Houndstooth Hat (and, um, cousin?)

So, for each new bit of yarn or whatever I bring into the house, I have to try to use two things I already have. So, as the bedsocks for which my Navy and Orange Hometown USA yarn were intended kept Not Happpening, I turned it into two hats.

Two AWESOMELY WARM hats, which will be great. Next winter, of course, since it's starting to hit the 90s already this summer.

Anyway, I did the orange-on-blue first, and had thought I'd followed the houndstooth pattern, but as you can see, I didn't. On the second hat, though, I got it right:


The navy-on-orange (the proper houndstooth one) can be worn out of the house. The other, with the weird lightning bolt things that clearly aren't houndstooth, will do just fin as a winter sleep hat, since, as you can see, it nicely covers my eyes if I fold the brim all the way down.


Hooray!

So, Mom almost stole my green-and-orange scarf (seen here). As (a) I like this scarf, (b) it's MINE and (c) it's 8' long, which is a bit much for her tiny frame, I needed to get her one of her own. Luckily, the stash coughed up this about five minutes after I had the idea:


In about 8h of marathon Project Runway All-Stars catching-up, and completely wihtout her knowledge (which is NIGH IMPOSSIBLE, but I did it!), I managed to make this:


I also managed to wrap it up so it's not identifiable. I think this will be, perhaps, the sixth present I've managed to give her in my *entire* life that she hasn't managed to accidentally find/see beforehand!

(PS, she loves it.)

Can acrylic be un-scratchified?

In the arena of "this is either brilliant or nuts", I was driven to an experiment by the following:

From a comment by "Kristal" (September 13, 2012 at 4:44 am) on the relevant day's Worsted For Wear comment section:

There's a secret to using Red Heart. Leave it in the skein, but remove the wrapper. Get the whole darned thing damp - all the way through to the core - then wrap it tightly in a plastic bag. Tie or ziploc the bag shut so no air or water escapes, then toss it in the fridge for a few days.
Boom.
The scratchy fades.
A lot of the scratchy, awful feel is from the sizing chemicals they put on the acrylic. The water and cold breaks these chemicals down, and gets rid of a surprising amount of that nastiness.

So, we start with a partial skein of green Red Heart.


Then, fill a bag with water, get the air out, and put it in the fridge:

Now, in the photo on the right, the water appears to have a greenish tint - it doesn't really at this point - it's just refraction, reflection, and other neat tricks. Four days later, however....


Yeah, that water is pretty green. Next, we remove the yarn from the bag, carefully dump the oddly green water, and rinse the yarn.... and then hank it so it can dry. (My lack of tinker-toys is evident; I'd have a knitty-noddy else.)


Now, the test. Is it actually any softer than un-soaked Red Heart?


The answer: NO. In fact, the soaked yarn feels slightly sticky/tacky at this point, but the un-soaked yarn actually feels about the same scratchy-ness. I will continue the experiment later by knitting up one mitten from the soaked yarn and the second from the unsoaked, to see if there's any difference in how it feels as it's worn, but I'm thinking (at this point) that soaking Red Heart doesn't really do much. Possibly they changed the formulation of the yarn or chemicals - but this batch is no softer than it started, and feels slightly worse.

________________
PS, if you're not reading Rachael & Josh Anderson's Worsted For Wear webcomic, you should be!!

50% of an O.W.L.

So, I did make my 50% mark (and then some, actually!) on my Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. Since I'm still trying to catch up on blogposts, here's my turn-in post from Wednesday....

Name: CraftyGryphon
House: Slytherin, Sixth Year
Project Page: Tree Skirt Invisibility Cloak
Proposal Post: submitted post 409
Tags: sqwin12 dadaowl defenseagainstthedarkartsowl owlwinter2012
Yards (so far): 3,215.5 (isn't as bad as I thought it might be at this point.)

Hello, Examiners! I made it!!

Proposed 50% Mark: Halfsies!! There are 36 edge squares, 12 big trapezoids, 24 inner trapezoids, and then all the center stuff. The total area of actual crochet (last column, below) is approximately 63 square feet; half is about 31.5 square feet. The 50% point falls about just under 1/4 of the way through the 12" block section, so 1/4 of the 12" blocks (i.e., 3 blocks) plus 24 6" inner blocks plus the 18" of clusters should get me over the 50% mark.

What I've actually got done: 36 edge squares, 12 big trapezoids, 24 inner trapezoids, and all the center stuff. Which is all the component parts, yay! And yet... there is still more to do! I've actually got to join everything together, and math being what it is, it appears I will need to make an additional four small trapezoids for the bottom row. (I evidently calculated a nice pie-wedge opening, instead of the actual "hey, this needs to be straight-closed down the front" that actually happened.)

