More Hats!

Finished more hats! The black & white is for Project Frontlines, the blue was *supposed* to be for my husband, but he thinks it's too big, so it's TOTALLY mine now.

Broncos Boa

If you know me, you know I'm a Denver Broncos fan. So when a ball of fluffy stuff in blue and orange wandered in front of me, a Broncos Boa was going to happen.



IT IS SO FLUFFY!!

Things to do with Leftover Cotton Yarn

Make iPod cozies! Regular ones don't fit my Otterbox-clad ancient iPods, so Something Must Be Done. Which basically involved "hm, cast about this many on, then pick up from the other side, then knit about this much, then make an edging, HEY IT WORKED!" To wit:
The cover on the covered iPod


See?


Yes, that's "Music for You and your Cat"

Also known as "Muggle Studies Homework for March".

YES, THERE IS CAT MUSIC OTHER THAN NYANCAT!!

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!!

Back, with a crocheted beaded necklace!

Time to get back to posting. I have been working on some things, but have only managed to turn in one class this month, and that was today! Here's my turn-in post:

Name: CraftyGryphon
House: Slytherin, 7th Year
Option: 1 - Use the colors which remind us of the lake at Hogwarts
Project Page: Chain-Chain-Bead
Yardage: 6

---

Hello, Professors!

I crocheted, beaded then braided strands of silk in blue, green, and a soft sand, all colors found at our lake. The result can be worn as a necklace, a hairband, or a wrapped around twice to be a bangle bracelet.


I think it looks a bit like seaweed in the water, with a little sparkle for fun.


I'll be making more of these, in other colors, I think!!

Helicies

For Arithmancy, we needed to make something math-y. Since helicies were specifically mentioned, and I love cup cozies, and I used to play with DNA for a living, I made a DNA cup cozy. (In high visibility yellow. It really is the best yarn for this for me! And... I think I have just enough yarn to make a third one some time next term.)

On the left, we have the cozy over a small drinking glass, just for shape. Eh, it looks okay. On the right, it's being worn by a 32-oz soda cup (its intended target), and looks much better.

And my hands didn't freeze coming to work, as they are wont to do on brisk spring mornings when carrying cups of ice-cold things. Yay!!

CoMC

Busy today, since I was late due to ice... so, here's my CoMC turn-in post. We were to study Quintapeds, and had the option of making the same pattern with another student, with inter-house "duels" encouraged. Sorry about the weird spacing; no time to fix it just now!


Hello, Professors! This is a joint Turn-in Post, documenting our Accidental Duel (of sorts). Please see the attached transcript of our Incident Interview - it explains everything.

Name: PeterRabbitFan
House: Gryffindor, First Year
Option: 3, Duel!!
Project Page: Broomstick Bookmark
Yardage: 27.5

Name: CraftyGryphon
House: Slytherin, Sixth Year
Option: 3, Duel!!
Project Page: Slytherin Broomstick
Yardage: 27

MP: All right, girls, explain one more time what happened. Please keep in mind that your words will be recorded. MP activates Exact-Quote Quill.

PRF: Well, I was out on the pitch. Just me, practice was over, but I wanted to work on elevation changes. Yawl and pitch are still giving me some issues. Flying is harder than sailing.

CG: I was up in the stands, minding my own business...

MP: Dropping eggs on your classmates. Yes, we know. We'll deal with that later, Miss.

CG: gulp Actually, um, I was doing my History of Magic homework, Ma'am? The eggs were part of my reseach?

MP: Later, Miss Gryphon. Back to what you witnessed, please.

CG: Well, um, I saw her (points at PRF) just sort of doing figure-eights over the field. Nothing really strange, typical newbie stuff.

MP: You didn't notice anything unusual? Or were you too busy targeting people exiting the stands?

CG: Um... I plead the fifth. Or eighth. Whichever. Anyway, suddenly she started gesturing wildly...

PRF: There was a wasp!

CG: ... and her broom just took off. I took off after her. (Shrugs.)

MP: It's unlikely there was a wasp in the middle of January.

