I have finished sewing the sole!

The second shoe is well on its way to being assembled. I will turn it tonight, and then start stitching the sides and attaching toggles.

I should work on the comb, or the line winder, or an extra needle, or…. but tomorrow I am taking time off to go with my daughter and several friends to see the Maxville Highland Games.

Pictures of many recent projects have finally been uploaded to my webpage, which you can find on the links page.

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Pictures of stuff

I finished the sheath for my knife last night, so decided to post a few pictures.

Norse women’s knife and sheath. The handle is birch; the end piece is a small square of brass; the sheath will tie to my tools cord with the lucet cord.

Knife in the sheath.

The lucet on the left is patterned after a Swedish one. A similar model was found at York, but with much shorter tines. This one is made of a bird bone. The lucet on the right is patterned after 16 that have been found at York. It is made of a deer leg bone. Both are Viking age. They aren’t quite as easy to use as my more modern wooden lucet, but it may just be that I need more practice.

I have no evidence for this style of wooden netting needle in the Viking period. However, it is a traditional design and can document use of fishing nets to the Viking period.

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It ended up being a productive day

• knife completed
• scabbard started
• 2 bone lucets made (1 from York, 1 from Sweden)
• line winder cut out
• netting shuttle sanded and ready for use
• pieces for composite comb cut out
• apron dress completed.

The apron dress was an interesting experiment. I put side gores in with bias to straight edge, similar to the 10 gore dresses outlined in the Museum of London book. I also made it extra large, then pulled it up high in the back and used fairly short straps. The front and under the arms was gathered to give the dress some shape. There is a piece of gathered wool (from Birka?) that is consistent with this interpretation of the dress.

The line winder is probably a smallish version of one found in The Vikings by Graham-Campbell (p 60). It is made of whalebone and the author says it provides evidence of long-line fishing, so I assume it is fairly large, even though no size is given anywhere. A small version would probably work nicely as a lucet. I took the largest beef legbone in my hoard and cut out a rough pattern. I will need lots of trimming and sanding to be useful. When I get back from l’Anse aux Meadows, I will probably decorate it. The original has an elegant bird on the bottom, plus a ring dot design.

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stupid knife handle!

I headed down to the basement workshop at around 7 am to tackle the knife and cut out several bone projects. I drilled out the handle with three different sizes of drill bit. I started tapping the handle into place. I tapped and tapped and tapped. Very little happened for a very long time. Then the handle split.

I got out a length of birch and cut another handle, thinking that birch is a little softer than oak so it might be more forgiving. I drilled out the handle again. I tapped and tapped. The handle split.

I cut another handle, being very careful to avoid any spots with knots. I drilled, using the larger drill bits to go deeper, and filing out any narrow spots, and tapped and tapped, then cut away the split handle.

I cut another handle. I used the larger drill bits even more, having scoured the house for a drill bit larger than 3/16 and smaller than the next size up I was using. I filed away more narrow spots until I was certain the knife was going to slip all the way through with no tapping (which would be bad). I tapped and lo and behold – the knife was in plac, and the handle didn’t split. I whittled two pieces to fill in the half-moons on either side of the tang, then tapped them into place with no splitting!

The end of the tang sticks out a bit farther than I would like, but I can peen it over a piece of copper. I am now cutting out the second piece, as I made the hole in the first one too big.

It is now almost 3 pm.

To be fair, I did accomplish a little bit of other stuff at the same time. I sawed out most of a bone line winder (patterned after the whalebone line winder in The Vikings by Graham-Campbell p 60), a lucet made from a whole bone (so the string goes down the middle of the bone like the knitting nancys of my childhood – from the Viking Artifacts book by Graham-Campbell), and the side and tooth plates for a composite comb.

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lucet, knife and netting needle

Today I made a large netting needle out of a scrap of pine. I have enough left over for a second needle. It was all done by hand – hand sawed out, then hand drilled a bunch of holes, then cut out the bits between the holes and trimmed everything up with a knife. It still needs some sanding and final trimming (it got dark and the mosquitoes were too vicious to keep working outside) but overall, I’m quite pleased with the result.

I also got most of a deer bone lucet made, patterned after those found at York. It still needs a bit of polishing, the centre cut out needs to be widened into less of a V and more of a U, and the points aren’t yet pointy enough, but another half hour or so tomorrow should do it.

