On The Frontier

newsletter of the Frontiers living History Group

August 2016

Event Calendar - 2016

August
Private camp – Viking
Vikings Cloth Socks
NVG 35th Birthday weekend at Everyone thinks that the only option for Viking period Socks are
Caveat nalebinded ones but there is another option – there have been a
19th - 21st Aug. 2016 number of Cloth Socks that have been found
1. The Iceland Cloth Sock - woolen shoe in the National
September
Private camp – 18th cent
Museum of Iceland (NMI)
Spring rendezvous camp at Caveat
16th - 19th Sept
October
Private camp – 18th cent
Taminick Military camp at NEML
Range Taminick
1st - 2nd Oct
Public display – Viking and 18th
Century Trade post
Timeline festival
Bannockburn Golf course
29th & 30th Oct

November
Public display – either 18th cent From Snoksdalur, West Iceland. probably late medieval.
trade post or Aust gold field Shoes sewn from scraps of vadmal, probably slippers. Probably late
Hedgend Medieval Fare Hedgend Medieval period. (NMI) The vadmal this slipper is formed from is a snake
Maze patter twill. Vadmal or homespun fabric, is a twill fabric that can have
19th & 20th Nov with bump in on various patterns.
the Friday.
Top Photo courtesy of Greenland Gown Project - Vadmal Display NMI
http://www.greenlandgown.org/2015/07/vadmal-national-museum-iceland/
Bottom Photo courtesy of The Vikings of Bjornstad :: National Museum of Iceland
Event Calendar - 2017 photos gallery http://www.vikingsofbjornstad.com/Museum_Iceland.htm
January
Public display – period yet to be
decided on
Geelong Vintage Machinery show
March
Public display - Vikings Danish
community In Poowong East to
celebrate a 130 years of Danish
settlement there
April
Private camp - period yet to be
decided on
2017 Australasian Living History
Convention in Tarago NSW
Easter - 14 April -17 April 2017
looks like it has a bottom sole piece like viking turn shoes have

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 On The Frontier
newsletter of the Frontiers living History Group
August 2016

Vikings Cloth Socks cont.

no.2 Skjoldehamn Socks
found Skjoldehamn Norway:
3 pieces of socks were found, 2 ankle parts and 1 toe part. The socks were made from woven grey and brown
wool. The ankle parts were rectangles folded in half and sewn up under the heel. The toe part was sewn up
along the top of the foot and attached to the ankle part along the bottom and up the side of the foot. This left an
open gap at the front of the leg just above the ankle.

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 On The Frontier
newsletter of the Frontiers living History Group
August 2016

Photographs and drawings, Dan Halvard Løvlid: Nye tanker om Skjoldehamnfunnet, p 123, 127

The Skjoldehamn find includes more leg clothing than the brók. Two ankle wraps were wound around the feet,
and three fragments from socks (or short hose) were found within the shoes. The fragments were all made of 2/2
woollen twill, but when Løvlid examines the thread thickness and count of the three pieces, he finds small
differences that implies that only two of them (L1 and L3) could have been cut from the same cloth.

The first piece (L1) is a fairly well-preserved shaft of one of the socks. It is 20-21 cm high at the front and 20.5
cm at the back. At the top, the circumference is 30 cm. The heel of the sock has been created by folding the
shaft lengthwise (along the dashed red line in the drawing), and then folding one side of the bottom edge of the
shaft and laying it over the other side (both marked by blue lines in the drawing), before sewing both together
using woollen yarn.
A small fragment of a different 2/2 woollen twill is sewn on to the right side of the shaft, roughly 11.5 cm below
the top. Løvlid believes this is part of the front piece of the sock. The top of the shaft has not been hemmed,
instead it and the upper part of the front edges of the shaft have been secured from unravelling by various forms
of overcast stitches.

The next piece (L2) is the shaft of the other sock. It is less preserved than L1. The top edge is 26.5 cm long and
has been secured from unravelling by overcast stitches using woollen yarn. One of the front edges is stitched the
same way, while the other is a selvedge. There are remains of another fragment stitched to the selvedge 6.5 cm
below the top and 5 cm downwards (where L2 ends). According to Løvlid this is probably part of the front piece
of the sock.

The final fragment (L3) is only partly preserved, but appears to have been shaped roughly like an American
football.
It has been folded in two places (thick red lines in the drawing) and its outer edges (blue and green line) have

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 On The Frontier
newsletter of the Frontiers living History Group
August 2016

been stitched together, creating a sock tip that would have covered the front of the foot. The tip is currently 17.5
cm long. Unfortunately, we don't know whether this was the original length, or whether part of it is missing. The
lower edge (thin red line) is partly turned inwards in places, which may indicate a former seam, but there is no
definitive proof of the tip being stitched to a shaft here.

