Descent into (Hexipuff) Madness

The second part of my Hermionie Badge for January was my first class. The prompt for Divination was really cool - the professors do a great job of putting down a cool little scene for each class - but one of the options was "cat", so I stopped there.

This is my very first Hexipuff, which is a Siamese Cat (sorta, but you get the idea).


Hexipuffs are a THING.

Basically, you knit up a little two-sided hexagon and fill it with stuffing. Jess, has this great process photo on her blog Make & Do Girl, which really explains it well:

This is Jess's photo from this post, which gives you a good window into that which is Hexipuff Mania.

(While going through her blog, I also found this photo, which makes me even more determined to get to the Lion Brand store in NYC at some point. And to keep reading Jess's blog.)

I also, whilst looking at all the amazing Hexipuff/Beekeeper things out there, found a tiny Slytherin snake chart (and a Hufflepuff badger) here on BirdHeartsBear's blog. And oooo! There's a Gryffindor lion, a Ravenclaw eagle and a Snitch chart here!! Hooray!!

Getting on The Crazy Train

So, new year, new term at Hogwarts/HPKCHC (which means regular blog updates again)! I'm a Gryffidor this term (a B-1... guess starting again as a firstie wasn't allowed), and Gryffidor is all about the Badges. The first one up is a Hermione Badge (collecting three of these lets you trade in for a previous train badge you might have missed... um, Gryffindor also has a Crazy Train, with an Engine badge, a Caboose badge, and badges for each month. Hermione badges are not redeemable for Engines or Cabooses.). To get it, you have to finish and turn in a detention project *and* your first class. This was my detention project: the Shadowbox Mitts I dreamt up during the Woolly Thoughs class I attended in October.

Here they are with the pieces all stitched together:

And here's the number of ends that needed to be woven in:

Yeah, that was a little hairy. And may or may not be *completely* finished just yet... but enough so that they're wearable, which is why I'm wearing them today.

(Well, that, and because they look REALLY COOL.)

Whee!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Best Wishes for 2013! Wheeee!

Where little WIPs come from...

Have you ever wondered how you got so many UFOs/WIPs going at once? I'm still under fifty, so I'm doing good, but I was up to 217 at one point. And getting there usually involved something like this:

So, last night, instead of being a good bunny and finishing up my Christmas cards, or working on the Advent Calendar Scarf (I'm on Day 14 now, only 5 days behind!), having discovered another shawl of Dee O'Keefe's that I just love, and having gotten some lovely royal blue sparkly S. Charles Luna... I kinda started it.

It's the Glenallen Shawl (Rav link), and it's gonna be gorgeous. And fluffy. And WARM.

*squeeeeal!*

iTunes Apps for Knitters

So, say you get an iTunes gift card over the holidays, and you need somewhere to spend the cash. Or, say you have someone you need to get something for, and have no real clue what, but they knit and they have an iPhone, and they don't have any knitting apps yet. There are some nifty knitting apps out there, and many are free. These are the internet links, so you can see everything on a big screen, and if you decide to try it, THEN go to the app store on your phone. Or you can give them a gift card, with a link here, and they can pick what they want, or get all of them. Not that expensive, these knitting apps.

1. Yarn Genie (by Yarnmarket, Free) - you have yarn, what can you make? conversions? etc.
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yarn-genie/id453223920?mt=8
   
   
2. KnitMinder Lite (Free) - track your stash. Can be upgraded to full version for $2.99. I'm gonna have to upgrade now that the storage unit has been emptied (into my garage).
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/knitminder-lite/id311943855?mt=8
   
   
3. Stitch Minder (Free) - keep track of stitches/rows. VERY HELPFUL.
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stitchminder/id287491425?mt=8
   
   
4. KnitGauge ($.99) - an actual gauge. On your phone. (I use this the most.)
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/knitgauge/id302265332?mt=8
   
   
5. iKnit Needle Sizer ($.99) - not perfect at sizing crochet hooks, but great for needles. Especially those little needles that manage to separate themselves from the herd, and might be size 5... or maybe 3.
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iknit-needle-sizer/id304299218?mt=8
   
   
6. Touch and Go Knitting (Junior version Free, upgradable to full for $4.99) - just got it myself, so no real review as yet.
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tag-jr/id393535421?mt=8
   
   
7. KnittingHelp Video Reference ($4.99; over 160 videos available) (Don't have this myself yet, but it's gotten good reviews from ravfriends)
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/knittinghelp-video-reference/id405889801?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
   
   
8. JKnit Lite - does a bunch of things, FREE (Don't have it yet, but the "highlight where you are in a *.pdf file" will be wonderful if it works for the *.pdfs I already have)
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jknit-lite-knitting-pattern/id489390903?ls=1&mt=8
   
   
9. Vogue Knitting Knit Buddy ($3.99) is another project/yarn/needle tracking app that's gotten good reviews from ravfriends.
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vogue-knitting/id355123249?mt=8
   
   

There are more out there, of course, but this is the quick list I whipped up when I was asked "Hey, are there any useful knitting apps?" by a new iPhone owner. Hope this helps!