The knife job is worrying me a lot. I started drilling the hole for the tang by hand, but it was taking forever. Eventually I broke down and used a power drill. I need to widen the top part, but I have already measured the drill bits and that should be easy. I hadn’t planned to do a through tang, but I don’t see any other way to get the tang in place. It is too long for any of my drill bits to go all the way through the handle. Tomorrow I’ll shorten the handle, drill in from the bottom (please pray that the holes line up!), and then cut out a piece of copper for an end plate thingy. If I do it right, the tang can be peened over a bit to hold everything firmly in place.

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Shoe update

When I bought new glover’s needles a few weeks ago, I accidentally bought a size larger than those I had been using. I then got stuck on the project again, as I was afraid the holes would be so big the shoes wouldn’t work. I needn’t have worried. In fact, the replacement needles are sturdier which means I am stitching much faster now. this is especially important as it appears I forgot to pierce all the holes in my shoe sole while I had access to an awl at the shoemaking class in May. My beading reamer isn’t nearly as effective (surprise!).  In the past two days, I have managed to stitch about 1/3 of the second shoe. At this rate, I may actually succeed. An added bonus of using the new needles is that I am able to save the thinner old needle for sewing the side seams – since this involves stitching into the cut area rather than straight across, a smaller needle may be essential.

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Drawers

I don’t know of any evidence that Viking Age women wore underwear. Indeed, information on women’s underwear is generally pretty sketchy until relatively modern times (ie 4-500 years ago). I have decided not to let the facts inhibit me, since I had a huge pair of braes that had been made for a friend a few years ago. He wasn’t happy with them, but the linen was too nice to toss, so it has been sitting in my fabric pile for a while. I calculated that if I cut the braes carefully, I would actually have enough for two pairs of drawers. They look like a pair of men’s swim trunks, with a drawstring waist, except for the rather large middle panel that allows me room to sit (or have second helpings).  I assembled the first pair this evening. All that remains now is to finish the raw edges on the seams, sew in a new waistband, and make myself a drawstring.

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Outside of the Norse outfit almost complete

I have put together a woolen apron dress, except for the shoulder straps. The insides of all the seams must be stitched down to prevent fraying, but it could be worn as is. I have also altered all my undertunics and redyed the linen apron dress. My knife handle is taking shape and I think I’ll try drilling it tomorrow. That leaves only the shoes and a sheath for my essential personal gear. I still need to make a comb each for Jorunn and Kadja (though Kadja’s can wait if needed). I would like a deer bone lucet. The underdrawers and yet another hat (I found the fabric all cut out when cleaning up today) can be sewn in the car on the drive to Newfoundland.

I did finish a naalbinding needle on Wednesday, along with a spindle and soapstone whorl. Another spindle is well on its way.

I should have done a lot more today, but got sidetracked with cooking.

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Sunday’s progress somewhat mixed

I realized I had accidentally cut an apron dress strap to turn it into hat ribbons, so I had to remove the ribbons and sew the strap back together. The straps had never been sewn to the dress because the dress needed to be changed to any colour than its current blue. I threw it into the washer with a blue linen apron dress and some yellow dye. The linen dress is now an acceptable greenish, but the woolen apron dress remains stubbornly indigo. It is time to concede and dig out the fabric I cut out a while ago for another wool apron dress. My only other wool dress is a suspiciously cheerful yellow with a thin red stripe. I may end up taking it if all else fails.

I finished a spindle and attached it to the whorl. I still need to make another spindle. I have braided up more cords and started attaching my accessories to them. I have also finished the hat, again, this time with braided ribbons, as well as one of the tunics.

By my count, I now have two tunics to make over, an apron dress to make, one shoe to finish and another to start, a knife handle, a sheath, at least one netting needle (preferably make a new one, or at least clean up the one I already own), two combs, and a bone lucet.

For bonus points, I can do another spindle (possibly as many as three), another pair of shoes, two pairs of underdrawers, extra netting needles and gauges, more naalbinding needles, and spin more wool.

Easy peasy, right?

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Berserker Viking Farmwife

Work has been incredibly busy for the past few weeks, but I now have just over three weeks to get ready for the big trip to Newfoundland. Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind! It was time to buckle down and face some of my fears.

1) Finish the shoes – I had messed up the heel, kept breaking needles, feared running out of sinew, and generally lost confidence that I knew what I was doing.  Last week I forced myself to go to the leather supply shop and bought enough supplies that I could not possibly run out of sinew if I satin stitched the entire pair of shoes! Yesterday I took advantage of the World Cup third place game to sit in front of the TV and unstitch the heel and redo it, I turn the shoe. I also tacked the upper onto the sole of the other shoe. When the finals start shortly, I’ll head back down to the TV room and finish up the side, trim, and add the toggle, then start work on the other one.

