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bookmark_border“The Road to Roswell” by Connie Willis

Posted on by Elliott Evans
An incomplete collection of Connie Willis books, to say nothing of the dog.

Much of Connie Willis‘ novels can be pigeonholed as “romantic comedies”, where two young people thrown together into a difficult situation manage to overcome adversity and wind up falling in love. There’s nothing wrong with that, and it does make me wonder why none of her books have been made into movies. This kind of energetic romp plays very well with general audiences, and Willis’ “difficult situations” are usually sfnal in nature so they appeal to genre audiences as well.

Can two people find love while traveling through time for the History Department of a major university? Can two people find love while being psychically linked to somebody they dislike? Can two people find love while researching death and the possibility of an afterlife? Can two people find love while finding out the truth about interplanetary aliens on Earth and alien abduction?

That last one, of course is the premise of The Road to Roswell. Our main characters are actually abducted by aliens, but it’s not what you think! Everybody is still on Earth, and they really are on the road, and the road does lead to (and from) Roswell. The cast is what you might expect in any Western: a kidnapped damsel, a criminal on the run, a lying conman, a lonesome cowboy, a dishonest gambler, and a religious fanatic. Most are not played by the stereotype you might expect from that description, however. The criminal on the run is a space alien who resembles a tumbleweed. The fanatic follows the ‘religion’ of UFOlogy and quotes from its sacred texts about abduction and history.

This book is also about communication, and how hard it can be to communicate when it’s not just that you don’t share a language, but you don’t share basic concepts. What is alien, anyway? What is love? How do you tell somebody what you’re looking for and where to find it when you can’t describe it and you’re not sure where you are? This is the kind of thing that Connie Willis is really good at. I saw her speak at an SF conference long ago, and she is literally charming. Her unassuming language and subtle presentation style have a lovely way of suggetsing these deeper concepts bit by bit until suddenly your head is in the right place to really “get it”, youknowwhatimean?

I’ve enjoyed previous books from Connie Willis, and I enjoyed this one. I feel it bogs down a little in the middle, though. It’s part of the story, but even the characters start to get confused about what’s going on and what they are doing. This all pays off in the end, and the pace picks up towards the crashing conclusion where they all live happily (?) ever after (?). When’s the movie coming out?

bookmark_borderBlack Band Eboshi

Posted on by Elliott Evans

I have made dozens of eboshi over the years, both for myself and other people. One thing has always kind of bothered me about my eboshi, though. I tend to put a white headband on my eboshi because it is mostly what people are expecting, but many of the eboshi you see in historical illustrations do not have these white bands. Here, for instance, is an illustration from the Kitano Tenjin Engi emaki:

#7 indicates nae-eboshi

I picked this illustration because it is a fairly accurate portrait of me. You can see that the nae-eboshi in that image does not have a white band, but is all black. Quite simple to make a couple of eboshi using black fabric for the band instead of white.

Black Band Nae-eboshi

You will probably notice that the eboshi in the illustration is less pointy at the top than mine, and also does not have the long fabric ties that hang down in the back. I have some theories about that, but one change at a time, folks.

bookmark_borderShitozu, from Linen

Posted on by Elliott Evans

The next step in the long running Bunkan Sokutai Sugata project, I’m working my way down to the feet. When wearing the sokutai, asagutsu shoes (really more like clogs) protect the feet from the ground, and shitozu socks protect the feet from the asagutsu (or is it the other way around?). Apparently, they pre-date the split-toe and the idea that walking on a seam all day will cause blisters.

Shitozu in Linen

Mine are based on this one in the Shoso-in Imperial Treasure Repository:

Sock of bast-fiber cloth, No. 53.

I traced the photo in a drawing package, scaled it up to the size of my foot, printed the pattern, cut two pieces from surplus cotton canvas, sewed them together, everted the sock, and tried it on. Too tight. Modify the pattern a bit and iterate. Still too tight. Iterate. Success! That was actually pretty rapid for this kind of thing.

Now that I had a working pattern, it was time to cut four pieces and make the final copy out of white linen. A couple of cuff hems, and some decoration with a fabric marker, and they are ready to wear once I finally make the asagutsu. According to the Shoso-in site, the original bears the seal of “Tōji-kōin”, and if you visit the page to view the back there appears to be writing up near the cuff. It’s probably something like “worn on the occasion of his birthday” or something. I wrote “Ishiyama 2 5” on mine. If I ever make a real seal I’ll stamp them.

