Last-Minute Surprise Detention Project

So, this morning, I discovered that Slytherin is doing a mass turn in of Merit Badges tomorrow. I got the Merit Badge pattern, and found some of the necessary supplies in my desk: yarn, cardboard backing, and a safety pin.


The rule is I can't actually finish it until tomorrow, but if I don't have it mostly done at lunch today, it's not going to happen.

Here it is after lunch:


It's going to be a little sheep, and will probably say "BAA!" at the bottom. Perfect to wear to MDS&W!

Marked by Knitting

So, as it turns out, if you're wearing a worsted-weight knitted sweater with a solid rib pattern, and you've got your arms crossed without moving for over half an hour whilst getting a MRI, you wind up with knit prints all over your paws.

Ginormous Sock Knitting

Last Monday, when I was getting close to starting the heel, I measured it on is foot.


That was a mistake - since somehow, gauge lied, his foot lied, and THERE WAS LYING ALL AROUND. Both socks had to be frogged entirely. Since it took a week to get to that point, getting both socks finished, even on a smaller scale, was gonna be close.

Then there was the pattern. In the book, the Trilobite socks don't really took lacy. They look like cute little trilobytes marching up a sock. But this *is* a lace pattern, make no mistake. So a different pattern had to be found, and QUICKLY.

So... turns out the Trilobite Hat chart (from the Trilobite Hat I made for the eventual sock-recipient) works for socks, more or less.

This far, I've gotten a bit past the heel of the first sock:


Hopefully, I'll actually finish one of them before the end of the month. It's a LOT of tiny stockinette!!

Statement of Intent.

I will be carrying this at MDS&W.










You can all stop laughing now.

Mystery KAL - on Twitter!

Leethal Mystery Twitter Knit-Along


If anyone has 200-400 yards of lovely yarn that they want to use, but don't have a project, there's a Twitter Mystery Knitalong that started up on Friday. Every day, a new line of the pattern is revealed via a public page on Twitter (so you don't have to have a Twitter account to play) - or directly to your Tweetstream. Here are the important links:

Rav group (instruction post)
Rav Pattern page
The twitter feed (public; you don't have to be a Twitterer to see the online page)
the website (which points to all of the above)

I'm using the leftovers of my radience shawl for mine (and possibly some other yarn on the other end, we'll see.


The pattern calls for worsted or so, but I'm using something thinner. Since there has to be some cable cast-on between sections One and Two (whenever that happens), just doing 58 stitches instead of 29 won't work.

OR WILL IT?
Here's the relavant bit from the KAL page:

Yarn: Weight/gauge is not important; worsted weight yarn or heavier is recommended - something with good stitch definition, either solid, semi-solid, or long, gradually changing, self-striping colorway. (A variegated yarn or self-striping with shorter color sections will hide the stitch pattern.) Section 1 uses approximately 20-30 yards, section 2 approximately 10-20 yards - you can use the same yarn for the entire piece, or change yarns when switching sections throughout the piece, at just some sections or every one. You'll need 200-400 yards for the entire piece, depending on yarn weight and final size.

I started with the 29 stitches, of course, and if it looks like I'll be able to double up later, I'll just frog and do that.

Also, note my clever use of a Freezer Pop Cozy to hold my tiny circs. It would work better if it was lined - the needles keep poking throuh the knitting!

I'm already a day behind (long story involving the house flooding for a fifth time), but it looks like it's gonna be fun!!

A Wee Sabbatical

The pollen is hitting me hellishly hard... I'm going to take the week off from blogging, since "staying awake to knit" just isn't happening; I'm barely making it to work. See you once it actually RAINS for a couple of days/pollen levels drop under 9.0 (11.8 today on a 12-point scale!)

I'm wearing a new icon over on Ravelry. I really like it, so I may keep it right through 7th year:




I also got a few more badges for last term:



Also, not knitting quite as crazy-much this month. It's kinda relaxing!!

