Hi all zero of you! Many apologies for the unexpectedly long hiatus, and the exact reasons for it are still a little unclear, so I won't explain. My husband and I have returned from Gen Con with a few new stories to tell, a few new games, a few new friends, and a few new skills. In order to avoid a super-long post with all the details, which are going to come out over time anyway, I thought this might be an opportunity to do another round of Ask the Knitting Gamer!
Gooooood morning, and welcome to round two of Ask the Knitting Gamer - the Con Edition. Shall we get started?
Let's.
(1) As a knitter, why would you want to accompany your gamer to a huge national convention like Gen Con? What bribes were necessary?
Conventions like Gen Con can be incredibly fun for a knitter, so there was little need for bribes. Although a little handpainted sock yarn couldn't hurt.
Aside from the charms of the con itself, with the wide variety of costumed persons, wandering minstrels, games to demo, and the like, there are non-game events sponsored by the Spouses Association. And many of these...are fiber arts classes! Yay!!! As noted in the title, I learned at this year's convention, in an introductory-type manner, the fine art of drop spindle spinning from one of these. There is, of course, a "knitting 101" and "crochet 101", but there are so many more, and there are more every year.
(1) Give us the straight dope then...Are the classes really any good? Would a person who already possesses some skillz in knitting and/or crochet actually want to attend, or are we the ones who teach this stuff?
They are surprisingly fantastic, and there are more than purely introductory classes. My spinning class was taught by a totally gifted teacher who happens to live about 45 minutes south of me, so I'll be seeing her at the state Sheep and Wool Festival next month, no doubt. Her teaching skill led me to crave my next hit of cra...I mean, roving. Despite the pure suckitude of my attempts at learning, she eventually got me to loosen my sweaty death grip and figure out what drafting really means. In sheer gratitude, I may end up feeling good enough about my spinning to send her some handspun someday. The best part of learning this at Gen Con was that I then got to sit down at the table where my husband was playing a game and watch all the other players stare at me like I'm the Second Coming as I practiced spinning.
(3) So, what else can the gamer-loving knitter do at Gen Con?
Live in the open crafting room!
No, I kid. There is far too much else to do to live with donated Red Heart. One can go on a haunted walking tour of the downtown Indianapolis area with a representative of the local Paranormal Society...if one was insufficiently surrounded by weird already. The vendor hall is full of a wide range of items, including a jeweler booth where I purchased a set of bronze DPN's, replicas of a set found in a 13th century grave in Estonia. One can sit down to dinner with a couple of gamers and find out that one of them has a knitter wife, and that the other is a gamer lawyer who enjoys discussing exactly what you can or cannot do with a purchased pattern. Last but not least, you could actually play a game. DM's are often amused by a player who knits during a Dungeons and Dragons run and may incorporate this into the character.
(4) What did you knit during Gen Con?
I finished a pair of plain socks and most of a plain, soft hat. Oh yeah, and I knit a little swatch of my very first handspun. I'm proudest of that.
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