Here's everything finished thus far, sort of spread out. On a king-sized bed. Except for the 34 outer-edge trapezoids that are dumped in the middle.


The stuff dumped in the middle.


An earlier progress photo to show that there's actually a hole in the center of the thing, which was entirely covered by trapezoids in the other two shots:


Getting it all together and hanging properly AND lying flat is really turning into a challenge. I'm not using any sort of pattern, just making it up as I go, and it's a bit trickier than expected. I'm getting pretty good at figuring out how to crochet pretty strange shapes on the fly, although there's been a LOT of ripping back to get things to work. Whee?

I think I've got a good shot at actually finishing this thing. It's eating up an AMAZING amount of yarn - half a bongo bag so far - and it's going to make a really pretty tree skirt/cloak. But mostly tree skirt, which will be wonderful with my electric-white fake Christmas tree!!

The Scarf of DOOOOOOOOOOM

Okay, so, I keep yarn scraps in my desk at work. So far, I've used them about six times. Lifelines, just need a bit of color, whatever. It's been useful, I tell you!!


(Stop looking at me like that.)

Anyway, I keep lots of yarn scraps. Half-balls of this, tiny smidges of thatk, and while I do use them from time to time, their numbers have been increasing at an alarming rate, and some of it... well, some of it looked unlikely to EVER be used.

Enter the Scarf of Doom.

Step one: at 9pm on the night before you're gonna knit, grab five random things out of your stash.


I grabbed a few more, since the thinner yarns needed to be held triple. And I had no idea I had blue-purple-pompom-with-black-eyelash yarn in my stash until I pulled it out of the Bag O' Scraps.

Then, the next morning (at a suitably hideously early hour), cast on:



Then you've got 2.5h to knit as much as you can. This is about an hour in:


Now this was all started over on WhoDunnKnit.com, home of the amazing Deadly Knitshade. Well, the spreading through the internet was started there. The actual tale that spawned the Scarf of Doom can be found on her blog here, complete with link to the pattern so you can make your very own Scarf of Doom, and there's some follow-up here, and all together, it's a bunch of knitterly awesomesauce!

Oh, and just so you know I finished, here's mine:


Here's a close-up, so you get a good view of the actual fibers involved. 100% synthetic, I assure you!


It's gonna be the other valance in my craft room. (The first valance being my over-seven-foot-long Clapotis. If I'm not going to wear it often, it might as well be out where I can see it!)

Arithmancy - done!

Last Thursday morning, I started a hat:


Last Friday afternoon, I finished it:


It's supposed to be a Honeycomb Hat, but I modded the pattern a bit, so while it fits nice and snugly and actually covers my ears, I think it more resembles a beehive instead of honeycomb. But hey, that's Arithmancy done!

12 in 12

So, according to Ravelry (which doesn't count cross stitch, quilting, canvas or hardanger, so no, I didn't get The List down super-far, don't worry), I have twelve WIPs. WIPs are things that I actually intend to finish at some point, as opposed to UFOs, which I have finally realized means I will NOT finish them. (The List has both right now; it will be pruned of UFOs for the new year.) Anyway, here are my Ravelry WIPs:


They're presented in order of "happiness" - which should probably also be updated, since by "happiness", my Evenstar should be dead last. (I am loathing knit-on beaded edging and only keeping going because the yarn is soooo fluffy and the beads are soooo pretty and I WANT THAT SHAWL.)

As pictured left to right, top to botttom, the items are as follows:

1. The 2011 Advent Calendar Scarf, Part 1. I started this on December 1 this year, so it hasn't been a WIP for long. Since I'm doing it with MadTosh Merino Light, 91 stitches and 12 days of pattern will actually get me a shawl. This is probably the closest item to being finished. It will be saved for the OWL frenzy that is March.
2. Slytherin Crest Bag. The knitting is done, the blocking is done. I have the hardware, the straps, and the canvas for the lining. I have zippers and more canvas for pockets. I just have to actually (*shudder*) SEW the thing together. February is a short month with a long weekend - I think I'll save this for then.
3. Ancient Runes OWL: Pretty as a Peacock Shawl. I actually have to frog back through the first set of peacock feathers, which is what killed this shawl getting finished in the first place. And (oh, joy!) I don't think there's a lifeline anywhere in the thing. (I have learned better since!) Whereabouts currently unknown; I'll keep this for August, in-between terms, since it's silk and not *super* warm.
4. Swiss Cheese Scarf. A pleasant little mindless something to carry around with everything else. Also to be saved for an end of term - preferably one where I'm traveling - like July.
5. Astronomy OWL: Evenstar Shawl. It's JUST the edging left. The beaded edging. Still, I think I've got a shot at finishing it in a week or two of knitting. Since it's very warm, it needs a winter midterm - either April this year, or hold until December.
6. Pullover WITH FLAMES. About half the flames are done. I just need to rework the neck (I hate the way it looks now) and worry about the sleeves. Except for the WITH FLAMES areas, it's simple stockinette, so it goes fast when I'm actually knitting.
7. The 2010 Advent Calendar Scarf. Whereabouts currently unknown, and I think I only have about seven days done. This one should be a midterm project, too... and I think I just ran out of midterms.
8. EZ 100th Anniversary Pi Hearts Shawl. This is a big shawl; I think I just kicked up to the 560-stitch rows. It's working well, though, and the Neighborhood Fiber Company silk is a pleasure. It's a pretty simple pattern, despite the size of what's left; I think I can do this during regular term.
9. Yarn on Thursdays: Stitch Edition Blanket. I'm going through (or was going through, I enrolled in the HPKCHC) the entire Knitting on the Net Stitch Directory. I got through 19 weeks of my project in 2010/2011, and 67 stitches on the list. For sanity, I think I'll call "finished" for the blanket at stitch 77, which should be two more panels on the blanket, which should make it queen-sized/futon sized. The rest of the stitches will be handled as sampler pillows for the colorwork/mosaic stuff and the rest in a nice little lap-sized throw. But finished for this is the last ten stitches in part II of the list. Should be able to knock this out during term.
10. Dragon Illusion Blanket. OY. I started this a long, long time ago, before I really had a grasp on what either "287 st/row" or "every row in illusion knitting is actually four rows" meant. I'm almost to the halfway point; I'm thinking if I can get five (really 20) rows a month, I might have it done by the end of the year sometime. And 20 rows of this thing is about all I can manage before it gets exiled again.
11. Peacock Feather Beaded Scarf. This isn't just "whereabouts unknown"; it's so small - just a tiny ball of merino and some beads - that I think it may actually have been accidentally thrown out. If I haven't found it by December 2012, it'll officially come off The List and my Rav page as "forever frogged".
12. History of Magic OWL: Peacock Fillet Crochet Tablecloth. I want this thing done. IT FREAKING TAKES FOREVER. It's a tiny hook. It's tiny thread. BUT IT IS SO PRETTY! I think this will be another "work about ten rows, put it down for a month" projects.

So, according to the above, I want to finish the twelve items in the following order, more or less. Any of the larger items (tablecloth, illusion blanket) will get worked on well before the month they're due - heck, all of them might be - so this is just a "hey, if I haven't started finishing this yet, I really should" list :

January - Pullover WITH FLAMES February - Slytherin Crest Bag March - 2011 Advent Calendar Scarf, Part 1 April - Evenstar Shawl (OWL) May - Yarn on Thursdays: Stitch Edition Blanket June - 2010 Advent Calendar Scarf July - Swiss Cheese Scarf August - Pretty as a Peacock Shawl (OWL) September - EZ 100th Anniversary Pi Hearts Shawl October - Peacock Fillet Crochet Tablecloth (OWL) November - Dragon Illusion Blanket December - Peacock Feather Beaded Scarf

Yeah, that should keep me busy this year. Not even counting the upcoming 54 classes, three BROOMs, three OWLs, Quidditch, Challenges, and other events!!

Term Begins, and I'm already hopelessly overcommitted!!

Oh, the joy! Classes dropped! My Astronomy O.W.L. was proposed and accepted! And I changed my OAE goal from Third Class to First Class - which means I have a LOT of knitting coming up. So, I looked at the scheduled classes for the month. For Third Class, I have to knit one thing for each class offered - which means I need to hit Astronomy, Divination and Herbology this month, since they're only offered now and in November. (Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Transfiguration are ONLY offered in October - eek!). I figured out what I could make from the yarn I had on me...

... yes, I took six balls of yarn, two sets of needles and a crochet hook with me to work, just in case I could start any/all of my classes immediately. THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL.

Because I say so.

Anyway, chart:


Once I figured out the classes I wanted to take, then I figured out that I'd be doing original patterns for two, and needed actual patterns for the other two, got them printed out, and got the class requirements printed out. Assembled the classes in alphabetical order, with patterns (as applicable) behind them....

... yes, I put all my classes in a notebook at the beginning of each month. THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL.

Because I say so.

