I just completed my first pair of short hose last night, with the assistance of Appin reenactor Gerry Orvis. It's in a very bright red-and-black check pattern, with black pinstripes on either side of the black checks. The woolen tape I bought from G-street Fabric to use as garters is a great match - the red is just different enough to lend contrast.

All I have to do before going out in the costume Sunday is to add a disk of leather to the inside of my basket-hilt (to protect the hand from sword-tips poking through the basket), and pick up my doublet, which is having some additional buttons and buttonholes added to the front, and I'm good to go.

Whether the same will be true of my competition and fiddle club sets remains to be seen. I still have a few more days...