PRF: It looked like a wasp. And I didn't have my wand out or anything! My broom just went!!




PeterRabbitFan's Broom

CG: And it kept on going. We were in the air for almost four hours, and it was really, REALLY cold by the time the broom decided to land!

MP: Luckily, you were both wearing your winter robes.

PRF: (Nods.) It helped with the landing, that's for sure.

MP: Now, now, your arm should heal quickly. It was a clean break, thankfully. STOP fiddling with your cast, dear.

PRF: Yes'm.

MP: So, you landed, albeit ungracefully.

CG: Tail-over-teakettle is more like it, Ma'am. Both of us. The brooms just stopped, and we kept going!

PRF: It did hurt. A lot.

MP: I'm certain it did. So, the brooms "just stopped"?

CG: Well, hers stopped, and I stopped next to her. I hadn't really realized how FAST we were going after so many hours, or I might've circled around or something. And then I was trying to figure out where the heck we were, since it was getting close to dark and I'd had trouble following landmarks and stuff. I'm American, so I'm not super-good at English geography yet. Although I'm pretty sure I saw Hadrian's Wall... that was pretty neat...

PRF: I had my eyes shut most of the time. I didn't want to fall off my broom!

MP: Of course not, dear. Now, what were you able to notice once you'd landed?

PRF: Welll, my arm really hurt, but saw everything was grey. I mean EVERYTHING. Grey, grey, and more grey.

CG: Every shade of grey. Lots and lots of grey.

MP: So, essentially, things were grey.

Both girls nod.

CG: She was actually the one the figured it out first. She really likes animals.

PRF: Well, I said "Gee, this is a pretty dreary place," and then it hit me, and then we saw them.

MP: Them?

PRF: The Quintapeds. There were four of them.

CG: They move really really fast.

PRF: And have A LOT of teeth.

MP: You actually saw Quintapeds?

PRF: Yeah! It was cool. There were two big ones - adults, I think - and two juveniles! They were hunting, in a pack! Like wolves, or dragons!

CG: Dragons don't hunt in packs.

PRF: Do too!

CG: Do not!

PRF: Do too!

MP: GIRLS! That will be enough of that. How were you able to escape??

CG: I accioed my broom - I think I was scared enough that I was moving darned fast myself. I just grabbed her (points to PRF) by the scruff of her neck, basically, and took off. Once we were up a ways, I accioed her broom. I put her arm in a sort-of sling with her tie, and tied her broom to my broom with mine. Since her broom had been acting weird, I kept my hand on the knot to release it if it took off again.




CraftyGryphon's Broom

MP: That was good thinking. What of the Quintapeds?

PRF: They weren't happy. They bark, did you know that? Kinda like dogs?

CG: Dinner escaped. They were totally going to eat us.

PRF: Ew. It would've been cool to watch them a bit longer...

CG: They totally would've eaten us.

MP: You're likely correct. Quintapeds are known to eat humans. Now, how were you able to find your way back to Hogwarts?

PRF: Eshaness Lighthouse. The sun was mostly set behind us, but there was SOMETHING that wasn't a star way over on thte horizon.

CG: She's farsighted, I totally couldn't see it. But she could, so I flew us towards it.

PRF: It turned out to be Eshaness Lighthouse. Once we actually knew where we were, it was easy to get to Lerwick. It's only about a fifteen minute flight, as the crow goes.

MP: Ah, yes, there is still a Portkey in Lerwick, isn't there? Yes, there must be. Goodness, I haven't been to the Shetlands since I was a girl...

CG: (Muttered under breath) Once she knew where she was, anyway...

MP: So, you were able to send an owl to your parents?

PRF: Yes, Ma'am. Well, first, we went to the police station, the one on Market Street. And we asked the officer at the desk if we could make a call.

CG: And then the nice witch came in.

PRF: Yeah, Miss Orgill. She said she'd seen us arrive, and that she'd help us find our parents.

CG: Except we totally knew that she didn't really mean that. Anyway, she asked us a lot of the same questions, and fixed her arm. And sent the owl for us.

