Way Better Than Starbucks...

Seeing as how it's almost June 1st and everything I figured now would be a great time to post everything I made in May. Well, almost everything. Some stuff got mailed before I took pictures of it, but that's OK.

May means that HPKCHC has started up again. I was made Head of House for my team, so I've been doing those duties as well as keeping up with my friends in other Houses and knitting.


Ancient Runes- make something related to a fairy tale. I chose "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" from The Tales of Beedle the Bard. This is an i-cord worm. Lame and very easy to make.



Arithmancy- make something related to the Golden Ratio and/or the Fibonacci Sequence. I made a striped headband and the number of rows in each stripe is from the Fibonacci Sequence (1 red, 1 yellow, 2 red, 3 yellow, 5 red).



Herbology- make something related to a Mandrake. I made Mandrake leaves.



DADA- make something that protects you. I made a sleeping mask to protect me from the sun.



Charms- make something that lets witches and wizards identify you without tipping off the Muggles. I made flip flop socks in Gryffindor colors. Ignore the bruise on my leg. I got a lot of mystery bruises the last couple weeks during bus driving and bus cleaning.



Muggle Studies- make something related to a movie or TV show. I chose Jaws. I made a shark hat for my mom. It looks like a shark is latched onto her head when she wears it.





This has nothing to do with my knitting, but I passed my CDL test last Friday, so now I can drive the honking 40 foot public transit buses with passengers! I will relate it to knitting now by showing a picture of what I call my Transit socks (because I knit them waiting for the bus, on the bus, while waiting during my road test, and during breaks at transit).

Monday I got together a pack of Easter egg dyes, some vinegar (note to self, buy more vinegar), Kool Aid, plastic Solo cups (the official drinking cup of UMASS), and my yarn pot and wooden spoon. One Easter egg tablet and some vinegar and water went in the Solo cups.

I put four Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade Kool Aid packets in the dye pot and added two skeins of Valley Yarns Huntington. I boiled the pot until the water in the pot was clear. This was the end result:



I didn't bathe it in vinegar because I was running low. I think the colors would have come out brighter if I had, but I'm still pleased with the color.

The next two are Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL. I didn't use much vinegar on them beforehand. The first one I'm fine with that because I messed it up. I had meant to put three colors, but I wasn't careful enough dipping the yarn in the cups.



The colors are pretty, but I think it would look better if it had been half and half or there was a third color.

This one was an attempt at red and yellow for Gryffindor yarn. Because I didn't have enough vinegar, the red ended up pink.



On my third skein of Valley Huntington I learned that green and purple do not mix well. Again, I wasn't careful enough dipping the yarn in the cups. Overall, this yarn looks nice, but without the mess up it would have looked better. The colors are bright because I remembered vinegar.



The Dale of Norway Baby Ull is my favorite of everything I dyed Monday. It's most of the skein, but I had used some of it for the trim on my Peach Blossom Baby Jacket. I used vinegar so it also has bright colors. I'm not sure what I want to make with it yet, but it's definitely something I want to use soon. Mom, Mark, and Bec all liked this yarn best too.



LJ cuts off part of the pictures so you can't see all the colors. My photobucket page (name is sparksearcher there as well) has everything and can be enlarged.

I finally finished two pairs of adult socks. The pair for me has been lingering since Decenber. I finished the first one then, and I only finished the second one on Tuesday.



A little big, but extremely comfortable. I never want to wear store-bought socks again.

These socks were an Easter gift for my sister. I definitely didn't think I was going to finish them in time because I started them April 1st, but I got them done.



I made this using the yarn I dyed orange a while back. She said they're very comfy and she hardly took them off.

I got a new book Socks from the Toe Up and I'm looking for a pattern in there for my Knit Picks Felici Gelato

Seeing as it is April 12th now, I should probably post all my FOs from March.



Arithmancy-make something with a spiral. Pattern is Spiral Preemie hat



Charms- make something you can't see the point of. I have 3 cases for my cell phone already, I didn't need a fourth. Pattern is Cricket's Technicolor Cozy



COMC- make something with an animal print. This is a Paw print cloth. Pattern is Paw.

What's on my needles? A test knit called Undomiel, the never-ending striped detention scarf, and a freakin' lace shawl I keep screwing up.

Pimping a Contest
The very lovely StarKnits is hosting a contest over at her blog. You can win a very lovely (unofficial) Sock Wars bag. Head over to her blog for details. You can see and buy other great stuff at her etsy store too.

Happy Easter to everyone that celebrates it. Or, as we now call it, Happy Cardigan Cat Day.

OK, so it's a very small parade, but I have been knitting like crazy to get my OWL socks in time (I'm doing the heel for the last one now!)

This is the Calorimetry I knit my sister (February Charms):



This is the beginning of my Phoenix Tears scarf (February DADA):



This is the middle of the scarf:



And this is the end of the scarf:



This is the Peach Blossom Baby Jacket I knit my cat--it's going to be an Easter cardigan (March Herbology):



This is my poor cat wearing her Easter cardigan before I knit the button bands:



The closure in the original pattern was awkward to me, so instead I added bobbles and buttonholes to the button bands. It was my first time doing bobbles, so they're a little messy, but it stays closed for the most part.