Anyway, paperwork:


Then, I realized that the six balls of yarn I'd brought with me would work for four of the classes. I've started Astronomy and Charms, so far... well, okay, I've started all of them, I just won't have all of them done just yet. But I can't believe I'll actually be able to use all the yarn I brought with me! And the Scrap Bag has enough black and silver for Muggle Studies, and enough orange for Defense Against the Dark Arts, too. Again, THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL. Everyone has scrap yarn. And I'm being good, and working from the stash!!


So, off to a good start this term. If my O.W.L. doesn't kill me this time (I had double-OWLfail last term), I should be all set. Right?

Right.

Because I say so!

Charms done - Rock Lobster!

So, I had six classes finished by Sunday night, and that was all I needed. I'd almost finished my little lobster for Charms (WITH FLAMES), of course. The whatever-it-was that I'd been fighting off most of last week finally got me Sunday afternoon (I missed part of the NASCAR race, so you know it was pretty serious), and I wasn't sure I'd survive the commute to work on Monday. (Turns out - I wouldn't have... or, rather, the other people in the car wouldn't have been at ALL happy.) So, here was my little lobster as of Sunday:


As you can see, he only had a claw left. So, very slowly over the course of Monday morning (and it was just 30 rows, some as short as six stitches, so the fact it took all morning... sigh... I finished him up and turned him in.


Here's the actual turn-in post...

Hello, Professors! This is CraftyGryphon, Third Year Slytherin, turning in her assignment. I have chosen to do a piece representative of the B-52's classic, "Rock Lobster". While it's really more of a spoken-word piece, there's definitely something resembling music behind it, and it definitely refers to an actual lobster. I think. Anyway, I knit up this little guy. Since he's a ROCK lobster, I had to knit him WITH FLAMES. Rock is all about the attitude.


I think he's a redeemable Bad Boy, though. I mean, just lookit that sweet face...


As some students might not be familiar with the musical work in question, here's a link: Link to YouTube B-52s "Rock Lobster" Video


Yes, it's a bit strange. But I got a lovely little lobster-friend out of it, and he even matches most of my accessories. (He has, however, warned me that I WILL NOT wear him as a hat/headpiece, EVER. Or Else.)

Thanks for a fun assignment, Professors!!

And because I want to make it easy for you, here's the B-52s Rock Lobster video, right here!
Yep, today, it's all about the strange!

Defense Against the Dark Arts - Done!

Hello, Professors! This is CraftyGryphon, Third Year Slytherin, turning in her assignment. I have created a simple but effecive counteragent to basic love spells. For the most part, this type of spell acts on the brain, and is targeted to specific individuals. By both covering the brain/skull *and* changing the appearance of the target individual, this lovely, and subtly-shaded, headpiece/wig offers protection to anyone that is concerned about falling unwilling victim to such spells. Individual touches, such as a lovely bow WITH FLAMES (crocheted in flame stitch, yet!) can be added.


This lovely wig *does* requie a lot of yarn - 260 yards! - because the 2x2 rib makes for a nice, dense protective fabric. The little bow only took about 25 yards - and only because the black yarn continues the entire back of the piece. This was a fun assignment, Professors. While I don't expect to ever need to use this magic item, really, one should be prepared for every eventuality!

And other photos, since the one up there is pretty goofy - but really, "normal" isn't gonna happen in an electric-green wig. The flame-stitch bow... well, flame stitch probably works better with (a) lots of practice and (b) on something that doesn't have to increase quickly to make a bow-shape. But hey - you can tell it's a bow, so I'm happy.



Really. I'm happy.

October Herbology - Owls Sweater - Done!

So, you may have noticed a slight lack of actual my-knitting content for most of the blog last week. There's a good reason for that: I was on vacation! (Yep, I actually manage to leave my beloved workplace once or twice a year. When they let me.) It was a really super vacation, very relaxing, and given that it was in no way knitting or fiber related (in fact, it was at a lovely room in a lovely B&B outside Luray, VA, called Once Upon a Mountain - and boy, do I highly recommend it!!! There will be more Vacation Type Photos later in the week.), there was a LOT of knitting.

For example, I finished my Owls Sweater in under a week. It fits well - this "using a schematic" thing pays off, and it's very snuggly and comfy. (And in acrylic; Caron Dazzelaire to be exact. The first follow-a-pattern sweater I ever did was in Dazzelaire, and, while I totally lucked into gauge so it worked and the fairisle striping matched up, it's machine washable and still looks great. This was around ten years ago.)


I started it on Friday, October 1st. I did 24 rows of ribbing for both the bottom "hem" of the body and each sleeve.




By Sunday, I'd only gotten about a third of the body done... but there was a long car ride coming up.


