Dice Bags for Days

You already know that I have a thing for yarn, but you know what else is super fun and alluring to collect massive piles of?

That would be dice, my friends.

D&D entered my life 4 or 5 years ago and I fell absolutely in love. And like everything I get into, I fell in hard. 

Minis, maps, rulebooks, supplemental guides... I started hoarding it all. But of all the accessories that go along with D&D, dice quickly became my newest addiction.

The beautiful little bastards are little candy colored gems of temptation. You start with just one of two sets and next thing you know you basically need a small suitcase to hold them all.

Unless, of course, you are a knitter. Then you get to make your own dice bags. 

Almost a year ago, John, Vi, Bethany and I started playing our own D&D game. And like a good DM, I provide for my players. So I dutifully made everyone their own dice bag. 

I think I may have even posted about them here before. 

I assumed that one bag each would be enough to tide everyone over for awhile, even though I myself already needed multiple.

I had what I referred to as my DM Dice Bag that held all of the sets I use when I run the game. (Those are the ones pictured above) But I am also playing as a character in our campaign, so I HAD to have a bag to hold all of my sets specifically for my character.

Oh, you wanted to see the dice, too?

My character has a fire and water thing going on, so all of her sets reflect that.

Aren't they gorgeous?

Anyway, as I was dealing with my own minor dice addiction, I didn't realize just how far down the polyhedral hole Bethany had fallen down. She commissioned me for two more bags, one of which was delivered last year. But the other I had to postpone until after Christmas, which she kindly was okay with.

So, I'm counting fulfilling that promise as my Knit or Get Off the Pot project for February.

..................

Oh, you want pictures of the bag?

Well...

...That's about the best I can do.

I kinda maybe sort-of perhaps... forgot...to...take...pictures.

But I can assure you that Bethany is quite happy with it!

And I may or may not have immediately cast on, knit, bound-off, washed, and blocked another one for myself in the 6 hours that followed finishing hers. 

Okay, I know! But listen! I have SPECIAL DICE that needed their own bag!

And I had some VERY SPECIAL pom-poms that needed something amazing to use them on!

So I made myself this.

And now it's hanging out all happy and content with my other bags.

What's that? The lil bag there in the front? Well, that's the dice bag that I made to hold the dice I use for my character's crow companion.

Heck, I think I even shared it here before. But what I didn't share before were the INCREDIBLY ADORABLE AND TINY DICE I HAVE FOR HIM!

To give you an idea of size, a normal d20 is about the width of a quarter.

These...

...Are just a wee bit smaller.

I have discovered a bit of a problem with these bags, though.

They're just too damn fun and easy to make.

Because I have ANOTHER one to show you, this time one I made for Emmy. That I knit right after finishing mine. 

And I *may or may not* have another one on the needles...

For me...

Just to put all my green dice in...

IT'S NOT AN ADDICTION, I SWEAR!

In other knitting news, I had the absolute pleasure of blocking this FUCKING MAGNIFICENT BEADED PIECE OF WITCHCRAFT for Mikayla.

It's so pretty and wonderful and I am just agog at how many beads went into it.

As for myself, I have been working on the ceremony shawl over the last few days. My beads finally came in, so I felt like I should actually get going on it.

I bought two different types of beads, assuming that I'd just decide which one to actually use when they got here.

You know what happened. 

I love both of them so much that I am using both.

The shawl itself is not even a fifth of the way through and it's already over a foot in diameter. 

This thing is going to be a damn cape by the end of this.

Guess I should get back to it.

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The Best Laid Plans of Lions and Bags

Well, we're on the second month of my monthly goal of getting my WIP basket down to zilch...

And I've already failed.

Yep.

I'm here to tell you that February's project is just not getting done.

I had intended to finish my Gryffindor bag that I had started clear back in 2017. I just needed to make the liner for it and figure out what the hell I wanted to do for a strap.

Originally I had planned on trying to weave it, but I am not any good at weaving. Crocheting or knitting it would result in a ridiculously stretched out thing that wouldn't hold up at all.

So my only alternative to get the look I wanted was to find something premade. And I did. Clear in Australia.

I ordered it at the beginning of the month. It got here towards the end. And, well, it wasn't going to work.

See in my head, I had convinced myself that the bag was a brighter red than it actually is. In reality, it's much darker.

But hey, no problem, right? I could totally just dye it since it was made of silk.

*sigh*

That also spectacularly failed.

So...

My project just isn't getting done.

Unless you'll let me count a dice bag that I promised Bethany last year?

A win by technicality is still a win, right?

Especially if I made three of those bags in the course of a week?

Yep, that's what I'm doing, then.

Besides, I write the rules. And I can bend them to my damn will.

So stay tuned for those.

As for you, Gryffindor Bag...

Well, it's back in time out for you.

---------------------------------------------------------
Like my writing? Why don't you buy me a coffee!

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Good-Fucking-Bye

In a few hours, 20-I-HATE-teen will be a mere memory. Lost forever to time.

