False Pretenses

When Vi had asked me if I'd like to go to Harps and Thistles, I thought everything was on the level. It was just going to be a nice day out with a friend.

I made myself up all pretty, even deciding to wear my Ashton shawl, and headed up, completely oblivious to shenanigans happening in my home.

I found some absolutely stunning grey yarn to use for the Boo Knits MKAL I'm planning on doing next month.

Seriously, I need some better pictures. I can't even describe how it actually looks in person.

Anyway, Vi and I stopped for lunch and then headed back home where I walked in to see...

...my entire dining room decorated in a dungeon(!!!) theme for my birthday.

THESE ASSHOLES ACTUALLY MANAGED TO PULL ONE OVER ON ME AND I'M SO ANGRY AND HAPPY AND ANNOYED AND EMOTIONAL!

We chilled out for the rest of the day, playing games and just hanging out.

It was perfect and wonderful. The best way to leave 27 behind.

So thank you, you giant nerds, for such a great day.

Also, remember this when we have our next D&D session this Thursday.

I foresee some revenge...

Faire, Weather, Friends

Now that I'm home for more than 5 minutes, I can finally talk about Ren Faire last weekend.

It ended up raining the whole way there, but managed to stop just as we pulled in the parking area. Still the place was a muddy mess. I wisely decided to wear my boots, and if you know anything about me and how much I abhor anything on my feet, that should tell you just how muddy it was.

But we still had a bunch of fun.

We took some pictures.

Some of us took sneaky pictures while we were watching various shows.

I found a goat statue. 

We shot some bows.

 We watched some jousting.

And then we got ready for the ball and tried not to melt.

That fan was the best $5 I've ever spent, let me tell you. The humidity was unbearable.

All in all, it was a pretty fun day. There's already discussion about costumes for next year. Maybe I should start that now...

Little Things

A coherent blog post with lovely flow doesn't seem to be happening today. Instead, we'll go with a handy-dandy numbering system to bang out the particulars.

1. Since finishing Celestarium, the universe seems to have imploded and rained all kinds of shit all over my friends. This is my sincere plea for it to knock it off.

2. A few weeks ago, I decided to start getting a rough idea of Christmas presents. I picked up this skein of TIG in Ewe Rock My World to make a pair of Christmas socks.

3. Yes, the pictures are crap because it was much too hot and muggy to go take pictures outside today. And also because I got sucked in to continuing my foray into the Yarn Harlot's archive. I'm up to November 2010.

4. Celestarium was a hit at the yarn tasting. And I discovered that if someone tells me that green yarn is almost never purchased in the shop, I have an immediate emotional connection to it and bring all of it home. Two skeins of Dragonfly Fibers Valkyrie in Dragon Wagon that just so happen to match my Dragonscale Shawl. Maybe a hat and mitten set to go with it?

I also picked up a few skeins of Dovestone DK, which is ridiculously pleasant British wool blend. It's destined to be a lovely and thick cabled shawl.

5. Yes, I am playing Pokemon Go (Team Instinct 4 lyfe). No, I am not ashamed. In fact, I am so enamored that I decided to pick up a crochet hook for the first time in forever and crank out this little bulbasaur.

He's got a little surprise hiding in his bulb.

I was inspired by a Tumblr post that had a bunch of Bulbasaurs with different flowers blooming on their backs. My flower, as you can see, is knit rather than crochet, but I think that just adds to his charm.

He's so friggin sweet.

6. I ended up with a whopping 258 page views on my Trekking post. That blew me away. Thank you so much, you beautiful people. You make a girl blush.

7. My grandma's neighbors were replacing all of the windows in their home. Which meant that I managed to score 31 beautiful, old wood windows that set my grubby little heart aflutter.

I can't feel my arms due to loading an unloading all of those.

8. My mom made my nails all pretty.

9. I fell in love with the Split Back Tank pattern from Knit Picks and was tickled when I discovered that it actually went all the way up to my size. I ordered the suggested yarn, Lindy Chain, in the Tumeric colorway.

10. With the yarn also came the THIRD PAIR of sock needles. Which meant I started working on my socks again.

And actually managed to finish.

Well, one of them at least.

