Sunday, May 13, 2018

Games Knitters Play

This post could go a couple of directions.   This will not be ways to lie to yourself and others about how much you or they spend,  how big the stash is or anything else. Deception is not something I advocate especially between spouses. 

I am games mistress for retreats in my knitting guild.   I will give you a peek between the skeins at some of the games we have played and might play in the future.  Sometimes the prizes are knit cash to be used for an auction.  Monopoly money could be substituted.  Sometimes the prizes are actual knit related items.  You can also google knitting games and there are a lot more there.

Trivia  ::  before a retreat, I will Google knitting trivia.  I print questions with the answers and a bit of history if available.  I use this as a way to keep the retreat goers on their toes and earn knit cash.  I just blurt out a question with an amount that I think it's worth.  All correct answers will collect that amount.  Obviously easy questions are worth less.

Stories   ::   someone reads a story that has a lot of repetition of a few words or phrases.  All retreat goers sit in a circle.   There is a ball of yarn that gets tossed around according to the predetermined terms.  Ie. If a is said the person tosses it across the circle while holding the part they caught, or a quarter of the way around either left or right. The final goal is to have a web of knitter's.

Magic ball  ::  this is similar to the stories above.   All sit in a circle.   A story is read and at predetermined terms the yarn ball is passed left or right by 1, 2, or 3 people unwinding as it goes.  The magic is that there are small trinkets wound in the ball, fancy stitch markers,  small tape measures,  blunt yarn needles, buttons, charms.  The person who gets the prize is the one is sitting at the slip knot holding the trinket to the ball.

Ugly sweater card game  ::  by changing the rules this can accommodate a large group with only a deck or two.  Dole out the cards.  Play as directed mostly.  The oldest or youngest starts.  Pull a card from person to right or left. Make a pair if you can and display it.  Next person does same.   If you pull and can make a pair that leaves You without cards, you are out.  You can have 2 winners if you use the ugly sweater cards only.  You can have 3 winners if you use the 2 ugly sweater cards and the person with the most pairs.  You can have 4 winners if you use the same as 3 and include the first person to be out of cards.  This can take a while until all the pairs are made.

Knitting relay races  ::  these can be fun.  Timer is needed for these.
1.  Have the people pair up.  More fun if they are not great friends.  Have a set of straights for each pair with a long tail cast on already on the needles.  20 sts seems right.  Each pair has to knit with one person holding a needle.   Use a timer and the pair with the most sts or rows each win.
2.  Each person knits onto the left needle  as opposed to the way you normally knit onto the right.  Again most sts or rows wins.
3.  Line up in teams of 4 or 5.  Each person knits a row and passes to the next person.  Keep going until time is up.  Team with most rows wins.
4.  Using set number of stitches already cast on, each person has to knit behind their backs.  Winner will be the person with the most sts or rows. 
5.  Again with already cast on needles, each players runs in place while knitting.  Winner will be the person with the most sts or rows.
6.  Another relay type of game inspired by Elizabeth Zimmerman.  I am thinking of the picture of EZ knitting on a shawl with someone else that is in one of her books.  Cast on in the round and knit 30 rds using 4-7 balls and 4-7 circular needles.   Have several of these set up to accommodate all players.  Usually this works best with 2 to 4 people per circle.  Divide retreatants into groups and  each person gets an end to 2 separate circs as well as their own ball of yarn.  winning team has the most rounds with fewest dropped stitches.

This last can be set to music and played like a variant of musical chairs.  2 people knit until the music stops, they trade places and continue knitting until the next break in the music.  Winning team has the most rounds with fewest dropped stitches.

Jeopardy  ::  play just like the t.v. show.   Make up the board large enough for all to see.  Have each player use a different ringtone on their cell phone for their buzzer.  Topics are all yarn, fiber and knitting related.  Utilize your knit cash.  All cash won is kept for an auction or other game.

Auction  ::  run just like any auction you have attended.  Utilize your knit cash here.

Knitting bingo  ::  I made up 2 types.  1 knitting bingo game I combined 3 different bingo games from Untangled Knots  blog post found here.  Things you hear knitting in public, Christmas knitting and summer knitting.   I used these 75 terms plus some from the comments and made up cards that mixed these.  Knitting bingo 2 is a swatch bingo.  4x4 swatches that are tagged with not only the name but how to knit them.  Names are mixed on the cards.   I pull the swatches from a small suitcase and it doubles as a trunk show.  Many are not things everyone has seen.  For this I had a head start in that I used my certification swatches and the increase/decrease swatches are 2 calls.

I also have other ideas for using kids games and changing the directions to knitting terms.   Candyland cards, each color is something different like red is k4, orange is p6, yellow is a yo,  and so on.  When I get the game set up, I'll post about it.

Chutes and ladders and again each move is a knitting term.  I wonder what ideas could be done with clue, monopoly,  hearts, slap Jack, war.....

I also saw an interesting Christmas game recently.   Pick up sticks using candy canes held in the mouth.  It brought an idea to mind.  Pick up sticks using straight needles and crochet hooks or cable needles to pick up the straights, maybe not by mouth.  I don't think it's hygienic or tasty.


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