I've been busy, busy, busy today, packing up for the Nadelwelt in Karlsruhe, with all the usual last-minute shenanigans that turn up when prepping for a fair. The whole flat, at the moment, is looking like a bomb dropped somewhere. Boxes are stacked up here and there, my to-do list has exploded (because I've jotted down all the small things that still need to be done, so I don't forget anything), and I'm in the usual before-the-fair frenzy. It's a bit like stage fever, and of course, when you're in the middle of the prep, other stuff turns up that has to be dealt with... urgently. (Hellooooo website issues. If you've been over in the shop section and had troubles - I'm sorry. I'm trying to deal with it as soon as possible.)

Overall, it's looking okay, though. There's a bit of packing and sorting still to do, which means I'll be busy some more, but I'm not desperate (yet), and it looks like I won't need to do an extra-long night shift.

Tomorrow morning, then, I'll pack all that stuff into the car, get some food ready for the fair days, and drive there. Then we'll set up the stall and probably have an early night to be fit for the three days of fair. So - there will be no blogging from tomorrow until Tuesday, when I will be back (and hopefully will have caught up on sleep a little bit, too).

If you are coming to the Nadelwelt, drop by at our stall and say hello! I'm sharing with Margit from Alte Künste again, we're at F 2.3, and we're always happy to meet blog readers!

I'm back home from the fair - and it was absolutely wonderful. Lots and lots of really nice and interested people, lots and lots and lots of interesting stalls with fibres, knitting knick-knacks, yarns and other things that one might totally need. There was very delicious brioche, and there was coffee, and to our complete and utter delight, we had friendly people come right to our stall and bring us some of it. Several times! Heaven indeed! (If you've ever been a sole trader running a stall at a fair, you will know exactly how wonderful that is. If you have never had that experience - imagine you are stuck at your stall all day long, with no possibility to go anywhere. If you need to go to the toilet, you have to wait for a spot with few or no visitors, which will be rare if the event is going well, and ask one of your stall neighbours to keep an eye on your things for a moment. You bring your own food so that you have something to eat right where you are, because you don't know if you can get away to buy something. Getting coffee brought to you, and something to eat, is thus more than just getting coffee. It's a gesture that says "we understand that you are working hard here, we know you can't get away and have a look at all the other wonderful things, and we appreciate what you are doing, so have some coffee", and that is touching in a very special way. Also, coffee. Being more awake and getting a pick-me-up is something you can always use at a fair!)

Oh, and of course the absolutely beautiful museum. If you have the chance to visit Wackershofen, do go - the grounds are beautiful, there are utterly colourful show gardens with plants that were typical for rural gardens, old breeds of animals, and a huge variety of different houses. The weather on the weekend was also beautiful, really warm and summery - alltogether, the weekend was about perfect.

I shared one of the most beautiful (and fitting) rooms with Margit, the room with the loom in house 3a. We ended up with the loom mostly hidden behind colourful wool, though - the room was beautiful, and very well lit with its many windows, but there was no better place for the stands with the yarn than right around the loom.

My corner of the room looked like this:


and as you can see, I had a lot of fun - both at the stall, where there were many interesting chats, and during the spinning workshop on Sunday. I even got to hang out with my parents who visited for both days, and my Mum took a turn selling at the stall on Sunday morning while I gave the workshop. (This also allowed me to take a little time off and have a bit of a look around, so nice.)

A wonderful weekend indeed!

It's time again to prepare for a fair - the Ravelry Meetup at Wackershofen is this weekend, and I'm getting ready for it. I will be selling stuff in one of the houses - Haus Frank - where I will share the "Gut Stub" with Margit from Alte Künste.

On Sunday, I'll be giving a workshop in spinning with spindle and distaff.

So, as you can imagine, last-minute preparations are in full gear. Yesterday, I fired new spindle whorls:


so they got sorted today, and now I can restock the spinning kits.

Also on the list for today: find a good transport solution for my lovely new display boards. I made these to finally put an end to the endless and nerve-wracking game of pulling a gazillion samples out of a gazillion boxes and arranging them on a table.


Now I have boards that the gazillion samples can just stay on. These are, thus, incredibly helpful in setting up the table quickly, which is always good. And, of course, in packing up quickly. The boards are made with a black and a white(ish) surface, so I can also display light-coloured things on a dark background:


and the only thing necessary now is some way to transport them safely and securely... so I'll have to find, or cobble together, a suitable box.

One thing that I can tell you for sure: It never gets boring here!

I'm back home from the forum lanarum, which was lovely - there were lots of very nice visitors, the organisers were incredibly well-organised and nice and helpful, the workshop room had plenty of tables and was light and spacious, and there was a coffee source just a few metres from the stall. Margit and I also got to have delicious food in the evening and enjoy wonderful, sunny and summery weather, plus relaxing knitting time - so there was absolutely nothing to complain about, and plenty of things to make us happy.

[caption id="attachment_2548" align="alignnone" width="640"] My booth at the forum lanarum, with the tables crammed full of stuff - as usual...


I even got to have a corner table. I like corner tables - especially as people look at one part, then think they have seen it all, move on and - surprise! - there is even more around the corner. Makes me grin every time.

Another reason to be happy: Today is release date for The Middle Ages Unlocked in its paperback incarnation. The hardcover book has done well enough to get a paperback sister - so my and Gillian's thanks to all of you who bought a copy of The Beast and made this possible!

And now... I am going to go celebrate!

