Look, 2 posts in 2 weeks (plus a bonus poem last week)

WotC/Hasbro backed off the OGL thing. Whether they'll stay backed off is another matter. They are determined to get more money from gamers and it's only a question of how they'll do it. And how badly they'll damage their brand when they do it.

I've been watching Online Tatting Class founded by Georgia Seitz, currently taught by Tami Montgomery. Yes, I've been tatting for decades but there are always new tricks and tips to learn. I still haven't mastered the Catherine Wheel Join for example.

I'm making a little tat journal. It's to keep notes about how many double stitches per inch, how many inches of thread to tat 10 knots, thread notes, samples, etc. I'm doing a much smaller one, because I'm using an old pocket calendar, maybe 2"by3" (~5cmx7.6cm). The pages are mostly blank, which is what I need, I already have it, and the cover is sturdy. I've started covering it in collage of printed paper and tatted scraps. It's a work in progress. I'm debating whether to use some of the plethora of one-ring tatted flowers I have.

I have been sewing in ends on my 2022 scarf. (insert groan here) and I pulled out a WIP edging & finished off the shuttle. I wish I could remember the pattern source.

Edging in size 40 Lizbeth #149

Plus Jane Eborall's Tat It And See 2023 (day 8)

I am in 2 games now. One is a D&D 5e (4 siblings & a cousin) and the other is Pathfinder (stranded caravan guards). I am playing a bard in both. This may have been a mistake. 

And I've cut my hair. It's only mid-back now.

A Poem for my Mother

 I wrote this tonight, after talking about my mom.

Mom's Stories

 Mom doesn't remember much, 

I tell her the stories she told me. 

Of Rusty escorting me through the yard

Until her whistle called dog and child home. 

Of parking at my bus stop almost half a mile away 

And walking home in the snowy dark. 

Stories told over supper, of cases and incidents. 

Of what she saw at work that day, in Emergency, 

And the lessons to be learned from them. 

Of the day, she wrapped up against the cold (she hated being cold) 

And unwrapped the layers at work, just to find she'd forgotten her skirt. 

Stories of my childhood and my brother's. 

Of him never crawling on hands and knees 

And being so fast on hands and feet. 

 Of me slow to talk because everyone understood me 

And then only saying 'yep' for what felt like months. 

 I miss my mother's stories. 

So now I tell them to her.

It's been a weird time

 I am still recovering from the past 2 years. I hope you've gotten through at least more or less intact. My iPad died and now I have an Android tablet. This means I also lost my tablet keyboard. I have an older iPad and according to Apple it couldn't handle the latest iOS and so nothing would update. It's a matter of time before it's a brick, I guess.

I also got a new phone. My previous provider's support was a crapshoot & I got tired of that. Alas, it also didn't permit me to keep my phone number. For literally the 1st time in my life, I have a new area code. It's a silly thing to bother me, but it does. 

I did finally finish my 2019 temperature scarf last year. Of course, I entered it in the State Fair (clothing accessory - other) & happy me, I won first place. Although it was funny when I was dropping it off, a volunteer tentatively asked, 'does this need a swatch?' as crochet and knitted scarves do need swatches. 

There was a scandal (I'm not sure where) about people buying a crochet or knit scarf, cutting the tag off, and entering it into competition. If you also provide a swatch, it means you made it. And the swatch is the reason I didn't enter my first hand spun (on electric wheel) yarn knitted into a scarf. I had about 6" of yarn left, aka no swatch.

Before I was done, I wrote an article for IOLA about my process and the picture was on the back cover!

I also entered a pair earrings designed by Phyllis Schmidt (fantail earrings)

My other entries scrap bag (designed by Karey Solomon from Bring on the Buttons) 

snowflake ornament (from the same book) - using vintage shank button & metallic thread

and framed Beginner's Doily by Shade Tree Designer did not win.

I've started a 2022 scarf (thanks Twisted Picot, formerly Black Sheep Fiber Emporium) & I also got those 2 lovely edging keepers from them.

My job is the same old same old. Although my office did have a leak in early November. I'm still trying to get my office back into shape.  

 

And if you're a gamer who enjoys D&D, do you have feelings about WotC recent actions?