What's On The Needles

So, in-between terms, I get to work on a couple of things just for fun (although during term it is ALSO fun, there's a bit more pressure if I want there to be, and gosh, I usually do).

Right now, the carryaround project is Dee O'Keefe's Elizabeth Shawl:


Yes, I'm one of those people that knit at Panera.

... and at home, I'm working on my Swiss Cheese Scarf and my swatch for my next OWL.

But right now, pretty shawl in pretty Neighborhood Fiber Company Penthouse Silk Lace!!

Mom Made a Bunny!

One of Mom's classes was a Flopsy Bunny to go with the Peter Rabbit I made her a while back:


She did a good job, and her bunny came out super-cute, I think!

And now for something completely different...

              ...My new faucets!!

Hey, I said it was different.

Last week, we finally got the VERY LAST of the super-strange plumbing-that-came-with-the-house replaced. Since we were doing that, we also got SHINY THINGS.


New faucets. Without strange moving parts that break and are so old they don't even make replacements. With two handles, so the temperature can actually be controlled properly. With a second faucet JUST FOR HOT WATER FOR TEA. (And or dyeing, should it come to that.) The broken garbage disposal-from-HELL is gone, along with its cruddy drains and ikky ikky-ness. IT IS SO SHINY.

But that's not all.

See, whilst replacing everything else - or trying to start - it was discovered that the sink has no shutoff valve. NONE. All our other sinks got shutoff valves when the various floods happened - heck, we even replaced the whole house valve (did I mention our plumbing was CRAP when we bought this place?). We were saving the kitchen sink for last, and figured we'd get it done when we got the new dishwasher...

Old	VAST IMPROVEMENT

... but since we had to get a new refrigerator (MORE ON THAT BELOW) too, the plumbing had to wait a bit.

So, the day started with the electrician pulling the power from the garbage disposal and putting in the box for the Spiffy Hot Tea Water Heater. We then got estimates for several other things that need to happen. (Functional lights in the workroom. A switch for the middle room that actually works. GROUNDED PLUGS.) In the process of getting estimates, we discovered the plug that makes the refrigerator work had its polarity reversed. (HOW? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?) While it's not a fatal sort of thing, it could cut down the life of my beautiful refrigerator, so that got fixed, too. THEN the plumber showed up. The poor guy expected it to be about a three-hour job.

Eight hours later (after more adventure and more "Good Lord, I've never even HEARD of this before!" while examining our under-sink wonderland, and one leaky water tank due to just being too damned tired at the point of assembly), everything was soldered, caulked, cleaned up, dried, tested and left to sit overnight. As of this morning, everything works!

Now we just have to save up for six months to get all the electrical things done. Maybe we'll win the lottery before then....

March/End-of-Term Wrap-Up

I got a LOT finished this term:



Seriously. That's a LOT. As a result, I got two awards:



And here's the list for March (so I can find it later:
1. Potions, Yuccalike (Hat Trick #1), turned in post 20, marked complete 33, March 7;
2. CoMC, Adam's Toothless, turned in post 92, marked complete 111, March 8;
3. Headmistress's Challenge, post 125, tallied post ____, March 8;
4. Arithmancy, DNA Cup Cozie, turned in post 142, marked complete post 155, March 12;
5. Charms, Coeurs et Fleurs Snood, turned in post 115, marked complete 135, March 12;
6. Muggle Studies, Three Shamrock Bookmarks, turned in post 222, marked complete post 230, March 13;
7. Detention, Emergency Detention Shamrock Coaster, turned in post 200, marked complete post 6, March 13;
8. Order Mission, Radiance Shawl, turned in post 1613, accepted 1614, March 19;
9. Challenge Quidditch #3, Little Sith Saber, turned in 3171, accepted post ____, March 20;
10. Quidditch #4, Hexagon Boot Slippers for Him, turned in post 3370, scored post ____, March 26;
11. Quidditch #5, Hexagon Boot Slippers for Me, turned in post 3370, scored post ____, March 26;
12. DADA, Flat-Bottomed Ball Bag, turned in post 376, marked complete post _____, March 30;
13-20. Quidditch #6-13, Bunny Nugget Army of DOOOOOOOOM, turned in post 3464, scored post ______, March 30;
21. Quidditch #14, Freezer Pop Cozy, turned in post 3465, scored post ____, March 30;
22. OWL, Tree Skirt Invisibility Cloak, Final Exam turned in 367, accepted post _____, March 31;
23. Quidditch #15, Freezer Pop Cozy II, turned in post _____, scored post ____, March 31;