On my needles now:
-Sock 8 of 8 (Hallelujah! I am getting sick of this pattern)
-Paw dishcloth

On my needles soon:
-Undomiel (casting on tomorrow)
-sleeping mask
-socks from that orange yarn I dyed ages ago (casting on in April)

I’d been sitting on my couch earlier, happily knitting away on a sock when I heard Austin whining. I ran to the door and saw a pack of purple Pygmy Puffs bouncing on his back and head.



I grabbed the closest thing to me, a broom, and opened the door, ready to defend my dog. I tried to gently shoo them away (no need to hurt them or my dog), but they sure are quick little rascals. They got into my house before I could close the door. I followed them, hoping they wouldn’t cause a disturbance inside when they bounced up onto the futon and then onto a sleeping Clyde.



I shooed the Pygmy Puffs away from her. I chased them all through my house and up and down the basement stairs, away from the roast in the kitchen, out of the books in the attic, away from the makeup in my sister’s room, and finally corralled them into my room. They seemed to immediately take to the purple penguins because they haven’t left my bed since.



I quite enjoyed making the Pygmy Puffs. They were easy except for the fact that I hate working in Fun Fur, and I would have gladly made more but I ran out of googly eyes. After I made them, Mom and I went to craft stores looking for a feathery yarn for my DADA homework and we bought more googly eyes, so I can make 48 more. I think I may stuff some with catnip because Clyde likes them.

February HPKCHC Progress:
Quidditch- 25% done. I screwed up my gauge with the intarsia so I had to frog it. I'm going to duplicate stitch the pictures on after I finish knitting.
COMC- 100%. The Pygmy Puffs are my project
DADA- Frogged the bookmark and started something else instead. It's about 20% done, but it's going pretty fast and I'm loving it.
OWLs haven't progressed much.

Monday I went to WEBS and bought some white Valley Yarns Huntington. I dyed a skein orange and came up with this:



Here's a closeup:



To get this, I wound the hank into a center pull ball, and then wrapped it back onto the swift and into a smaller hank with more wraps around the swift than the factory made hank. I tied the two yarn ends together and then loosely tied sock yarn around the yarn in four different spots. I took the yarn off the swift and wrapped it into a hank.

Then I gave the yarn a quick vinegar bath to make the color stay. I rinsed out the vinegar, plugged the sink, and let the yarn soak for 10 minutes. In a pot, I put 30 drops of yellow food coloring, 10 drops of red food coloring, and a packet of Manderina Tangerine Kool Aid. I heated the pot to almost boiling before turning off the heat, putting in the yarn, and covering it with a lid. I checked on the yarn frequently and poked it around with a wooden spoon. At one point I took it out of the water (still orange colored) and unwrapped the hank. The outside was bright orange, the middle (near where the yarn started to touch when wrapped around itself) was light orange, and the inside was white. Without rewrappng the hank, I put it back into the water to color it a little more evenly. When all the dye was absorbed from the water (the water was clear then), I dumped the water into the sink and then washed the yarn in lukewarm water with a little dish soap until the water ran clear. Then I let it dry in the basement until today.

This yarn is going to be a pair of ankle socks for Becca and part of my eight socks for HPKCHC.

Speaking of...
February progress of HPKCHC:
Quidditch- 50% done. The intarsia is giving me a little bit of trouble because the picture repeats 5 times. Embroidery or duplicate stitch would have been better, but my intarsia skills are better than my embroidery skills
Charms- 5% done. No knitting, but a pattern, the yarn, and a recipient are picked out. I'm going to make Becca a hat.
DADA- ehh, about 33% done. I'm making a doubleknit bookmark with a phoenix on it. Doubleknitting isn't as hard as I thought it would be, but the chart can be a little tricky
COMC- 5% done. Again, no knitting done, but I have the pattern and the yarn
Arithmancy OWL- about 28% done. Two socks are completed (see below), third sock is started, at heel flap
Charms OWL- ....What Charms OWL? I had a few rows of my shawl going (over 1200 stitches) and then my cat got into it. She pulled enough stitches off the needles that it was impossible for me to get them back on and keep the pattern and correct stitch count. Frogged. Most likely will not hit the 25% mark by the 28th. Probably not going to finish at all, actually.

Here is my twelve month plan for Herbology.  The abridged version anyway (aka, the parts I'm pretty sure I'll get to this year)

January: HPKCHC classes, Noro Striped Scarf for Becca.  Status: finished.
February: Sock mania, Phoenix Rising shawl.  Status: both started.  15% of socks done (1 and a partial sock down, 6 and the rest to go), about 5-10% of shawl done
March: Naughty Reindeer Mittens
April: Fawkes socks, maybe Jaywalker socks too
May: Go Gryffindor
June: birthday gift for mark.  God only knows what
July-September: Falling Snow Stockings, start Christmas gifts for grandparents
October: Floral Brocade Mittens
November: gloves for mom
December: Hedera socks

It's February 1st and that means new assignments for HPKCHC.  Since I'm already committed to finishing 1 more sock and 25% of my Phoenix Rising shawl in the next 27 days, I'm only signing up for Charms and COMC (got a great idea for that one, clueless about Charms, but it's a good way to start gift a month).

