Somehow, in the flurry of the last few months I managed to not blog about Raptor War at all!  It was a lovely event, and the last we attended before our daughter, Freya, was born.  I'm going to just give a brief rundown here.  I know there are some photos floating around, but darned if I can find them right now!

Our household decided that since the event is in the heat of summer, and to honor our brother Titus, who became a squire at Raptor War 2016, we would put together some Roman garb for the occasion.  It worked very well for maternity wear, since I was about 28 weeks pregnant at that point.

I took it easy for the most part, but did teach a class/workshop on identifying knitting techniques used in period pieces and trying/using them in recreations.  I'll share the handout below for anyone interested.  Please let me know if you use it and refer people to my site.

I was honored to receive a few awards at the event, which I certainly didn't expect, but which made me glad to be there! Den Grimme Aeling (the Ugly Duckling) is an award from the Principality of Cynagua in the Kingdom of the West.  We hosted the Prince and Princess of Cynagua in our encampment, and they gave the honor to the whole household.  I also received the Golden Maple Leaf, Artemisia's AoA A&S award, and was again nominated for the Blackfox Award for the baronial newsletter.

Finally, our new Baron and Baroness, Gomez and Merin, stepped up at the event.  Their investiture was so cool, and I am really looking forward to their time on the Moose Thrones.  My husband and I have volunteered as largess coordinators for them, which should be a lot of fun.  

+6Well!  This one has been brewing since December when I finished this hat.  Our household has an annual winter solstice gift exchange/party and this year I drew our beloved leader, Master Killian.  His persona is late period, and he presented me with an opportunity to make something I'd had on my list of things to try for a while, a knitted and fulled flat cap.

I've been making berets and Scottish bonnets for a number of years, mostly for reenactors in the Jacobite/French & Indian War/Revolutionary War circles, so I had some experience with making fulled caps, which turned out to be a good thing because the only online pattern I found that looked viable turned out to seem needlessly complicated to me.  Not having had the chance to examine an actual period cap myself, I decided to use my Scottish bonnet pattern as a staring point.  In the future I'd love to do a bit more research about if these caps were knitted top-down or bottom-up, how they were cast on and bound off, etc.  Some of those variables are impossible to sort out, so we just have to do what we can.  Others are probably only discernible from examining physical objects.

In any case, I based the shape and look of the cap on this one from the British Museum, though I did not copy the 11 stitches per inch gauge of the original, opting for a worsted weight yarn that's probably closer to 6-8 stitches per inch when fulled.  This makes for a warmer and more waterproof cap, which can come in handy in our neck of the woods.

Because I designed the pattern myself, I decided to offer it for sale through my Etsy and Ravelry shops to the general public, but I've given it to several SCA folk who are interested in historical knitting, and would be happy to share with any blog reader who's interested in giving it a try, in the spirit of free and open exchange of info.  If you'd like a copy, use the contact me link above, or email me at ursula@destrattone.com and I'll send it to you free of charge.  I'd love to see photos and hear your feedback!

For now, though, here is a picture of the finished item, and a few photos of Master Killian himself modeling it.  Thank you to my husband, Lord Aonghus, for the photos, and to Master Killian for excellent modeling skills.