Off to War we went

This was our fourth year going to An Tir - West War and the second time we drove down ourselves. Brandon really took advantage of that backseat space and had us packed to the gills! We left town a few minutes before Dawn-Marie and Ryan but they caught up with us in Coos Bay where we all stopped for lunch before heading into camp.

It was hard to describe where we wanted our site, but we did get a tree and so had some shade. We were set up in good order and then Jenna arrived. So four out of six of us were there. Susan had popped out a rib so wasn't able to come after all. Andrea ended up letting us know that between a migraine and misplacing of a wallet that she wouldn't arrive on Thursday.

Friday morning after breakfast we headed down to get signed up for Arts and Science classes, but not early enough! The only class I was able to get into was the Hemming and Smocking an Apron class. Brandon and Dawn-Marie ended up in the Favors class. It was on his list and she opted to also take it since all the others were full and had full wait lists. Both classes were 10am on Saturday.

It's a funny thing about this site. It's in a valley but it can get some strong gusts heading towards the ocean. We ended up losing one of the pop-ups. We really thought we would lose the one on the right, but it made it to the end.

After we got signed up, we swung by the war field to walk to the parking lot then we headed into town to get some forgotten milk, eggs and ice for the coolers. It's fun to go into town in garb. We actually ran into a number of other campers with the same goals. Back in camp Andrea and her new boyfriend, John arrived and setup. Got them into garb and walked around Merchant's Row looking at all the goodies. Thankfully one merchant had alpaca that didn't tempt me to buy fiber. I have way too much alpaca in my stash to spin up.

Jenna, me, Andrea and John coming back from Merchant's row.

The war field

After dinner we left Andrea and her boyfriend in camp and headed out to say hi to friends camped elsewhere on site. We brought along a couple of meads that we had brewed. I had made a weak mead type of grape pyment the week before War. It was made from last year's juiced table grapes from our arbor. I just had to add a little bit more water to the juice to get a full batch. It got Dawn-Marie a little tipsy Thursday night and was well received by brewer friends that tasted it. So I'm looking forward to this year's batch of grapes!

Saturday we did the classes in the morning, Dawn-Marie finally got down to Merchant's Row. Andrea and the boyfriend bailed and took off for the beach. I was busy working on my sock for the Splendid Socks Hosen War. I had a slight hiccup in time management with Finn showing up and asking for a massage. I did get to a good point and after a bit of detective work was able to get the sock turned in.

Brandon took chairs down for us for Court and we all headed down. I was even working on my sock during court, when I was surprised to be called up as a winner for the Sock War.

My prize - Lion pin snip holder

I added the diamond row while in court

Saturday after court, really must remember to bring shawls to those things, we tried finding friends and ended up finding them all at the Period Underwear Party. Only a few brave souls were wandering around in their chemises and such. It was very cool and breezy. A fun time was had by all!

Sunday morning is was all about packing up and heading home. Only downside to leaving is that not that far out of camp we had the bungy cord holding the firepit on the roof of the car snapped and slammed it into the rear side window of the car. We lost the bowl in the impact, or didn't see where it landed from where we pulled over to check out what that loud noise was. 

I brought drop spindles with me, and never got them out. I was lucky to get the knitting done that I did. I did the heel and all the leg visible in camp.