Second Hand Stores

It's amazing what you can find. I had a donation to make to a second hand store, and decided to go inside after I did that. I went to Arc's Value Village on Penn Avenue South in Minneapolis. They have a craft section which I usually visit. In a small plastic bag marked at the value price of $0.99, I found two unused skeins of Splendor silk in beige, an ideal color for stalks of wheat, which I have in my corset embroidery project. I also picked up a pair of leather tan Land's End Mary Janes in my size that make passable period shoes which were nearly brand new. I can dye them black if I don't like tan. So now I can cross that off my list. I thought of a couple things to add:
18. Make a girdle book
19. Learn how to do smocking, and how it is combined with blackwork
20. Make an outfit for an infant that can be let out as the child grows (I just found out a non-SCA friend is pregnant and she requested an outfit for the baby).

Interesting Reading

I needed to look up the Magna Carta from 1215 for a research paper in my American Legal Systems class and found the following provision:

There shall be standard measures of wine, ale, and corn (the London quarter), throughout the kingdom. There shall also be a standard width of dyed cloth, russett, and haberject, namely two ells within the selvedges. Weights are to be standardised similarly.

It would be even more interesting to find out the measurement from the 1215 ell and if it differed from the ell in the Spanish tailor's book from 1598.

More Taginne Cooking

I cooked in the taginne again today. This time it was orange chicken stuffed with couscous, currants, almonds and garlic. I also made more couscous to take to work and share. I did the couscous on the stove top, also with currants and almonds. I cheated a little on the orange for the chicken and used frozen orange concentrate and mixed in ground cloves.
















Things are going well on my large embroidery project. I finally gave up on making a frame and bought a frame. It was less than $1o, and I'm satisfied with it. I still have the problem of the ends being pinched together when it is put together. What I don't have, and don't miss, are the tension problems. The frame, from, Michael's, came with split dowels which I just wrapped some of my embroidery tape around and that fixed it. It's lightweight so my floor stand doesn't have a problem supporting it. It still plan on making small frames for anyone who wants them for blackwork, and I found what I hope is the right tool for the job. I'm a big believer in having the right tool for the job.
On the A.S. 50 project, I'm temporarily out of things to add to my list so feel free to give me any suggestions.

Taginne cooking

I cooked in the taginne last week. I made a game hen, beef sirloin tips and couscouse with currants and mint from the left over juice in the pan. The couscous was delicious. I had a co-worker try it who never had couscous before and convince her that it was really good. I tried natural wood charcoal for the first time. I found that I need a lot more of it because it wasn't staying hot long enough. I started out using standard briquettes and then ran out so I switched halfway through. I liked the natural wood charcoal, but I need to use more. I've had a requst to make orange chicken for a friend, so I may be doing that tomorrow. This time, I'm going to make the couscous first again with currants but with cloves this time and I'm going to stuff the chicken with it before cooking. For the orange flavor, I'm using concentrated orange juice as a brush on marinade. I might throw in some bit of fresh orange in the couscous stuffing also.

Iron Man

Go see it! And stay through the end of the credits, trust me, you want to. I took my friend Kim who thought she would not like it and did. She's a fluffy romance movie type and liked this, and it was hardly a fluffy romance movie. Besides that, Robert Downey Jr. looks really good in a t-shirt. This has to be my favorite pic though.