PRF: She was really nice. She'd seen us fly over the first time - she's an orinthologist.

MP: Ah, a bird-watcher. That makes sense.

PRF: So, um, are we in trouble?

MP: (To PRF) You aren't, dear. Your broom is being examined, of course. Miss Gryphon, however, will have to see the headmistress.

CG: Stupid eggs.

MP: I heard that, Miss Gryphon. We'll turn the Quill off now.

OWL: Defense Against The Dark Arts

So, I turned in my OWL proposal. After totally failing to figure out a new-to-me Transfiguration skill that would work with my proposed project, and wanting to save Potions until later (since I don't really need it for either NEWT), I decided to go with Defense Against the Dark Arts, Option Two: Make an Invisibility Cloak. Since I was already planning to make a Tree Skirt/Cloak, it was probably the best fit for the project anyway. I still had a BUNCH of yarn:


... but opted for steel crochet hooks. I also bought an amazingly lovely Brittany size J my last trip to Nature's Yarns (just last Tuesday) - and I've already lost in in the house!


I had to re-do my swatch, to make it easier to see - and also because I figured if I started with 9 central stitches, went to sc-chx9 in the 2nd row, then I could start the dc clusters 2-2-2-3 on the sides, and the trapezoid would form nicely on its own. See?


I also did a swatch for the central portion - which I hadn't done before. Looking at the original tree skirt, in some cases, rounds were made bigger by the simple expedient of adding more stitches to a cluster - and it works!




See? 3dc cluster, 4dc cluster, 3dc cluster
does actually make the outer row not stretch funny!
I had pre-approval from the Assistant Examiner by Tuesday evening, and just had to wait for final approval to get started! Woohoo!!

Ooops.

Okay, I may have had a Kauni accident. But really, it just jumped on my needles. There was nothing I could do!!



(It's the Swiss Cheese Scarf, if you want to try one of your own. Once you've got the hang of the cast off/cast on for the holes, it's pretty easy. AND SO COOL LOOKING IN THE KAUNI!!!)

Term Begins, and I'm already hopelessly overcommitted!!

Oh, the joy! Classes dropped! My Astronomy O.W.L. was proposed and accepted! And I changed my OAE goal from Third Class to First Class - which means I have a LOT of knitting coming up. So, I looked at the scheduled classes for the month. For Third Class, I have to knit one thing for each class offered - which means I need to hit Astronomy, Divination and Herbology this month, since they're only offered now and in November. (Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Transfiguration are ONLY offered in October - eek!). I figured out what I could make from the yarn I had on me...

... yes, I took six balls of yarn, two sets of needles and a crochet hook with me to work, just in case I could start any/all of my classes immediately. THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL.

Because I say so.

Anyway, chart:


Once I figured out the classes I wanted to take, then I figured out that I'd be doing original patterns for two, and needed actual patterns for the other two, got them printed out, and got the class requirements printed out. Assembled the classes in alphabetical order, with patterns (as applicable) behind them....

... yes, I put all my classes in a notebook at the beginning of each month. THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL.

Because I say so.

Anyway, paperwork:


Then, I realized that the six balls of yarn I'd brought with me would work for four of the classes. I've started Astronomy and Charms, so far... well, okay, I've started all of them, I just won't have all of them done just yet. But I can't believe I'll actually be able to use all the yarn I brought with me! And the Scrap Bag has enough black and silver for Muggle Studies, and enough orange for Defense Against the Dark Arts, too. Again, THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL. Everyone has scrap yarn. And I'm being good, and working from the stash!!


So, off to a good start this term. If my O.W.L. doesn't kill me this time (I had double-OWLfail last term), I should be all set. Right?

Right.

Because I say so!

Is the world still here?

If you're reading this, either (a) the world didn't end/Rapture didn't happen on Saturday, or (b) it did, and there's some irony going on. Anyway, forgot my second class in last Friday's project drop... For Ancient Runes:

Name: CraftyGryphon, Fourth Year
House: Slytherin
I chose *Option 2 - Craft something that could serve as a shibboleth, that is, something that proves membership in a particular group.* The group I chose is the noble House of Slytherin, and I made this stylish braided wristband in House colors. (Yardage: 26 yards of Green Heather Wool-Ease; 31 yards of Vanna's Glamour (extra rows needed to "match up" the thinner yarn).)

You see, sometimes, showing support of a particular group is just about fashion. It's trendy, it's the in thing. All the cool kids are doing it.


Sometimes, it's all about attitude. And it's not just about showing support - it's showing you belong.


Thanks, professors! This was fun, quick, and seems to be permanently affixed to my wrist. I Belong.

And I'll be doing a lot with the faux-cable braid thing. It's really fast, and it looks COOL!

Quidditch #2, and Potions & Muggle Studies classes

So, I had a bit of a turning-stuff-in/finishing frenzy over the last two days.

First up, my Second Quaffle for Quidditch this term was a Deathly Hallows Illusion Dishcloth. I just love illusion stuff, but didn't think I'd be doing any more this year after the Hello Kitty Scarf That Ate 2010. But, for my Snakes, I'll do it. Plus, it turned out pretty cool.

   
Then, for Muggle Studies, here's my turn in post:

Muggles have an absolute fascination with static imagery. Anything (or anyone) can be the subject of one of these images, and they can be found everywhere in the Muggle world. Some are painted, some are photo-graphed, and not a ONE of them moves. (Really, honest! Not at all!) Some of these images even wind up in museums, where lots and lots of Muggles can come and watch the images *not do a single thing*. For example, here is a photo-graph of a sign that caught my fancy:


Snake Sign Photographic Print
(from the Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Australia)
Now, if it wasn't a Muggle sign in a Muggle in a Muggle museum, the little snake would slither back and forth, hissing at appropriate intervals. But it doesn't. It never, ever looks any different that what you see above! EVER!!

Based on the image above (unmoving though it is), I have crafted this little wrist-cuff. It only took 80 yards (!!) of cotton yarn to make it (roughly 50 of the white, 30 of the red/brown ombre), which is pretty cool, especially since there's more than one strand running behind most of the colorwork.



You can't see the Whole Snake - I forgot to take a photo of it flat - so here is a linkto a tiny moving picture so you can see the whole thing; I could't quite get it to "embed" itself properly, it kept squirming away. (See, proper pictures move!)

Thanks for a fun assignment, Professors! I love my little Snake Cuff, even if my little snake doesn't move!

Now, since Blogger will allow flash videos, here it is embeded.


Last up, a headband for Potions. The idea was to make something with Balanced Colors, so I made a headband cover. And finally found a use for all the bright orange and yellow scratchy acryllic yarn in my house!


  

Not too bad, considering I was just going to do one Quaffle (I've done two) and one Class (I've done four)! And yes, I could've gotten three days of blogfodder out of this, but I'd rather just have it out here and worry about knitting more for next week, y'know?

When Bad Counting Happens

So, over the past week, I've gotten a pretty good start on my History of Magic OWL. I discovered, fairly quickly, that I mangled my swatch - didn't chain enough/skip enough between dc boxes? - and the lovely buffet scarf will, in fact, be a lovely tablecloth. That, I could deal with. But this morning, when I was trying to figure out HOW IN HADES I'd lost three stitches entirely, when my grid matched up perfectly? I was having problems. Something wasn't matching up with the pattern.


Before
Staring and counting and staring and counting, I determined that all the elements were correctly related to each other, but somehow, the motifs in the center had two few - and an odd, not even number - of stitches between them. More counting commenced - and I discovered the Horrible Truth. The curlicues along the edge? The outer two on each side are seven stitches long - THE CENTER THREE ARE EIGHT STITCHES LONG. Now, being a person who tends to make all motifs of the same shape and basic placement identical in size when I design things, because really, THAT MAKES SENSE, I didn't expect this one-block switchup. But you can see it, right there... the center three of the seven are eight blocks wide, not seven.


