February (and March) 2026: Seasonal Affective Disorder? I Hardly Know Her!
February Goals
Garb:
Finish the dress layer of the Juana verdugado.
Start on the rope layers.
Classes:
Re-re-record The Foods That Built Spain
Research:
Continue The Artifice of Beauty by Sally Pointer.
Well neither February nor March particularly went as planned this year. Who’d have guessed that the winter months are bad for my motivation? Not me! As I am writing this (April 6th), the second the sun came back, so did my will to craft and I’m already about done with a whole project that I started approximately yesterday.
For the goals I had set:
My brain is an algebra brain, not a geometry brain.
The Juana dress layer is actually finished! And fits appropriately. I’m very much looking forward to moving on to the rope layers when they speak to me again. I did not start on the rope layers, because every time I went to, I had to have a talk with myself psyching myself up to do them, and I’m trying very hard this year to follow my joy on projects, not force myself to do something. Especially not something with no actual due date.
I did not re-re-record The Foods That Built Spain. Though not for lack of trying. I gave it a go but on playback, there’s some weird feedback/echo happening with my mic that I need to address before moving forward with re-posting that recording. I hope to have that sorted out before Summer University so I can teach. Not sure what yet, but I would like to teach something.
I did continue in spurts The Artifice of Beauty. Reading it was not a high priority this month, because reading books about car buying and home maintenance for them was a higher one.
Which I guess leads me into the things that I did that were not on my goals list for the month.
After long years of figuring out how to SCA without reliable transportation, we finally have a second car! We got one that will be SCA event friendly, and her maiden voyage to Coronation was successful and useful!
February was largely devoted to a secret project that was given out at KASF- a scroll object for Heinrich’s Pearl. This was a collaborative effort between myself (who did the woodburning), Hakon (who did the wordify-ing), and Lucy (who did the calligraphy). I have never wood burnt anything before, but the Battle Spoon must live on and Heinrich is the best person to carry on that legacy. And now I have a cool tool in my arsenal of weird cool tools.
Spoon front
Spoon back
A letter of nobility from the Hispanic Society exhibit
Bea, Elvira, and I also went on an adventure to New York to see an exhibit on Spanish fashion at the Hispanic Society, make an excursion to Mood, and to the Cloisters. As ever, the Cloisters is still my favorite museum on the planet and I am always happy to go. It was cool to see it in winter, and compare that to the spring/summer gardens. I came home with fabric, a new book, and some new ideas for projects that make me incredibly happy. I think my favorite exhibit this time was one at the Cloisters exploring herbariums and plants. They had a really cool display on dye-stuffs derived from plants, the forms they come in, and the results of dyeing different kinds of fabrics. They did also have the vaults open that day, so I have a new micrography piece to add to my growing collection of micrography pieces to stare and drool over. I did very good at Mood and only came back with one thing I didn’t plan on and everything I did plan on. It was a great weekend.
The plants were planting in February and March and have successfully been moved outdoors. I started seeds for some peppers that did beautifully, and began the expansion of the garden documentation project I’m calling Mariana’s Garden. I’m hoping to have that ready to present at LEAFS in 2027, as an exploration of ingredient surveys corresponding with plant science info to try to ascertain what might my persona’s home garden have looked like. If I am feeling ambitious, I’d also like to include some of the home remedy information about those plants from Juan Luis Vives or other medicine sources that Mariana might have had access to.
The garden in her current glory.
I did just about finish the green test hair net in March, with only one row left to do at Coronation. I’ll complete the fingerloop braid early in April so that’ll be wrapped up. I’m due for another hairnet experiment, but am waiting on some new yarn for it in a very thin, smooth, lace weight cotton that I think will allow me to use the original pattern posted by my SCA source for hair nets. I did get her Compleat Anachronist and that is coming with me on a trip to Texas in early April for my reading.
In March, I agreed to step up as the Minister of Arts and Sciences in Highland Foorde. I’m very excited to be back into the MOAS office, which has always been some of my most meaningful service. I’m stepping into some excellent shoes left by Tala, and I look forward to getting to grow the arts and sciences in Highland Foorde even more and grow into it with them. I also agreed to be the Agriculture track lead for LEAFS in 2027 and to take on the running of Persona Pentathlon, so so much for my “break” from service after The Oak. Whoopsie.
This year, I am trying to allow myself to follow my excitement in A&S more, and so that means I’m taking a sharp left turn on projects and exploring some Roman for a bit. Hispano-Roman-ish has been on my mind for a little while with summer events coming up, but it’s also a line to earlier period that I have been noodling on for Highland Hearthglow in 2027. While the theme is Scandinavian, I’m still viciously uncomfortable in Viking, so I thought some Roman might get the spirit of more early period better for me and my persona. I’m planning two Hispano-Roman-ish outfits. The first is a cotton tunica with an overdress made of a sari from Sof’ia. The second is a wool garment called a tunica strictoria, that will be my winter outfit. I’ll catalog both as they go but that’s where I’m feeling my inspiration is right now so I’m trying to lean into it. I’m calling it Hispano-Roman-ish, because I am still in the process of exploring exactly what Hispano-Roman might entail, so it’s definitely more Roman than Hispano-Roman at the moment but could change over time.
My reading goals this month are a little beefier, but I have a trip to Texas for a conference, so I’m hoping it’ll keep me entertained on planes.
April Goals
Garb:
Finish the Green Test Hair Net (just fingerloop left)
Finish the Summer Hispano-Roman-ish
Maybe start on the Winter Hispano-Roman-ish
Classes:
Fix my mic and figure out recording.
Research:
The History and Construction of Netted Hairnets in Medieval Europe
Ceramics, Foodways, and Local ‘Sub-Cultures’ in North-Western Iberia at the Height of the Roman Empire
Agriculture, Gathering, and Food Processing in the 10th Century in Central-North Portugal
