New Years Goal: More Family Game Nights

Playing the Wii U with family made it feel awesome at night with the giggles and the togetherness. Hearing my son laugh and kick butt sealed the deal for me to bring the Wii U upstairs for more family fun. I like the idea of playing video games together. Both my boys chilled out more when we all got the chance to kick grandpa's butt on Super Smash Bros. Yeah I held last place most of the time but it was the fun and comradery that made it all worthwhile.

This year, I want to incorporate more board game time too. I made a sheet here to roll a d20 to see what games get played for the night. No fights, no pouts (even from the adults), just roll the die and see what will get its chance to be played. We can update the list every few months. For you readers, Go check out what is in your game cabinet and see what you can bring out for your family fun.

This is my starting list:

Games for Family Night (roll d20)

1. Pictionary

2. Munchkin

3. Kittens in a Blender

4. Pass the pigs

5. Settlers of Catan

6. Monopoly

7. BANG!

8. Aquarius

9. Rummy

10. Tsuro

11. Dread Pirate

12. 1000 white cards

13. Clue

14. Pirates! Ship game (plastic card miniatures)

15. Heroscape

16. Sushi GO!

18. Cthulhu Dice

19. Zombie Dice

20. Uno

My shelf needs to be played, we have another closet full of our RPG books too!

Homework Savior!

Something many probably don't know about me is that this Gamer Girl is more a Gamer Mom. I admit that my gaming time is severely degraded as parenting takes over. When you have a child with special needs like Autism, its even more time dedicated to their wellbeing and less time button smashing on some classic console hits.

Middle school is tough. For both of my boys, there is a lot that changes, more work relying on them to do and less time to absorb it. This was troubling for my autistic child who found himself switched from a regular math class to algebra. He came home and had a meltdown over the fact his classmates had 2 months of work ahead of him and he had to catch up to be ready for upcoming tests.  I am trying hard to keep my cool as the tantrums came over the study worksheet of items he had little exposure to. I suck at all forms of math which was not going to help. He is relying on me, his mother, to help him in this moment of crisis. What would solve this for us?  I turned to the internet since he love videos. He is a visual learner.

I found Khan Academy and it was like the gates of heaven opened up and the Angels greeted us. We typed in the algebra definitions from his studysheet and we were amazed at the videos that popped up. The guy who was showing the lesson wrote in various colors on a blackboard that made us focus in on this information. It didn't deter 2 natural squirrels from the screen. I like this mystery guy.

I was relearning the lessons alongside my son who was staring in awe at the video. You could see the light pop on in his head. It looked like he was about to have a purple cloud of POOF as his mind was blown by this new learning aide!

Thank you Khan Academy, thank you for making this easy on both of us.

My other son was studying for Science on Mitosis. We found videos on that to accompany his studysheets. A friend of mine on facebook said her 7yr old son lives on Khan Academy, it has videos he can understand and he is zipping through right into the stuff he will learn in school probably 4 years from now.   This site is amazing!  

best part?     ITS FREE!!!  

If it can keep a ADHD squirrel Mom's attention, and autistic hormonal teen, and a super brain elementary child busy, it will do wonders for you. Any age, Any subject.

go check it out on your computer or your handheld devices.

https://www.khanacademy.org/

Fizzgig!!

I wanted to try something different with my projects. I love working with various mediums and in the past 2 years I have started a Facebook Artist page to show some of my creations with the hopeful intention of linking my online store to that webpage.

My Artist page is located here:

https://www.facebook.com/Talahandra

I think I found a way to mix two mediums I like.  Combining crochet with polymer clay, I can get something cute, well, cute from my perspective :')

You see, my sister and I love movies like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. I am a major Froud fan. Bad part is my sister is also a big fan. We recently had this wistful fight over the Fizzgig auction as to who would get the original. Hate to break our little fantasy but both of us cannot afford a $10k starting bid. Next option?    I made her one for her 16th birthday.

What do you think?

My sister and her new buddy :')

I think I found something that takes awhile to create but the results are just too cute to put down. Now I need to make one for myself. She cant have all the fun!

Pattern Review - Enderman Hat

Good Morning Folks its Tattiana here at Gamer Girl Universe.

I was talking to a great designer Debi Dearest (at http://dearestdebi.com/) and I received some humbling advice.  My blog is not going to get anywhere unless I start posting on a regular basis. If you are taking the time to come over here and read for new ideas then you should be getting something that is updated more than a few times a year. I think my problem was that I was in the mindset of putting up all my created designs but didn't know what to do when I was having fun using other people's patterns to make gifts for other people. Debi told me that I can still enjoy working on other people's patterns but I could do a review of those patterns here.

