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!!!

Can't sleep, must crochet!

Argh.



So, the big blocks actually needed to be a LOT bigger to make everything work properly, and I might actually be one short of those. So much for being at the "just seam everything together" point.

GAH.

I WILL NOT FAIL THIS OWL!!

50% of an O.W.L.

So, I did make my 50% mark (and then some, actually!) on my Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. Since I'm still trying to catch up on blogposts, here's my turn-in post from Wednesday....

Name: CraftyGryphon
House: Slytherin, Sixth Year
Project Page: Tree Skirt Invisibility Cloak
Proposal Post: submitted post 409
Tags: sqwin12 dadaowl defenseagainstthedarkartsowl owlwinter2012
Yards (so far): 3,215.5 (isn't as bad as I thought it might be at this point.)

Hello, Examiners! I made it!!

Proposed 50% Mark: Halfsies!! There are 36 edge squares, 12 big trapezoids, 24 inner trapezoids, and then all the center stuff. The total area of actual crochet (last column, below) is approximately 63 square feet; half is about 31.5 square feet. The 50% point falls about just under 1/4 of the way through the 12" block section, so 1/4 of the 12" blocks (i.e., 3 blocks) plus 24 6" inner blocks plus the 18" of clusters should get me over the 50% mark.

What I've actually got done: 36 edge squares, 12 big trapezoids, 24 inner trapezoids, and all the center stuff. Which is all the component parts, yay! And yet... there is still more to do! I've actually got to join everything together, and math being what it is, it appears I will need to make an additional four small trapezoids for the bottom row. (I evidently calculated a nice pie-wedge opening, instead of the actual "hey, this needs to be straight-closed down the front" that actually happened.)

Here's everything finished thus far, sort of spread out. On a king-sized bed. Except for the 34 outer-edge trapezoids that are dumped in the middle.


The stuff dumped in the middle.


An earlier progress photo to show that there's actually a hole in the center of the thing, which was entirely covered by trapezoids in the other two shots:


Getting it all together and hanging properly AND lying flat is really turning into a challenge. I'm not using any sort of pattern, just making it up as I go, and it's a bit trickier than expected. I'm getting pretty good at figuring out how to crochet pretty strange shapes on the fly, although there's been a LOT of ripping back to get things to work. Whee?

I think I've got a good shot at actually finishing this thing. It's eating up an AMAZING amount of yarn - half a bongo bag so far - and it's going to make a really pretty tree skirt/cloak. But mostly tree skirt, which will be wonderful with my electric-white fake Christmas tree!!

Yes, I make charts.

This is my offical chart of Planning for Classes for this (and last... and next, I suppose) month. Part of the SS1stClass is making sure to take every class offered during the term at least once. Assuming I finish everything I want to THIS month, I can take any six classes next month with no worries I missed one.


So far, I've finished Gerald the Groundhog, the TARDIS dishcloth, the Tiny Redskins Sweater:


Started the Slytherin Scarf, the Hooty Hat, and the Illusion Mittens.


Not sure it's working... sigh.
I've got my One Fish, Two Fish ready to turn in next Tuesday, I'm doing OK on my OWL and my Order Mission. The Bunny Nugget Army is growing apace. I should have the finishing done on the TKGA Hat done soon, too.

I was originally going to let the big crazy take the form of the Illusion Things:


Yeah, that's for elbow-length illusion gloves done in laceweight yarn on size 0 needles. I managed to talk myself out of that, and go with worsted-weight wool on size 5s - should be finished this month. I really need to stop listening to the crazy knitting voices...!

Since it's Friday, have a bunny!!



More pics of the Mitts That Don't Quite Work

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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!!