March Yarncraft

Two projects for March; the first was for Transfiguration, where we investigated the uses of dragon's blood. I experimented with the fourth use of dragon’s blood, giving the ability to converse with birds. I used avifors to transfigure three drops of dragon’s blood into three small birds, each of which fit into the palm of my hand. But the fierceness of the dragon caused an interesting change- each bird took on a unexpected personality! First to greet me with an “Arr!” was a red bird who introduced himself as a pirate, then came another red bird with horns and a pitchford- a devil bird! I almost didn’t see the third bird, as his body was black, though he retained some of the blood-red color in his beak and wings, one of which was holding a throwing star- a ninja! I had a fascinating chat with these three fellows, and they showed me a trick where they could fly in the same pattern that three balls would be juggled in, before they flew away (the ninja bird and the pirate bird fighting while the devil bird laughed). What a curious experience!



The pattern is my own, and can be found for sale here.

My second project was for Herbology, where we studied flowers. I crafted something that is both flowery and in honor of Poppy Pomfrey. This pink bunny wearing a flower-adorned dress will someday go to a child, and will hopefully comfort that child as Poppy comforts her patients!

January/February Yarncraft Recap

Girl's dress in colors that wouldn't have been my first choice, but I had on hand and still look nice together:



Rainbow-inspired ripple skirt, modeled by Leia:

October/November/December Yarncraft Recap

I work at a preschool, and for our Halloween party, we had to wear non-scary, non-violent, peaceful costumes. That meant that my usual costumes (Jedi, fencer, etc.) were out. Well, one of my favorite Halloween candies is candy corn , so I decided to dress as candy corn ! I crocheted a candy corn hat and a candy corn Madonna bra (which was NOT worn around the preschoolers), and to complete the costume, I also made a Sculpey candy corn necklace with glittery glaze and sewed a candy corn skirt. (I also wore a black shirt with a candy corn ribbon belt, black and orange tie-dye tights, and candy corn socks, but I didn’t make any of those.)



*NOM* Says Nibbler.



Two sparkly swirly hats:



I also made some hats for my brother and cousin, but didn't get pictures of them.

Pattern News!

In other exciting news, the owner of my LYS, Purl in the Pines in Flagstaff, has started selling some of my patterns in her store! I'm excited and also energized to keep designing!

Long-Overdue September Yarncraft Recap

Flying:

Tunisian crochet seemed like an interesting meld of crochet and knitting, so I bought a hook and decided to give it a try. I made just a simple cotton dishcloth, using (my beginner, shoddy) Tunisian crochet, which falls under option 2, use a special tool. As you can see on the right side, it took me a little while to figure out what I was doing, but my dishes won’t mind!




Arithmancy:

Spirals are a shape found often in nature, from the center of a sunflower to a Nautilus shell. They are simple; a circle that gets progressively larger, so it spirals around itself, ever widening.



Transfiguration:

When I was little, I somehow got the idea in my head that pink was one of the natural colors that bunnies came in- you know, bunnies could be brown, white, grey, black, or pink! Well, eventually I figured out that it wasn’t true, but I still have a fondness for pink bunnies, so here’s my little pink bunny with button eyes, a button nose, and a button tail.




Potions:

I work at a preschool, and every day after school, I do cleaning, some of which involves bleach. Well, I dripped some bleach onto my pants, which of course left light spots, and then there’s the paint that wouldn’t wash out…. I’d already modified these pants a couple years ago by adding ribbon around the cuffs, so I got some embroidery floss in colors to match the ribbon to make butterfly appliques to hide the bleach spots.

Before:


After:

July Yarncraft Recap

Again in July, I was able to do all six classes in the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup. First up was DADA, where our assignment was to "create something which represents a way that you banish the Dementors of Depression and the Werewolf of Anger from your life". I made this very peaceful Mother Nature Goddess doll, which is covered in vines and flowers, to be calming.






In Herbology, we explored "the vining properties of plants, as represented by CABLES!" I had seen, in other classes, several of my fellow students making a tea wallet (a pouch in which to carry a few tea bags). I wanted to make one, but the only pattern on Ravelry was for a basketweave pattern. I decided to let cables be the inspiration for my tea wallet, and made this one for my mom. I then wrote up the patten and posted it for sale on Ravelry.





