I just HAD to get out!

[RonW]

The walls were closing in on me!
Physical ailments have been troubling me for way to long, the covid-19 madness and "social distancing" are getting on my nerves and the annual spring depression is kicking in for real. I actually skipped classes today! After having taken the first English lesson this morning and our internet connection failing all the time, I had had it. I grabbed my gear and went out. Which was exactly the point my wife had so persistently been making, too.
I had been meaning to test my "new" chest-rig, so this was a nice opportunity and I explored a new to me area today as well. No fancy stuff today, just woods, sun, water and the soothing sounds of wind in the trees and the brushing of the undergrowth as I moved..... The air was filled with the sound of birds having come back; trumpeting cranes high above, all sorts of finches chattering all around me, some wood pigeons cooing, gulls shouting and I scared some ducks as I approached the shore of one of the lakes. I had seen a lonely loon on our lake as well...

I was just checking to see how well I would blend in with my homemade camouflage anorak and the rest of the gear. The patches on the back of the backpack do stand out, don't they?

This is the chest rig I mentioned; a repurposed British WW2 gasmask pouch. I have to say that it was so comfortable that I hardly noticed it was there! Despite being loaded with cellphone and a hefty set of binoculars.

After having explored the new area, which basically was a pine plantation, I went back to the starting point and turned left into another part. Now this part of the woods was much more to my liking!

The lakes at our place are icefree, here the most shaded parts of the lake still was frozen.

 

[RonW]

I was getting hungry by now and decided to have lunch at my "happy place", the one I discovered last autumn. It was quite nearby.
On the spot I started to gather firewood and twigs plus a larger piece of birch bark from a rotten stump. That bark was not really dry, but that usually is no issue. I prepared it all, scraped the outside of the bark to produce dust that would take a spark form the firesteel.
Not today! It would send up puffs of smoke from time to time, but not ignite. The stiff breeze coming in from the lake blew what dust was left all over the fireplace. Well, I do keep matches, just in case...

After lunch I decided to hang around for a while, empty my head and find some peace of mind. The ongoing madness of late as well as other matters, have been weighing heavily these past few weeks. But me being me, I can not sit still for too long. So I got up and started playing with some of my gear.
One thing I had been meaning to explore the possibilities of, was the plash palatka (Russian canvas poncho/shelter) that I received from my Swiss buddy Pascal.

The first setup is straight forward using 4 bungees:

But then I figured that if I turned it around, the center toggle would face outward and when attaching a third bungee plus some makeshift groundpegs you end up with a lot more headspace!
This poncho/shelter is wide enough to accommodate 2 people, lying down.

 

[TeeDee]

Interesting Camo on that Smock.

Any details please?

EDIT - Just saw its homemade. Looks Good!!

 

[Herman30]

@RonW Nice looking gear and jacket. Is it completly homemade or only the camo homemade? It looks like the swedish winter camo anorak.
Are you a member on utrustning.se? If not, join in.

 

[Corso]

nice setup = the smock looks cool too - any info?

 

[RonW]

Glad you people liked it!
As for the anorak & camo; it is indeed the famous Swedish snowanorak and the camo is a long going project.
At first I dyed it with natural dyes, trying to get an earthy olive, mottled effect. That did not work out. Apart from the mottled part.
So I wanted to add a little more depth and colour to it, being brown. I went for a chemical store bought project. That did not work out. Again the mottled part did. Sort of.
The previously applied natural dyes were partially washed out though.
So Now I had a mottled, brown/beige anorak, still being to bright for my taste. It had to be more disruptive.
My wife had a bottle of green batik paint left over, so once again I tied the whole thing up and down into the dye it went. And again some of the previous dye was washed out.
So I just bought some cold applied batik paint, being brown and grey. The brown turned out to be.... really brown.
I dappled that on, using bubblewrap as a cover for the table. Hence the dotted appearance.
And I am thinking of applying the grey too, but have not found a suitable pattern yet.

 

[Herman30]

Looking at the photos, the jacket seems to be about same color as rocks and moss compared to the green trousers. And no camo work very well that close as in the photos. If you go about 100m from the camera then I think you would blend in quit good.

 

[Corso]

I thought it was some sort of Denison off shoot

It's a really impressive effect - I tried to machine dye one but it fell apart on the first go (light brown)
might have to try again at some point

I've always liked the various German pattern smocks but have been put off using one because of the historical context

if they ever did a plain tan one that would be a great effect

 

[RonW]

@Corso
If you tie the fabric into tight knots, there the previous dye will remain most and new dye will adhere least. You get the flower/sun shaped like blotches.
When twisting the fabric you get elongated pattern.
But I would recommend batik dyes. These do not need high temperatures and have shorter soaking times. Often more intense colours too.

 

[Van-Wild]

Wow! You are lucky to live in such a beautiful place. Nice write up and thanks for sharing with lots of pictures!

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

 

[Herman30]

View from my kitchen window. As you an see the forest start about 200m from my flat.
PS. An old photo, we don´t have any snow now.