Cute Harry Potter pins

Saw these on Instagram. So cute!! 

Emergency Hat!

Started yesterday, finished today. 2 balls Camelot (Classic Elite Yarns) in the St. Stephen colorway. Size 9 needles; this meant only 15 pattern repeats total, instead of 20. 4-stitch icord for the cord.

Top: as hat!

Bottom: as cowl!!

New Term Begins

I have absolutely no idea what year I am I  HPKCHC - M4, possibly, or B7? No clue.

The manor system is still operative in the Snake Pit. I'm assigned to Cerberus Manor this term. Abycat & Cattiekins & MrsMouse are there (that I noticed in a quick glance). As usual, the Common Room filled up so quickly I'll never catch up! 

We'll be doing a Detention Whoompf on September 1, so I'm scrambling to get my entrelac hat almost finished so I can finish it Thursday morning. It just needs the corrugated ribbing!

Nascent Blanket

I'm (finally) doing Woolly Thoughts "A New Angle" blanket! It's my .... Arithmancy OWL? I think it's Arithmancy.

Anyway, 35  12"x12" blocks out of chunky yarn, plus a border. It's going to be huge!

Bunny Nugget Redux

Made a Football Bunny Nugget this week: 

Points for Slytherin!

OWL approved!

Forgot to do a swatch for my OWL (oops.) Zipped one up today:

... and was approved within a few hours, hooray!

Got some of the yarn wound, hope to get underway on Monday.

Tomorrow is Sheep & Wool. I'll be running a #virtualMDSW on Instagram & Twitter  if I get decent reception!

New Term has Begun

A new term started today for the Harry Potter Knit & Crochet House Cup. I've already managed to turn in a class:

Magical Literature - make something with a heart or hearts: 

Started another class:

It's the Adela Knitalong run by Kelbourne Woolens, in some TurtleMade Sparkle Soxk, color 341. It's for DADA (use sparkly yarn).

I turned in my OWL proposal. It's Arithmancy, and I'm FINALLY going to make Wolly Thoughts "A New Angle". I even found all the yarn!

Plus, I got my first badge for turning in my OWL proposal, then turning in a class before my OWL was approved:

So, off to a good start! Quidditch warm ups are this week, BROOMS next week... oh boy...!

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.)

SHINY!

So, there was a fun twist for the first Quidditch project this term - pick a "real" quidditch team, and make something that embodies the spirit of that team. I picked the Magpies... the only "value" of the team was "OOOOOO, SHINY!"


SO SHINY!!
I think I should get bonus points for managing shiny *and* House colors (we were told that just doing the team's colors wouldn't count).

Serendipity and Jupiter

So, HPKCHC classes started January 1, and I had TOTAL SERENDIPITY. You see, on Christmas Day, as I rode to my in-laws, I crocheted a moebius scarf-like thing. My mother decided that it matched her jacket, having shades of blue and pink in it:


Exhibit A
so I needed to crochet another one for myself. At an after-Christmas sale (at Uniquities, I think), I got a lovely ball of Encore that matched the tones in my jacket (rendering it less likely to be absconded with).


So, January 1, as I rode the train into DC (for fun, thankfully, I didn't have to work on the first, and a big thank you to all the service, medical and emergency personnel who did!), I started making the same project for myself. Then, I logged into Ravelry to check what classes would be offered this term. I notice that my yarn happens to contain the EXACT SHADES of the photo of Jupiter that was posted with the Astronomy assignment! And it's super-fast to make - which is one of the options of that assignment!


So, crochet happened, and before too long, *POOF* I had a scarf that matched my jacket:




Yay!

Another Filigree Lace "Scarf"

This is my second Filigree Lace Scarf, which I gave to my MiL for Christmas, in Polaris Aries. Here, the sequins were part of the yarn, and I only used the one. I added some extra yo rows to the edge, and it worked out beautifully. Blocked like a dream, was a good size for a shawlette. Used all but about an inch of yarn!


Note my Totally Fancy Blocking Board
I wish I'd thought to take a photo after it was done blocking... oh well!

I have finished a third one, which I managed to give back without getting any photo at all. It was made from Wolf and Phoenix cotton thread, one ball, in a pretty deep red/burgandy. The yarn was a gift from the recipient (hence the "gave back"; she wasn't expecting it, but it really was her color! As I'm a process knitter, I tend to give a bit away... if I ever finish it, that is!

