All is back, and all is well.

This was a wild ride while I was off the blog - first the conference in France, where I had a wonderful time (and probably ate way too much patisserie).  Then a little time off to relax and think of things completely different, as I met up with friends to go to the game fair in Essen. (In case you are new here - yes, I like to play boardgames, and have been going to Essen, which is the world's biggest boardgame fair, for many years now, and it's a blast every time.) 

After coming back from Essen, I had the pleasure of a video meeting for plans for the future, of filming and editing a short video on how to wear medieval hoods, and then it was already time to finish packing the car for the European Textile Forum.

This year, it was wonderfully uncomplicated to fit everything in, even though the loading started with an easy 40+ kg of wood (for the tablet weaving stands). In spite of that, though, there was not much else needed but a bit of yarn, some tablets, some bits and pieces to help with the warping and the weaving, and the usual kitchen odds and ends that I lug along (most important of which is my late gran's big coffee maker). Usually, the car is packed full and there were years when I had to take photographs during the loading so I could be sure that everything would fit back in on the way back, too. This year, it was half-empty in comparison, which felt a little weird but also, well, easy and relaxing.

The Forum itself was, as usual, wonderful if a little exhausting. I've grown old and sensible though and there was no night when I went to bed insanely late, which also means that my coffee consumption stayed within normal human limits, as did my extra tiredness. We looked at different tablet weaving techniques, worked with different materials, and one of the focus points was, I'm tempted to say "of course", brocading. 

A lot of the historical posh and thus preserved bands use brocading as the embellishment technique of choice, and I'm happy to say that I have come some more to terms with this technique. It's still a little fiddly, and a little boring compared to freestyle twill shenanigans if you ask me, but I have gotten much better at seeing the appeal. 

After the Forum... well. I get a week off after the Forum, by tradition. There was a little bit of things I had to sneak in, including some abstract writing for a conference CfP which had the deadline looming, but I did mostly... not so much. The cat was happy to help me sleep in and snuggle a bit longer in the mornings, and I took care of some of the food leftovers by drying, freezing, or salting, and giving away some to the neighbours (cheese just isn't a big favourite in this household). 

And now I'm back and have a long list of stuff to do, as, well, as always. For you, I also have something else:

I've had the pleasure to narrate another story for Cast of Wonders - this time, it's a variation on the Beauty and the Beast theme. I really liked it - and you can either read the story, or listen to the narration, or both, on the Cast of Wonders website. I hope you enjoy it!