Oh Hai there

Ha... totally forgot about this page.  Wow... so many updates.  Only reason I remember was my Protégé asked me for a copy of the notes from my SCA etiquette class I ran last night and I thought to search good old Dr Google because I was sure I had uploaded them... and here we are.

What's that?  I have a protégé?  Oh yeah... I'm a member of the Order of the Pelican now... woot me!  Was offered back in 2014 and was elevated by Niall II and Liadan II on 18th of October 2014, at Buttony Cross.  Since then I've had three Protege's.  One has stepped down as my student, one is taking a leave of absence from the SCA, and the other is going strong.

Oh I'm also now the Landed Baron for River Haven too.  Mistress Josseline (also now a Pelican) and I stepped up at November Crown 2016, we were also given Court Baronies at GNW in June 2012.  Busy times  :)

My hats are going strong... sitting at around 275 now I think that I've made.  Done a few different styles and also gotten into tablet weaving.  Absolutely loving it.  Will do a separate post on that I think.

Fighting wise... I hurt my knee badly doing heavy back in June of 2017, completely ruptured the ACL in my left knee... and it's been a very slow progress back into it.  Each time I'm getting close and I get into armour I hurt it again doing something non fighting related (like climbing out of a pool on a P&O cruise).  It's one of those things that you hit a point where maybe you think your body is telling you that you've missed that chance of becoming a knight... the spirit is willing, but the body... yeah.

Well... that's it for now.  I'll try and keep this a bit more updated from now on... that's assuming anyone still reads it  :)

YIS
Master Baron Dimitrii Borodinskii

Tasks update

Well... nearly at the 6 month point and how are my tasks going?

Heavy fighting at the hall: Recent events have led me to re-evaluate this task... I may not end up doing it. I may have to redo it just to focus on my own fighting levels both in heavy and rapier? hard to explain without going into details... but fighting at the RH hall is certinally not a priority to me anymore.

Tzar Jacket: Not going to bad on this one... still in the research phrase but at least have found a Turkish jacket pattern simular to the one I wanted which they would have used back in the day as well. Could still make it in time for GNW2011... which now I am co-steward for :)

Household Tasks for 2011-2012

Well...
GNW has been and gone, and I have a whole new set of household tasks.

1) Get training happening in River Haven again:
In the last year or so Heavy Training has dropped off to a point where it does not exist in RH at the hall on Wednesday nights. What this means is that the flow on effect is that there is no new fighters as they don't see any training going on. So... my plan is to get this happening again. I step down as Seneschal in September (YEAY) so my goal will be to get training happening again.

First plan is to publish that I will be in armour on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, and the 4th Sunday at the hall. I have spoken to a few fighters and they agree that they will be there too for these dates. once that is happening I will throw another week day and another sunday into it, then sooner or later hopefully we will have armoured people at the hall again. It's a throey anyhow.

2) Tzar Jacket:
I saw a long time ago a Russian Jacket that had lots of embroidery all over it. Looked great but been finding it hard to find evidence that it existed. One issue with Russian is that there is VERY little evidence as it was all wiped out when one country or another invaded and destroyed all the records etc. So this goal has several sides to it... research and document the jacket, make the jacket, embroid the jacket. All goes well... I will wear it to the household meeting next GNW.

Another Hat post

Well... decided to try something different with a new hat for a mate. He gave me a nice black Burgundian jacket which I can use as it's intended, or Russian style as well.

So... his colours are Black, Red and White, and I wanted to use all of them in the hat. I could have done a red hat, with white embroidery and black fur, but thought to try something different.

I ended up doing some embroidery on some black strips, then sewed them down onto the seams where I would normally do the embroidery, and added some black fox fur.

Quite happy with the result, and suits him well as he doesn't have a Viking persona, but a Russ one so it works better for him than it would a Viking. All in all I am very happy with it, and he absolutely loves it.

More hats!

Hey hey,

Been a little while since I posted last... sorry about that.