I find it rather fitting that I finished my very first sock while reading through the archive of the traveling sock queen herself. She's rather inspired me to try and push myself outside of my comfort zone with my knitting. I mean, a year ago, I wouldn't have even imagined that I'd be willing to do projects like socks and actual garments. But now, I'm finally understanding myself better as a knitter and just what I'm able to accomplish.

I'd like to think the Harlot would be quite proud of my first sock attempt. Even if it is a little loose around the leg.

Travel, Transphobia, and Too Many Colors

I've been wrangling with myself on how exactly to organize this post.

Do we do the usual and go chronologically, which means tackling a heavy topic in the middle of the post? Or do I handle that first? Or do I wait until the end?

I suppose chronological has served me well so far and will do so again.

So, going back two weeks ago, we had a special birthday party to attend. John's grandma was turning 102. I wasn't exactly thrilled about going because the majority of that side of the family... let's just say that stating that they "dislike" me is putting it mildly.

Quick aside, ever wonder why this blog is called "Black Goat Knitting"? Well, John and myself are kind of considered to be black sheep of the family due to our atheism. We've also been accused of being Satanists. Which, according to the highly reliable source of the "Satanic Panic" during the 80's means sacrificing goats or some other such nonsense. Put two and two together and there you have it.

Anyway, off to the party I went, if only to support my husband.

It did give me a chance to give my mother-in-law her birthday present.

Say hello the the Golden Tree Shawl.

Made with Malabrigo Worsted in colorway Butter. The pattern is the Lonely Tree Shawl on Ravelry.

This shawl is quite significant to my knitting skills in two ways. 1.) I finally learned and mastered the damn picot bind off.

And 2.) I knit the pattern exactly as written. No modifications whatsoever. It was scary.

At the party, things were going alright at first. I was being mostly ignored, just as I had hoped. I was giving off a "don't really want to talk to you" vibe and I think they got that. It just so happened that the party was same day as the Pulse tragedy, so we were weary of snide comments being made about "them damn homos and filthy Muslims." (That part of the family is just filled with the kindest people!)

Well, just as bigots are want to do, two of John's aunts started a discussion bashing transgender people and how horrible having to be politically correct is.

I looked at John, he glared right back. We both stood up and went to confront them.

I couldn't tell you exactly what I said. I don't think it was particularly coherent. As much as I'd like to think that I'm good at handling confrontation in person, it's much better for me to be able to write my thoughts out before presenting an argument. No such luxuries in this case! I do remember saying the phrase, "It's not being politically correct! It's being right!"

John spoke much more clearly and did a friggin amazing job. We shut the whole room down. Once we had spoken our piece, we turned and walked away.

We left not too long after that. We both were rather drained, disgusted, and wanting to get back to our home. Our safe place.

I doubt we've heard the end of it, but for now I'm proud that we stood up against these people.

On Wednesday, the lovely Allen came over for a dinner visit. Seriously, I cannot tell you how friggin jealous I am of their style. They were rocking this polkadot dress number that had me three shades of envious.

This past weekend, John and I went to Origins Game Fair. The original plan was to go Friday through Sunday, but the universe laughed at us and said no. We ended up just driving down on Saturday for a day trip. It ended up coinciding with the Columbus Pride Parade.

We decided to watch part of the parade before heading in to the convention. Rather than overload everyone with a bunch of pictures from it, you can check out my (terrible) photos HERE.

We were a little hesitant to attend due to recent events, but I'm so glad we did. Besides a few of the usual religious zealots swearing up and down we'd all burn in hell, the general atmosphere was one of happiness and oneness. There was the understandable sadness and anger as well. We didn't stay for the whole parade, seeing as it lasted for 3 hours. But I was happy to see what we did.

We had a great time at the convention. One of my dear friends was a volunteer, so we hung out with her quite a bit. I blew most of my portion of the fun budget on one thing. No regrets.

We picked up:

- The Sherlock Holmes RPG (that's where my money went) and it included the core rule book, a DM screen, a book of additional scenarios, case log notepads, and two special dice for the game.

- Playmat for Boss Monsters

- 6 new minis including a griffin, a dragon tortoise, a bulette, and a Cthulhu-headed shark

- A mini Om Nom from Cut the Rope

- A new dice set that I created

- A d30

- The commemorative Origins 2016 d6

- The expansion for a game that we went to buy, but was sold out

Not pictured:

- Said game that the maker ordered a copy off of amazon and had shipped to us

- My big ol' Bulbasaur plush

- The D&D tote bag that Kayla snagged for us the next day

We also had the absolute pleasure of meeting Mr. Chris Perkins, principal storywriter for Dungeons and Dragons.

