I call this Eyvandr’s haversack because he’s the one who won it, but it was originally made as a prize for Esfenn’s First Sword Tourney in 2005. I’m very pleased that Lord Eyvandr Gunnarsson was the one who won it, because he is of that rarest of breeds the embroidering fighter, and he truly appreciated the work that went into it. He has also let me borrow it back a couple times to use in artisan’s displays. My fighter Baccus was so impressed with it that he has now asked me to do one for him with a Coptic Baccan scene on it. But that’s another project and another diary.

I purchased the maroon wool for this project from the Oxford Mill End Store with a bunch of other colors that will one day grow up to be haversacks, too. The wool was nice and thick and took the needle well. After cutting the wool out to the direction of Viscountess Mistress Catherine of Wessex’s haversack pattern, I hand-edged all the edges with buttonhole stitch in four strands of cream DMC cotton thread number 746. Yes, all the edges, even the interior ones. The wool didn’t need it, but I liked the way it looked overall and how it eventually complimented the embroidery.

I pulled the design from page 8 of Dover’s Viking Designs book. I wasn’t going for extreme periodness, just something that looked both Viking-ish and interesting. According to Dover, this is a pre-Viking design on a memorial stone in Gotland, Sweden. I blew up the design and adapted it slightly to be a little more balanced. Once satisfied, I transferred the design to tracing paper, pinned it to the flap part of the wool, and sewed through the paper in large stitches. Once done, I tore the paper off (it came off in one piece, too, which was pretty cool) and drew over the lines with a white jelly ink marker from Michael’s. This was the only marking utensil I could find that would stay on the wool in a thin, visible line. Then I took the stitches out and neatened up the lines with the pen.

THEN I embroidered. I used a cream yarn I had on hand from Michael’s and couched it down with maroon DMC thread number 815. I continually twisted the yarn as I couched to make it retain its twist under the couching thread. I considered filling in some of the shapes, but I either liked the way it looked as it was or I ran out of time (I don’t remember). After the embroidery was done, I hand-sewed all the seams together. For a non-sewer, I managed to pull the project together pretty well. And on the back of the flap, which I didn’t line, all you can see are a few white squiggles where I back-couched the tails of the yarn.

For this being my first haversack, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I’m looking forward to doing more with the additional wool I have. The first picture below is a scan from the Dover book, with the one I adapted in the lower left corner. The other two pictures were taken with my camera phone, hence their low quality. The second is the entire haversack (and my mess of a dining room table), and the third is a detail shot of the embroidery on the flap and one of the edges.

I have since learned that Eyvandr has loved this haversack to death. Since winning it one year ago, he has used it almost every time he goes to an event. He recently used it to carry a container that was a little too heavy and spilled, and the fabric split, not the stitching. These facts, and the last part in particular, make me very proud. Even though it won’t be soon, I am planning to make him a replacement haversack just because he loved the first one so very much.

Understandably tired of waiting for a replacement haversack, Eyvandr sent along the haversack with Baccus who passed it on to me for repairs. Luckily, this gave me an opportunity to take better pictures than the ones I had before. In this first picture, you can clearly see where the fabric gave way on the strap near the seam.

This second picture is a close-up of the embroidery. It's the same as before, only better quality.

The last picture is one I wished I had taken before, that of the back. You can see the white squiggles of where I tied down and carried over the ends of the yarn as I stitched along.

I plan to rip out the seam near where the haversack tore and refinish the end of the strap. I'll then sew it back on to the finished end. Eyvandr promises not to use the sack for heavy things, like armor, from now on. Now that I'm looking at it again, I'm realizing just how cool a thing this is. It's making me want to make one for myself, so I can have a nicer looking sewing bag. I have a nice blue wool in my stash . . hmmm . . another project for another day.

The scan on this page can be found on page 8 of Dover's Viking Designs (Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, New York, 1999).

The first two pictures on this page were taken by myself sometime before October 2005. Yay for recordkeeping.

The last three pictures on this page were taken by myself on 2/16/07.