Cloaks

This past weekend, we had some heavy rain Saturday and early Sunday. It gave me a chance to wear my real cloak. I say "real" because it is a real cloak vice a costume cloak. I think I have some admiration for things from earlier days. I like wearing my full length English riding boots and find it fun wearing my cloak. I had a bit of a misadventure with my cloak. I bought my first one from http://www.tolkientown.com and found out to my dismay that is was purely costume though it's a very nice costume cloak. I wanted something that would keep the rain off and the wind out. A costume cloak won't do that. The second cloak I bought was from http://www.bytheswordinc.com. I'd told them what I wanted length wise and they assured me they'd see to it. I wanted a cloak that would be only about 3 or 4 inches off the ground. That way, it would keep most of me dry if it rained. Someone goofed, whoever made the cloak assumed I had a 3-foot high head and a 10-inch neck. I nearly choked trying to close the cloak around my neck. Unlike the tolkientown cloak, this one was a real cloak and looked very nice but because of the mistake with the hood and neck, it wasn't going to work. I resolved to find a place where I could actually try on cloaks. I found out that Moresca (http://www.moresca.com) sells them. They have a nice shop at the Maryland Renaissance Festival (http://www.rennfest.com). It was there that I got to try on the cloaks they had. They had a number of different colors. I decided to go with black as I thought that was a manly color. I forgot that people associate black with evil and darkness and didn't realize how some people might react to that color. I found out later.

Overall, I've been very pleased with my "real" cloak. I think it looks cool and it has definitely done the job. I've also found it great to wrap up in during a cold night. It's like wrapping up in a nice wool blanket. I'll have to see about posting a picture of me wearing it sometime. That's the end of my cloak tale. Cheers all!