He signed our Player's Handbook and we had an absolutely lovely chat. It wasn't until later that I realized that we forgot to ask for a picture with him. Oh, well.

Saturday was also Worldwide Knit in Public Day. I had packed my sock into my bag, but when I went to pull it out, I discovered to my horror that I managed to break one of my damn needles.

Here's a WIP shot of them, though.

I'm REALLY loving knitting these things. I already have plans for another dozen pairs.

I had John pick out some yarn from Destination Yarn since I promised that he gets the next pair. This is what he chose.

This is the colorway Desert Night. I'm excited to see what it works up like.

Until my new replacement needle comes in (shout out to Mikayla, who is an absolute dear and bought it for me because I was having a down day) I'm itchy to work on something else. Browsing through my favorites on Ravelry, I stumbled upon Foxy Paws.

Now, I haven't done a lot of colorwork, but there's something about this pattern that is just screaming my name. And the best part is I can do it all from stash yarn.

But that's the problem.

And where I need your help.

See, I've got too many awesome colors to use. And I need help picking out what combo to ultimately work with. Below, I'll show you the base colors I've picked and the colors I'm also considering adding. Please leave a comment below with your favorite. Whichever ends up with the most votes will be what I end up using!

Here are the BASE colors:

OPTION ONE:

OPTION TWO:

OPTION THREE:

OPTION FOUR:

So once again please leave a comment below with BASE, ONE, TWO, THREE, or FOUR below. Think you have a better idea? Tell me in the comments!

And do so soon. My hands are itching for some fun.

Mania, Maiming, and Mamas

Question. If something you see advertised as "Fiber Mania," you would assume that there would be lots of wooly goodness for you to play with, right?

Well, you'd be wrong. Fiber Mania in Alliance was a huge disappoint on the yarn front. There were more antique shops than anything else.

I did find a tabletop loom at a ridiculously good price. And I did get to spend the day with some of my favorite people, so I'll chalk it up to a win.

It also helps that my new leggings were waiting for me in the mail when we got back. And holy hello, they are the most comfortable things on the planet! Why didn't I start wearing these things sooner?!

No pictures of the whole outfit, though. Haven't had a chance to take any decent pictures.

Oh, I suppose that I should also mention that I bought a giant dragon statue for the mantle...

Yeah.

I also took a day with my grandma to Hollo's Papercraft. I was looking for some handmade paper for John's present (he knows about it now). I ended up finding these two.

I also bought a bunch more supplies for more journal making, including a ream of parchment. It's been lovely to work with.

On the yarn front, I received the last of my Madeline Tosh club colors. 

The color is called Sandstone and it's even more gorgeous in person. This one is fingering weight and included two skeins. Which means there's more than enough for a shawl.

I also fell in love with the fire color from the last round and ended up purchasing some from someone who didn't like it.

I can't wait to play with this one.

On my needles, I have Maori for myself. I'm using Malabrigo Lace in Water Green. I just purchased a dress to match it (and holy hell, it's the most comfortable dress EVER!) and am hoping to have the shawl done in time to wear to the Great Lakes Fiber Festival in a couple of weeks.

This one might be on par with Funkia for absolute favorite.

Mother's Day was this past Sunday. As you could guess, I haven't finished everyone's presents. I may be a terrible person.

Anyway, I did finally finish the shawl that I started for Grandma Pat for her birthday last year.

This is Passe-Partout in Three Irish Girls Springvale DK. 

And yes, before you ask, it came out huge. There were another 21 rows of garter stitch at the edge that I left off. And this still came out to 70 some inches. 

I also made her a note pad with a replaceable paper pad.

For my mother-in-law, I made a journal with some of the parchment that I bought.

We didn't actually go out and visit anyone that day. We decided to work on the yard since it was high enough that we were in danger of losing Chloe in it.

I planted flowers in the porch planters. We put some lovely smelling lavender in our large pots. When the wind blows it smells amazing. 

John took a little break from mowing and I decided he needed some proper decorations.

I also made my first ever fairy garden.

I even hid some little mice in there.

The house looks pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.

My raging case of sunburn, however, does not.

Sunscreen, kids. Remember it.