It's Nice To Be A Winner

One of the cool things about this crazy internet-connected world is that you can stay on top of all sorts of random things relevant to your own interests. For example, there are a few online purveyors of yarn that I frequent, and those companies have been making their way into the world of social media. By following a company like Knit Picks on Facebook, for example, I can find out about sales, get free patterns, hear about a new line of yarn and see it without needing to wait for the catalog to come. I can also learn about giveaway contests that the company runs from time to time.

Now, I like Knit Picks a lot, but usually it focuses on knitting rather than crochet. Recently, however, one of their bloggers has gotten all caught up in crochet thanks to a new pattern book they have started carrying. So they decided to share the love and held a drawing for three customers to win a copy of the book. Now, as with most drawings, I enter these contests frequently and almost never win. That just doesn't seem to be part of my own particular brand of luck. Imagine my surprise, then, when I learned I had indeed won a copy of the book from this latest contest!

When it arrived in the mail last week, I opened it up with glee and eagerly flipped through its glossy new pages.

The Best of Interweave Crochet: A Collection of Our Favorite Designs by Marcy Smith

Tony had to give it a few sniffs before he was willing to sign off on it.

Now, if I am being honest, I probably wouldn't have purchased this book if left to my own devices. Generally I prefer to stick with single patterns so I know I am getting exactly what I like, or to buy a book that is specifically geared toward one type of pattern (i.e. afghans, or afghan squares). Still, as I flipped through the pages I found more than a few patterns that look like they will be fun to try. This collection really does seem to have it all, from scarves and sweaters to blankets and toys and hats and even a dress. Also, Interweave tends to have some of the classier patterns in its library, so you know that these are all really nice patterns.

The book itself seems to be well assembled too, with an illustrated glossary of terms and several specialized tutorial pages placed with the patterns for which they are appropriate. There is one on seaming that I suspect I will benefit from greatly.

All in all, winning this book was a happy little happenstance all around for me. I look forward to picking out my first project from within its pages.

On the blanket front, Blanket Number Two is well on its way. There was an initial false start when I was having some trouble with the pattern I had originally chosen and ended up frogging it to go a different direction. It wasn't a hard pattern by any means, I just realized it was going to drive me crazy trying to make it and decided to cut my losses early rather than grow to hate the blanket as it progressed. I think it was the right call.

That's all I've got on the crafting front this week. Happy Valentine's Day, folks. I hope you are able to spend it with someone you love or at least manage to pamper yourself a bit. See you next Tuesday!

Bonus Post! Star Wars: The Old Republic Early Access

As an incentive to pre-order the game, Bioware decided to offer early access to anyone who did. The early access start time was determined by when you registered your pre-order code on the SWTOR site. The first announcement about when early access would begin had it starting tomorrow, but someone at Bioware decided to push it up and it actually started yesterday. Given that I had Amazon set to alert me as soon as the game was available to order, and that I also have been paying close attention to the game's website and Facebook page, well, you know I ordered this game about the second it was available. Also, I registered my pre-order code as soon as I got my order confirmation email.

So it is no surprise that yesterday I was in one of the very first waves granted early game access. Even though I am in the middle of a playthrough of Dragon Age II, I scrapped all of my other gaming plans yesterday to fire up SWTOR as soon as I could. I might have even gone ahead and created my character (yeah, they didn't let us keep our beta characters, it's okay though, I had already decided to start over) and played through all of the opening cut scenes in the morning while my daughter watched Sesame Street.

My new character, Skirata.

I have a confession to make. After I wrote up my post about the beta weekend, I had a brief exchange with a friend that almost made me cancel my pre-order then and there. A lot of the factors related to this being an MMO are still making me hesitant about the game. I had a lot of soul-searching debates with myself, but in the end, I realized I am just too excited to try this thing out to give up before it even gets started. At the very least, I want to experience the story at least once. Also, it is good for me to try new things and to put myself a little bit outside of my comfort level, dagnabit.

So, I fired up the game yesterday and I have to say, I am feeling much much better about it already. Many of my complaints from the beta seem to be non-issues anymore. Part of this is that I was expecting them or have gotten used to them, part of this is stuff that was changed between then and now.

I have already made it to level seven and am doing much better financially in-game, and with keeping my equipment repaired and my character leveled, than I was the last time around. Knowing I can afford to level up and that my weapon and armor won't go kaput before a boss fight makes playing a lot more enjoyable. I do still find the battle engine pretty clumsy but that might just be my own personal preferences getting in the way there.

I still suspect I might only play through once--I have no real desire to play any of the other classes. I want to be a Jedi Knight Sentinel because I want to be a Jedi and I want to have two lightsabers. I think those things are pretty self-explanatory, really. Although, it did occur to me last night, that the game allows for your light side character to go dark. If it also allows for your dark side character to go light, that sure might be a fun way to play...

Also, I am not gonna cease to be amused by this particular side quest, ever:

Why yes, that quest title is "Flesh Eating Baby" and there is in fact a Flesh Raider Baby in my backpack.

Anyhoo, all of this is just to say that I am actually really having more fun with this game already than I had expected, which is a huge relief. I have also been leaving the general chat window open so that I can follow along with the player conversations and get a feel for the people on my server for when I do need to find a group and my buddy isn't available.

I did decide not to do the extra blog about the game though, but I will of course likely blog about it oodles over here.