Well here goes nothing :')

First review I would like to do is on a pattern/graph from Sick 'Lil Monkeys that can be found at
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sack-beanie---minecraft-enderman

I haven't worked much with other peoples graphs before and felt it was time to learn. The pattern is currently running at $9 dollars. I recieved this pattern for free a week ago during a promotional sale. Her store has some really cute things here if you are willing to pay the price noted for those patterns.

What I received was a fairly well written PDF file (which showed up quickly as do Ravelry downloads do). What set me back was the fact it was a 3 page PDF (1 page for a large picture of the model wearing the hat, 2 page had the basic starting information/legal jargon, and page 3 was the graph and instructions.) You could fit all the needed to know information on 1 page.

Following the graph was fairly simple except for the stitch count X ____. I wont say what those numbers are here for the integrity of the paid pattern but that step was confusing to the relative overall size to be created. Hindsight says this was all one piece. In the end, it was sewn on two sides (top and side). Oops!

I ended up making 2 blocks (one with the graph and one blank for the back of hat).  My son didn't want the grey colors so I turned those black. He wanted "arms" so I made those too.

After completion, I pretty much used the pattern as inspiration to a totally modified version/artist's interpretation of the original pattern.

What I think would help make the original better is more clarification on the one step to emphasize to the reader this pattern is made in one piece. Everyone else may not have that trouble but it may help those new to graphs and making that style hat (I've always made my hats in the round before this).   Lastly, put all instructions on 1 sheet so its easier to take one page for on-the-go crocheters. That's more for cosmetics sake and ease to the user, nothing more.

I am glad I got this pattern for free. My son is grateful to have his hat :')

UPDATE:

The designers have really improved their patterns since this posting. Don't be afraid to give them a try. Like everything in life, you won't know what needs to improve if you don't get out there and do something. Nothing is perfect and sometimes how you communicate your directions may not be how a person on the other end understands them. 

Crochet Geekery

Good Snowy Morning!

Here in Bellevue, Nebraska, we are seeing some significant snowfall for the start of the holiday season. Significant?  At least 4 inches will be dropping by tonight.  I know there are neighbors to the northeast will probably see more but its an important turn of events as I try to get our adopted member of the family out into the snow. For a toy fox terrier, this is becoming a chore.

I would suggest to you dog lovers checking out this awesome site for crocheting dog sweaters.

A Dog in a Sweater

I learned to crochet some cute things there to keep my poor pup warm. Now if I can just get him to the shoveled green patch...

For our human companions, I have a friend out here that is amazing at making some great geek headwear. Her designs are full of detail, bulky for warmth, and they always turn heads when her gal wears them.  If you do not have time this season to crochet another project on your holiday gift list, I suggest you head to Snark Creations on Etsy.com to purchase one of her beautiful pieces.

I love this Dalek hat of hers

For the Zombie enthusiasts

Please go to her shop and take a look. There are things here for the Geeks and some very practical cute things too.

Snark Creations

Please be safe folks. This Season has started out with some very interesting drivers on the road. Make sure you have an emergency kit in your car stocked with some granola bars, a flare kit, a blanket and a small cooler with water so it does not freeze when you need it the most. Check your tires to see if they are properly aired up and have a decent tread.  Give yourself extra time when traveling and please make sure you have ample distance between you and the car ahead of you. At least 3 car lengths between you. If you are going faster on the highway, make that number 4 or 5. 

Happy Holidays, and keep creating!

Heroes of Cosplay??? More like Drama Divas of Cosplay

What has happened to our lovely world of creativity?

I am sorely disappointed tonight with the season finale of "Heroes of Cosplay" on SyFy. I watched in hopes that I can see my friends who went to Planet Comicon and perhaps catch a glimpse of their beautiful talent on a network TV. What I seen and what has hit home with friends makes me want to smack someone into sensibility.

When you become famous, shouldn't you remember your roots? Yeah I'm sure with a team of experts at your side, TV cameras in tow, your vision may be askew-ed by the lights in your eyes but has your manners and upbringing gone away?? Didn't your parents teach you better?  You may be the master but there are many padiwans about that would like to be inspired by you, not scoffed aside as you wander through. I had at least 3 friends snuffed by the entourage of these "Heroes", one was pushed out of the way by these people as if common trash. Did they know they just snuffed some of our most creative props designers in Omaha!!

For another thing, this show is being portrayed in the wrong way! Most of us create months in advance our costumes, not this Fedexed last minute bull you see on this show. Also, having local talents edited to paint a scathing picture just for drama's sake is completely uncool.