2) Knife handle – I ruined my last attempt at a knife handle, and the frying pan handle (similar technique) is currently being held together with hose clamps, so this was another project were I have been lacking confidence, to say the least. The knife is a beautiful reconstruction Viking Age woman’s knife, so I want to do it justice. First I had to find some suitable wood. I think the piece I am using is oak, which is not the best option for Icelandic Viking, It’s what I happened to have and I don’t have the time to find a better alternative. Whatever it is, it was too dense to split with my froe, so I had to saw it along the grain. I ended up with two handle blanks, one for the Viking knife, another for the knife that I ruined the last handle on, plus a piece that should be just right for my frying pan. I have lots of trimming and sanding to do, but I feel like this one may finally be under control.

3) Tunics – There was a discussion this week about how many tunics one should have for our big trip. I had hoped to make a few extras, since all but 2 or 3 of my undertunics are not made of linen. Also, I have been wanting to put front slits into my tunics for quite some time. The archaeological evidence hints at front slits on clothing, because there is often a small brooch or pin at the base of the throat. I speculate that the tunics were split to facilitate breastfeeding, and the brooch or pin held the slit closed. I have been puttering away at the slits and making ribbons to hold the tunics closed, since my status means I would not likely have a brooch. When I got the email about how much others thought was reasonable to bring, I panicked and raided the closets. I have come up with two linen, one probably linen, two wool, and one sleeveless linen tunics. I won’t need a slit in the sleeveless tunic because it has large armholes (I had made it when I first started thinking about this issue). I dug out my lucet work, which saved making ribbons for at least two of the tunics. I have some bits of wool that I may braid up, rather than sewing linen ribbons. I now have three tunics ready to go and in my sea chest. Two others just need the raw edges of the slits protected and they will be ready to go. The last one also needs to be hemmed up, as it is my fancy wool tunic, normally used when I am playing at higher class Merovingian. I have also redone the straps on one of my apron dresses, and will resew the other today, so that I won’t need metal brooches – just in case I end up unhappy with the next attempt to re-dye my other two apron dresses. Though they are less rich blue, they are still bluer than I would like, so they will go into the dye pot again today, this time with lots of yellow and a tiny hint of teal to take the modern edge off the yellow.

Combs – Again, this is a bit of a fear project. I have made one before, but it was a decade ago. I haven’t started the single sided comb, but at least I have cut out a bit to make a tiny two sided comb so that Kadja, who will be the slave for our trip, will be able to get the lice out of her hair. I’m looking forward to making a two-sided comb, another challenge I have been putting off for a decade.

Underwear – Did Norse women wear underwear? Who knows. However, it is plausible that they had some sort of drawstring shorts. I have a huge pair of linen braes that had been made for a much larger man, so today I cut them in half and now have the makings of two pairs for myself. As a bonus, I have a large strip of leftover linen, so I will turn part of it into some sort of case to hold needles, and maybe a small bag or two for balls of wool and ongoing naalbinding projects, or even for balls of hemp for the fishing net, slyng, and rope  projects.

Miscellaneous – I need at least one small bag to carry supplies in. I had one of coarse linen that I had never gotten around to putting a drawstring in. Once again, out came the lucet work. I have a second that is now good to go with a bit of mending along one hem. I also have a small piece of rope from an experiment of twisting wool then plying it back on itself and whipping the ends to prevent fraying. In addition, I finally have a nice fingerloop braided cord from which I can suspend my tools. I still have more bits of odd handspun wool, so I may make a second cord rather than continuing to use a strip of leather for my vanity items. I also have a new hat, made from a scrap of lovely wool that appeared in my basement (possibly as part of a garage sale bag of fabric scraps for doll clothes). The hat itself had been sewn a while ago, but I never got around to sewing the last bits of thread into ribbons and stitching them on. Finally, I made a little protective case for my reproduction scissors and suspended them from my new tool cord.

I’m feeling rather accomplished at the moment, even though I still have lots to do. I am choosing to ignore the message about bringing a second pair of shoes for now. I’ll deal with it once  I have cleaned up the rest of the current projects. I will need to go buy leather for the uppers, as well as for two new knife sheaths.

As a side note, I think I have enough leather to make my daughter and I a quiver each from a 15 year old failed armour project. The old body armour was never finished, so with a bit of judicious trimming and maybe some paint or dye to disguise the current faded dye, it should do the job nicely.

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