There's still time to pre-order the game if you're interested, or it comes out next Tuesday if you feel like braving your local video game shop. I've got my server and character name up over there on the side of the page for anyone who is playing and wants to look me up!

Consider Me Squished

Have you heard of Squishables? No? Then get yourself over to squishable.com immediately. It will change your world.

Basically, Squishables are pretty much what they sound like: super squishy stuffed animals (and other things). Someone must have been looking at a beach ball and thought to himself, "Hey, you know what would be awesome? A beach ball I could hug." Thus the Squishables were born. They come in many varieties (including Cthulhu and the little robot mascot for Android phones), and in a few different sizes as well (mini, regular, and the new line of "massive").

I first found out about these guys through ads on a couple of the webcomics I read. Then one or two of the webcomic artists started mentioning Squishables in their posts and my curiosity got the better of me, leading me to click over to the site and check it out. I have been coveting many of them ever since. Then Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics went and worked with the fine folks over at Squishable to design a squishy version of T-Rex. Then they went and made a mini Squishable T-Rex.

I finally caved in last month and ordered myself two mini Squishables, the dragon and the T-Rex.

Squish the mini blue dragon.

T.J. the mini T-Rex.

As you can see, I wasn't kidding about the beach ball thing.

Guys, these things are so freaking soft, it is amazing. Also, very extremely huggable. I literally had not even gotten the dragon out of the box before my daughter came and stole it from me. Sigh. I am a big girl though, and I can share. She loves these things, and I can use her as an excuse to justify them a little bit, so that works out.

The dragon was the first design to get launched in the massive size, which means there are two more sizes I need to get still. You know there is no way I am not going to end up with all three. The price tag on the massive Squishables is a bit steep though, so I am going to have to be patient. That massive dragon is one of three items on my "not gonna happen" birthday wish list.* A girl can dream, right?

I also really like this company because the people running it seem like a good bunch. They are one of the few companies I don't mind following on Facebook because they really understand how to use it as a tool to get people to love their brand without being annoying. They invite people to send in photos of themselves with their Squishables (or just of their Squishables doing interesting things) and post them on their site's gallery. In fact, right now they are donating a dollar to the Humane Society for every photo people send in. That is pretty awesome. On FB they will post some of those pictures and have caption contests, which is always a fun time. They have their own webcomic even, called The Fuzzy Five. When they hit a milestone number of likes they provide a coupon code for a decent discount.

In fact, it was those discount codes that finally made me cave and order my minis last month, and then made me cave again last week to order my first full-sized Squishable.

Maria (pronounced like Mariah) the manatee.

She arrived just the other day, and let me tell you, the timing could not have been better. Hugs have been needed around here lately, so she came in quite handy. Of course, even though when I started opening her box my daughter was in the other room, by the time I got the manatee out, Baby Girl had suddenly materialized to steal Mama's new toy. She's got a sixth sense, I swear.

Here's our whole squishy family together:

Caution: Extreme Cuddles Zone

And just so you can get an idea of scale, here is Baby Girl with the Squishables:

What do you mean, yours? 

I think not, Mama! Thbbt!

And just in case you wanted more scale, here's me with my daughter and the squishies.

I am sure these are only the first of many that will make their way into our home. Thankfully, they live up their name and are, indeed, quite squishy, which means that you can jam them into a tight corner if space is at a premium! So yeah, I am a total convert. These guys are awesome. If you have room in your heart and home for some soft squishy toys, I cannot recommend Squishable more highly. I am pretty sure they have something to offer everyone.

Have a fantastic weekend folks. Until Monday, I bid you adieu!

*For the curious, the other two items on my "not gonna happen" wish list can be found here and here.

Looking For That Ray Of Hope

I don't want to write a rant for you today. But as I sit to write this, the only thing on my mind is the whole situation with the Tennessee bill against anti-discriminatory laws that was passed by their governor yesterday. Ostensibly the bill is about keeping hiring practices consistent throughout the state and preventing any one local area from having harsher (read: more fair and anti-discriminatory) practices than other parts of this state.

What the bill is really about is squashing a step forward for LGBT rights.

Even though I do not live in Tennessee, the passing of this bill has hit me very hard. It makes me angry and it makes me so very disappointed in humanity. It makes me want to weep. Then it makes me want to build a time machine, pack up my family, and skip the next few damn centuries.

Because this mess we've managed to make of the world? It isn't getting cleaned up any time soon. Events like what happened yesterday in Tennessee only guarantee a longer road towards making things right.

But like I said, I don't want to rant. I really, really don't. So instead I thought I would shine a spotlight on a few of the people who are working to make this world a better place in the here and now, rather than waiting on a mythical future that we may or may not live to see.

First there is the wonderful and amazing It Gets Better Project. This is the pledge they ask us to take:

Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I'll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I'll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know that "It Gets Better."

Go to their site. Check out some of their videos. They are completely about giving hope to those who are without. I can't think of a better time for such a project to exist, can you?

Then there's George Takei. He's pretty much just become my personal hero. In response to yet another Tennessee bill directed against gay rights, he has made this wonderful video:

I love that he is using humor to draw attention and support to such a serious cause. Go here to check out the website for this initiative or to donate to the charities Takei is supporting for the cause.

There is also a group on Facebook supporting the "It's Okay To Be Takei" idea and trying to offer a place to go if you want to get involved in supporting gay rights. You can find that here.

Hope is a brilliant thing. A necessary thing. There are those out there willing to give it when the ignorant would take it away.

That, at least, I can be thankful for.