kitty: rare treasures in odd places

This past weekend started this year’s Game Convention season for my M and I. This year though things are even more crazy since E3 started yesterday. Nothing like back-to-back game conventions to make big kids happy or is it crazy. :) A little history though, before there were video games for the computers and game console there was paper role-playing games. A lot of today’s top designers actually got there start playing those paper games and board games. Yes, D&D is still around today. Origins represent the second largest paper role-playing convention in the US. As you can imagine with the video game market flourishing the paper role-playing games are essentially hitting another dead period. The dealer room has also hit a lull for new products. This year there were a lot of Historical Reenactment dealers to fill the empty spots. Though there is a genera of games that are called Larps where people dress like their characters, there isn't a lot of cross overs. So most of these dealers sat at their booths looking at the passing by gamers. Since I had a lot of time to kill this year, I made a point to at least stop at all of their displays and say hello to them. Nothing worse than to have a both at a convention and no one stops in my opinion. One of the stops revealed a rare find and the real reason for this post. Which I am sure on a knitting blog you are wondering why so much about games Kudumisvarras (Estonian Reproduction Knitting Needles from tomb relics from the 13th century)

Taylor and his wife from UK took one of the last booths. They specialize in creating items for people who compete in Historical Reenactment contest. This is where all your items that you carry on your person are graded on a scorecard. Hidden in one of their showcases were dpn knitting needles. They were reproduced from a pair that was found in an Estonian tomb last year from the 13th century. They are made of bronze and are somewhere between US 00 and US 000. They mineral compound is accurate to the day and they are exactly the same lengths and size as the original. With one needle much longer and some of the tips bent. They do though leave the surfaces so that items are usable. All items that they make are made from historical equipment as well.

I have already test knit with them and love the weight and balance. The one negative is definitely how sharp the tips seem to be. I may need to knit with a band - aid on. This just proves you never know what you are going to find and where you will find it.

Estonian Lace by Faina Letoutchaia Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush