WIP Wednesday November 17

Rolling in a little late this week.... it's been a long week! I finally got a good night's sleep last night though and I'm already feeling a million times better about life, the universe, and everything.

So what have I been working on? This stuff.

We'll start with the red sleeves there, which are still not done, and I've finally faced the fact that they will NOT be done (along with the entire back of the sweater) for a finishing techniques class on Saturday so I postponed it. Since time is running short and deadlines are coming up fast, I decided to focus again on the squirrel mittens (top left) to get those finished up to complete my OWL in Ancient Runes. Top right is the Holden Shawlette that I love knitting and am very happy to get back to. And bottom right is Spike's Sweater, which is still slogging along as stockinette in the round on magic loop and therefore perfect for knitting in the dark.

I don't think that the cabled sweater will be done by the end of the month. Oh well, it's still quite a bit of sweater accomplished this term!

Over on the wheel we have this:

It's superwash roving (top, actually, I think) from Younger Yarn in Hurley. She's got a bunch of fiber up for sale right now - take a look!

I'm taking a spinning class tonight at The Spinning Room called "Beyond Spinning 101" and I practiced getting my wheel in the car earlier. I think my best bet for tonight is across the car seats in the backseat. I took Spinning 101 four years ago with a rented wheel and that was my spinning experience before getting my spindle in June, so I'm hoping that what I lack in experience I make up in enthusiasm!

Syracuse Hat!

Paul came home from work one night last week and told me that he needed me to make another hat like the one he was wearing, but in orange and blue Syracuse University colors. This was at the request of a contractor he is only working with for another week, so I had to move fast. I also had to really dig through the stash to find just the right orange and blue yarn.

The hat that Paul wore that was so envied was crocheted about five years ago. It looks it.

Five years ago is well before Ravelry, even, so I knew it was a long shot but I flipped through my pattern printouts from that era just in case I still had it. No luck there. I searched Ravelry and stumbled across what I vaguely recall was possibly the pattern I used. But I'd altered it to begin with and have since also gained some skills, mostly the ability to count, and my initial attempts at following the pattern again were frustrating. In the end, I came up with my own pattern from scratch. I'm sure there are a bajillion crochet beanie hat patterns out there (Ravelry says 1,020, 376 of which are free) but this one is mine.

Then I switched blue yarn, then tried doubling the blue yarn, then switched the orange yarn to a sport weight and tripled it while doubling the light worsted blue yarn... and in the end, I had a hat, my very own pattern, and a great stashbuster clocking in at 259.6 yards of yarn. Once I test the pattern a bit I'll post it here on the blog.

A hat!

Pattern: my own little creation

Yarns:

Elann Norwegian Sport Wool 50g/150m (164 yards) 100% superwash wool in orange, held tripled throughout, purchased from a clearance basket at Rhinebeck 2009 (Ravelry stash page), approximately 187 yards

Cascade 220 Superwash 100g/220yards 100% superwash wool in color 885 deep blue, held doubled throughout (Ravelry stash page), approximately 72.6 yards

Hook: 5.0mm/H Susan Bates hook

Ravelry page

Hello, Mr. Turtle

In September's Potions class in the HPKCHC, the topic was beautifying potion and they were accepting repairs and sewing projects. I decided to repair a stuffed pillow creature that my mom made for me when I was a baby named Mr. Turtle. My turn-in post is here.

Well that doesn't look so bad.



GAH!



That doctor (Doctor FRANKENSTEIN) should be sued for malpractice! (Sorry Mom! ;) )




Mr. Turtle just wants to go outside without shame. Or even stay inside without shame would do.



The supplies: a 99 cent pillow from Ikea and a pile of cotton flannel scraps of fabric.




First I cut apart the shoddy stitching holding parts of Mr. Turtle together that didn't belong together. Then I ironed 1/4inch hems down on the back side of flannel scraps to patch the holes on the top (less of a mess) side of Mr. Turtle. Then I pulled his old stuffing out and threw it into the trash, and stuffed the Ikea pillow into the giant freaking hole left behind by clipping the sutures of Dr. Frankenstein. I then pieced two panels of flannel scraps on my sewing machine to cover the giant holes, and used more single-piece patches to finish the job.

