Transfiguration OWL, Spring 2011

In the HPKCHC the three-month projects are called OWLs, in reference to the big exams of fifth year students in the Harry Potter series. There is a set of guidelines by subject and to achieve an OWL in the subject you have to propose and complete a project that takes longer than six weeks but less than three months and that presents a personal challenge.

Transfiguration  

Option 1: Knit or crochet and then full (felt) something large, such as a carpet bag, a skirt, a rug. 

Option 2: Knit a large item (adult vest, sweater, large bag) that must be steeked. 

Option 3: Dye and spin enough fiber to produce sufficient yarn to craft a small adult garment. 

Option 4: Demonstrate proficiency with Vanishing and Conjuring Spells by vanishing a large quantity of yarn or fiber and conjuring one or more finished items using the vanished yarns. To truly demonstrate your virtuosity, you must use one new-to-you technique on one of these items, such as first-ever I-cord edging, first-ever socks, first-ever magic loop, first-ever Tunisian crochet, etc. Knitters must vanish a minimum of 1800 yds (this is a change from previous terms); crocheters a minimum of 2400 yds. Spinners - spin a minimum of 1.5 lbs (0.68 kg) of fiber. Machine knitters, please negotiate yardage amount with your Examiner. In line with the House Cup as a whole if a yarn is held double while crafting, it counts as a single yardage (i.e. if you use up a total of 360 yards while knitting a hat holding your yarn doubled throughout, it counts as 180 yards towards stash vanishing)

Name: Needlesnswiffers

House: Slytherin

Year: Sixth

OWL and option: Transfiguration, Option 4: Stash blowing-upping

Project/Pattern(s):
Abyssal made with my own handspun “Swamp Thing” (light fingering weight), 271 yards (15.06% of total)
free pattern online in French and English, stockinette swatch on size 7 needle, aiming for “aérienne” version, although I have no idea what that means. It’s the smaller one I think. Hope.

Tunisian Resolution Scarf with Heirloom Easy Care 8 Ply (dk weight), 321 yards (13.375% of total)
free pattern online, beginning of scarf swatched with my one and only tunisian hook, suspected to be size J

Brigid Sweater with Lion Brand Wool-Ease, 1374 yards (76.39% of total)
proof of pattern in swatch photo, size 9 obtains gauge, significant size modification (see under challenge)

To ensure that these projects achieve the required yardage total since I am mixing crafts, I have created a spreadsheet (stop snickering, you know I can’t resist a spreadsheet!). As you can see, as proposed my three projects will achieve 104% of the required work. If my projects should fall short, I assure you, dear Examiner, that I have no shortage of yarn in my house or items in my queue. I will make it happen, and consult with you as needed. If my yardage should fall short of the 100% needed, I may not know until after the deadline to modify proposals. Since yardage is the goal here and the new technique is satisfied, is that okay? It is also possible that the yardage may fall short of what I anticipate, but still over the requirement for this OWL. My estimates are based on the total yarn available to me for these projects, so I hope that falling short but still over 100% will result in a completed OWL.

Sequence & Challenge: My entire experience with tunisian crochet is my swatch for this scarf, so that is my brand new challenge! I think I want to overdye the finished scarf for Potions class this term, so that will likely be my first project attacked. I will likely work on them all simultaneously to stave off that bringer of doom, Boredom.

Regarding challenges, well, tunisian crochet is brand new to me so there’s that. For the Abyssal, I’m knitting with my own handspun and I’m a pretty new spinner, so I’m hoping to not have any problems with the yarn but you never know. Also, the pattern is translated but still not as easy to navigate as you might hope. For St. Brigid, the pattern is for a cropped jacket. I just don’t see myself in a cropped jacket; I want it to be a full-blown sweater. I will be extending the body to my waist and extending the sleeves as far as I can until I reach a regular full sleeve length or run out of yarn. This is going to be a challenge for me as I am not an experienced sweater knitter so I’ll be learning how to modify sort of as I go. I have lots of extra yarn, plus more in other colors, and a can-do attitude, so I’m hoping that will get me through.

50% Mark: Well, this one is pretty easy. Since the darn thing is based on yardage, I’ll call it at half of the required yardage (proportional to craft) with plenty of math to back it up!

Photos of Supplies and Swatch:

Here are all my swatches out sunbathing.

Handspun for Abyssal:

Heirloom 8 Ply for Tunisian crochet scarf:

Wool-Ease for Brigid:

Thank you for your time!