So tired....

Back from Pennsic. Tired. Happy. Afraid of the giant laundry mountain.

More later, when I dig out.

Off to Pennsic

Bye, bye, intarwebz! As of tomorrow, I'm off to the Middle Ages for a little over a week.* Miss you! Mwah! Don't do anything I wouldn't do (or if you do, make sure you write a juicy post about it)!

::scurries off to pack more stuff::

*Note to self: some year, go for BOTH weeks.

Pennsic countdown

Pre-Pennsic To-Do list: (We leave Saturday 8/2 to go back out for the rest of War)

Buy rope for tent
Erect tent and wash it, let dry
Waterproof tent
Build Slat Bed!!!! (or a reasonable subsititute)
Get Futon   Found a Futon Bed at Ikea that will work
Size plastic tarp to tent footprint for groundcloth
Get painter's tarp tent floor (over plastic tarp)
Get EZ-Up to use as a sunshade
Get more rugs for tent floor
Get solar charger for cellphones
Buy 3 saris
Make 6 cholis
Make three sari petticoats
Make 2 Roman tunicae
Finish European garb for me and for D
Buy extra totes that will fit under slat bed
Get 2 more lanterns
Get 2 tall shepherd's-crook poles
Finish and bottle homemade beverages

Paging Doctor Who

Mehrit on Tribe.net and Undernet's SCA Chat passed me a link to some photos from (among other things) Pennsics past, among which I found a real gem: someone disguised their camp shower to look like the TARDIS.

Way cool!

Go here and click on the second picture from the left in the second row.

And now for my next trick...

So the broken right ankle is actually bothering me less at this moment than the left knee with the torn meniscus. That's right, the left knee that the same ortho I'm now seeing for the ankle signed off on in late December as being "ready to return to normal activities" is now back to nearly pre-treatment pain levels. Of course, it was only treated via physical therapy (which was fine by me) and what I've been asking of it lately is hardly "normal activity", but yeah, it fucking hurts. Pardon my language, yadda yadda, but this sucks.

Meanwhile, the ankle is 16 days post-break, and I'm 6 days out from my next appointment with the ortho. For those not in the loop, it was a simple break of the fibula, no displacement, no surgery, splinted within a couple hours of the break, and placed in a cast the next day. I'm supposed to not be putting any weight on it, and given that the left knee has its own issues (see above) I've been using a wheelchair. In the house, though, I've mostly been using our office chair and sort of rowing myself around with my left leg, since our place is small and cramped and difficult to maneuver a wheelchair in. And of course, we live on the second floor, so the only way I've been able to manage stairs has been on my butt, pushing myself with the left leg and using my hands on the steps and railing to push/pull myself up and down. I've limited my outings to a couple of times a week - enough to take care of necessary things I have to appear in person to do and to prevent me from succumbing to cabin fever. However, even this has been a lot to ask of the knee, apparently. (If I weighed less, it wouldn't be so much of a problem, but hey, part of how I got in this mess in the first place was as a result of attempting to exercise so as to lose weight, grrrr, and add to that the fact that I broke my ankle as a result of slipping on ice while walking as an attempt not only to lose weight but to strengthen the left leg whose trouble was at least partially a result of earlier exercise... irony, anyone?) Bottom line: I've wound up putting some weight on the broken ankle for a split second or so once in a while despite my best efforts, as I've found myself losing my balance while transferring to the toilet, to bed, etc. The first couple of times that happened, it was excruciating. Now it doesn't hurt much. I'm going to take that as a good sign. I have to be able to take comfort in something, don't I?

So.

I'm now using the wheelchair in the house, since as of last night almost any movement of the left leg results in the same sharp "catching" pain in my left knee as I was getting before the physical therapy brought that leg back to usefulness. I'm debating whether or not it is even worth contemplating attending the barony's Regular Event tomorrow. Sigh. I want to, but it's those damn stairs. I'd have to be carried down them and back up, and I'm not about to ask Dave to do it, because he's having ankle problems of his own (arthritis, it's an old and ongoing problem, a legacy of his HS wrestling days). I don't want anyone getting hurt, and if Dave got hurt then Dad and I would have no one to do things that we can't do for ourselves. If I skip the event, Dave and Mac will attend without me. The choir needs male voices, but can do without mine as there are enough female voices. Someone else can sing my solo... it will be all right, except that I will be enormously bummed. But that's life. Or at least my life. Or something. Ironically, had I skipped meetings and therefore rehearsals the past couple of weeks, I might be okay physically for tomorrow, but I probably wouldn't be too good on the music. Gah.

If by some miracle I do make it to the event, I've already decided against wearing the lovely bliaut I was planning to wear (actually half of a coordinated set for Dave and me) because I can all too easily imagine getting those swoopy sleeves caught in the wheels of my chair. Dave has wisely suggested that we save those outfits for a time when I'm on my feet again, and I agree. So they've been put aside unfinished, and will keep me busy while I continue to heal. And I will look forward to wearing them when I can actually stand up and walk on my own, unaided. It will be more fun that way anyway. So this weekend, Dave will wear the winter tunic I made for him a while back, twin to the one I'm finishing for Mac, only in a different color. And if I show up, it will likely be in my tight-sleeved teal dress, which in any case is warmer than the bliaut I was planning to wear. This being Cleveland in February, that may not be a bad thing.

I've got to get back to some sewing now.

Garb Fabric Issue

I bought some linen (actually linen-rayon blend) fabric a while back to make garb. One length was apparently without sizing, or at least didn't have much. I washed it and threw it in a nice hot dryer, and it came out fairly soft. I then dyed it with RIT dye and the result is a beautifully soft fabric in a lovely medium greyish blue shade.

The other, much longer, length came from a bolt that must have had an enormous amount of sizing applied. I've washed it twice now, using hot water, detergent and a generous dose of fabric softener added to the rinse water, dried it in a hot dryer and it is STILL stiff and scratchy (although admittedly, somewhat less so than when I began). I was hoping to leave this fabric white and use it in chemises but there's no way I want it next to my skin the way it feels at present. Is there some way for me to soften it up, or am I going to have to break down and dye it for use in outer garments, in the hopes that the dyeing process will soften it up some? And before anyone suggests it, no, it's too stiff and scratchy for me to want to tough it out over a few/several wearings in the hope that it will soften up on its own. I'm sure it would be entertaining to watch me trying to discreetly scratch and squirm at an event, but I'm not planning to give everyone the pleasure.