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I will post today, just more like "this evening" - I'll be getting Quidditch supplies after work today, and all y'all would *much* rather have photos of those to look at for the weekend.

Let's just say Jayne Hats will be involved.

We interrupt this Giant Blanket for lots of tiny things...

Yarn on Thursday is on hiatus until I turn in my May HPKCHC classes and I get my TKGA Level 1 mailed. (And because I'm about to start lace patterns on the Giant Blanket of Yarny Doom, in acrylic, and need a bit of a breather before digging into that.)

Tuesday night:

• Figured out the pattern for History of Magic. (It's an illusion-knitting book cover. You'll have to wait to see.)
• Soaked the Gauntlets (not yet Enchanted) to straighten out the stitches, blotted them, and hung them up to dry for the night.
  
  
• Fired off 2-1/5 Bunny Nugget bodies for Defense Against the Dark Arts - I'll be making four, total. Because the joke will work better that way. Again, you'll have to wait and see.
  
  
• Started and finished - in about half an hour - a Flower Hair Elastic. This was really fast, and the best/easiest rose I've found thus far.

Wednesday morning:

• Got photos of Hair-Rose. Tried to take them myself; finally caved and had my husband help.
  
• Assembled the current projects. This includes some green & black Caron for History of Magic, the Gauntlets (Enchantment/duplicate stitch underway again - TAKE FOUR!!), the Bunny Nugget bodies, and the Purled Rose.
  
  
• Turned in Herbology Assignment.

Wednesday lunch:
Lunch was only half an hour today, since Big Giant Work Project Demands All My Time. No knitting done, but another chapter of Adrienne Martini's "Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously" was devoured along with a tasty sandwich.

Wednesday night:

• Started duplicate stitching for the final (thankfully!) time while waiting for the taxi to get home (I stayed at work Really Really Late):
  
• Discovered that duplicate stitch with black yarn in the back of a moving taxi in the dark doesn't work so well.
• Discovered that Bunny Nugget bodies are actually really easy to knit in the back of a moving taxi in the dark.
• Upon arriving home, finished duplicate stitch on Ancient Runes mitts - they look great!
• Cast on sixth and final May class project, a Secret Diary Cover for History of Magic:
  

Thursday morning:

• Did really cool photo shoot for finished Ancient Runes mitts.
• Left memory card on table, so can't share really cool photos.
• Finished the four Bunny Nugget bodies on the ride in to work.
• Reworked chart for HoM project so it will actually function
• Wrote up long rambling blog post, just to de-stress for a few moments.

More tomorrow, with cool photos!

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.

Off to the House Cup....

Okay, so, HPKCHC. Early May the First (but not as early as I'd hoped - the school runs on USA-Pacific time), I looked at all the classes, and realized I had an idea for each pretty much off the bat. (The exception was History of Magic, but a short conversation with my spouse and that took care of that.) I rummaged through my stash, and pulled together most of the materials necessary for all six classes:

Ancient Runes Defense Against the Dark Arts	History of Magic Potions
Charms	Herbology (maybe DADA, too)

I did have to buy the big skein of yellow for Charms, but I knit it up within six hours of buying it, so it totally doesn't count as ever actually having been "stash" in the first place.

By the end of the weekend, I had mostly completed Enchanted Gauntlets of Sword and Shield for Ancient Runes - pattern I'm making up as I go (I should be able to finish the main part & block them tonight):


... A mostly completed Giant Happy Flying Bunny for Charms- assembly, stuffing and wings are left; the Bunny is my usual Bunny Pattern, the wings I'll be... um... winging:


... and the first bits of a Rock Rattlesnake Tea Cozy for Potions - totally original pattern, and some Actual Planning required:


I also knocked out a set of icons-by-house (color coded, match yarn to main house color):

... and here's my new icon on Ravelry:


I think I'm having WAAAAAAAY too much fun with this!

Masters Monday: Limping to the finish line...

Okay. This week, Stuff Happened.

1. MONDAY.
   Swatches finished, swatches in binder. All 16.
2. TUESDAY.
   Hat blocked, hat finished, pompom attached.
   
   
   Worried that hat grew during blocking, which would suck, since I knit it exactly to gauge. Wet-blocked hat. It *does* look much better after blocking; the stitches line up all pretty. I just really hope it didn't grow. (I measured, and it said it didn't, but I don't trust it.)
   
   
   First tried to block flat; that Did Not Work Well.
3. WEDNESDAY.
   Pattern proofed, reknit just to check, and put in binder with Swatch #15.
   Swatches measured. Several times. Math accomplished, but only with computerized aid. (As it turns out, I'd done all the math correctly, but I like confirmation!)
4. THURSDAY.
   Tags outlines written, address stickers put on tags.
   Many tag refrences added to tags Very Carefully, since I don't want to make more tags.
   Hat stuffed in binder thanks to Zip-Loc(tm) technology and a three-hole punch.
   
   
   I measured, and it hadn't grown,
   but I swear it fit better before I blocked it!
   Tag made for hat-bag, just in case hat and sheet separated.
   Spotted blanks in questions; of six pages of questions, two are completely finished and in binder.
   Decided Vogue Quick Reference isn't super-helpful other than as, well, a quick reference - and for bind-offs.
   Checked that copy of original Masters Packet and current Yarn Standards in binder. Did not put them in page protectors, since I reference them on-line more than in paper form.
   Two-gallon zip-lock bag stolen from three-hole-punch, binder with hat tested to see if it fits in bag. It does!!
5. FRIDAY.
   Did nothing during the day as I expected, due to Extreme Tireds.
6. SATURDAY.
   Totally distracted by the Harry Potter Knit & Crochet House Cup (henceforth HPKCHC), O.W.L. proposal, and hotties in the Slytherin common room (don't ask). Classes started, or at least plotted about, and there's the Slytherin tea cozy confabulation ... anyway, maybe more will get done this week, maybe not.
7. SUNDAY.
   See Saturday. Sigh.

Gotta get my tail in gear on this stuff!!