I encourage all of you to follow the posted link to a lady that was seen in the finale as the"villain". A female Dr Who character that was having some choice words with the "Heroes" backstage. There are two sides to each story and hers is far different from what was aired on the show.

http://wow-lawbringer.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-life-as-villain-of-cosplay.html

I am hoping this season finale is the series finale. SyFy is feeding itself too much on recreated dramas instead of reality. You know things were starting to go downhill when they started airing Wrestling as part of their lineup. If you are going for drama folks..... why not bring back something more wholesome and worthwhile to watch....like Firefly :')   (yes yes I know it can't be brought back but hey we can hope)

Hello Kitty Inspired Beanie

Well Folks.

Its about time. I am making the Hello Kitty beanie free to the public. Here's the pattern but since this is one of my original patterns the copyrights still apply. Please link to this pattern if you are showing on another site to give credit where due. As to selling?  Be careful! This is a copyrighted kitty because of its name, shape, and even the bow by the company laws say its copyrighted. How do I know?  The letter in my gmail inbox.

So I caution you to do as you will within reason. But the pattern itself is my own that's the only part that's technically mine. Any questions about what to do or about the pattern instructions, email me and I will assist as best as possible. Happy Hookin!

Hello Kitty Beanie

By Tattiana Talahandra  - September 2010
A variant from those currently seen on the web. Here’s my rendition. Please note copyright
following the pattern.

Difficulty Level is EASY

For this pattern you will need basic knowledge in Crocheting. In this pattern you will be working
in rounds. For the basic beanie, you will be creating a Ring with DC (double crochet) stitches. For
more information,

I found websites like crochetpatterncentral.com and youtube a big help.

Abbreviations:
Ch= Chain
SL= Slip Stitch
SC= Single Crochet
DC= Double Crochet
HDC= Half Double Crochet

Supplies:
Hook size H
Worst weight yarn (a skein of each) in White and Pink -- I used Caron’s Natura in White and Soft
Pink
2 Black Buttons - I used La-Petite #769 size 9/16 found at Hancock Fabric
Scrap Black yarn for whiskers later
Scrap yellow yarn for the nose
Small bit of Polyfill fiber for stuffing the ears

Basic Beanie
Last round of your hat use pink to give it a nice finished edge
Create Ring
1. Chain 3, SL to join
2. DC 10 in the ring, SL to join

Rest of the Beanie you will be working with rounds in the ring you created.
Round 1: CH 2, 2 DC in each stitch. Around. SL to Join (20 stitches)
Round 2: CH 2, 1 DC then 2 DC in the next stitch. Around. SL to join (30 stitches)
Round 3: CH 2, 2 DC then 2 DC in the next stitch. Around. SL to join (40 stitches)
Round 4: CH 2, 3 DC then 2 DC in the next stitch. Around. (50 stitches)
Round 5: CH 2, 4 DC then 2 DC in the next stitch. Around. (60 stitches)

**Round 6: CH 2, 5 DC then 2 DC in the next stitch. Around. (70 stitches)
**If making for a smaller head then skip round 6. If making for a larger head then proceed with
round 6 and if you need to make it larger, add another round (ex 6 DC then 2DC in next stitch, 7 DC
then 2 in
next stitch….etc) until the hat is wide enough for the intended head. On the ones I have made for
people, I haven’t gone over 5 DC then 2. Who knows… you might have someone who has a big ego, in
that case, you may need more yarn :’)

Round 7- 16 or more: CH 2,  1 DC in each stitch around. Continue making rounds until the beanie is of a
desired length for the wearer.

Ears (Make 2)
Use white yarn to start with
1.  Chain 3, SL to join
2. DC 6 in loop (7 stitches)
3.  2 DC in each DC (14 stitches)
4.  1 DC then 2 DC in the next stitch. Around. (21 stitches)
5.  2DC then 2 DC in the next stitch. Around (28 stitches) Finish off then turn inside out for a
more finished look

Bow
ch 25
Row 1  Ch2 then HDC across (start in 3rd Ch from hook). Turn
Row 2: Ch 2 then HDC across
Stitch ends together to form a cuff
I wound white yarn about the middle to make it a bow.

Assembly

Assemble as shown…..When it comes to the ears, you want them slightly oval when sewing them onto
the hat with a yarn needle around the bottom of the ear. Don't forget to add a small bit of
polyfill before you secure it firmly. If unsure how put the ears on, flatten your hat and then
guage how high you want them on your head. Place those ears on the flattened edge.
Add your little crocheted bow to the ear.  Sew in place
Add some yellow yarn or black yarn for extra touches or leave plain….up to you. Sew in black
buttons for eyes and there’s your hat!

This crochet pattern is copyright of Tattiana Talahandra (September 2010). DO NOT reprint this 
pattern, or post it on any other website. You may make a copy of this pattern for your own personal 
use, but do not include it in any collections, website, or cds. You are welcome to link to this 
pattern and if you post your own pictures of what you create, please credit accordingly and include 
a link to this original pattern.