The direction of the warp, thread count and thread thickness is very different for L3 and the small fragment
stitched to L1. Thus, L3 is very unlikely to have belonged to the same sock as L1. Instead L3 and L2 must have
belonged together.

No.3 Hedeby Hose

Hedeby: the harbour also yielded two fragments believed to come from a hose. These fragments, 2a and 2b are
made of semi-fine (0.15 cm thick) 2/2 twill in brown wool, where the weft is darker than the warp.
Fragment 2a: a band-like piece, 16-18 cm high and 22.5 - 24 cm wide (when folded double). The weft lies
transverse to the height of the garment piece. The upper edge of the fragment is hemmed (seam 1-2).
Fragment 2b: currently 11 cm high, but is torn along the bottom and extended in all probability further down
originally. The fragment is 21.5 - 22.5 cm wide (when folded double). The weft is parallel with the height of the
fragment. There is a heavily abraded part of the fragment where it has been worn through.
The two fragments have been stitched together horizontally (seam 6-7 in the illustration) and folded and stitched
into a tube (seam 3-5).
At the upper edge of fragment 2a, a leather band has been pulled through a hole and knotted. The leather band
is somewhat irregularly shaped, probably a leftover piece and the ends of the strips are 12.5 cm and 13.5 cm
long, respectively and 0.4-1 cm and 0.8 cm wide respectively.
The fabric is heavily worn, indicating frequent use, and there are two mending seams (seam 8-9). In spite of the
wear, there are no traces of patching, indicating that when the fabric was worn through, the garment was retired
and used as ship caulking. Fragment 2b is torn at the bottom, leaving a total current height of 2a-b of about 27
cm.

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 On The Frontier
newsletter of the Frontiers living History Group
August 2016

Socks and Hose from other time periods

Thorsberg trousers,
2 pairs – one had separate sown in feet,
The foot section has a seam running along the sole from the toe to
about the middle of the arch, where a gore has been inserted
underneath the heel. A narrow strip of cloth attaches the foot to the
leg.

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 On The Frontier
newsletter of the Frontiers living History Group
August 2016

Martres de Veyre Hose

Wool stockings, leather shoes, and a sleeve from a 2nd century Roman burial.
Second century AD textiles from the village of Martres de Veyre located 24 kilometers outside of Claremont.
Photo courtesy of http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/ClermontMuseumTextiles.html

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 On The Frontier
newsletter of the Frontiers living History Group
August 2016

From V I K I N G A G E D Y E S : A B R I E F O V E R V I E W
http://wiki.caid-commons.org/images/TI_Excerpt_Viking_Age_Dyes_191-libre.pdf

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 On The Frontier
newsletter of the Frontiers living History Group
August 2016

Frontiers Living History Group Inc.

Viking - 1754 — 1865 -
Where ever there is a Frontier

For living history historians, re-enactors, enthusiasts who wish to gather and camp in the
fashion and lifestyle and undertake skills practiced by Early Settlers on a Frontier

Our committee is
President : Mark Pountney
Vice President : Chase Day
Treasurer : Gary Baker
Secretary & public officer : Jenny Baker
General Committee : David Waldron and Noel Lindsay
Safety Officers: Gary Baker, Mark Pountney, Chase Day & Jenny Baker
and Noel Lindsay

Time periods we do - any thing that's a frontier

our main ones are
Viking or any thing to do with the Viking period
The Fur Trade / American Rev war / militia periods
Australian Colonial
American Civil war
WW1
and maybe the odd Pirate
if there is something you like to do - then research and do it

We are a equal equality club - so women can man up if they wish to

Weapon Exemptions
we have all the Victorian weapon exemptions - swords. dagger, throwing axes and blades, Imitation Firearms
our ALHF Group No. is 74

Our website is at
https://sites.google.com/site/frontiershistory/
Our Public facebook page is at
https://www.facebook.com/Frontiers-Living-History-Group-423600514349397/

and Our Facebook group where you can discuss things and be kept up to date on events and things is at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/183076981741514/

Our online membership form is at

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1JPQaN4BbHq3oDISzxzWfgbQTFSLjj9Ha-C_AfbDfN-4/viewform

Training and Craft and events

Any club members is able to host and run a training or craft session / events
Note: that firearms and weapons under Controlled weapons act might need special permits so please talk to one of the
committee and tell us what you like to do first.

How can you help

we would love your input whether its via the facebook group or by hosting craft / training / events or writing or finding articles
for this newsletter.
Help us make this club a truly awesome club and the best it can be .