Ok... been making some more hats of late... playing with different patterns and having fun.+

Made this one for a mate (Buzz) who has just had a Mongol coat made for him. His coat was the tan/cream colour with dark brown highlights, so I did the opporsite. He wanted the inside out mongol style but not the peak. I made this one to start with, and then tried a different pattern which got rid of the peak. He was very happy with the result.

quite happy with how this one turned out, but found that I need to add about another half inch or more to the end of the pattern to make it come down the head a little more as this one sits more on top than over the head.

Ok... made this hat for Sue as a thankyou for the wool for the hat above as I could not find any tan/cream wool and she gave me some. Tried a new sewing technique with this one which was

sewing three panels togeather, sewing another three panels togeather, then sewing the two halfs togeather. That plus a slightly different sewing style and the peaks

came out perfectly meeting in the middle of the hat. It ended up being REALLY neat and I am quite proud of this one.

Really like the way it came out, the colours matched togeather well which even includes the speckled brown colours in the fur. Alltogether quite happy with this hat as is the new owner :)

Lastly this is a hat I made for the new Canton of Stegby in River Haven to help them. They are fund raising to get some funds in their new bank account, so Bec has made a doll for them, and I made them up a hat. they are going to raffle them off to see how that goes.

Same as the hat above, did the new technique when sewing the panels and it came out perfect again. Really loving that new way now.

so... what am I working on now? Got a pattern in my head which I am going to have a play with before it annoys me too much... will post (eventually) when I am done.

Household Tasks update

Hey,

Figured I should update my household tasks as well while I am doing updates.

1) Improve Fighting
2) Improve appearance (through adding finishing touches to garb)
3) Another task to be assigned by Gabriel

So...
1) Improve fighting. Ok I feel I am meeting this one as I have definitely improved my fighting and renown.

2) Improve appearance. Only made myself two hats thus far... need to pick this one up before next GNW.

3) Still waiting. Gabs had the idea of me writing a manual of sorts for GNW stewarding... but Bec is already on this one :)

Latest update

Well... been a while since I did any sort of update, so figured I should do something.

Fighting:
Been doing well of late, won a few smaller tournaments in Rapier but been happy with my performance as it has been up against higher fighters like Sir Somerled and Baron Giles. Also won the Rapier Championship for River Haven, so proud of that. Just gotten two students authorised in Rapier, Steve a local mate, and Darin from a Canton about 2 hours away. Both have been called Mini Dimitrii's because of their fighting style, but both are already doing very well. Very happy with how they are doing. Also heard someone say that they heard a newbie rapier fighter saying that they see my level of fighting as a benchmark to get to... got to be happy with that.

Also doing well with Heavy at the moment. I am keeping much lower stance with my glaive meaning that rather than my point being to the right side of the opponents head, it's now down near their groin. This makes people stand back and be very defensive and not rush me, has worked very well agianst people like Sir Somerled, tomas, even Gabs for a while until he figured it out and now I have to keep my point to his lower left to have any sort of chance. The thrust is mostly doing it for me. Won the Heavy Championship for River Haven as well... twice the Champ!

Service:
Run to events lately, the Newcomers event and the Baroness's Bash. I ran the newcomers one because Bec and I noticed a real lack of events in RH at large, and we have heaps new newbies but no local events. So we ran this one. Was a great success with heaps of newbies coming, and also heaps of the old guard coming out as well. Worked well as the newbies are all hooked now.

Also ran the B/Bash on the weekend just past. Just ran it as a free event and potluck. Ended up being a royal visit which brought everyone out of the woodwork but was a really good event. Made more so because I was awarded the Silver Pegasus for my service and courtesy... HUGE honour.

A&S:
Been quiet with this recently, many plans but done little. Have a class in a week or two on Russian/viking/mongol hats with Glynnis which I am still preparing for. Have some plans for a new Tunic and jacket for the Invest/Devest in November. Not much time between now and then, so really should start. Taught a chainmaille class at a local canton to help them get started, gave them a heap of rings to get them on the way and a how-to handout I had made. Also playing at the moment making another chain for a certain fighter which will be a knight soon... hope I will have it ready in time. (oh and if you read this... don't feel obliged to ever wear it)