games both non-magical and magical

Yesterday I played a pickup game of softball in the park with some friends. We played against a bunch of guys that have a longstanding Sunday game. I have NO IDEA why they'd want to play a bunch of 20-somethings, 1/2 of whom are girls, all but two of us hadn't played since high school... and Dani & I play on our company teams, but neither of us is spectacular - we just know how to throw the ball properly. We were up for a while, but they picked up about 5 runs in the last inning, and it was all over. It was a LOT of fun anyways. The other team wants a rematch next week, but idk if we'll be able to reassemble our team again.

Last night I finally caught up with all 500+ posts in the Reducio swap's round 10 chatter thread. Someone had a good idea for the handmade item - a pouch for gobstones. I like that idea a lot, especially since it'll be useful, but I don't have gobstones to put inside. I was thinking of doing stitchmarkers instead, maybe reducio'd Quidditch balls out of Fimo, with a hole through them, and turned into stitchmarkers? All still very useful - I like pretty things that are useful :) Then I think I have to make a Golden Snitch tape measure, since I wrote the pattern. But its not reducio'd so it won't count as the second handmade item, in my book.

I was reading the Wikipedia article about Quidditch to check what colors of Fimo I'll need, and I'd forgotten all about the Golden Snidget. I have the yellow wool crepe yarn from the Secret LYS that I could use to crochet a tiny bird.

Considering that last round, I went through 3 failed ideas before coming up with something that I liked enough to mail, I am very happy to now have too many ideas of what to do. Something will work out right!

Oh I forgot to mention, yesterday I ordered yarn for some baby blankets. Two of my first cousins' wives, one on mom's side & one on dad's, are due in July. Of course neither side knows - or wants to find out - what they are having. The cousin-in-law on my Dad's side - let's call her L - is very quiet around our family so I'm not sure if she likes us. I checked with my cousin first, and he was ok with me knitting them a baby blanket (in fact, really liked the idea). So I called L to check what colors she likes. It took a few back-and-forths but I am so glad I asked, because she requested Cream or Yellow. They aren't really my taste, but who cares? It's not my kid that's going to be using the blanket!

The cousin-in-law on my mom's side - A - is super religious, and those super-frum types have very specific ideas about appropriateness, especially wrt colors. But, she's really really sweet, and I think they'll use it no matter what color it is. I ordered Knitpicks Comfy Worsted in Seafoam, a blueish-green, and Pomegranate, a cranberry red color. Boy or girl, they can pick whichever color they like best.

field trip

Last Tuesday, I met some knitters from my neighborhood in Queens at our local Starbucks. Friday, 3 of us went on a field trip to a Secret Yarn Store! It was pretty awesome, the kind of hole-in-the-wall place that you'd never find without an experienced guide, with lots of interesting yarns inside.

I bought a cone of hemp yarn to make a shawl, and some "Wool Crepe" yarn in Gryffindor colors for my Reducio swap package.


The theme for round 10 is "magical games and sports". I have no idea what I'm making yet, but getting the yarn is a good start :)