It took sixteen patches, hand-sewn with a needle and thread, to close all the holes. That is a LOT of beautification potion!! Hand-sewing is not a skill I am proficient with so I made up my own rules and made it as sturdy as I could.

Behold!

Mr. Turtle's new back



Mr. Turtle's new belly



Hand-stitched, obviously, but it came out better than those Frankenstein sutures!



The two machine-pieced patches actually ended up overlapping a wee bit on Mr. Turtle. Double application of Beautification Potion ensures that the ugly will not shine through.



He's still smiling, but this time he means it.



Peace

WIP Wednesday October 20

WHEW this past week has been really nuts! My family went to Rhinebeck last weekend for the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, which really needs its own post (or many) to describe. Getting ready for the festival meant doing a lot of laundry and prepping the family for a weekend away, plus getting my crafting queue in shape so I knew what I should look for at my biggest shopping opportunity for the year. Then when we got home there's more laundry to do and photographs to upload and dentist appointments and preschool and food to cook... well, basically, that's what I've been up to for the past week.

Also, this stuff.

I've made a lot of progress on my Fireside Sweater there in the red, now several inches into the second piece of the front.

To the right is the latest in the pile of squares for the secret project I'm coordinating. It rode in my bag through two days of Rhinebeck with zero progress.

Squirrel mitten #2 is above the thumb and I submitted my proof of 50% progress for this OWL, so it's officially to be ignored for the rest of the month now that I know I can easily finish it in November.

Proof of 50%.

My spinning is coming along - the ball of top left to spin is at least getting smaller, even if I don't really see much change on the spindle, but this project has dragged on so long that I can't wait to spin something else. ANYTHING else!

Lastly, the brown sweater at the top there is the beginning of a sweater for Spike. He is always curious about what I'm making and one day I asked if he would like socks or a sweater. He said a sweater. So I started it on the drive down to Rhinebeck this past weekend. The pattern is Henry's Sweater, and it's worked in mostly stockinette in the round, so I finally have the easy computer knitting I planned for my Quidditch sweater to be. I'm glad to have my brainless project to work on while I skim the boards!

Brainless magic loopy sweater.

My first post on the Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup blog went up today too. It was a lot of fun and I'm happy to be able to contribute!

Look out for my Rhinebeck recap coming up soon!

WIP Wednesday, October 13

My parents and sister visited over this past long weekend, which meant I would either get a ton of crafting done or very little. It turned out to be a ton!

Squirrel mittens? I'm past the squirrels on mitten two already. Star blanket? Half done already. Spinning is coming along slowly (15 minutes a day and it's a guarantee). I'm most pleased with my progress on the Fireside Sweater right front piece, which is already above the bust shaping and well into decreases for what I think is the yoke (and that's after having to rip back three inches yesterday).

In other news, I'm now an author on the Harry Potter Knit & Crochet Cup blog. I don't know what I'll be saying just yet, but I'll be saying something!

Goodbye for now, Quidditch sweater

There comes a time when working on some projects when that nagging feeling of doubt finally cracks through and you realize that the project just isn't going to work. Sometimes it's that the gauge swatch lied and you're staring down a sweater that would better fit a cat or a train. Sometimes it's a little something you changed and it's not working. Sometimes it's that you fail at operating a tape measure to begin with. Sometimes it takes a while to realize that a v-neck looks great on a model and not so much in your wardrobe.

And sometimes it's a little of all of these, so with a heavy heart I have to report the death of my Quidditch sweater for this term. I'll never wear it if I keep knitting what I've got, and restarting now will sabotage my OWLs for the term with no guarantee of finishing anything. So after I autopsy the remains to determine cause of death, it will become a ball of yarn once again.

The Perpetrator.

In other news, I've finally picked up my Fireside Sweater (Herbology OWL) again. Only another couple inches before the bust shaping on the right front! And I'm into the "poles" section on the second squirrel mitten. Colorwork is fun to watch unfold.

And that's all my news!

October's Big Plan

I try to set reasonable goals for myself - really, I do. As it turns out, I'm just not all that reasonable. It's a process.

So in the interest of, what else, imaginary points in the Harry Potter themed knitting game, I'm not going to go crazy in October. I'm going to focus on getting to 50% on both of my OWLs first, since that deadline is October 31. Meanwhile, pair of mini-socks is in order for my Reducio Sock swap partner and something else mini and inspired by Hogwarts teachers. I haven't come up with the right thing yet, however.

