The March of Progress; or, Life Is A Bowl Of Sour Cherries

I bought about this many.

The Bocksten tunic looks like
the T-tunics of yore, except that
it makes the shape with gores and
gussets, so it's not wasteful of fabric.

Since our last visit, we have had yet another jiggering of priorities, though minor in nature.  I had a long colloquy with my dashing consort, and he expressed his concerns about comfort in the light of the OMG DEATH BY FIRE climate that's being predicted for this summer, particularly since we are going for two full weeks (it being his first time for that[1], and only his second time going at all).  He's very worried that, even if made of the lightest materials and not fashionably tight, he'll be too hot in full Tudor glory.  So, we're de-prioritizing late-period shirts and doublets, raising the quota of T-tunics (well, probably they'll be Bocksten Man tunics, just so I don't twitch), and adding one pair of Standard Early Period Pants.  I'd still like to try my hand at a working-class Elizabethan doublet, to see if he's more comfortable in that, but it will be further down the food chain.  (It's also a higher-effort item.  Not only do I have to figure it out in the first place, but even the po' folks had interlining and stuff, so construction is more complicated and more time-consuming.)

Example of a
not-plaid bog dress

In the spirit of hitting the low-hanging fruit, I got the five camp sheet walls done, hooray.  It was a nice place to start the terrifying list, because although time-consuming and vaguely tedious, they aren't difficult.  Then, last night, I finished mending my existing bog schmata and finally--FINALLY--fit and finished the 2nd one I cut out three years ago.  (What's a bog dress?  As the term is used in these parts, it is a peplos-like garment made out of the loudest damn plaid you can find.  I am not clear if they are called such because examples have been pulled out of bogs, or because people down in the bog at Pennsic wear them, or because it is easy to throw on if you have to go to the bog in the middle of the night.  They are probably not period, at least as we make 'em, and they're definitely not right for any of the stuff I'm doing, but Goddamn are they convenient, particularly for early morning coffee time / going to the swimming hole / doing scut work / when it's stupid hot and you just can't face lacing up a gown.)  The acute reader will notice that my priority list nowhere mentioned bog dresses, and this is true, but a) I was also running a little bit scared about the OMG DEATH BY FIRE long-term forecast and b) it got one more thing that's been hanging around for ages out of Bucknard's Everfull Sewing Basket.  Also, it must be admitted, having a quick win is a good confidence booster.

I also spent a little time yesterday digging around the intarwubs for a free(ish) cloud application that can do Gantt charts and/or project plans with task dependencies.  This was insanely helpful during Colossus: The 19th Century Project[2], and I'm hoping that employing these tools will help control the brain-bees that are buzzing around in the back of my psyche waiting to strike.  It makes you feel like you've got a handle on the situation (whether you do or not, *ahem*), and also it's great for those overwhelmed moments when you are dithering/overwhelmed about what to do next--it shows you what tasks you have available, and you just pick one.  So, I'm giving Gantter a try.

The next several days are a whirlwind of social activity, and I have to spend some time in the kitchen because I have bought All The Sour Cherries In The World (since we're in the two weeks of the year where they're available) and I need to employ them before they go off; so there's not going to be much time for advancing the quest list.  But I hope to knock out the last two Queen's Favors, and maybe coax the weekly sewing circle into helping me assemble my tablet-weaving class kits.  *shifty look*  I may also be able to abuse the big oul' copiers at work to make a copy of the pourpoint pattern from the seminal work on the topic, so I'll be ready to start diddling it based on the client's measurements, from which I can then cut out a muslin.  (See?  Task dependencies!)

[1] Candidly, this will only be the 3rd time I've gone for two weeks.
[2] I wanted to upload my project plan for that, for the edification of others, but it looks like it got deleted off the project management tool at work.  Someone may have noticed it was there.  -_-;;;;;;