Thanks, Earl

My husband and I met over a gaming table. Actually it was a large, round table with a Robo Rally board on it. Every year I go to the World Boardgaming Championships. It's big, it's full of good competition and it's tons of fun. It's the one week we make sure to have off every year. You see, for years I worked in a game store. The guy I worked for had one night a week that he met up with his buddies and payed various boardgames. I'm not talking about Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit (although those are fine games.) I'm talking about Union Pacific, Successors, Up Front, Acquire and many more. Some of them are games published by the now defunct Avalon Hill (which has sort of been revived by Hasbro, but that's a post for a different day,) and some are newer games put out by German companies or independent American publishers.

My boss' group consisted of about half a dozen guys who had one week each year to go to WBC (née AvalonCon) by themselves and game non-stop. One year,one of the sweetest gamers in the group became terminally ill. He told his friends that he knew he wouldn't be able to attend, but as his spot was already paid for, they should send somebody else in his place. His one caveat was that they choose a person who would a.) really enjoy it and b.) otherwise be unable to afford to go. I had been playing games with them on Game Night for several months and they knew I could hold my own. The only concern was childcare for my two-year old. My mom stepped up and said she would be thrilled to take care of him, so I hopped the plane and took off toward a new adventure. I scheduled something for almost every waking moment and I had a blast. I played Robo Rally and thoroughly enjoyed myself... in spite of being blown to bits, driving off the board and being shoved into pits. (It was OK, the GM was pretty cute.) I had such a good time, I was invited to join the guys the next year. We found out on the way home that our friend had just passed away. I found out at Earl's funeral that he was glad to hear they had chosen me to take his place and his wife was thrilled that a female would be going along. She thought I might keep the guys out of too much trouble.

The next year I went back and played many of the same games, but I didn't try to schedule each moment. When I went to play Robo Rally, the same cute guy was running the show. He had the same cute friends hanging out with him and we seemed to show up at a lot of the same games. (turns out this is not uncommon. If you think about it, people who like one particular game tend to enjoy other similar games.) Over the course of the week, he and his friends dragged me to a lot of games that I had never played before. The good thing about being an active gamer is that it wasn't a problem picking up the rules just before the tourney. I had such a good time with these guys, that we kept in touch afterward and the GM and I began dating. Years later, I have not only the cute Robo Rally GM, but another son and a daughter to love.

Thanks Earl. Who could possibly have known what would come of your generous gesture?

Catching up...

I've been doing a fair amount of knitting lately. I finished my square for the Pratchgan, a bobble sheep for the Tiffany Aching series of books. I wanted to do Mabel the Mock Cable Cow, but I couldn't get it to fit in the parameters I needed, so I went with Plan B. I finished blocking it and sent it out Priority to Scotland. I hope it makes it in time. The lovely lady running the show is looking for it and said it would be OK if it's a couple days late.

I also very nearly finished my first Jayne hat. It was supposed to be for my husband, but when I drew in the last few stitches at the top, it seemed to really pull the top in. I'm not sure it will fit him anymore, but both the nine-year old and three year-old have voiced their willingness to "take one for the team" and claim ownership of the hat. (Of course they like it, it's a cunning hat, quite possibly the sweetest hat ever...)
[I just had my husband try it on and it fits fine, at least as well as Jayne's did. Of course, he may still have to fight the kiddos for it.]

I swatched for Hat Attack and came fairly close to gauge. Actually for the first swatch, I figured I could measure the Jayne hat I had just finished to get some idea of which way to go. I used US 10's and needed one more stitch per inch so I figured I would try 8's. I picked up a pair at Never Enough Yarn (a lovely store with a fantastic proprietor. I really just can't say enough about these folks.) and came home to try again... and again... and again. After three tries, I finally admitted that I just wasn't going to get gauge with my new needles. A bit disappointing since I could have used that money elsewhere. Then I remembered that I wasn't sure I liked the way the Jayne hat came out with the 10's, so I'm going to use the new Plymouth needles for the next attempt. I finally dug out a pair of metal needles that I've had for donkey's years. I think they are US 5's, but I'm not positive. I don't really care what size they are, they are the right size for me to get gauge. Woo Hoo!!! I swatched this yarn so many times, I was afraid it would rebel at the thought of knitting into anything other than stockinette. As it turns out, however, it wasn't a problem. I had to cast-on three times, but once I got underway, everything was fine. I even got my hat finished and mailed before my assassin's hat reached me. Woot! I took someone else down with me!