Well, off I go - off to be ready for the forum lanarum that starts tomorrow at ten! I was hoping for a little better weather to load stuff into the car, but it looks like it will continue drizzling down... good thing that it is only a short distance to the car, and the things I have to load are all packed up nicely.

While I am lugging around boxes and checking (and double-checking) my list of things to take with me, the cat has found a good use for one of the baskets I am not using this time around:


I use that basket when I am doing Living History events - but for the even more limited storage space I have at some of the wool fairs, modern crates without a taper towards the bottom are better suited, so my things are packed and stacked in those. Which means the cat can slumber on without disturbance...

I'm back home from a very big, very interesting fair - the Nadelwelt really was huge! There were a lot of stalls catering to all imaginable needs around modern textile crafting - buttons, bands, patterns (including patterns custom-made or customised to your measurements), threads, clasps, fabrics and inlays, quilting and patchworking ideas, sewing machines, embroidery machines, needles - you name it, it was probably there.

There were also a few other spinners, such as the Handspinngilde, and of course several places selling knitting yarns, though I think Margit was the only one selling naturally dyed yarns - and I was the only stop for historical supplies. We stood out a little with that... as we usually do when at a fair.

I managed not to buy lots of things there, in spite of all the tempting things. I bought a few clasps for stitch markers (I have beautiful handmade glass beads for these)... and, because I really, really don't need any more yarns...


... I at least did my shopping close to home. At home in our own stall, so to say.

I've been in love with Margit's colourway "Kürbis" (pumpkin, guess which one of the colours that is) since I first saw it and realised that I can actually wear that colour. So this time, after hanging out right beside these skeins for two days.. I gave in.

These three guys are going to turn into a two-coloured Renaissance Shawl, and because it's only half as bad to buy more yarn if you do it for a specific project and cast on straight away, I did:


I'm knitting it with 3 mm needles, so it's fairly tight - but I want to actually wear this one, and use it for warmth when needed, so it suits me well. And the yarn is wonderfully cushy and soft. The middle part (with the leaf pattern) will be knit in the wonderfully bright orange Kürbis colour, and the start and end in the nightblue in the picture.

Now I only need more knitting time..

I'm back from the weekend at the Adventon, and it was really, really nice. The Adventon settlement is a work in progress, with a lot of building activities going on (not this last weekend, though, when all the settlers were busy with the craft fair). It was nice to see the partly-finished houses, with the wattle for wattle-and-daub walls already installed and waiting, the place where wood shingles are made for the roofs, and many more things. (I have no pics, unfortunately - I left the camera at home...)

The Adventon is also home to a variety of animals, from cattle to a few different breeds of sheep and breeds of chicken. Two of the sheep, called Othello (who is a black sheep) and his lady Luise (white) wandered past my spot quite often, always on the lookout for interesting things to nibble, open doors to houses (Othello loves to go inside) or open chests to stick his nose in. A flock of chickens also came by several times - especially one of the chicks came and stayed forever right across the road from me, as there was food preparation going on, and she (correctly) assumed that a chicken who is not shy at all might wheedle some food out of the humans.

It was very nice to have this experience of domesticated animals and humans sharing the place, and naturally you'd throw leftover bits from food preparation to the chicks (as you do when you have chickens, and would have done in the Middle Ages). I was not so thrilled with some other animals who shared the spot with me, though... as I had ants in my tent.

I don't mind ants so much (except the really aggressive ones that my parents have in their garden, as they will bite you if you sit on their lanes), but it felt as if I had not just an ant trail through my tent, but more like at least three ant motorway junctions, so many were there. They were in my food and tableware chest (I was really glad that I had stuck my food into airtight boxes instead of just putting it into the chest and a basket, like I usually do), they were on my bench, and they were in my bed. The latter is the reason I was really, really, REALLY glad they were not agressive. They were also not active while it was dark, so most of the night went fine... and the only real issue I had with the critters was when early in the morning of Saturday, one single ant decided to venture boldly where no ant had gone before.

Into my right ear.

I woke from a tickling in my ear, and, half-asleep, reflexively stuck my finger in. Whether that pushed the ant further in, or whether it was already on its way to venture deeper, we will never know - but in any case, the ant was in so deep I couldn't get it out with my pinkie finger.

Only... the ant also couldn't get out anymore. In case you ever wondered what ear wax is for, apart from annoying you when it builds up and you need to clean your ears? It kills ants. Or, I presume, other small insects that end up in your ear. It was not a nice experience, though. I alternated between feeling sad for the poor ant who struggled and was doomed to die sooner or later and thinking "die already, stupid ant, I want to go back to sleep" - which I couldn't while the ant struggled. Ear wax, you see, is not only sticky and gooey, and protects your delicate inner ear from the wandering insect of choice, it also transfers vibrations to aforementioned delicate inner ear. Which means you can really hear the movements of the insect... loudly.

About an hour later, I could sleep again. (Good thing I had turned in indecently early, a luxury I love to have when I'm on events like this all on my own.) The ant, thanks to the mysterious workings of aural peristaltics, left my ear (with a little help from my finger) at some time in the afternoon. Dead, obviously.

Fortunately, there was no other ant incident in the next night.

There were lots of interesting chats with visitors and Adventon folks alike, and I even got to pack up a dry tent in the evening on Sunday, as there was rain and storm all around in the region, except in the park and its immediate surroundings, where we got to enjoy wonderful summer weather. (Unfortunately, the bad weather in the larger area meant that rather few people came to the craft fair, fearing the rain...) So it was a wonderful weekend - and now I get a little time off for coffee with a friend before I have to prepare for the next weekend: the Nadelwelt fair.