Sable Thistle

Yesterday was the Tourney of the Smitten Heart, down in San Antonio. The Baron and Baroness played the part of Lord Lust and Lady Love, and they held contests to see which was mightier. I went sans Bebe and husband, and with no real responsibilities, other than to make sure a couple of A&S entries got set up. It was a lot of fun, even if I was twitching for the first hour or so, thinking I was not doing something that I should have been doing.

Then came court. They announced the winners of the contests, and determined which was mightier (it was a tie), and then started handing out the non-tourney-specific awards. And they called my name. Turns out, Their Majesties decided to give me a Sable Thistle in Knitting. As my Baroness put it, if I were to put it on a CV or resume, it would be a regional recognition. Which is pretty fantastic. I admit to being floored; I had no idea it was coming.

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(Photo credits: Elisava Iliescue)

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(Photo credits: Amata d’Arezzo)

Monogrammed Favor

Notebook

Starting a new project for the next A&S tournament that’s coming up. The theme is Love and Lust, and you can enter something for either or both sides. I’m electing to do just the Love side of things, and am embroidering a handkerchief favor that can also double as a cup-cover. I have it in mind to give it to one of the recent Queens who has admired my work in the past.

New embroidery project for Smitten Heart.

I started with a gothic blackletter ‘E’ monogram. The inspiration for this was the favor that Elaine gave to Lancelot, that he carried so nobody watching the tournament would know it was him. I think it was another ‘defend Guenevere’s honor’ kind of story. I’ll save my diatribe on the evils of the Lancelot-Guenevere story for another day, though.

The rest of the favor design, based on the Gesta Hungarorum. I may possibly have some one in mind for this, eventually...

This is the design for the rest of the favor, although I ended up rotating the swirls around the E, so it looks a little more balanced. It’s inspired by the capital from this page of the Gesta Hungarorum, written sometime around 1200AD.

Monogram finished.

Above is the monogram nearly complete (it lacks only the finishing lines at the ends of the strokes, so they don’t look so ragged. The red thread is DMC Cotton Floche, bought from my local embroidery shop, The Needle Works.

 Below is a pounce kit I made for myself, based on Mary Corbett’s wonderful instructions.

Made myself a pounce kit today.

And, the results of the grey pounce. The top two are the pounce alone, the bottom left is pounced and inked, and the bottom right is the inked line with the pounce brushed away. It was remarkably effective. Now I rather regret buying that exorbitantly overpriced pounce bag on the left of the above picture.

Pounce results: top are both grey pounce, bottom left is pounced and inked, bottom right is after the pounce is brushed off.