The year began with the Kingdom 12th Night Celebration, where my husband was welcomed into the Order of Terpsichore, for his service as a dance instructor. Clearly that's not my accomplishment, but I was very happy to share the joy with him.
The rest of my winter was spent preparing for and running the King's and Queen's Arts & Sciences Championship. My goal was to eliminate needless stress for the contestants and the judges. I think I succeeded. There were so many talented participants, the judges had a very difficult task. The new champions were the best of a very deserving group. I hope they have been enjoying their year as much as I enjoyed mine.
Teaching was a highlight of my year. I taught nalbinding at Novice Schola, War of the Roses, Northern Region War Camp and Pennsic. I also taught spinning at NRWC. It was fun to have children in that class - they have no fear of failure. I also snuck a few one-on-one nalbinding sessions into the year, which is always enjoyable.
If you follow my blog, you know I didn't complete the Ribe mittens yet, but I did a lot of knitting, including a wrap, a scarf and four pairs of gloves as Christmas gifts. I did finish the Alsike mittens, and I love how they turned out. It's such a pretty stitch!
I promised myself that I would spend more time spinning in 2014, and I did. I spun Shetland, Merino, and Jacob, as well as a few silk/wool blends. I recently purchased some Targhee roving, which is a new breed for me. I'll spin that in 2015 and add it to my breed sampler. I also received a gift of some beautiful silk to spin. I'm looking forward to playing with the colors.
I was able to complete a few small special projects this year - a laurel hat for Kenric, a new embroidered sash for the Concordia fencing champion, and some needle cases for Queen Thyra to give as gifts.
Publication of my research on spindle whorls moved forward this year. It's such a long process! I spent many hours perfecting the manuscript so that the work makes sense to both spinners and non-spinners. I've never imagined that non-spinners would be interested enough to actually read the paper, but perhaps it will inspire someone to try spinning (probably not - it's rather esoteric).
The best part of 2014 was being welcomed into the Order of the Laurel. I'm just beginning to feel comfortable in the role. It is still a thrill to put on the regalia for court. If you want to know more, look back to my posts in March.
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