trade for stockings?

[ursula]

I feel like knitting some stockings. Does anyone want to trade an SCA craft for late-period stockings? (Garb's always nice, but I'd consider other trades, too.)

Now is also a good time to remind me about a project, if we've discussed a trade in the past.

Comments

[holyschist]

Ooooooh. I am not sure what SCA skills I have that would make good long-distance trades, though. Possibly embroidery, if you were interested and it wasn't something ridiculous like goldwork.

[ursula]

You'd be an easy person to knit stockings for, since if I remember your past costuming posts rightly, we're around the same height. (I'm 5'3".) I'd need your shoe size and the length of your foot from heel to toe. And maybe some general guidelines on colour?

I'd be into a simple embroidered pouch to hold my wallet when I'm doing sixth-century stuff. I don't think anything like that survives, but you could borrow a motif from the Bathilde embroidery. Calligraphy & illumination or some basic non-SCA web design might also be options?

[holyschist]

I am about 5'3"! Yeah, I think I could do one or more of those things. Let's talk about it in a month or so after I am less crazed and can hopefully sit down and plan out how to do all the things I've said I'd do and GET THEM DONE.

[ursula]

OK! I'd like to set up knitting this week for August conferences, so if you can give me pointers about what you would like sooner, that would be helpful.

[holyschist]

Okay, um. Shoe size is 8, I think? Maybe 8.5. I'll take a measurement when I get home. I like pretty much all the colors except brown and white, but I have a particular fondness for red/maroon/russet/blue. What fiber are you planning to use?

[ursula]

Probably a sock-weight wool. Would fractional synthetics for washability be a plus, or a minus?

[holyschist]

Hmmm. I like being able to chuck my socks in the washing machine, but it's not a necessity.

[ursula]

Your first sock is nearing the toe, so now would be a good time to take a measurement.

[holyschist]

Ack, sorry I flaked! Will be on the road today, but I can take a measurement this evening.

[holyschist]

*still flakey* Heel to toe is 9.5". We should talk about what I'm making for you!

[ursula]

That's about what I guessed from your earlier comments on shoe size, so with luck they will fit! I finished the first sock and am about a third of the way through the second, though I expect I'll slow down a lot now that I'm not going to hours of math talks every day.

Did any of my earlier suggestions sound like fun projects?

[holyschist]

I'm kind of liking the idea of embroidery right now, and time-wise that's probably the most similar. I guess I would need the size you want, preferred fabric/thread/colors, and if there's a particular type of pouch you'd like (do we know anything about 6th century pouches) and any motifs/embroidery styles you particularly like (bears?)? I can do a pattern sketch before I start working, to make sure it's what you want.

[ursula]

It should hold my wallet and phone (the phone is about 4.5" tall, the wallet is about 4" wide, and together they're a bit over an inch thick). I'd suggest adapting a motif from Bathilde's tunic:

http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/TunicBalthild.html

It's about a century too late, but beggars can't be choosers. I prefer natural fibers (linen, wool, silk), but am not picky about how they are combined.

I don't know of any extant pouches from this period (and I haven't turned up any late Roman ones, either). Dress in Anglo-Saxon England talks about ivory rings which may have been used to frame a pouch; at least one was covered in fabric. (Kentish fashion was probably fairly close to Merovingian fashion, and has the advantage that people write about it in English. Still wishing I knew some German!)