Heroes of the Oak

It is part of our unique brand of weirdness that the hubsband and I have started playing Dungeons and Dragons (to allay the fears this hobby will raise in some: it is all good fantasy fun; we are not worshiping demons or any such like. We’re just a band of adventurers out to have a wholesome good time.)

It so happens that Halloween this year fell on a Monday night, the night we weekly gather to roll dice and smite evil. So we did the obvious – we dressed up as our characters for Halloween. So without further ado, I give you the Heroes of the Oak!

I’ll start with myself, the specialist in silent sneaking and stabbing:

Our keen weapons specialist:

The one who plays songs to inspire our courage:

And our healer/magic-user/sometimes reluctant tank, who might need a restraining order for the previous entry:

Our newest member, who has made an art of wrapping squirrels in bacon:

The award-winning comic relief and fire-thrower, who along with the Paladin has recently escaped death (literally):

The eager meat-shield (who I imagine didn’t come in costume because that costume would have been a loincloth, and it was a bit nippy and damp last night):

The uppity young scholar, who tries to keep us on the straight and narrow:

And last, but certainly not least, our hosts, without whom this would not be remotely possible:

Now, since this is ostensibly still a knitting blog and not a “look at what great crazy nerds we are” blog, here are the deets on the stitched bits of my costume:

Spiderclimb gloves, made during my last stay in Oakhurst (which is sadly now burnt to the ground), from magical spider wool on “needles of speed” (Don’t we all wish we had those in real life??). Much to the DM’s chagrin, I rolled a 20 on my craft check, so not only do I have permanent spider-climb; I can also cast “web” once a day. So basically I am Spiderman’s very short cousin. I still can’t believe I actually finished these, made with cobweb merino/silk lace and US 0’s. I used the lovely little free pattern, Wedding Day Lace Gloves by Lois Young.

I’m also extremely proud of my vest, which used to be a purse:

It took a long fight with my sewing machine and a grommet maker, but I think this piece (and a pair of bracers made from another purse) will be a lasting part in my garb collection. I also knit the I-cords that strung these together from leftover bits of sock yarn. There’s nothing like a little woolly color accent. Speaking of knitted accents, I’ll close with my new dice bag, kit from leftover handspun from October’s socks:

You’d think I could separate knitting from other forms of nerdery, but it turns out that I can’t. Yarn gets injected into my games, into my story writing, etc. And come to think of it, the narratives that I love – scripture, liturgy, middle-earth, narnia – these are what inspire my knitting. Or in other words, I’m completely crazy, but at least I’m integrated about it. Oh well – happy All Saints Day!