Board Games

On Friday the Ontario Today show on CBC had an owner of a toy store discussing some games that would be good for the family during March Break. One caller mentioned BoardGameGeek.com as a resource for different games. I know I have a few readers that are gamers, so I have devised this meme from the BGG top 100 games. I won't tag people but drop me a comment if you do this meme on your blog or facebook page. The list is from here, which you can see photos and descriptions if you are unsure about a given game (many names are similar - I thought I had played civilization but it must have been different)
Bold the games that you have played. Italicize if you own the game

1. Agricola (2007)
2. Puerto Rico (2002)
3. Power Grid (2004)
4. Twilight Struggle (2005)
5. Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization (2006)
6. Dominion (2008)
7. Tigris & Euphrates (1997)
8. El Grande (1995)
9. Caylus (2005)
10. Race for the Galaxy (2007)
11. Age of Steam (2002)
12. The Princes of Florence (2000)
13. Commands & Colors: Ancients (2006)
14. War of the Ring (2004)
15. Brass (2007)
16. Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage (1996)
17. Paths of Glory (1999)
18. Le Havre (2008)
19. Shogun (2006)
20. Die Macher (1986)
21. Pandemic (2008)
22. Battlestar Galactica (2008)
23. Goa (2004)
24. Ra (1999)
25. 1960: The Making of the President (2007)
26. Railroad Tycoon (2005)
27. Imperial (2006)
28. Combat Commander: Europe (2006)
29. Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! - Russia 1941-1942 (2008)
30. Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery (2007)
31. Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition (2005)
32. BattleLore (2006)
33. Go (-2000)
34. Stone Age (2008)
35. YINSH (2003)
36. Tichu (1991)
37. The Settlers of Catan (1995)
38. Wallenstein (2002)
39. Crokinole (1876)
40. Galaxy Trucker (2007)
41. Hammer of the Scots (2002)
42. Memoir '44 (2004)
43. Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) (1985)
44. Ticket to Ride: Europe (2005)
45. Samurai (1998)
46. Taj Mahal (2000)
47. Struggle of Empires (2004)
48. Blood Bowl: Living RuleBook (2004)
49. Ticket to Ride (2004)
50. Up Front (1983)
51. Arkham Horror (2005)
52. Dune (1979)
53. Modern Art (1992)
54. Acquire (1962)
55. Carcassonne (2000)
56. Here I Stand (2006)
57. Notre Dame (2007)
58. Amun-Re (2003)
59. Descent: Journeys in the Dark (2005)
60. Lord of the Rings - The Confrontation: Deluxe Edition (2006)
61. Battle Line (2000)
62. San Juan (2004)
63. Ticket to Ride: Märklin Edition (2006)
64. Ingenious (2004)
65. A Game of Thrones (2003)
66. In the Year of the Dragon (2007)
67. Civilization (1980)
68. Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries (2007)
69. Roads and Boats (1999)
70. The Pillars of the Earth (2006)
71. Tikal (1999)
72. Space Hulk (1989)
73. Cosmic Encounter (2008)
74. Tide of Iron (2007)
75. Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) Starter Kit #1 (2004)
76. Hive (2001)
77. Antiquity (2004)
78. Friedrich (2004)
79. DVONN (2001)
80. Mr. Jack (2006)
81. The Traders of Genoa (2001)
82. Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation (2002)
83. 1830: The Game of Railroads and Robber Barons (1986)
84. Napoleon's Triumph (2007)
85. StarCraft: The Board Game (2007)
86. Union Pacific (1999)
87. Space Alert (2008)
88. Thebes (2007)
89. Indonesia (2005)
90. Citadels (2000)
91. Europe Engulfed (2003)
92. Reef Encounter (2004)
93. Maharaja: Palace Building in India (2004)
94. Through the Desert (1998)
95. Saint Petersburg (2004)
96. La Città (2000)
97. Blood Bowl - Third Edition (1994)
98. Yspahan (2006)
99. RoboRally (1994)
100. Carcassonne: The City (2004)

I obviously need to play more games. How about you?

Made in Canada...

During one of my recent online meanderings I found this Canada Art Shop Directory. I think it may be a good place to pick up some future gifts.

Silk, Silk and more silk

I was thinking about my knitting projects yesterday and it turns out that I am in a silk mood. I never thought that when I started knitting that I would have four projects utilizing silk being worked on at once (well almost at once) .

1. Bianca jacket - Just to give a quick update on this project. I thought I didn't have enough yarn (again!), but with some calculations I found out the swatch (14 g) had just enough yarn to finish the project. It is now waiting for buttons to be completed.
   