Lefty and Righty Shitozu

bookmark_borderHemp Sankakudai Braid

Posted on by Elliott Evans

I was making a simple drawstring bag out of some surplus fabric, and found myself in need of a reliable drawstring. I had previously purchased some hemp beading cord with which to experiment, so this seemed like “the opportune moment”.

Sankakudai 5-set in Hemp

I measured out a “quadruple length” to start with. Typically, I clamp my warping posts to this chest of drawers I have in my studio. If I use the full width of the chest, a “single length” is about 52 inches. If I use all three pegs, a quadruple length (approx 17 feet) is pretty simple to measure out, but sometimes is not easy to transfer to the braiding stand. It went OK this time.

Close-up on the braid

Since the hemp cord is stiff, I used my heaviest tama to make a nice tight braid. With only one color in the braid, it looks just like a “3-set” braid, but it really does have 5 strands. With these simple sankakudai braids the structure all looks the same unless you have more colors worked in the braid.

It took me a while to work through all of this material, but I wound up with plenty of hemp cord for all my drawstring needs, about 12 feet.

bookmark_borderComet Pennons

Posted on by Elliott Evans

More than six years ago, the Baroness of the Debatable Lands asked me if I would organize people to make new pennons to hang from the new Baronial “list ropes”. The list ropes are used to form the boundaries of the fighting lists (think “boxing ring”) during tournaments, especially where you might have multiple fights happening at once. Penons hanging from the ropes makes them more visible and more festive. In the SCA, people fight for fun and honor. Festive is good!

These penons are about 12 inches long and are made from the same cotton/poly material we use for windscreens. We painted comets on them as a group activity at the Baronial 50th Aniversary event, and I finished them up over the holidays. There are Seventeen of them!

The paint is just Jacquard Neopaque White. These might get caught out in the rain, or might need to be thrown in the washer. This is not the time for historical re-creation, but practical thing-making. I still need to get my hand on the list ropes themselves so I can attach the pennons, but that should happen later this month. I don’t have a block or screen for printing these, so each comet is a unique little snowflake. I hope people enjoy recognizing the ones they painted.

bookmark_border“Polostan” by Neal Stephenson

Posted on by Elliott Evans
A shelf of books by Neal Stephenson

I am pleased that Neal Stephenson has finally convinced his publisher that a series of 300 page volumes is preferable to a single 900 to 1200 page tome. However, since the story contained in the first volume of Stephenson’s new “Bomb Light series” is really just the back story for the main character, it is difficult to review. I will say that this first volume is told with Stephenson’s characteristic flair, and with skillful arrangement. Exposition is accomplished through flashback, and history (and History) combines with forward narrative at a steady pace until we are all caught up and ready for the drama to shift into racing gear. Even when you are expecting the end of the volume to occur, since with physical books it is unavoidable to notice when it is near, the turn that breaks act one from act two is somewhat surprising. Leave it to Stephenson to create characters who surprise even themselves with their sense of dramatic turn!

Anyway, the “Polo” of the title really does refer to the game of Polo, as played on ponies, and the “stan” really does refer to a culturally unified geographic region (a capital-S “State”, if you will). The main character is a Wyoming pony-trainer outlaw communist operative hero of the highest order, and her manipulations bring the State of Polostan into existence just when she needs it to make the leap from state of mind into (fictional) reality.

There’s no way for me to tell where all this is going. Even Stephenson only vaguely refers to the “shape of this thing”. However, the characters are fully aware of Things that are Important, and I expect them to follow through on their personal histories with decision and aplomb.

This is a reasonably quick read, with a good foundation in world history and a strong plot with a relatable main character. Aurora is not a genius, but she is smart and brave. She does what she needs to survive, but she cares for others and tries to limit the harm to the uninvolved. A real hero! I hope she survives.

bookmark_borderA Calendar for You

Posted on by Elliott Evans 
                               2025

       January               February                 March
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
          1  2  3  4                      1                      1
 5  6  7  8  9 10 11    2  3  4  5  6  7  8    2  3  4  5  6  7  8
12 13 14 15 16 17 18    9 10 11 12 13 14 15    9 10 11 12 13 14 15
19 20 21 22 23 24 25   16 17 18 19 20 21 22   16 17 18 19 20 21 22
26 27 28 29 30 31      23 24 25 26 27 28      23 24 25 26 27 28 29
                                              30 31
        April                   May                   June
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
       1  2  3  4  5                1  2  3    1  2  3  4  5  6  7
 6  7  8  9 10 11 12    4  5  6  7  8  9 10    8  9 10 11 12 13 14
13 14 15 16 17 18 19   11 12 13 14 15 16 17   15 16 17 18 19 20 21
20 21 22 23 24 25 26   18 19 20 21 22 23 24   22 23 24 25 26 27 28
27 28 29 30            25 26 27 28 29 30 31   29 30

