{"id":237,"date":"2014-04-04T15:34:08","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T19:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/?p=237"},"modified":"2014-04-04T15:36:21","modified_gmt":"2014-04-04T19:36:21","slug":"rafetools-of-the-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/2014\/04\/rafetools-of-the-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafe–Tools of the Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

For my readers, as I plan my next moves with Rafe: Are there any particular questions you would like answered next?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll have a pint of Smutty Nose,\u201d Rafe told Maud who was waiting on tables at the Pig and Toad.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything to eat, Auntie?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLater, maybe. Is your ma around?\u201d Rafe had not seen her at any of the tables, or hanging out at the looms.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, she\u2019s still topside.\u201d Maud nodded toward the depths of the public house. \u201cShe\u2019s bringing down a kettle she just mended for Bors Pubmaster.\u201d She took a mug from the rack and moved to the tap in the corner. \u201cStill wearing your battle harness, Auntie?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafe nodded and took a long pull at the lager. She reached behind her head and felt for the two thin metal spikes she kept skewered crosswise through the top of the harness mirroring the crossed scabbards that held her battle swords. They were fastened through their blunt ends with an arms-length of fine silk cord. \u201cFetch me a ball of that yarn, will you.\u201d She gestured with her chin toward the basket of balls Fiona had discarded as too short to use but too long to toss.<\/p>\n

Maud laughed. \u201cThose look like the knitting pins Mam makes, but a bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafe nodded. \u201cShe made them for me the last time I was home. I asked for some modifications,\u201d she said, taking a ball of wool from her niece. \u201cThat red will stand out a mile in this snow.\u201d Rafe started to cast on.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo more than all that dark brown leather you wear.\u201d Maud watched her aunt for a minute and continued, \u201cThat would have been, what, twenty years ago, at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafe finished her cast on and began to knit, looking at Maud. \u201cDon\u2019t you have tables to tend?\u201d<\/p>\n

Molly stomped up as Maud headed toward another table. The apprentice weaver sat in the opposite chair, with her back to the open public area. The girl, arms crossed, fists clenched, scowled at Rafe.<\/p>\n

It appeared that the girl\u2019s sour attitude was genuine, not just that of a child whose face had frozen when the wind changed. Rafe figured an afternoon swinging a maul at the wood pile would make at least one of them feel better about it. \u201cIs there a \u2018good day\u2019 behind all that grouchiness? I would have thought you\u2019d seen a woman knitting before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have. But you\u2019re a soldier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo law against knitting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you\u2019re a soldier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, girl. There is only so much weapon honing, tack mending, brass polishing, training time a person can spend, especially during the winter.\u201d Rafe\u2019s fingers kept rhythm with her words as she wound and stitched the yarn. \u201cStory telling around the fire is only a participant sport for the one speaking. You’ve sung a song eighty times, you don\u2019t really need to pay attention. And it\u2019s drafty, even in the guild hall. A good sweater, woolly socks on the floor flags, a colorful blanket or two \u2014 we all have stuff we do to swap around at holiday time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019ve never seen them attached together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe things you haven\u2019t seen in this world are legion.\u201d Stitch, stitch, turn. \u201cHow about a question? One to stretch your knowledge rather than display your ignorance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Molly gaped and looked around to see who her audience was. The Old Soldiers were lined up against the wall, just as they had been above ground. She took a breath. \u201cHow are they attached? Is that, silk?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot a truly excellent question,\u201d Rafe said, \u201cbut at least a question where you\u2019ll know more after the answer than before. Yes, that is silk.\u201d Rafe turned the knitting and started on the third row, her hands working automatically. Not once had she taken her eyes off Molly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are they attached?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA better question. First, it stinks to lose one. I can\u2019t drop one accidentally.\u201d She demonstrated, dropping and retrieving the needle with a flick of her little finger. \u201cCan you think of any other uses?\u201d<\/p>\n

Molly grinned. \u201cI\u2019ve seen my auntie use her needle to twist out a cork from a bottle or one of the thinner ones to truss a goose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafe nodded and turned her knitting. \u201cYou\u2019re getting closer. They make an excellent shiv, and the silk cord and second needle are useful if the prick goes in too far. They also make a fine garrote.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For my readers, as I plan my next moves with Rafe: Are there any particular questions you would like answered next? \u201cI\u2019ll have a pint of Smutty Nose,\u201d Rafe told Maud who was waiting on tables at the Pig and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,31],"tags":[32,14,71,6],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-knitting","category-rafe","tag-fiction","tag-knitting-2","tag-rafe","tag-yarn"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Gnw9-3P","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}