The Problem
Which did, in fact, explain everything. The only downside is that having figured out what the problem was, there was NO way to do compensation or scooting-of-stitches or anything else to make the lacet stitches at the center of the design work AT ALL. So.... during lunch... RRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP.


After
So, tonight, I start all over again.

*Sigh.*

Oh, nevermind, I'll just repost now.

So, in Astronomy, we're studying the solar system's asteroid belt. Option #2 was make a belt. Now, I immediately have a small flash to the old '80s arcade game, so I ran with that.





Yes, it's an Asteroids Belt. (That's allegedly the Atari logo before the word on the belt - I guess I should tack in in place better?)
I finally figured out that I needed to attach the middle of the buckle, not one of the ends, to the danged thing - that'll get fixed tonight. But it's kinda wearable this way. It'll just be *more* wearable fixed.


And, unrelated to school (YET), when I got the buckle for the Asteroids Belt, I got these cool Slytherbuckles at 50% off. These are TOTALLY getting used in something!!


*plot plot plan plan*

February Wrap-Up

Finally, here's the stuff finished for classes in February (and, okay, one thing NOT finished)...

History of Magic, Chocolate Bunny, post #115, February 14, 2011 (approved post #141, 828 and 829 - 3 bp); Astronomy, #33 Can Cozy WITH FLAMES, post #220, February 17, 2010 (approved post #259); Transfiguration, Snake Bench Cozy, post #168, February 22, 2011 (approved post #260 and 453, 1 bp); Care of Magical Creatures, Spirogyra Mitts, post #400, February 28, 2011 (approved post #783 - 6 bp); Defense Against the Dark Arts, Hallowig and WITH FLAMES bow, post #340, February 28, 2011 (approved post #378 and 581 - 8 bp); Potions, Pinwheel Potion Purse, post #269, February 28, 2011 (approved post #355); Charms, Rock Lobster, post #350, February 28, 2011 (approved post #447).


It's going to be a while before there's anything other than Braided Balls finished, so I'll try to find someting interesting to put here for the next few days!

Potions - Done!

This one pretty much explains itself. It's a Pinwheel Purse, and actually kinda cute! Slytherin colors, of course.

Hello, Professors! This is CraftyGryphon, Third Year Slytherin, turning in her assignment. I have chosen to craft a container for Sneaking Things About. It looks like an ordinary bag, at first:


So, you add your potion/powder. (This is a flat phial of Iocane Powder tastless, invisible love-potion ingredient, as you can see.)


Once the sneakable item is in the bag, activate it, and POOF! It folds completely flat, so it can sit in your back pocket, unnoticed. You can walk right by Filch. He may be suspicious, of course - he's suspicious of all of us! - but he won't be able to find anything!



Thanks for a fun assignment, Professors. (And of course, I wouldn't try to sneak things through the school. That, um, would be bad?)

Defense Against the Dark Arts - Done!

Hello, Professors! This is CraftyGryphon, Third Year Slytherin, turning in her assignment. I have created a simple but effecive counteragent to basic love spells. For the most part, this type of spell acts on the brain, and is targeted to specific individuals. By both covering the brain/skull *and* changing the appearance of the target individual, this lovely, and subtly-shaded, headpiece/wig offers protection to anyone that is concerned about falling unwilling victim to such spells. Individual touches, such as a lovely bow WITH FLAMES (crocheted in flame stitch, yet!) can be added.


This lovely wig *does* requie a lot of yarn - 260 yards! - because the 2x2 rib makes for a nice, dense protective fabric. The little bow only took about 25 yards - and only because the black yarn continues the entire back of the piece. This was a fun assignment, Professors. While I don't expect to ever need to use this magic item, really, one should be prepared for every eventuality!

And other photos, since the one up there is pretty goofy - but really, "normal" isn't gonna happen in an electric-green wig. The flame-stitch bow... well, flame stitch probably works better with (a) lots of practice and (b) on something that doesn't have to increase quickly to make a bow-shape. But hey - you can tell it's a bow, so I'm happy.



Really. I'm happy.