I'll also start these rockin socks in Hufflepuff black and yellow.

Sock photo courtesy of naztazia on flickr

I don't know if I'll finish them in October, but I can turn them in for Quidditch so I have until November 16 for that just in case. See? I'm sensible! That is an improvement.

Gentle as a Giraffe

It started as a joke.

Over on Ravelry, someone asked for a suggestion on entertaining kids in the car. One person suggested the quiet game, in which the winner was the person who stayed quiet the longest (the hope being that the kids fall asleep and everybody wins). Someone else suggested that the kids pretend to be giraffes, since they are not known to be particularly loud animals. A plan was hatched to have a bunch of people make giraffes for House Cup classes in September, since we Hufflepuffs have a completely undeserved reputation for quietly munching away on leaves in the corner.

Classes were posted and we got to work crafting a story to fit a stampeding herd of giraffes into magical assignments. History of Magic was the target, which asked us to craft something inspired by a magical part of the structure of Hogwarts. The stampede began last weekend and I still only had half a giraffe. I finally finished the little guy yesterday, so I said he was hiding in a freezer (which also explains why he is blue).

Spike may object, but this little giraffe is not destined to live here with us. I'm donating him to raise money for a friend doing Team in Training for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Look into my hats!

I was poking around on Ravelry (how many stories start this way?!) looking for patterns that have a spiral in them to satisfy the Arithmancy requirements for September's HPKCHC class which was, loosely, "something with math". Spirals are math, so a couple fun searches later I happened on the Textured Child's Spiral Hat pattern, which is available for free. I dove into my superwash wool stash and came up with two shades of blue intended for a hat and got to work.

Spike's Spiral

It's reversible, and also a handy container for your treasures.

So my husband came home and I proudly showed him my work. He held it, looked it over, tried it on, and asked for one just like it but in browns. A request from someone I want to make things for, the holy grail of crafting!!

One just like his

Yes, I was standing on the back of the couch to catch this shot. It was worth it.

WIP Wednesday September 29

It's WIP Wednesday, which means time to pull out everything I've worked on in the past week and show off my progress.

Wow... that's pretty awful! Okay - upper right corner is Mr. Turtle. He is a pillow creature my mom made out of a ruined bedspread and socks when I was a baby. For this month's Potions class we're supposed to beautify something, and I'm beautifying Mr. Turtle by taking out the frankenseams he's acquired, replacing his stuffing, and patching his holes.

The two blue cylinders are just under my spindle, which doesn't really show a lot of spinning progress but it's there. Unfortunately the singles on each tube (yes, those are toilet paper tubes, I am so classy) are pretty different thicknesses. I don't know what to do about that. My big plan of the moment is to eventually create a proper 3-ply yarn with two plies of the blue "colonial top" and one ply of the tussah silk I got this past weekend. I'm a newer spinner so any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Squirrel mitten is representing down on the bottom there... no progress since my last picture actually.

The purple bizarro shape is my Mythos Cardigan. I finished shaping the front finally because I needed the longer needle cord for my Quidditch sweater, which I realized I forgot to add to this picture. I have only managed a few rows since last week anyway. Mythos is coming along, but will be set aside for a bit to catch up on my deadline knitting now.

Finally, yet another square for the secrety group blanket thingy is in there. That's actually finished but I threw it in anyway. I realized I needed another pattern to use my squares for Flying homework this month so that I'd have three different stitch patterns and had to think fast!

Overall, not a lot of visible progress here, but I did finish a few things - details to come!

Herbology OWL, Fall 2010

This is my second OWL proposal for the term. If you missed it, my first OWL proposal and a little more information is in my previous post.

Herbology – Students should be able to easily manipulate organic materials.
Option 1: Knit or crochet an adult-size sleeved garment with multiple cables or an afghan with multiple cables. Garments usually must have at least one complex cable that travels the entire length of both the front and the back body AND at least one complex cable that travels the length of the sleeves, OR more extensive and complex cables in either of these areas. Please note that these are guidelines. The Examiners are looking for projects that demonstrate the student’s ability to follow mutiple cables. Think: all-over cabling.
Option 2: Create an item using freeform knitting or crochet.
Option 3: Spinners – spin a minimum of 600 yds of plant fiber into a plied yarn which is spun and finished in ways appropriate to the medium (meaning no drifting apart cotton singles, no stiff-as-sticks linen, etc.).
Option 4: Spinners – Spin at least 8 oz of fiber into a cabled yarn.

