p.s. I'm Knitting a Sweater

Hi guys.  No sense in burying the lead: there's a sweater happening.

I've swatched and washed it and everything.  AND apparently, even though swatches lie, I've got exact gauge.  This may be a sign of the impending apocalypse.

I have no clue why I decided to knit a large fancy shawl and an adult-size fitted pullover in an overlapping timeframe... that's not quite true.  I know exactly why.  I want a pretty badge from the yarncraft equivalent of a fictional wizarding school.  !!!

COVET COVET

This fiber is totally messing with my allergies, though; it's reeeeeaaaally rough.  Sometimes there's eye-itching, but this time there's congestion and throat gunk and eye burning.  And now I'm whining about ailments I've brought on myself.

Whatev, it's going to be beautiful.

Always Know Where Your Cowl Is

Just popping in to show off some cowl craziness that's been going on so far this month...  it's so much more satisfying than Socktober!  #Ihateknittingsocks #hashtag

Dayflower Cowl [Rav] by Doggrell Designs; knit with 3/4 skein of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4 ply in colorway 04 Grey

MODS:  9 inches square after blocking

• 102 st CO
• 6 garter rows before pattern
• 3 pattern repeats
• 6 garter rows after pattern

it's not this bright in real life!

A Noble Cowl [Rav] by Emily Kausalik; knit with most of a skein of Knit Picks Stroll Sport in colorway Winter Night

MODS:  7 inches tall x 9 inches wide after blocking

• cast on 96
• mostly symmetrical decreases a la zarestky [Rav]
• adjusted all shields with two center columns a la me [Rav]
• shortened to 1 repeat + 18 rows
• my 5th Noble Cowl!

Mama, these will be coming your way at the end of the month!
Unless you don't care for them.
Then I'm keepin' them cowls!  :)

HPKCHC September Roundup

This marks my second term at Hogwarts for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup and I'm on staff this time around, so YAY for that!  I've been doing a little bit of writing over at the Ravenclaw Aerie blog (unofficial motto: we have graphs!), so I've felt super engaged with the process all month.  There was so much going on...

Detention
This is where works in progress get finished and submitted, so I got the chance to earn points for that bobbly baby sweater I started in August.  AND I got a really cool limited edition badge!  Rav bling!

Ancient Runes
Last term, they offered Care of Magical Creatures as a class, but that's been scrapped for the return of Ancient Runes this term, soooo yeah, that's cool. I made some fingerless gloves with the rune gebō all over them... it's all in the Xs.  The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, but I modified it to work with DK weight:

Quilted Lattice Mitts [Rav] by Jennifer Elaine; knit with less than half a skein of South West Trading Company Bamboo in colorway 138 Purplexed

Charms
The charm of the month was Meteolojinx Recanto, cancelling the effects of extreme weather.  I made a mild-mannered cardigan pattern into a giant kimono to ward off tsunamis:

Abalone [Rav] by Beata Jezek; knit with almost 800 yards of Lion Brand Wool-Ease in colorways Fisherman, Natural Heather, Blush Heather, Rose Heather, Dk Rose Heather, Burgundy, and Oxford Grey

Defense Against the Dark Ages
Tracking was on the docket for DADA -- alert readers will recall the Sweater of Many Ends from earlier.  And there's a hat, too:

Fan Lace Hat from Two Lace Baby Hats [Rav] by Heather Tucker; knit with 61 yds of Lion Brand LB Collection Superwash Merino in colorway 174 Spring Leaf // Puerperium Cardigan [Rav] by Kelly Brooker; knit with yds total of Lion Brand LB Collection Superwash Merino in colorways 107 Sky, 141 Wild Berry, 170 Dijon, and 174 Spring Leaf

Flying
This is where I turned in the bobbly earflap hat that went with the bobbly sweater, since the prompt was all about flying in circles (hat in the round, with all those round bobbles).

Herbology
Herbology = plants = trees = wood = wandlore.  My date of birth in the Celtic calendar corresponds to Vine as potential wand material, so I -ahem- decided to make a wine-colored shawl with a picot edge (symbolizing grapes) and a mesh border (which represents the latticework to which the grapevines cling):

Eiku [Rav] by Reeta Korhonen; knit with most of a skein of Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk Paints in colorway 9958 Vino

Potions
The prompt was about being silly, so I linked to the B52s "Rock Lobster" video and made a blue rock lobster to go with it:

Knit Lobster [Rav] by Molly Lincoln; knit with over half a skein of Karabella Yarns Aurora 8 in colorway 8167 Blue

Since one can only get base points for 6 of 8 classes each month, I didn't do History of Magic or Muggle Studies.

Quidditch
I wasn't at all interested in Quidditch last term -- mostly because I knew nothing about it -- but the first challenge for this month was about organization, so of course I went crazy with taking stash pictures and weighing everything for accurate yardage counts.  Stop judging me, I'm awesome.

The first actual Quidditch match involved craft something related to one or more specific letters -- G, H, N, R, and/or S (for the four Houses + the Not-Quite-First-Year designation).  I made a 6"x6" Han blue Square with a Garter stitch border and my own octopode design done in Relief.

knit with less than half a skein of Karabella Yarns Aurora 8 in colorway 8167 Blue

p.s. all these patterns are free! on Ravelry
All right, that's enough dorkiness for right now... until next month!