Hi lovelies,

first of all, happy new year! I hope you all had a good time and may 2025 be your best year.

I had a two weeks vacation and continued my video from the congress "school of old handcrafts" (Schule des alten Handwerks in German) in St. Lambrecht in Styria (Austria) and I realized that I never posted anything on my blog. I do hope you all follow me on Instagram because I do post live from the events as they are happening.

The event was advertised on Instagram and it was there that I first saw it. It took place from the 24th to the 26th of November and we attended on the 25th and 26th as we had work on the 24th and couldn't take a vacation day. 

In the entrance fee were the lectures and discussions included but not the classes. There were so many to choose from and I decided to go for white work embroidery and stays making, while my partner went to do needle lace and button making. About a week before the class, my two courses were cancelled. That was such a huge shame. But we decided to go anyway as my partner had his classes and I could just visit all of the lectures instead.

Program of the three days

It was cold and snowing as we drove the 2,5h to the event place in mostly snowfall and darkness. Coming out of the city without snow and then driving over a small mountain that suddenly had snow on the trees was simply magical.  

The village we drove to, Sankt Labrecht, is named after the monastery sankt Lambrecht.

We arrived around 10 pm and went straight to our room and to bed. 

In the morning of Saturday, we woke up to a thick blanket of snow. Coming from Vienna, a city which has less and less snow over the years, I was definitely surprised and not used to it. Our room also faced the monastery and it was quite a sight. 

 

 After a small breakfast and a discussion with the owner of the b&b (they emigrated from the Netherlands and had the audacity to talk bad about "foreigners/refugees"? Sorry, not with us) we made out way to the monastery which was only 10mins away by foot. 

We tried to be super careful and not slip on the ice and it was very exhausting. While Hias went to his classes, I sat down at the big hall and listened to the lectures. There were only a few people as so many got sick with covid and the first lecture was cancelled (wear your masks, everyone!) and I embroidered while listening to the other lectures.

 The monastery was beautiful, the baroque architecture was strong and it is my favourite.

Here some snaps from the lectures and the hallway:

 

Selfie time!

 There were so many artists selling their items but I forgot to take pictures. I just remember Wellenkind (she makes amazing hats), Orniello (who makes great historical jewelry) and Anja Lampert (who is a textile artist and does sashiko). There were some more, most of them sold books, fabric and/or wool but I can't remember them at all :(.

For lunch we randomly decided to go to one of the two restaurants in town and it was a good decision as the food was delicious. That was a bit unexpected in that tiny village but a pleasant surprise.

 The spinach canelloni was so huge, I couldn't finish it all.

Next was the lecture about medieval "Almosenbeutel" (loosely translated from the German wikipedia)

Almosenbeutel - Alms bags ("aumônières sarrazinoises", "bourse", "gibecière", gipser, after Chaucer) are small, usually elaborately decorated bags made of precious materials, which  formed an important clothing accessory in Central Europe at the latest from the High Gothic period. Alms bags are usually  embroidered with silk and gold and were thus not only a practical substitute for the bags missing  in medieval clothing, but also a valuable object of representation.

Even though I thought the lecturer was a bit... eh - she claimed she was the only one in the whole world who meticously crafted her "Almosenbeutel" and no one other hat yet achieved what she did. Plus, it was historically accurate. My stance on historically accuracy is - nothing can be created to be 100% historically accurate as you will not have the same wool from the sheep that lived 500 years ago, nor the herbs for the colours etc.etc. and that's ok - I just found this statement so weird. But, nevertheless, her Almosenbeutel was amazing. Check out her Instagram for more: Alte Fäden 

But my highlight of the day was the lecture by Karina Grömer. I liked reading and learning about  textile archaeology before but her lecture made me love it. She taught with such a fire that the whole hall hung at her lips. At the end of the lecture, I immediately bought her book "Prähistorische Textilkunst.
Die Entwicklung der Textiltechnik und der Bekleidung in Zentraleuropa." even though I was low on cash. I even got my own dedication from her. But if you are interested in textile archaeology, that book is a must - even though I am not sure if it's available in English.

 

Day 2 started like day 1 but after breakfast we checked out and packed our luggage into the car. Hias went off to his classes and I was left alone until 11am, when the lecture about the history of lace started. It was held by my bobbin lace teacher F. Potzmann. I am always amazed by how knowledgeable she is in that matter.  

I picked up Hias from the class and found out that there was a small Klosterarbeiten booth I did not see yet. And I bought myself a cute headband with pearls and beads.

 And then we went to lunch.

After a lunch break at the same restaurant and a big pizza, I was ready for the afternoon lecture - Lucille aka Lucy Christiana Duff Gordon. Her life, she was a survivor of the Titanic, "inventor" of the catwalk, and designs were very interesting but I didn't get the book as I had run out of money. 

 

 

We also watched half of the movie "Spinnerinnen/Spinners" before deciding to leave as we wanted to get as much driving done as we could before it was dark again but came into the dark weather anyway.

 

I had a fun weekend and hoped there would also be an event in 2024 but there was not. Too bad! I would have loved that stays class!

All the best,

Auris Lothol