I am Needlesnswiffers of Hufflepuff here to submit a proposal for a second OWL this term in Herbology. I am a fourth year student and have two complete OWLs so I am eligible for a second OWL attempt this term.

I have found a cabled sweater that I would like to make for myself - the Fireside Sweater. This sweater has three different cables and cables of one sort or another appear on the back, sleeves, and fronts of this cardigan.

I actually have the needles (size 10/6mm) and yarn (Valley Yarns Berkshire in Wine, 13 skeins, only 12 called for) that are called for in the pattern, and - someone alert the media! - I actually printed the pattern out. Now you know I’m serious.

Yup, that’s my stuff.

This is a little closer view of the swatch. My swatch is 3.5 inches of the bottom of the right front of the cardigan. After pondering and even verifying on the OWL Advisory thread, I determined that this piece made the most sense as a swatch. If you are concerned I would be happy to elaborate. I made the swatch long enough so that the widest part of each type of cable would appear so I could measure at that point. I was pleasantly surprised to find that each cable measured exactly the width referred to in the pattern. I guess dreams really can come true.

Possible changes alert: I don’t love the collar and I don’t love the back. The back would have the same OR MORE cabling involved. The collar, I don’t know. I was thinking of making it a hood. I don’t know how to do that, but that’s never stopped me before. It will be finished, either as written or some other exciting way. So, depending on how that collar ends up, the cable on the shawl collar might have to go. I think the rest of the cabling makes up for it.

Buttons will be procured when there is something for them to button. If I have to, I am in possession of my grandmother’s button stash and it is extensive. I can always slice buttons off of something else, sew them on, cut them off and sew them back if I really have to. I am a Hufflepuff, and I will make it work!

Now, challenges! I haven’t made many sweaters in my time. I’ve finished two and they were both for the under 6 months of age set. I’ve got a sweater stuffed in a bag of shame and missing a sleeve since 2005. I went sweatermad recently and have two others on the needles at the moment, neither of which is eligible for anything outside of detention. So you could say I don’t have much good history with sweater making. It’s a dead heat for the title of My First (Adult) Sweater and I frankly have no idea what will win.

While I’ve cabled a little, I haven’t done much and I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of so many different varieties of cable in a single row as I’ll have here. My swatch section has some cabling on every right side row. I don’t even know if that’s normal, but it sounds like a lot to me. I’ve mostly cabled hats before. Small. Round. This sweater is neither.

This sweater is totally OWL worthy for me and I have little doubt that it will keep me occupied well into November.

Thank you for your time.

Ancient Runes OWL, Fall 2010

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 one month but less than three months and that presents a personal challenge.

This term I'm proposing two OWL projects, and I'm reposting my proposals here. They were both approved and now I just have to make them...

Ancient Runes – Students are expected to decipher obscure markings with ease.
Option 1: Craft something using an intricately charted design. Weavers – weave something with an intricate pattern.
Option 2: Craft something that contains 5 or more letters and/or symbols.

I am Needlesnswiffers of Hufflepuff, proposing an OWL in Ancient Runes.

I intend to complete the Swedish Squirrelly Mittens, which is a free pattern here on Ravelry. The pattern is entirely charted except for the 17 rounds of 1x1 ribbing which is turned under and sewn down inside the mitten.

I have chosen Knit Picks Palette in can’t-remember-pink and tag’s-under-the-couch-purple, and will be using these lovely size 1/2.25mm dpns at least until I get a sock off my long circular needle, which may not happen for the duration of this OWL anyway.

I plan to first make one mitten and then the other mitten. While I have every intention of making one left and one right, I hate to be tied down like that so we’ll just say two mittens, just in case.

My swatch took me much longer than I anticipated, which is why my proposal is on page 14 or worse instead of page 1. One can only hope that it doesn’t mean my mittens will take 14 times longer than I anticipate, but one never knows. These are the OWLs, baby.

Thank you for your time.