  I have two more FR articles in the works and I want to get started on at least one of the HMA articles after Ymir.  I might even see about teaching at summer University.

Not much happened with the Flanders gown this weekend.  We helped friends move into their (very beautiful) brand new house on Saturday, Saturday and Sunday I had to go into work to check on a freezer that decided to start acting up Saturday, and I spent Sunday afternoon running a low grade fever, drinking lots of juice, and working on a web design project.  I’ve been thinking though that I would really like to wear the gown to KASF in a couple of weeks (Feb 5th).  Everything is cut out and the interlining has been stiffened so I really think I could finish it up by then if I set some time aside for it.  So my plan for tonight is to make sure everything is ironed and sketch out a rough schedule for myself.

The other thing I’ve been considering over the past week is what to do about my site and my expanding costuming interests.  I’ve been branching out more and more into 19th and early 20th century fashions.  However discussing them and putting them up on “Elizabethan Mafia” seems out of place.  I’d like to continue to keep Elizabethan Mafia focused but at the same time I’d like to start discussing my other costuming endeavors.  Currently I have several options running around in my head:

1. Just keep everything at Elizabethan Mafia.  I’ve spent six years building a following here and this is already how everyone knows me.
2. Make a second site dedicated specifically to 18-20th Century costuming and keep my 14th-16th Century costuming and HMA research at Elizabethan Mafia.
3. Refocus Elizabethan Mafia around my HMA research and move all my costuming to a new site.
4. Build an entirely new site from that would cater to all my interests and redirect traffic to it from Elizabethan Mafia.

Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Am I over thinking it?  Am I crazy?  (Most likely but it would be nice if you all told me no.  )

I did make it to practice last week although sadly it appears last week was my goob practice*.  I forgot my contacts, forgot just about everything else, felt sick, etc…etc…etc.  I still fought just not particularly well.  Ah well, these things happen.  I just need to make sure that they don’t happen again this week.

I did spend some time working on my Flanders gown this weekend.  I didn’t get a lot done but I did get the remaining pieces cut out so I can finally get started on the assembly.  I also think I’ve changed my mind about the sleeves again.  I really need to get this project done just so I can stop changing my mind about it.  I also fit my shell jacket mock up.  It’s currently still up on my dress form as I debate making some other alterations to it but otherwise I’m pretty happy with it.

*goob practice:  That particular practice when coming back to regular practice from a break when a fighter seemingly forgets everything they’ve ever known.  It may be the first practice back or it may wait until practice 2 or 3 to strike.

It was cold but I layered a long sleeve shirt under my usual armor and an over sized sweatshirt over it and I stayed pretty toasty for the duration of practice.

I fought Jama with rapier and buckler, Percy with rapier and dagger, and Wistric with rapier and dagger.  When we have light again in the spring I’ll start video taping my fights for later review and analysis.