My O.W.L. got approved!!

Just so I can find it more easily in the future, I'm posting my APPROVED O.W.L. Proposal in Charms... wheee!! Also, the reviewer wants a list of any of the more creative curses I come up with while working on it. This will start May 16, and from then on in, you'll be hearing a lot about it.

O.W.L. Proposal - CraftyGryphon (Slytherin)

Charms - Students are expected to have total mastery over the charms Leviosa (levitation) and Alohamora (opening and closing). Therefore, knit or crochet a lace shawl, tablecloth, or long-sleeved tunic (note: shawl, NOT scarf; tablecloth, not runner; tunic, not shrug).

Identify the pattern(s) you will be using (original designs encouraged).

Girasole, by Jared Flood (BrooklynTweed). I propose to knit the "blanket/bedspread" size, which requires at least 1,800 yards of worsted-weight yarn, and is expected to measure approximately six feet in diameter when completed.

Photograph of the yarn(s) and any unusual needles or materials involved.

Photographed:

• Four skeins of Miss Babs "Yowza", worsted weight (8 oz, 560yd per ball) in "French Marigold"; please note that the balled skein is slightly lighter in shade than the other three; this will be used at the center of the blanket. (Girasole, after all, means "sunflower", so I thought a sunburst effect would be a nice touch.)
• Needles, size 8 (5.0 mm) in Double-Pointed, 16" and 36" length. Size 10.5 is suggested by the pattern, but (especially when hurried, as I expect to be) I knit loosely. Very loosely.
• Pattern, Girasole by Jared Flood.
• Girasole Tracker chart (highly recommended by other knitters), from http://www.woolgathering.org.uk.
• Tapestry needle, crochet hook, and stitch markers, as recommended by the pattern.

Two or three sentences describing the planned crafting sequence and analyzing any areas of potential difficulty or new skills needed.

Planned sequence:

• Beginning with the Designer's "Crash Course" on the Sixteenth of May (which precludes two weeks of knitting time, thus adding extra spice/a note of panic to my endeavors) , start knitting as directed, and knit quickly. I find having something warm to knit on in the summer is an extra incentive to finishing a large, wooly item as soon as possible.
• Each section of the blanket follows a chart (lettered A-G), and needles are changed as longer and longer cords are required. Stitch markers will be mandatory, as in each section, the chart in question will be repeated a different number of times, and changing marker placement between charts (and at least once during a chart) must be done correctly. Also, several charts are repeated a number of times, so either an excellent memory or a helpful tool (such as the Girasole Tracker) is required to stay on track. I opt for the Girasole Tracker, as my memory isn't what it used to be.
• The sheer size of the project could pose a problem, but since the "What do you mean, I need a baby blanket/jacket by Friday?" incident(s) in early April of this year, I know I knit quickly when necessary. VERY quickly. Lest the Examiners fear I won't have time to knit so much so quickly, I would like to reassure them that I have (a) a really, really long commute to and from my place of employment - two hours, guaranteed, each day, minimum, (b) I usually knit during lunch-hour, (c) my spouse is quite understanding of my "bouts of Knitting Crazy", and (d) while the pattern is, indeed, charted lace, the Designer points out that " every other round is plain knitting, so essentially half of the knitting is mindless stockinette", which should speed things along.
• The new technique/skill for me will be a knitted-on edging (thus solving any potential too-tight-cast-off problems, which, admittedly, I have had in the past). By the time I have reached the edge of the shawl, and put this new skill to the test, there will be well over 600 stitches on my needles, the project will weigh in excess of two pounds, and, if summer is particularly warm this year, I will make a log of any particularly creative curses I invent in the process (should anyone be interested in a copy of same, please let me know).

Photograph of your swatch.
Per the pattern, swatching is not necessary, as the blanket is meant to be warm and covering, without establishing exactly how much it will actually cover. Taking into account the vagaries of lace, needle size, and gremlins when producing items without swatches (such as blankets turning into house-cozies, lovely cabled sweaters for one's self mysteriously downsizing to fit toddlers, scarves that should only take two skeins of yarn somehow requiring eleventy-leven), and the new Thou Must Swatch directive, I have swatched. The recommended gauge is 4 stitches per inch in Stockinette, and I achieved that, precisely, with my size 8 needles.

Washed & blocked swatch


Gauge Attained
I hope this proposed Charms O.W.L. blanket project is acceptable.