What do you do during the winter months?

[Divash]

Events do keep happening over the winter, yes, but they're not as frequent. Also, since most of them are for a single day instead of an entire weekend, it's hardly worth driving to get there. I mean, if you're driving over 200 miles, that's easily over 3 hours if you average 60 miles per hour. That'll take 6 hours out of your day, right there, leaving less time to have fun while you're at your event.

So what do you do during the slow season? Do you just wait it out, focus on schoolwork or other non-SCA pursuits? This is the first winter I'm facing this situation, so I'm interested to see how others handle it.  

[Dragostae]

Winter seems to be my busier season. There's always a swirl of activity around the holidays, and I adore being with my chosen family then.

I just do what I can to prepare for summer, and spend it on A&S activities.  

[Berzerker_prime]

Honestly, my SCA habits don't really change that much. My Barony is blessed with an indoor, heated practice space for the arts martial. With a few very infrequent exceptions, four hours of driving is about my "event horizon" regardless (two hours if I'm day-tripping and not crashing anywhere). And all the A&S activities I do tend to continue over the winter without too much fuss, aside from the occasional dumping of snow that causes a cancellation.

I will admit, though, it's nice to have a lap full of cozy fabric to sew on when it's cold out. So it does suddenly become nicer to settle in with a project.  

[Divash]

Right now I'm spending a lot of time in the pottery studio. I paid for eight weeks of studio time, and that won't end until December, a week or two after the end of Chanukah. When it's over, I'll go back to sewing and calligraphy. I'm a dreadful beginner at both, but I'm told that practice makes perfect, and that's the eventual goal. smile  

[Sir_Catherine]

I'm pretty much driving a couple of hours for any event any time of the year, so my SCA schedule isn't ever 'busy' to begin with. I don't have enough experience or space to have true winter pursuits but I do intend to invest time and energy into my heraldic studies these next months. My goal should be to get my device submitted by Christmas. Going through the process for myself will be good experience for when I'm helping others through it.  

[Divash]

Now that I have the means to get there, I've investigated other activities that take place in my shire and barony. Apparently there are fighter practices on Sunday (heavy and rapier), archery on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, sewing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, scribal activites on Wednesdays and Thursdays, herald activities on Sundays, and music (singing or instrumental) on Mondays and Thursdays. There are also activities on Fridays and Saturdays, but I'm not going to be doing those.  

[Kittywitch]

For me, that's when anime cons, sci fi cons, and pagan prides pick up. So I'm still leaving the house, putting on silly clothes, and surrounding myself with what are often the same people about as often as I am in the summer.
Plus, there's always Birka and any of a dozen Twelfth Nights to look forward to. And my household always gathers for the winter Solstice and has a feast. Really the only time we can get together at all.  

[Sir_Catherine]

Divash, if I may inquire, what region are you in that has so much going on each day of the week? We have our shire meetings once a month but unless something special is happening, that's it.

*birds twitter in the silence of my shire*

Edit: I note you did say Barony. I'm going to guess that explains a lot right there.  

[Divash]

I'm in Middle Kingdom, Midlands, Ayreton, Tree-Girt-Sea (Chicago, Illinois). Some of these events are out of shire for me, but they're not too far away now that I've bought a car last week. I don't go to all of these, either, but I COULD, now.

Also, I'm taking pottery class until December, then taking a break from that to learn sewing and calligraphy. Even if there are no events or activities going on, I'll have something to do, and that's pretty cool right there.  

[Divash]

Here's what I've been doing lately. I'm thinking that now that I've got a month of practice pieces under my belt, I'll soon graduate to begin making feast gear for myself, my travel companion, and whatever household we eventually accumulate.

http://yfrog.com/3t3cupssidejx

Question: I took the pictures upright; I edited them in Preview upright; I posted them to Imageshack and they're upside down. What happened, anybody? How can I fix this?  

[Frau Behr]

It is hot here in the South so I enjoy events when the weather is colder. Our Fall and Spring is the busiest though  

[Divash]

Update: You can now see all my pottery that I've made since joining the pottery studio in October. If you add me as a friend, make sure to tell me who you are on Gaia!  

[Divash]

I've put up more pottery pictures since my last post here.

Yesterday I bought three bags of clay because I was completely out of clay, wedged it up into three-pound hunks, and used five of the hunks to turn into plates. Today I'll trim those, throw four more, and start recycling some waste-clay that I've been saving for a goodly while now.

So... I'm in business. I'm making feast gear for sale and trade, and it's doing well. Right now I've got two sets of feast gear that are complete, and those will be shipped as soon as the customers are ready with their payment -- I'm trading feast gear for garb, since I need garb for me and for my traveling companion. Then I've got another set of feast gear plus six plates, each of those orders to be traded for more garb; I've thrown the plates for both orders now, and will start next week on the bowls and goblets. After that, I can start making feast gear sets just randomly -- shaped and colored as I see fit -- to sell to whoever wants and will pay for them.

I'm getting sort of proud of my stuff at this point. I usually hate it when I've seen things that say "pictures don't do it justice," but now I realize why they say that. The pictures are pretty good, but the actual products are kind of great, even if I do say it myself. I know the people for whom I'm making feast gear are going to really love it, and I've started an Etsy shop for some things that haven't yet been spoken for.

I'm considering doing several different types of sets of feast gear. One will be the standard: a plain plate, plain bowl, and plain cup. Then I'll do the fancy set: a plate, bowl, and goblet (cup with a stem on it). Then I'll do a full set: plate, bowl, cup, AND goblet. Then a pauper's set: bowl with raised edges, and a cup or mug. What do you think?  

[Divash]

I finally got to experiment with soapmaking. A friend of mine is a saponiere (soapmaker), and she came over with her soap mold and a lab coat. I provided the materials, she brought the expertise. Now I have a dozen bars of soap curing on my countertop. They should be ready to bring to Gulf Wars. Yay!