Rocket Ship!!

Care of Magical Creatures is finally done. Trust me, making a rocket ship totally makes sense for the class, even though it doesn't appear to. But it does. And, thankfully, it's done. I'll try to get it to Fibre Space early next week (it's not going to happen THIS week, that's for sure), and coordinate turn-in times with my classmates.

Anyway, here's my little Rocket Ship. It was able to take off okay...


... but then OH NOES!! It starts spinning out of control! IT MIGHT CRASH!!


Then, a sudden swerve to the left prevents CERTAIN DOOM...


... and it flies back on course. YAY!!!


It heads off to Parts Unknown and Great Adventure. Woohooo!!


(Why, yes, I'm a geek and have fun vrooming toy rockets around the living room. I refuse to grow up any more than I have to!)

Quidditch Rules!

For Quidditch this term, there's a lot of stuff going on. One of the Things Going On is the Yule Ball, and that's its own separate thing. One has to get a dance partner (I found a first-year Hufflepuff) and craft the same object with them for the First Event. We've got a project picked out - and can start working on it today. We chose this cute little Tulip Preemie Cap, which can be easily sized up for larger noggins.

The official spiel is: Students will select a partner from a different house. Together the pair will pick an item and each make the same thing. Items should be more than 25 yards and no bigger than 200 yards, and be something both partners are able to complete within one week. Students may choose to spin or dye for this event, but both partners must do the same craft. Spinners must produce a minimum of 50 yards.


Then there's our Tasks - we pick an element (no surprise, mine is fire), and do stuff with that. That's due... tomorrow, I think. If you remember Chee-to from last week, you know I've completed Task #1 already. Waiting now for Task #2!! I made up a bunch of icons for it (slavishly copying Hufflepuff, just with a totally different look); people can use them if they wish for Quidditch.

There's also an AWESOME set in the Snake Pit, which is these 12 icons - with DOOM GOAT added to every single one!! (The DOOM GOAT Saga is a tale for another day.) Another Snake added Doom Goat to all the icons; I snagged the fire ones back, and added "DOOM GOAT COMPELS YOU". These are the ones I'll be using:
Whee!

Bronze Yarn for the Ravenclaws

I'm not certain I announced this - and it was a few weeks back that I discovered it, but Vanna's Glamour finally comes in BRONZE. Ravenclaws finally have their 2nd color represented - I expect to see some awesome 'Claw scarves this winter!


There's also some really violent hot-pink out there now... I'm not quite sure what to make with it. I'm sure, once I think of something, I'll buy them out. (The temptation is to do a Katherine Hepburn sweater (from Lace Style) out of it - it's been in my queue forever.)


I seem to really be into the Vanna's Glamour. I'll eventually be knitting/crocheting a full-circle hooded cloak out of it for my NEWT. (Which is why I *really need to finish my Astronomy OWL*...!)

Hipsters, Plaid, and Humidity

Ugh. It is hot and humid. AT MY DESK. (So, no, not glad to be back at work. The work I don't mind; the humidity can LEAVE ALREADY.) Since I am just back after a few days off (and it appears that Giant Project of Doom is waiting for me, just a quick entry today.

First, Obligatory Yarn Content: http://www.squidoo.com/hipsterknitting. A page with all sorts of content for Hipster Knitting. But by pointing it out, it's not obscure enough any more.

It's been raining a lot this fall. I'm really glad I got my new rainboots - much less clunky than the usual Wellies. (Okay, plaid harness-cowgirl boots? Didn't know they existed until the day I got them.) They're comfortable, with great traction, too - and don't scream out "rainboots!!"



Yeah, not really yarn related, but I really like these boots!

Double knitting WIN!

Today, I learned double knitting - and actually got it correct this time! I took Melissa Leapman's class (the second class I've taken from her), "Two Color Double Knitting". First, we just did one color on side A, one color on side B, then switched:

Then, we had to try it with a pattern. With the magic of "here's how the color change goes" and "keep that color close/on top"... it WORKED! I continued my class swatch and tried to upside-down the chart from that to see if I could ... and it WORKED! I can do double knitting!

Of course, Melissa had some truly stunning things to show us. The first was the totally reversible baby blanket; then there were double-knit hats that were two completely different patterns on each side. SO COOL! (If the Double Sided Double Knit Hat class is offered next year, I'm taking it!)


There's out there, somewhere, an amazing guy named Alistair who does multi-color double knitting with completely different pictures on each side. I'm going to try to find some images of his stuff, if possible; it sounds BEYOND cool!!