2. Slip stitch ribbed socks - these were recently complete. Nothing more to say.
3. Tomten jacket- This is a classic design by EZ, and I am using the same Merino et Soie that the slip stitch ribbed socks used as well as Shelridge Farms DK weight. I am loving both these yarns, and combining it with garter stitch is giving a very smooshy fabric. I don't think Ninja baby will fit until fall though
   


4. Celtic vest - This is a kit from Fleece Artist. The yarn is their Scotian Silk (35% silk, 65% wool. I just started this project and now that I am past the cast on it should go quickly.
   

All 3 silk yarns are very different, but all feel nice on the hands. There is still a ball of Lang Jawoll Silk sock yarn in the stash...

Festival!

I just heard about the Woodstock Fleece Festival happening for the first time this October. It looks like it has great potential, and so close to home too.

Another pair of socks

When Shall We Knit had their annual sale a couple of weeks ago, I picked up several balls of Naturally Merino et Soie, a New Zealand DK yarn. I had a couple of projects in mind for this purchase. The first being a pair of socks for Ali.

From A house made of wool

This is the slip stich ribbed pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. I knitted these socks using the 2 socks 2 circs method. I enjoyed this method, since I didn't need to remember what I did on the second sock - it is right there, the lengths are the same etc. However, I found I spent a lot of time untangling the yarn and needles. Also one of the circs that I was using had a crappy join (early knitting day purchase). I am thinking of trying my next pair of socks using the two socks 1 circ magic loop style and see if that helps this issue

From A house made of wool

Pattern: Slip Stitch Rib
Yarn: Naturally Merino et Soie (70 % merino, 30% silk) - 2 skeins + a little bit
Needles: 3 mm


Bianca update:

From A house made of wool

I am still working on the yoke of the Bianca jacket, at about the spot that I was at before I ripped it back. The above yarn (31 g) is the extra that I saved. I am hoping that it is enough - I sure hope so.
Will it be done for this weekend - the knitting might be. The blocking, seaming is debateable, the adding of buttons most likely not since I haven't picked them out yet.

Bianca update

Jenni wanted clarification of my plan. So here it goes:

1. Knit the lace section at a smaller gauge
2. Cut out one repeat around a cuff
3. Remove the extra repeat I added at neckline

I haven't finished knitting the sleeves yet. When you are working on the 3 and 4th sleeves they go much slower than the second sleeve. I think this picture shows the results of items 1 and 2 above

From A house made of wool

I was thinking it wasn't going to be done for March but I just might get it done for then. It will be good to have a deadline.

From A house made of wool

No jacket today

Jenni had wanted to know about seeing the finished Bianca Jacket. Last week I would have said it should be done for March. I was hoping that I would be able to complete the jacket this week.

From A house made of wool

However, the jacket did not want to go that smoothly. In the above photo I had 14 rows of the second chart left to do on the yoke as well as a garter band down the fronts and along the bottom. See that small pile of yarn next to the sleeve. That is the yarn that I had to complete that task. It was not going to be done.

Since the yarn was discontinued, I considered finding a yarn on ravelry to do the band. As I searched at people's stashes, I began wondering if the finished jacket would look like I ran out of yarn and I just used something else. If I had worked in the second colour earlier so the different colour band was tied in it would work. I needed a different plan.

One of the reasons that I might have run out of yarn was that I added a pattern repeat (11 sts), distributed mostly through the chest before the yoke starts. The reason being I needed something between a 38" and 46.5" size that this pattern calls for. Taking the stitches off the needle and trying the jacket on, the pattern has a lot of ease and I can get rid of that pattern repeat. Another area that more yarn could be found would be the sleeves.

From A house made of wool

The cuff of the sleeves is knitted with a 5 mm needle, the stockinette of the body and sleeves with a 4.5 mm needle and the yoke with a 4 mm needle. To me the lace of the sleeves looks too loose with the 5 mm also the cuff is huge. There is no tapering or angles in the sleeve shape - stockinette on 55 sts to the underarm shaping. If I knit the cuff with the 4.5 mm needle using only 4 (instead of 5) pattern repeats then increase the stitch count after it will give me more than enough yarn. This method does require me to reknit the sleeves though. However, I think in the long run it will give me a better jacket. So instead of knitting the cuff with 55 stitches I am knitting it with 46 stitches - 4 pattern repeats plus 2 selvedge stitches to make the seaming easier. Once the cuff is done I will gradually add in the extra 9 stitches.

That is my current plan - the downside is that my mind was already on the next project and this Scotian silk is calling ( a gauge swatch has already been knitted and is drying).

From A house made of wool