It's sunny outside, the evenings are getting milder, and spring has fully sprung. This is the time of the year when the season starts - as is traditional for us, it does so with Freienfels.

So we'll be off to spend a few days there, starting tomorrow. Which means if you need some spindle sticks or whorls or fibres or a netting needle or other stuff, you can drop by at my market stall and get them there.

Blogging, therefore, will be on hiatus for a few days, and I'll resume my daily woolgatherings here on Tuesday.

I have finally managed to sit down and finish making that spinning instructions sheet to go with a spinning set for beginners - a bit of wool, a spindle stick, a whorl and said instructions. At the moment, they are just in German, but a translation will definitely be done.

The instructions are finished just in time for Backnang - which might be a coincidence... or a crazy random happenstance. Your guess here is probably as good as mine. Now I'll just need to proofread it and print out a few instances of the sheets so they can go into a spinning kit. Hooray! And after Backnang they can go into the online shop too - there's no way I can manage that before, though.

I also have to finish putting together a stack of distaffs for the weekend, as there will be the "medieval spinning" workshop, and the participants need to use a distaff there, obviously. The cat, meanwhile, is steadfastly refusing to help in any other way than purring and napping. Although she did help me get out of the bed this morning, with her tried-and-tested routine of saying "meow? Meow? Maaaaaau?" until I am half awake, then hopping onto the bed and settling down to be petted. Said petting is acknowledged by purring so loudly that I will not be able to fall asleep again. So I get up and feed her. Mission accomplished.

(I guess that cat paws are not that well suited to finishing my knitting, or hammering in teeny tiny copper nails anyway. Tough luck...)

It's already November, and said month is already very well in progress - time to start thinking about preparation for a certain time next month. Yes, I'm hinting at Yule, or Christmas, or however you may call it.

Usually, by this time in the year, I am busy doing some baking already - which, this year, has not yet happened since I was busy with planning, and then running, the Textileforum. And now it will have to wait another week or so, since I will be busy preparing the last fair of this year: The "Kreativ".

This is a fair for all kinds of tools and materials you might need (or want) for your creative projects, and just as on the LonCon, I will be having a stall together with Margit from Alte Künste. The fair is running from November 20 to November 23 in the Messe Stuttgart, and you can find us at 1E34. I'm very excited to go there, and we are both looking forward to it. (Let's not speak of the flurry that both Margit and I are in, preparing for the show.)

To celebrate this state of mind with you, I have five free one-day tickets to give away. (You will get a code and will need to register online to receive the ticket proper.) If you would like to have one, tell me so in an email to katrin(at)pallia.net - the first five to mail me will get a code.

And then - see you in Stuttgart!

This weekend, I'll be at the last medieval fair thingie for this season - in Tannenberg. Should you be in the area, please drop by. As usual, I'll have my market stall somewhere on the meadow below the castle.

And accordingly, there will be no blogging from tomorrow (when it's a public holiday here anyways) until Tuesday. Maybe this dancing traffic light will make your waiting easier:

Here's the more-or-lesss promised short break in the blog hiatus...

I've had a very busy few days, finishing the preparations for LonCon - writing lists, preparing goods, packing up stuff, and playing with Powerpoint - and I will start traveling into the rough direction of London tomorrow.

In case you are visiting LonCon, or plan to, or need another excuse to go there, I will be at table F16 in the Dealer's Hall together with Margit from Ancient Arts.

In addition to that, I am part of the programme and will be giving a presentation belonging to the Academic Track, a conference about Diversity in Science Fiction and Fantasy. I've been granted a special session for this - and it will include a spinning technique demonstration, among other fun things to see and learn about textile techniques. Sounds interesting? I will be in the Capital Suite 6 (Level 3), 8pm - 9:30pm, and the presentation title is Spin A Yarn, Add a Twist, Weave A Tale: Textile Crafts in Medieval London.

The pattern for Dread Pirate Roberts' Favourite Winter Hat has also been finished and printed in time for LonCon, and it will have its release there. I'm very, very happy with it!
The pattern is printed in colour, contains clear illustrated instructions for the special moves that are necessary for the lace part, and is exactly 13 pages long - very fitting for a pirate-y knitting pattern. After I return from LonCon, it will also be available via my webshop and Ravelry.
If you are at LonCon, please drop by and say hello - I'd love to see you there!

I am back home from a very sunny and very relaxed long weekend at Herzberg Reunion. That was a not-public little medieval event where I had so much fun last year that I wanted to come back this year, even though it's not much of a sales event for me.

Still, I brought the little market stall - and some work to take care of. Including a stack of newly-made spindle whorls in need of firing. I did a modified pit firing procedure, just like the last time I fired spindle whorls, and I had really good success with next to no losses (no loss at all if you don't count the one small chip that broke off of one whorl's surface). Spindle whorls in various sizes, forms and weights are now, finally, back in stock!

I also brought some knitting for detail photographs for the options in the pirate hat pattern and some sewing work, all of which got done as far as I had planned. Plus wonderful time with friends that I see way too seldom, and lots and lots of delicious food. And did I mention the sunny weather?

I got a non-sun scare when packing up, though - I was just about to fold my tent when a single raindrop hit me in the face. Which led to a very hasty finish in packing (also known as "There are only the soft lightweight things left so I will just toss them into the back of the car RIGHT NOW never mind their order or good packing") - one of the colleagues called it "an alternative packing approach" or something like that. Well, that single raindrop was the only raindrop that fell in about two hours. But at least all my stuff was in the car very quickly - and all dry!

Now the car needs to be unloaded and all the dirty things want to see the insides of the washing machine, and the heaps of other stuff have to be stowed away... the usual, after an event.

Do you know that feeling that the plan of the year slowly emerges out of fog and nothingness? January and February are the two months when plans are made and dates are fixed, and the calendar becomes spattered and sprinkled with colourful spots all over. It's an exciting time every time it comes around!

And for 2014, there are a few things fixed that I am really looking forward to already.

As usual, I will be in Freienfels with my market stall. Freienfels this year is April 30 to May 4, and the market is open for all visitors during the weekend.

Next on my calendar is the International Museum Day on May 18, which I will spend at the Stadtmuseum Bietigheim-Bissingen, demonstrating spinning technique both with distaff and spindle and with the Great Wheel.

Right after that comes the NESAT in Hallstatt, a conference I've been looking forward to for, as usual, the last three years.

Next up is a semi-private medieval event in Herzberg, running from June 27 to July 6. The event after that is the exact opposite to private, however: Together with Margit Ströbele from Alte Künste, I will be running a dealer's table at LonCon3! I will also give a paper about textile techniques on the academic programme there. If you are at LonCon, make sure to drop by!

If you want to learn a textile technique or need assistance in tailoring a garment, I have course dates planned for September 6-7 and October 25-26. As usual, details and booking info can be found on my shop page.

And the last date already fixed and agreed upon for 2014 at the moment is our next Textile Forum, which will take place 3-9 November, again in Mayen (we love it there). If you want to keep informed about the Textile Forum, you can subscribe to our newsletter on the Forum homepage.

And if you want to keep informed about my upcoming events and dates, you can always check the list of them on my homepage.

As you can see, the year promises to be full of interesting events already, and I am looking forward to maybe meeting a few more of you this year.