What a Week It's Been!

I ran an Ithra session and managed to lose a friend (hopefully temporarily) in the process.  Rather than vent publicly about what happened at the time, let's just say that she needed a serious attitude adjustment and I called her on it, then relieved her of her duties, so I'm the bad guy.  Sorry...

But we had a great time overall.  There were a bunch of classes offered in a variety of subjects:

Blackwork...

This was a very advanced needleworker doing her thing, not the exact pattern the other students were doing.  Unfortunately, most of the other students had very few stitches done when I went around taking photos, so I opted for this more interesting piece instead.

14th century Welsh Food

Funny story about this lady.  She walks up to me on Saturday and says, "How's Kelly and Joe?"  I said, "uh..."  I didn't realize that she knew Kelly and his cousin, Joe.  Every summer Kelly would do Boy Scout stuff with Joe, and her father was the Scout Master, and her brothers were in Scouts, too.  To make it more fun, Joe's mom was trying very hard to play matchmaker between Kelly and this lovely lady.  It wasn't a match and I think we're all happier where we are now.

16th century embroidery...

OK, it doesn't look like much, but they were learning something.  I think they ended up learning the five basic stitches of Medieval needlework--not actually limited to 16th century--and a couple others I'd never heard of.  

Shoemaking...

This is one that I have wanted to do for a long time, especially since I really need some comfortable shoes for eventing that won't cost a hundred bucks (or more), and it might be nice to have something custom made for my ridiculously wide feet.  One other student stepped up and we compared feet--hers are also short and wide...basically round...just like mine.  Bekah said she'd make me some.

And one of the instructors spent some spare time doing some Nalbinding, a type of needlework that involves yarn and a yarn needle (traditionally bone needles) that creates a series of loops and knots to make garments, like hats, socks, and mittens...

The organizer of the event was really tired after putting in a lot of long hours and the heat was making all of us a bit sleepy, and I caught her napping by the front door.

After the event was over, I pulled out the GeoMate to see if there was something nearby...and there WAS!  I followed it over a river and through the woods, and all I got was stings from mosquitoes, blackberry brambles and nettles.  Not having my phone with me was a set-back since I couldn't read the hints, which might have led me to finding it, but I had plugged it in back at camp.  After about 15 minutes of searching, I gave up and headed back, where Bekah introduced me to a natural nettle sting remedy--bracken fern spores and water (in this case, spit).  It worked for a little while, but then the stings started to burn again.  After a shower and a couple other remedies, it was better by morning.

We decided to take the peninsula route rather than pay the bridge toll, fight traffic through Tacoma and Seattle, and arrive frazzled and grumpy.  Instead, we headed up the country roads, took the ferry across, and drove back on surface streets to her house...never once getting on the dreaded I-5 until I left her place to go back to mine.