MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Whether new to the forum, or completely new to the community, herein you will find the best information to-date to help you get started on the right foot with that dangerous business of going out your door.

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Cimrandir
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Cimrandir »

What a cool time for both of you! Iodo, no matter how short the trip is, I always enjoy seeing you out and about in kit. Caedmon, I would love to have enough snow to do something like that. It looks like so much fun!
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Harper
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Harper »

Awesome!
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Iodo
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Iodo »

Caedmon, that looks like an amazing adventure, so awesome :P

Cimrandir wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 4:18 am What a cool time for both of you! Iodo, no matter how short the trip is, I always enjoy seeing you out and about in kit

Thank you :mrgreen:
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Elleth
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Elleth »

So I got out today! Just for a little, and not in full on rangery costume - but I did make a bit of a morning of it by trading out my normal top for a wool tunic and trying out a paenula/ruana/poncho pattern I've been playing with.

Brief side note on the cloak: it's basically an oval paenula pattern with a ruana-style slit all the way up the front and a hood. I generally quite like the concept, but I'm still working out how long I want it to be. Presently unhemmed it falls just below knee length in front and about midcalf in back. That feels just a bit too long, but I'm kinda terrified of cutting it off too short so haven't been able to bring myself to get the scissors back out yet. Anyhow, I had no problems going up or down a steep hill in about a foot of snow, so the extra length is at least so far not much of a hindrance. Summer grass might be a different story. We'll see. Oh - and the weather station said it was about 26F (-3C), which sounds about right. I was perfectly comfortable even in just the tunic, although it was dry and there was no wind to speak of.

ANYHOW... the reason for the outing - I wanted a stick.

Last year I saw Fandabi Dozi's staff video (link), and the way he did up one of his walking sticks with a feather and some carving was just lovely. And I realized I haven't had a walking stick in like - decades. And that someday we'll have to leave the farm - and that I won't be walking so great when that day comes I imagine - so it seemed like a good idea to make something nice now to hold the memories later.

I'd vaguely remembered that the right time for cutting was February-ish - but didn't think about it until I started going over calendar stuff this morning and realized...

... that THIS VERY MORNING was the first day of the first new moon of midwinter.

I figured it couldn't get more auspicious than that, so since I was ahead of schedule on everything else from working weekends, I played hookey this morning to go play in the woods.
merf-forest.jpg
merf-forest.jpg (66.31 KiB) Viewed 4087 times
Rowan and (sadly, now) ash aren't exactly easy finds in our woods. But, I thought... I'm North American, I live in North American... maple was a pretty darn good choice. It's a lovely New Englandy wood. So I got some goodies and set out and found a nice straight maple tree in the perfect spot.

It was tall and straight, but it was really crowding another maple. Win/win - I get a stick, and the remaining tree gets more breathing space to grow nice and big someday.

I folded up my cloak and used it as a groundcloth on the snow, and spent a midwinter morning cleaning off the bark. (I *thought* that was right thing to keep it from checking? I've sealed and bound the ends while I wait for it to dry).

(As an aside, the presently UNtreated wool tweed I used was perfectly dry in a foot of powdered snow. No problems whatsoever)

For now, it's drying in storage. I'm thinking about midsummer (if I haven't screwed something up) it will be dry enough I can finish carving it, then have it ready for some forest playtime this fall!
Last edited by Elleth on Fri May 20, 2022 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Iodo
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Iodo »

Really awesome Elleth :P I find that a good stick is very useful in the woods, mine often ends up being used as a shelter pole too

Elleth wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 8:09 pm That feels just a bit too long, but I'm kinda terrified of cutting it off too short so haven't been able to bring myself to get the scissors back out yet

I know the feeling, The way I solve it is by stitching the end of the cloak folded upwards to the new length and trying it out to see if I like it before actually cutting the fabric, the only problem with that way is that it doesn't simulate the weight of the shorter cloak
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Desert Loon
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Desert Loon »

It's cold and snowy in Utah Valley these days and I've been soft and haven't gone out into it much. So here are some pictures from a little ramble I took up one of our foothills one morning last October, trying out my new great plaid. I don't have a really good shot of me in the plaid, but as you can see, I got rained on, and it kept me reasonably comfortable.

Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2n2nC3b]Image

Image

Image

Image

The trail is on Mahogany Mountain, a foothill of Mount Timpanogos. Something about the trails on this mountain, the way they crisscross and go up and down ridges, has drawn me with a special excitement since I started exploring there last summer.
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And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim. (Hopkins)
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Iodo
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Iodo »

Nice :P
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Aragorn: It's the beards.
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Iodo
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Iodo »

it's been a while since I put something on here, this was last Sunday, and the weather was WILD!

Image
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
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Taylor Steiner
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Taylor Steiner »

Wow! Awesome!
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Desert Loon
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Desert Loon »

Yes - keep on doing what you're doing, Iodo!
Glory be to God for dappled things
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And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim. (Hopkins)
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Iodo
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Iodo »

Thank you, and I sure will :P
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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Harper
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Harper »

Iodo wrote: Thu Feb 24, 2022 9:49 pm it's been a while since I put something on here, this was last Sunday, and the weather was WILD!
The borders of Angmar?
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Eofor
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Eofor »

Iodo wrote: Thu Feb 24, 2022 9:49 pm it's been a while since I put something on here, this was last Sunday, and the weather was WILD!
I think this could be your best adventure photo yet Iodo. What a fantastically moody background. Showing us all how it's done.
But the white fury of the Northmen burned the hotter, and more skilled was their knighthood with long spears and bitter. Fewer were they but they clove through the Southrons like a fire-bolt in a forest.
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Iodo
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Iodo »

Harper wrote: Sat Feb 26, 2022 9:19 pm The borders of Angmar?

I think at the time I had decided it was Ravenhill, I know a good imagination is needed :lol:

Eofor wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 12:12 pm I think this could be your best adventure photo yet Iodo. What a fantastically moody background. Showing us all how it's done.

Thanks so much :P

that "fantastically moody background" was storm Franklin, the storm that ripped part of the roof off the factory where I work and left a lot of houses in my town flooded, I should NOT have been up on the fells, but... meh...
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Eofor
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Re: MERF Random Adventure Pictures

Post by Eofor »

Iodo wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 8:42 pm
that "fantastically moody background" was storm Franklin, the storm that ripped part of the roof off the factory where I work and left a lot of houses in my town flooded, I should NOT have been up on the fells, but... meh...
It's not all pony rides and bright daisies in the sunshine, the borders still need watching.

But honestly after having worked out in all conditions for so many years I thrive on such conditions and find a beauty in them that most miss.
But the white fury of the Northmen burned the hotter, and more skilled was their knighthood with long spears and bitter. Fewer were they but they clove through the Southrons like a fire-bolt in a forest.
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