Flat-bottomed single-skein bag

For my final class, I had to come up with something I could make quickly. I settled on a bag; the problem was figuring out what I could make quickly, and I hit on the idea of the smallest number of sides possible: four. Then, there was making it practical - I like having my small balls of yarn in bags so they stay clean and don't roll all over the floor where my husband large human-cat can chase them. But none of the bags I have are small enough for just one ball AND have a solid enough bottom to sit flat. So I made one.


See, it's basically a pyramid (the “pattern”, such as it is, is on the Project Page) with one side of the top halfway unseamed, with a tie. The tie lets you shrink the opening as the yarn-ball shrinks, so it can’t escape.


But see? It's perfect for one ball of sock yarn!

The Bunny Nugget Army - M*A*S*H* version

The Bunny Nugget Army has (finally) arrived!! I've had Bunny Nuggets in my favorites since October 2009. I love making bunny nuggets, and when I had the idea of a "Bunny Nugget Army", my brain immediately went to M*A*S*H*. So, here are the medics of the BAN:





Here are all the individual Bunny Nuggets:

Margaret	Honeycutt	Colonel	Frank
Radar	Padre	Hawkeye	Sarge

This was insanely fun and silly. Wheeee!!

Freezer Pop Cozies

So, I needed two really fast projects for the end of Quidditch. I grew up loving freezer pops (and still do); and wrapping a paper towel around one just never cut it. Years ago, someone made a Fla-Vor-Ice cozy for fun, and I immediately favorited the project. And now, finally, I have an excuse to make one: 15 Points for Slytherin!!


Seriously, they’re easy, and having rigorously tested it, I can say that it does, indeed work.

My fifteenth and final regular Quidditch project for this term: Another Freezer Pop Cozy! Woohoo!! This one vaguely resembles a bunch of daffodils in a field under a blue sky. Or something. I was really tired when I finished it….


And DONE!! 225 total points for Slytherin (plus 45 for three challenges). YAY!!

Defense Against the Dark Arts - OWL Exam Success!

So, last week was a horrid combo of lots of work, lots and LOTS of pollen, and trying desperately to Not Fail my DADA OWL exam. I have survived, and the blog will be back to regular M-F updates for the foreseeable future (ie, until the end of next term at the end of July.) Here it is, finished, the Tree Skirt of DOOOOOOM.

OWL - Defense Against the Dark Arts, Option 2 - Tree Skirt Invisibility Cloak
Proposal submitted post 409, pre-approved post 580, approved post 865
50% OWL - turned in post 564, accepted post 676

100% OWL - turned in post 367!

Hello, dear Examiners!

IT IS FINISHED! Originally, I was hoping we'd have a nice snowy winter with storms well into march so I could hide in a snowbank near some bushes and blend in. Oh well, not the case, and not really the weather at all for a nice, heavy cloak - but here it is!!


Completed DADA OWL in Tree Skirt Form


Completed DADA OWL in full-circle cloak form (neck to knee proof)


Completed DADA OWL rendering me completely invisible

I expect to officially use it mostly in Tree Skirt form, more or less. It will go well with my white-with-synchronized-lights Christmas tree this year!

Whee! Done!!!