February plan
COMC: have a plan, need to start
Charms: clueless
Quidditch: started
OWLs: In progress

I finally finished all my monthly projects for the HPKCHC.  I finished my Booga Bag for Arithmancy on Tuesday and Star Tam for Defense Against the Dark Arts last night.  I also did all of my organizing for Herbology Monday.



The Booga Bag came out really good.  I think I want to add a fabric lining because the weight of the stuff pulls on the bottom of the bag.



Star Tam came out freakishly huge.  Not a fan.  I think if I made it again I'd experiment with taking out sections of the star to make it smaller.  Becca has already claimed it and is sad that is came out so big so I think I'll work on that next month.

I started Fetching Monday evening.  I finished them late Tuesday night.  I am very excited.

HPKCHC
Care of Magical Creatures- cat blanket- done
Charms- Fetching- done
Defense Against the Dark Arts- Star Tam- haven't started yet
Herbology- clean stash, organize queue, and make 12 month plan- done except for the cleaning.  And I may have misplaced the paper I wrote my 12 month plan on.
Arithmancy- Booga Bag- needs to be felted.  Still.
Charms OWL- Phoenix Rising- yarn arrived today. starting next week
Arithmancy OWL- Sock Mania (8+ socks)- have yarn, am winging pattern, will start next week
Quidditch- waiting to get pattern from the Keeper

Care of Magical Creatures- done
Charms- looking for project ideas
Defense Against the Dark Arts- project picked, not started
Arithmancy- bag part knitted, i-cord started, felting and blocking need to be done
Herbology- queue sorted, needles sorted, stash needs to be sorted
Quidditch- game has started, waiting for pattern

Today I met up with 4 women from HPKCHC; GazeboGal, omly, scarlettb, and Hale. We went to WEBS in Northampton, WEBS beads, and had lunch at Paul and Elizabeth's. Best. Trip. Ever.

I have frogged the Dollar Sign sweater vest. I will try again next year. I cast on the wrong number of stitches (I should have realized something was wrong when it looked a little off) and the color floats finally annoyed me enough to fix them. When the assignments get posted for HPKCHC on Thursday, I'll see if I can somehow work that as one of my classes.

I'm working on a Noro 2 row striped scarf now. I'm taking some creative liberties with it (like using Noro Matsuri and Valley Yarns Northfield instead of Noro Silk Garden) but I like the way it's coming out so far. Once I get good as mixing the colors, I'm going to work on a Matsuri/Valley Yarns Lenox combo for Bec.

Austin with my one sock. The other sock is still a ball of yarn. I started it but then I was knitting at the hair salon and I dropped a few stitches and didn't have a crochet hook small enough to fix them so I fucked up when I tried a different way to fix them. Something got messed up so I had to rip the sock out and start over. The finished sock fits the foot well, but the cuff is too big.

I had to pin the scarf down to show the image. I forgot how bad stockinette stitch curls and only just learned that no amount of blocking will undo that. I wasn't really planning on wearing it anyway.

I'm thinking of canceling my sock marathon and making it a bookscarf marathon instead. Bookscarves are small and I'm less likely to get angry at them.

To do:
1. Finish Virgo project. Still. I'm on the last repeat of the chart so there's about 5 inches left.
2. Scarf for Becca. Still haven't started. Right now I'm brainstorming how to do cables and pictures in the same project. Graph paper and swatching will follow. If unable to figure it out before December 15th (plenty of time! That's 31 days from now), then it will be her birthday present instead of Christmas.
3. Sock marathon. Still haven't started. Haven't even picked a pattern actually.
4. Baby sweaters. I have the yarn and the patterns, I've just been working on the Virgo project.



See the floats of white near the top? The whole inside looks like that. I've recently learned how to not have those floats, but that would require me to rip back to where the color begins. Crap. Yeah, I'll work on that next month too...

To do:
1. Finish blanket squares for HPKCHC
2. Finish Virgo project
3. Start sock marathon
4. Make scarf for Bec
5. Make flask bag

My blanket squares for HPCKHC are finished. A teammate spun the yarn, I knitted it, and I'm sending it to another teammate so she can sew it together with the squares from two other teammates. The color is a golden pumpkiny color, and I used seed stitch (which I absolutely hate)



These are the two squares side by side. They are 12"x 12". This is a close up of the seed stitch



I also made a flask pouch. The assignment was make something that opens and closes. The flask was more for entertainment than anything else.

These are the Plum Blossom Mittens (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/plum-blossom-mittens), named so because when you hold your palms together, you get this:



I made these for Ravelry's Harry Potter Knitting/Crocheting House Cup.

To do:
1. Finish blanket squares for HPKCHC
2. Start Virgo project
3. Start sock marathon
4. Make scarf for Bec