My New Favorite Shawl Pattern

Went on a bit of a shawl kick last year - mostly in November (thanks, Uniquities retreat!). So, a shawl.

First up: Caroline Hockenberry's "Filigree Lace Scarf". I've done three of these (so far), with another few on the way. I think this is my favorite pattern for something to show off the luxe yarns out there - or even simple yarns. Anyway...


This one is made from S. Charles Collezione Crystal and Luna. It's the first one I finished, and it's soft and fluffy and I think I blocked it incorrectly because it still curls a bit - so it's a throw-around=your-neck for pretty rather than a shawlette. (It could be the artifical fiber I used that was mixed in with the soft fluffy natural stuff. Yeah, it was probably that. I blocked it fine, it just didn't want to cooperate.)


I turned it in for Chamber of the Keys last term; it does look rather like wings, I think!

Really, I *have* been crafting!

So... um... really, I have been crafting in 2013. There was the bit with the cartooning, too, and the getting-a-new-thingie-for-the-house thing, and the leaving-my-job-because-the-building-was-killing-me thing. But crafting, too.

January:


February:


See? Actual crafting! Um, details on some of the projects to follow. Assuming, of course, that I just don't hide under the sofa until 2014...

Owl Post Badges - Rotate Your Owl!

So in addition to working on cartoon for Katsucon (it's over, some sold, yay), I've been lead on one section of the Super-Secret Project, which has now been revealed to be Hogsmeade Weekend at HPKCHC. I'm lead Postal Facilitator at the Owl Post! The event takes place Friday Feb 22 (today!) through the 24th, 2013. The Owl Post is located in the Hufflepuff Den, and if you're a Ravelry member, please go take a look, I had a blast writing everything up. And making icons, because I like making icons. And because I want a record where I can find them... here they all are!

Postal Facilitator:	100x100:	200x200:
Postal Liaison:	100x100:	200x200:
Class Craft Badge:	100x100:	200x200:
Freestyle Craft Badge:	100x100:	200x200:
Special Craft Badge:	100x100:	200x200:
Blank Owl Post Badge:	100x100:	200x200:

Whee!

All the Way to Eleven

So, remember my OWL proposal? It was for an actual h-t-g Argyle sweater with intarsia and everything. The swatch looked thus:


See that swatch there with its five measly bobbins?

The sweater goes all the way to ELEVEN.

I got almost all the way through the first row of diamonds on the front panel. You can tell that on the left side of the two photos below. About when I was almost all the way through those diamonds? I realized my side-shaping was supposed to go over EIGHT inches, not FOUR.

*headdesk*

So I got to frog ELEVEN BOBBINS worth of intarsia.




Yeah. It sucked a LOT. I was trying to go back to the row of the second decrease, but the bobbins weren't behaving, the few reknits I did looked wonky... so I went back to the very first row of the thing.

SIGH.

At least putting the diamonds back IN is going really well, since I really, really understand the structure of the intarsia diamonds now!!

Nap-Tested

For Quidditch Challenge the First for this month, we had to make something that would keep the sun out of our eyes. Since I'm slowly (well, okay, not that slowly) turning into a night owl, what came to mind possibly wasn't what the coaches were thinking we'd make:


Hooray, I nap-tested it in bright daylight (or as bright as it gets in my house).

It works!!

Okay... the last post was for DADA. THIS is Muggle Studies.

And for the eighth and final class this month, I did Muggle Studies.
I chose - Option: Explain what the promise is, how you've broken it, and what action you are taking now.
I decided to finish a shawl I'd started with some amazing yarn I'd picked up at the TKGA convention this summer.

Yards - Was knit, Pre-Frog: 219 yds (1.8 oz)
Yards - Newly Knit: 207 (12 yards left exactly)
Yards - Total: 438 yds (3.6 oz), - 12... 426 total yards used.

The promise: Make a pretty shawl for my Mom for her birthday.
How it was broken: Mom's birthday was, um, earlier. Before this shawl was completed.


Screenshot of Original Project Page for Proof of Not-Finished-ness
How I'm fixing it:
The shawl stalled horribly when there was some sort of counting error happened in the last bump. And it was bad enough that I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

So I frogged it.

And now I'm reknitting it back, and will give it to Mom. It's just a little late!


drapes beautifully over shoulders


almost a five-foot wingspan!


pretty shadows
I have to thank the Hogwarts professors for the idea of this class. Without it, this shawl might never have happened, and I just *love* the way it turned out!

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.)