What does "forged by" or "raised by" mean?
On all of the items I've found, there's a blank marked "Forged By" which is filled with "Unknown." I've noticed pets for sale from the tavern owner, and these have a similar "Raised By" attribute, which is so far "Unknown" on every pet I've seen.
What does it matter who forged/raised this item? Can I forge/raise items myself?
When you raise an item's or pet's level up to the maximum, you get your name tagged onto the item, marking that you made the choices in leveling its attributes. It's blank until you max level the item or pet.