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Jul. 17th, 2022 12:01 amMy sewing is going very slowly. I manage about one tunic a day since I am so out of practise and I get sore quickly. I need to sit somehow other than leaning forward on a kitchen chair every once in a while. So I'm sewing in fits and starts. But it is getting done and I am not discouraged. This time last year, or even in the past three or four years, I would have been. Guess that means that my mind-altering-drug is helping. Currently I am taking 12.5mg of Amitriptyline, which requires me to cut the sucker in half with one of those finicky pill slicers. After a chat with my prescriber, I'll switch to cutting a 10mg pill in half instead and take it with a whole pill so I can step up to 15mg daily... we're trying to find an effective dose that doesn't trigger the excessive tremors or heart arrythmias that the 25mg dose did. The current dose does reduce the nightlyv muscle cramps that were making sleeping so difficult but it isn't quite enough to fully banish them. We'll see if the minute change makes any difference. It is obvious that with better and deeper sleep my mood is vastly improved. It is nice to not feel like I am under a cloud all the time.
Typing this is my break from sewing. Yesterday's finished tunic got dyed in our washing machine overnight. Urg. This is the first time I've ended up with dye splashed all over the inside of the lid. And it is very red. I used Rit dye (don't tsk, I'm not a dyer!) and bought two colors; pink and scarlet. Originally, I was just going to use the pink since this was supposed to be an undertunic and a light pink would be unexceptionable, but the linen is really too heavy to be an under tunic so I grabbed a bottle of scarlet to mix in with the pink. It came out a slightly dusky rose color. I like it. Maybe after Pennsic I'll add some trim to it. I might have trim on the mind right now. I just added trim to the hem and cuffs of today's undertunic for myself. The tunic is specifically to be worn under a Middle Eastern (more Persian than Ottoman) coat so the hem might be visible if the coat flairs when I walk. The sleeve ends will be visible and are likely incorrect for period, but I got carried away after doing the hem. I have one more undertunic to sew and then, thank the Gods, I'll be done with the off-white batch of tunics and can get started on my spouse's new surcotes. There are two of those. The length of my available trim will decide if they are going to be slit up the sided or only up the front/back... I have learned to add trim to the henm edges of all of his surcotes in order to cross it over the top of each slit or he will, sure enough, rip them. Standard reinforcement doesn't hold up but a nice strong machine-made trim stitched over the top of each slit has kept them whole. After his surcotes are done I have 13th century one cut out for myself. It is an indulgence and my reward for finishing all my Pennsic sewing projects.
My sewing deadline is Wednesday morning. (I've been waking up at five in the evening and staying awake until the following day.) I have to start filling containers and staging them for our packing-up next weekend. We are both so out of shape that packing is going to take us a longer time than ever before, most of the weekend, probably, even with the help of a couple of friends. But we're aware, so have been pre-packing many things over the last few weeks. And I have an "ad" up on Facebook's "minions and maids" group asking for paid help on the last weekend as we pack out. Mostly it would be help loading the truck - I'll have everything in their containers before then, but we anticipate that our campmates will do what they normally do and block our pavilion in with their vehicles before Friday night, so we will end up parking across the road and carrying everything back and forth. I'm bringing a little fold-down dolly to help with that but it is an office one. I just saw that Harbor Freight and Lowe's have bigger folding ones that carry 330 pounds. Now that would be useful! I am not strong enough to carry much weight but I can pull a danged cart. And I know that my hubby would appreciate not having to cart as much back and forth either. I mean, he's got shoulders to die for but he is 70 years old now and we will have been camping for three weeks by then.
Typing this is my break from sewing. Yesterday's finished tunic got dyed in our washing machine overnight. Urg. This is the first time I've ended up with dye splashed all over the inside of the lid. And it is very red. I used Rit dye (don't tsk, I'm not a dyer!) and bought two colors; pink and scarlet. Originally, I was just going to use the pink since this was supposed to be an undertunic and a light pink would be unexceptionable, but the linen is really too heavy to be an under tunic so I grabbed a bottle of scarlet to mix in with the pink. It came out a slightly dusky rose color. I like it. Maybe after Pennsic I'll add some trim to it. I might have trim on the mind right now. I just added trim to the hem and cuffs of today's undertunic for myself. The tunic is specifically to be worn under a Middle Eastern (more Persian than Ottoman) coat so the hem might be visible if the coat flairs when I walk. The sleeve ends will be visible and are likely incorrect for period, but I got carried away after doing the hem. I have one more undertunic to sew and then, thank the Gods, I'll be done with the off-white batch of tunics and can get started on my spouse's new surcotes. There are two of those. The length of my available trim will decide if they are going to be slit up the sided or only up the front/back... I have learned to add trim to the henm edges of all of his surcotes in order to cross it over the top of each slit or he will, sure enough, rip them. Standard reinforcement doesn't hold up but a nice strong machine-made trim stitched over the top of each slit has kept them whole. After his surcotes are done I have 13th century one cut out for myself. It is an indulgence and my reward for finishing all my Pennsic sewing projects.
My sewing deadline is Wednesday morning. (I've been waking up at five in the evening and staying awake until the following day.) I have to start filling containers and staging them for our packing-up next weekend. We are both so out of shape that packing is going to take us a longer time than ever before, most of the weekend, probably, even with the help of a couple of friends. But we're aware, so have been pre-packing many things over the last few weeks. And I have an "ad" up on Facebook's "minions and maids" group asking for paid help on the last weekend as we pack out. Mostly it would be help loading the truck - I'll have everything in their containers before then, but we anticipate that our campmates will do what they normally do and block our pavilion in with their vehicles before Friday night, so we will end up parking across the road and carrying everything back and forth. I'm bringing a little fold-down dolly to help with that but it is an office one. I just saw that Harbor Freight and Lowe's have bigger folding ones that carry 330 pounds. Now that would be useful! I am not strong enough to carry much weight but I can pull a danged cart. And I know that my hubby would appreciate not having to cart as much back and forth either. I mean, he's got shoulders to die for but he is 70 years old now and we will have been camping for three weeks by then.