While I've been knitting, I've been catching up on Prairie Home Companion broadcasts. One of my favorites is the joke shows and I've been going through the archives. Of course there are lots of laughs to be had, but one that struck me as particularly funny was this boat rental one...

"Boat 99, you'll have to return to the dock immediately or I'll have to charge you for overtime."
"Hey, Boss, there is no Boat 99. We only have 75 boats."
"Ummm... Boat 66, are you in trouble?"

Boy, oh boy!

All I can say is , "Wow!" Actually that's not entirely accurate. If it were, this would be an incredibly short entry. My husband and I have had a busy couple months. In the Fall/Early-Winter, we dealt with a broken thumb (his), an appendectomy (his), a tonsillectomy (mine), pneumonia (daughter's), thumb pin-removal (his) and a trip back home (actually lots of fun). We figured January had to be better and in general it has been. Annabelle got over her pneumonia/ear infection wonderfully and is finally getting some teeth (at least, I think that's a positive. I'll let you know if I suddenlly break-out in bite marks.) She has also begun walking, I'm pretty sure this is a good thing too. It certainly means things have been moved to higher elevations.

On MLK Day, we got to go see some friends who we only see a couple times a year. This is always a fun get together for us. They open their house to friends to spend the entire weekend hanging out and playing games. As if that's not enough, they stuff us silly with homemade banana pancakes on Sunday morning. This year we had the added bonus of seeing their lovely daughter and adorable grandson as well. It's been way too long since we got to game with them. We had a pleasant, uneventful drive home with very little traffic and got plenty of sleep in our own beds. Mom went back home and we got back into our routine. Then, on Wednesday, I apparently decided to make the bottom stair optional. Turns out it wasn't. My foot immediately turned a lovely variegated shade of black, blue and purple. At least my eldest came down to make sure I was OK. (he's usually the one who skips the last step or two.) Fortunately nothing is broken, but it is badly sprained . Turns out there are three main ligaments that wrap around the ankle and keep everything in place. Most sprains are to the outside of the ankle, stretching one or both of the ligaments on that side. Not one to do things halfway, I managed to damage all three. The doctor asked if I heard a snap or pop when I went down. All I remember hearing was the colorful language when the step wasn't where I expected it and the thud of my butt hitting the floor.

All of this time off my foot has given me plenty of time to catch up on missed episodes of my favorite shows (House, Bones, Medium, Psych, Monk...) It has also given me way too much time to spend on Ravelry. I now belong to a bazillion groups and have a project queue that stretches around the block. The coolest thing though is that I bumped into Hat Attack. It is similar to Sock Wars, where you knit a predetermined pattern and send it to your target. When they receive it, they send their work in progress to you and you finish it a nd send it to their target and so on until you are eliminated. The pattern for the hat will be distributed on Saturday (while I am helping decorate for the Cub Scout Blue and Gold) along with the target assignment. I was kind of hoping my assassin would be a really slow knitter on the outer reaches of Mongolia, but it looks like there are a few folks in this area. They are matching people up by zip code, so my chances of someone of getting someone who lives in the middle of nowhere and relies on smoke signals and Pony Express are pretty slim. *sigh*

On the plus side, while I was heading out to look for supplies (my DPNs were too big and this time it's imperative I get gauge) I stumbled across a yarn shop I've been meaning to visit. Turns out the owner is super nice. He was getting things ready to move next door,so he had just inventoried and knew exactly what was in. He also carries Lamb's Pride which is the yarn used for the pattern and he even had some on sale. It's the last of a dye lot, but it's just what I need. I was hemming and hawing trying to decide what to get when he pointed out that this skein is a neutral color, should show off the cabling nicely and besides is on sale which makes it, in his words, a no-brainer. With customer service like that, I will certainly return to Never Enough Yarn!