        July                  August                September
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
       1  2  3  4  5                   1  2       1  2  3  4  5  6
 6  7  8  9 10 11 12    3  4  5  6  7  8  9    7  8  9 10 11 12 13
13 14 15 16 17 18 19   10 11 12 13 14 15 16   14 15 16 17 18 19 20
20 21 22 23 24 25 26   17 18 19 20 21 22 23   21 22 23 24 25 26 27
27 28 29 30 31         24 25 26 27 28 29 30   28 29 30
                       31
       October               November               December
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
          1  2  3  4                      1       1  2  3  4  5  6
 5  6  7  8  9 10 11    2  3  4  5  6  7  8    7  8  9 10 11 12 13
12 13 14 15 16 17 18    9 10 11 12 13 14 15   14 15 16 17 18 19 20
19 20 21 22 23 24 25   16 17 18 19 20 21 22   21 22 23 24 25 26 27
26 27 28 29 30 31      23 24 25 26 27 28 29   28 29 30 31
                       30

bookmark_borderAcquired Music 2024

Posted on by Elliott Evans
  1. Zombi, ZOMBI & Friends, Volume 1 (2022)
  2. Art of Noise, In Visible Silence (1988)
  3. Moby, Resound NYC (2023)
  4. Moodswings, Psychedelicatessen (1997)
  5. Zombi, Direct Inject (2024)
  6. Tosca, Osam (2022)
  7. They Might Be Giants, Live at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (2015)
  8. MONO, Oath (2024)
  9. They Might Be Giants, Beast of Horns (2024)
  10. Polyphia, Remember That You Will Die (2022)
  11. Underworld, Barking (2010)
  12. William Orbit, The Painter (2022)
  13. Joe Satriani, Elephants of Mars (2022)
  14. Joe Satriani, Shapeshifting (2020)
  15. Gary Hoey, Dust & Bones (2016)

bookmark_borderRed Hexagon Shibori Kosode

Posted on by Elliott Evans

This kosode is made of linen that has been hand-dyed in madder, using a stitched-resist shibori technique to create hexagonal patterns in the fabric. From purchase of fabric to completion of garment took more than a year, though obviously I did not work on it constantly for all of that time.

Red Hexagon Shibori Kosode, from Linen
Back of the Red Hexagon Shibori Kosode

I started by purchasing some soft white linen from a merchant at Pennsic. This soft linen uses shorter fibers, which means it will not last as long, but I like the texture and have found that it works very well for shibori dyeing. I then cut all my pieces and serged the raw edges to create false selvedges and to keep the cut ends from fraying during the rest of the process. This was the easy part.

Then, I started adding my hexagonal resists. The process for this was to trace a pattern hexagon with chalk, then hand sew a running stitch around the chalk using about three times as much thread as needed. Once all of the pieces were stitched, the hexagonal stitches were then drawn up, and the ‘extra’ thread was wrapped around the small bundle of fabric this creates. I stitched, drew-up, and tied 103 separate hexagons. You can see in the above photos two places where the stitching broke or the binding came loose during the dyeing process. Such is life.

One Stitched Hexagon
103 Stitched Hexagons
103 Bound Hexagons

The next step was dyeing. My friend Rei kindly offered her assistance and the use of her dyeing studio full of equipment. I bought my own madder powder, and reimbursed her for the (considerable) cost of mordants and other chemicals. It took a full day in the studio (~10am to ~6pm) to prepare the dye baths (I used 4 pounds of madder powder for 2 pounds of fabric, plus a little alizarin to boost the red), stimulant bath, and mordant bath, soak the fabric in the baths, and undo all of the stitching so that the fabric could dry overnight. This process would not have been possible without Rei’s knowledge, amassed references, equipment, and time. Thanks Rei!

Dyed Fabric Drying on the Rack

Once dry, I laundered and ironed all the pieces, then sewed it into a kosode. It is large, and kind of heavy actually. After washing, the hexagons became even more defined, and the color gradations across the fabric from all the wrinkling and folding caused by the bound hexagons give it an interesting visual texture. I’m very happy how this all came out. Every bit of money and time I spent on this project has been worth it to me.

One Dyed Hexagon