Not much news

Dear Folks!
Well, there is not much news these days, maybe only that my belly is growing bigger and bigger. We are getting our 'longhus' ready for the baby, that's all really, so not much Viking-stuff.
Last weekend we enjoyed our Vinter Natten weekend together with the rest of the Tjursläkter members. The weather was great, with fabulous autumn colours :)

Pink socks are done!

The pink socks I started eons ago are now finally done! I will wear them in my Iron Age shoes. The pink is cochenill, the yellow is onion dye and the blue is woad. The colours are very very bright and I had some doubts about the authenticity at first but apparently these are the real authentic Viking colours!

A bit of news...

Well, folks, this might be a surprise to you as much as it was to us... we are going to have a new member in our group somewhere in January!! Yup!!

So, I am naalbinding and sewing some mini-Viking clothes as we speak. We've ordered some authentic looking shoes as well for the new Baby Viking at Celtic Sheepskin

Here's a photo, aren't these shoes cute? The lace is modern so I plan to replace those but other than that I think nobody will complain about these booties.

Cool guys

Well, Einarr's rusvik hat is done and as you can see I also embellished Lars' hat. Don't they look cool?

New Rusvik hat for Einarr; part 2

I've made some progress on the bird for Einarr's hat. This Wednesday I will go to our downtown market to buy some rough looking linen, as wool is too warm for him. I hope to show you the finished hat soon!

New Rusvik hat for Einarr; part 1

The Hudud al-'Alam describes how the Rus "wear woolen bonnets with tails let down behind their necks". See here: http://www.kroraina.com/hudud/index.html and click on item 44. Or see here: http://www.kroraina.com/hudud/hud_44_c.html.

Also, finds from two Birka graves show the presence of 'conical silver terminal mounts' (Arbman 1940-3; Geijer 1938; Roesdahl & Wilson 1992). One of these hats, in grave Bj644, had a 'passement' band fastened from brow to peak (Hägg 1986).

So, there: my short research on the famous Rusvik hat which is so popular amongst Vikings.

I've started on the band which will go from tip to head, and you won't be surprised this is again a bird. Hey, I can't help it, I love birds... I used to be a volunteer bird doctor.


This is what the bird looks like so far, the burgundy outline and the dark yellow stitches make a good body on the green linen. I'll finish the head of the bird first before I decide on the wing colours.

The silver hat-end which is normally used (also known as the Birka end) was too big for Einarr's fancy so we found a smaller one, which is originally from a silver necklace but no doubt it'll make a nice tip on Einarr's new hat.

We have yet to find fabric for the hat itself, but together with the embroidered bird and the fox fur we bought in May this won't be a challenge.

I will keep you posted on further developments.
Best, Arda

Weaver's cottage

This past Sunday Einarr and I were invited to liven up the Bayeux exhibition at the Leiden Weaver's Cottage museum. It was great fun! There were quite a few visitors and we had plenty of nice conversations with most of them.

The artist who made the replicas of the Bayeux Tapestry, Marloes Keereweer, is also known to us as a fellow Archeon volunteer and her work is sublime!