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The memorial stone in Fockbek commemorates peace treaties between Danish Vikings and Franks - the so-called first German-Danish peace.

Especially this year the same questions keep being asked about the availability of wool combs, their prices and whether we are willing to send them by parcel delivery. Víl answers some of them here.

Viking Age wool comb finds are comparatively few, scattered and - compared to big textile finds, great collections of weapons or jewelry of gold and silver - not as easy to spot in the literature. We did, however, find a very nice pair of wool combs this year which is comparatively well preserved. This one we would like to show you in this article.

This year we decided to really enjoy midwinter. The precious beeswax candles were lit and the troughs were filled with a delicious meal. We took inspiration for the food from the book "An Early Meal" by Daniel Serra and Hanna Tunberg, however, we had to slightly change some recipes...

"As soon as their boats arrive at this port, each of them disembarks, taking with him bread and meat, onions, milk and nabidh, and he walks until he comes to a great wooden post stuck in the ground with a face like that of a man, and around it are little figures. Behind these images there are long wooden stakes driven into the ground."

I am currently working on my new apron dress. The fabric is bought and dyed and waits until I have the courage to cut it into pieces. In the meantime, I also think about decorations, pearls/amulets and a new set of oval brooches. When I was looking into the oval brooches from Birka, I faced two major problems...

A total of 8½ people and 5 dogs arrived on Saturday to dye indigo blue and onion orange. The weather exceeded our expectations and the event was a complete success.

Finally, Víl managed to finish the last piece of kit purchased in Trelleborg: a hand forged spoon carving knife. At this point, a new addiction was born: carving spoons.

The weather's not being kind to us. First, there was a lot of rain, and now it's getting colder and darker by the day. Certain signs that midwinter's on its way. But that's not going to keep us from doing more Viking Age-related stuff. Here are some things we've done in the meantime.

Moesgård was really big as well - this year they had more than 600 warriors fighting, plus all non-fighting companions and traders. But even though the campground not only covers a big, grassy field, but extends to the beach as well, it was very, very crowded...

A few days ago we came back from our big Denmark-summer-tour. Almost a month of "Viking life", traveling from one market to the next, staying always at least one week at one place, gave us some really special impressions.

Because the time was just right to do it, we dyed some woolen fabrics and yarns with birch leaves last weekend. The results are quite amazing...

During the exhibition "Odin, Thor and Freyja - Scandinavian Cult Sites of the 1st Millennium AD and the Frankish Realm" by the Archaeological Museum Frankfurt and the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, there are several guided tours focusing on a certain aspect. We visited one of them - "Women (and women pictures) in the pagan North and on the Christian continent", by Dr. Petra Hanauska.

The season's first market led us to the place where the southernmost runestones once stood, a meeting place between North, South, East and West: Hedeby. We took part in the spring market and experienced a market as beautiful as the colours of the rainbow...

Wikingerzeitliche Spinnwirtel konnten aus dem verschiedensten Material bestehen, die meisten waren aber lediglich aus Ton gebrannt. In Haithabu wurde jedoch eine sehr viel teurere und für die Zeit ungewöhnliche Variante ausgegraben: Spinnwirtel aus Glas.

Vil und Ása hat es diesen Oktober mal wieder in die Bretagne verschlagen. Die schöne Überraschung: ein Walnussbaum mit noch grünen Walnüssen!

Ende Juli machten wir uns auf in den Norden Deutschlands, zu den Wikingertagen in Schleswig. Es war ein sehr schöner Markt und wir leerten so manchen Krug gemeinsam mit den Lagernachbarn. Das größte Manco: viel zu lautes Musikprogramm auf der Bühne...

Am 11.03.16 machte HárukR sich auf zu einem Bogenbauseminar ins schöne Erftstadt-Bliesheim bei Köln. Das zweitätige Seminar beinhaltete die Herstellung eines Bogentyps nach Wahl inklusive Pfeile. Natürlich sollte es ein Wikinger-Langbogen werden.

Von der weißen Wolle war mittlerweile genug versponnen, um eine erste Färbung damit durchzuführen. Geplant war eine Färbung mit gelben Zwiebelschalen. Zusätzlich färbte ich Stoff für eine "Haithabu-Tasche".

Füße und Hände gehören zu den ersten Dingen, die anfangen zu frieren, wenn es kalt wird. Logisch, dass man diese Körperstellen mit etwas Wolle schützen will...

Aus der Wildschweinschwarte ist mittlerweile so etwas wie ein brauchbar konserviertes Bettvorlegerfell geworden.

Víl und Ása ergatterten sich nach einer Jagd eine stattliche Wildschweinschwarte. Diese soll nun zu einem gegerbten Fell verarbeitet werden.

Bevor die gewaschene und leicht angefilzte Rohwolle versponnen werden kann, müssen die Fasern sortiert und gekämmt werden. Dazu baute Víl zwei Wollkämme grob nach archäologischem Vorbild.

In den Textilfunden finden wir Hinweise darauf, dass die Kleidung auch mit schlichteren Dingen wie Schnüren oder Kordeln verziert wurde. Die Erkenntnisse meiner Recherche habe ich auf meine Kleidung übertragen...

Der letzte Markt ist für uns vorbei, daher werden wir uns nun der "Winterpause" 2015/16 zuwenden. Dabei werden wir aber alles andere als untätig bleiben.