THANK ALL THE BLESSED BLOODY STARS

So, let's pour the champagne, put on the comfy pants, and take a quick look back at all the projects I managed to finish over the last 12 months.

First, my octopus hat.

My first blanket.

The first Rios Lace Tam.

Quite a few dice bags.

Cute little soft friends.

 

Soft friends wearing soft things.

The second lace tam.

A few odds and ends.

And most importantly, a few shawls.

The fact that I got so much done despite the absolute bloody disaster this year stands as a giant, defiant middle-finger to it.

So, goodbye, so long, and fuck you, 2018.

2019, you better be better. I'm fucking watching you.

Alright, friends. We made it. Let's kick ass next year.

Love you all. <3

Destination: Yarn!

Now, this may come as a wee bit of a shock to you, but I kind of have a *thing* for yarn.

I know, I know. Color you surprised.

And when it's yarn done by an indie dyer?

My little heart just goes wild.

And when that indie dyer is, in fact, just a short little jaunt up north?

That sound? That was my heart exploding.

A couple weekends ago, I got to attend Destination Yarn's open house for their new dye studio.

Yep, it's not just another yarn shop. It's a whole new world.

Jeanne has opened a studio to teach people how to dye their own yarn and fiber. It's really incredible!

She also had a beautiful display of all of her current stock of yarn for sale.

Mikayla, Steph, and I were practically kids in a candy store and had to go squish it all.

This was, of course, after I had a minor meltdown about what the hell to wear. Which caused us to be late. Yay, mental illness!

But really, if you're going to a Yarn Thing you need to show off a bit, right? And I have a closet full of shawls to wear. So I got overwhelmed with trying to decide which one was The Right One for the day.

I ended up with my usual "I-Need-To-Impress-Fellow-Knitters" shawl, Celestarium.

A good choice, I guess. Wish I could just get my nerve up to wear them all a bit more often...

Anyway, Steph was on the hunt for a skein of yarn for a Very Important Thing, I promised myself that I just wanted a single skein of heavier yarn for a hat, while Mikayla was trying to be good and only get ONE skein to make socks since she's currently on a sock kick. (heh...)

And because we're all terrible enablers, most of those plans went out the window.

Steph ended up with two yarns to make two Very Important Things, Mikayla bought yarn for another shawl, and I... well... I decided that the yarn I had originally bought for my ceremony shawl wasn't quite perfect.

This, however...

Yeah. I brought them both home. And I have absolutely no regrets.

The color is called Pine Forest. Absolutely perfect for a winter ceremony.

We won't discuss the fact that this also means that I had to change the pattern AGAIN! But I think we really have settled on a winner this time.

I plan on buying both colors that Steph and Mikayla also got because I loved them so much. They can join the ever-growing hoard of colors I have.

Left to right: Irish Bog, Stockholm, and Shark Infested Waters.

Alas, we had to tear ourselves away from the yarny goodness and seek out some sort of caffeine for poor John, who had been dozing in a corner of the shop.

We ended up at Blackbird Baking Company, coincidentally right next to River Colors Studio.

The yarn shop had closed a little bit before we got there, which, honestly was probably the best thing for us. But we did get to meet a lovely fellow knitter in the cafe who happily showed off her Find Your Fade shawl.

I wasn't really impressed with the coffee at Blackbird, but their baked goods were on a whole 'nother level. I had a blue cheese and onion focaccia and thought I was going to die from happiness.

We arrived in time for their happy hour, where everything is half-off. Do you know how tempted I was to clear out their remaining stock? John, the blighter, wouldn't actually let me take it all, but we did get a big bag of goodies to take home for later.

Mikayla had to get going, so we all parted ways, yarn and baked goods in tow.

John and I were trying to decide if we wanted to go check out anything else before heading back home.

We took some adorable selfies...

And decided to at least go drive past the lake. It just doesn't feel right to go to Cleveland and not see it.

I managed to finish Vi's dice bag on the way home.

We're going to ignore the knot in the bind off since some dumbass was so tired that she bound of half her stitches, thought she was done with the whole thing, broke the yarn, pulled it through the last stitch, tried to take her needles back, and became very confused when they wouldn't separate from the project because, you know, HALF THE STITCHES ARE STILL ON THEM!

When you fail, fail spectacularly, right?

I am super in love with the way the colors worked out for this one. It reminds me of something out of my current favorite game, Subnautica.

I just might have to make myself one in this colorway.

But, that'll have to wait since I have to dive headlong into Mojito.

It's a wee bit bigger than this picture shows (I had intended to write this post a cfew days after my last...) I now only have 4 rows of the double sided lace section and the edge chart to go.

But most of those rows...

... are beaded.

And I had to order more beads because I actually didn't have enough of these in my hoard of shiny things.

I couldn't buy more from the place I got them because it closed down. And my usual bead supplier didn't have them. So I had to order them from a company I've never dealt with before, which is always terrifying.

It needs to be done before the 26th for my 10 year class reunion, so I *think* I'll be okay.

But if I'm not....

Well, Celestarium looks pretty good with my dress.