By Monday evening, though, I had one sleeve finished, more of the body (I was up to the increases)....


... and by Tuesday early, I had two sleeves and most of the body.


Then it was just a case of joining everything together, and getting the yoke knit up and all the finishing done.


This lasted just a bit longer than perhaps it should have. I stayed up waaay too late Wednesday night trying to get everything done, and finally had to quit for the evening. Which turned out to be a good thing, as I had to take out my underarm seams Thursday morning, add some gussets so I'd have circulation, and re-seam them. It was totally worth doing this, since it made sweater Very Comfy and Actually fitting. Then, for the rest of Thursday morning, I curled up in a lovely chair in the main room at the B&B, with the lovely sun-filled windows at just the right angle, and I began to sew on all the little owl-eyes.




There were lots and lots and lots of owl eyes. Forty, to be exact. But I did it, and, since I'd already done all the other finishing, it was done! Then it was put-on-new-sweater and get photos time - it's now Thursday afternoon, and it took less than a week to knit this sweater.




I really love it. I've wanted to knit Owls for quite a while, and I'm glad one of the class assignments for this month (specifically, Herbology) gave me enough wiggle-room to do it!

September Wrap-Up

Next week, really, I'll have some TKGA Level I progress. In the flurry of month-end and trying to finish all eight classes for HPKCHC, it got left by the wayside this week. But really, I'm working on it. Sorta. Speaking of what I finished for the Cup....


MaggieLo Disguise (Viking Pride Hat, #108), for Defense Against the Dark Arts, turned in September 7; Dust Bunnies (#132), for Charms, turned in September 8; Flying Keys (#169), for History of Magic, turned in September 8; Colorwork Tam (#179), for Flying, turned in September 10; Sneaky Binary Hat (#206), for Arithmancy, turned in September 13; O.W.L Proposal - Herbology (#1004), turned in September 13; Challenge Quidditch Bedsocks (#933), turned in September 25; Quidditch Sweater (#1200), turned in September 27; Quidditch Hat (#1203), turned in September 27; Glass Cozies (#754), for Potions, turned in September 28; Star Stitch Hand Warmers (#593), for Herbology, turned in September 29; and, finally, Who? Hat (#749), for Transfiguration, turned in September 30.

I got some really cute things out of this, as will friends and relations (the glass cozies and half the keys have Other Homes, as will a couple of the hats).

That's all eight classes, Challenge quidditch, regular quidditch, and my OWL proposal turned in. Not too shabby!!

Arithmancy - Done - Slytherin Pride Project!

Well. I'm certainly glad I had my Slytherin Unity Project ready to post this Monday - some strange, sad stuff is happening over at HPKCHC, but the end result is that I *really* want to get the most points I can for my House. So, the knitting is about to hit insanity levels (not that it hadn't before, mind you). The assignment in question: With school back in session, basics are a good place to start. So make a HPKCHC acceptable project that uses any Mathematical or Arithmantic system as the inspiration. Make sure you tell us what system you used and how it relates to your project.

One of the suggestions was: Binary is a numeral system using only two digits (usually 0 and 1) - you could make something that has two pieces, or use binary cables to spell words like someone's name or something funny like "mine!"

I had an idea pretty fast - Binary Hat! With message! I realized quickly that charting a whole hat, in the round, would probably give me fits - and, plus, the message would be broken up and harder to read. Making it one continuous stripe would work better... so I made one.


Now, that's pretty hard to hold down and read all at once, so I made a video. Proof, I suppose, that the Entire Message Actually Exists. Click on the pic below to see the video:


Here's what I turned in.

Hello, Professors! This is CraftyGryphon, Second Year Slytherin, turning in her Arithmancy homework. I chose to make an object (a hat) embedded with a message in Binary. It's a long strip, with the message decipherable left to right. The ends are tapered up on the left, and down on the right, to make the whole thing fit together nicely.


(Since I can't get a legible 7' long stripe in one photo, there's a video availble to view on my blog, if anyone's curious what the whole thing looks like flat.)

I knit the brim first (k1p1 rib), then began to chain (crochet) the strip to the brim in a gradually narrowing spiral, resulting in a nice, warm hat.


Since this is my Slytherin Unity Project for this month, it seemed only fitting that the hat's message be "SLY IN SLYTHERIN"!

Thanks for a fun assignment, Professors. It was a hoot figuring out how to make this work!

Of course, I couldn't decide which photo I liked best (I *think* it's the one with the assignment?), but here are the other two, just for the sake of completeness.




If we had an actual physical House, I'd totally be wearing this today!