The next class that I completed was History of Magic, where we were supposed to make something to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday, either by creating something for a baby, or create something to celebrate Harry himself. I chose to highlight Harry's ability to love, which is something that sets him apart from Voldemort. I also honored Harry's mother with this, since her love protected him, and I made this I Love You dishcloth for my mother.



In Ancient Runes, we were assigned a letter, which had to be the first letter of the type of item, patten name, yarn name, or colorway name. I was assigned "E", and I chose to make a bag with the pattern name "Exchange Bag". The crochet is done, but I will probably end up lining it and sewing in a zipper.




For Charms, we practiced Wingardium Leviosa, the levitating spell. We had to make something light and airy. I knit a lace shawl, which I also submitted for Ravenclaw's July Bugspray contest, as lace is reminiscent of mosquito netting. This was the first time I'd done a shawl with a knitted-on edging that worked in perpendicular rows rather than just knitted on. I used the same yarn as the shawl that I made for Transfiguration in March, and I still have some of it left.





The sixth class was Potions, where we studied aconite, which is used to create the Draught of Peace, which "calms anxiety and soothes agitation, but that is only in its finished form. Creating the Draught is a process fraught with difficulties, as it is a remarkably difficult potion to stir correctly." We were to create something that was either calming, or beautiful but fiddly. Just last month, I started spinning on a drop spindle, so I used my first skein of handspun as my project. It ended up being approximately 26 yards of double-ply bulky-to-super bulky at 6ish wpi, exactly 50 grams.




August is the month in between the summer and fall terms, so there are no classes, although there are lots of other things going on, at least one of which I'm planning to participate in. Ravenclaw is having a summer reading program, where we make items that are inspired by books that we're reading. I want to write more patterns, so I've been searching for things to make that don't have a lot of patterns for them already. I've already read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, but there are already a lot of Alice-themed patterns out there, so I'm not sure if I'm going to do anything with that. Next on my reading list is the Chronicles of Narnia (I got a nice collectible edition recently), so maybe I'll have more luck with that.

June Yarncraft Recap

HPKCHC projects for the month of June, where I again managed (but barely, this time!) to complete all six classes.

First up was Herbology, where we were tasked to create either a project made from an edible fiber (corn, soy, milk, etc.), or to create a representation of food. Having no edible fibers to use, I went with the second option, and created this amigurumi, which flips back and forth from a fish to a sushi:




I late gave this to Elijah's mom, who grew up in Japan and loves sushi. She thought it was really cool!

The next class that I completed was DADA. The assignment was to look into the Mirror of Erised and see our deepest desire, then to create a pair of objects representing that desire. One of my desires is to one day have kids, a boy and a girl, so I created these two knitted woven balls:



For HoM this month, we studied the Four Founders, and were instructed to make something representing one of the Founders. Since my idea was for a small item, I chose to make something that represents all of the Founders. I made a broomstick for each, adorned with their House colors, because I feel that a broomstick can represent each Founder with a different aspect.

First, the broom is a good symbol for Helga Hufflepuff, who valued those who did not fear hard work. She wasn’t much one for unnecessarily fancy things, so she would have wanted her broom to be simple and unassuming.



Second, the broomstick would be more than just a tool for cleaning to Rowena Ravenclaw. She valued cleverness, and it is very clever to enchant an everyday object such as a broom to become a flying broom!



It is not only clever, but also cunning to make such a mundane object be able to fly! This fact would have been appreciated by Salazar Slytherin, who valued cunning and secrets. Not only can a broom fly, but it can also understand simple commands, such as “Up!” and can interpret the movements of the rider to know what it is supposed to do. Very cunning, indeed!



Finally, Godric Gryffindor provides the bravery that it takes to fly a broom. It can be scary to fly on anything, whether it’s a hippogriff or a flying carpet, but a broom can be rather hard to hold onto. It takes a lot of bravery to fly something so small, and Gryffindor has that in spades.



So you see, the simple broomstick is really much more than it seems. Looked at the right way, it has the attributes of all the Four Founders!



I finished Ancient Runes well before the last of the month, but because I was busy with moving, ended up posting it late at night on June 30. We had to choose a non-Latin writing style/system to study, and I chose the alphabet from Futurama. Ravenclaw, following May's May Flowers Challenge, had a June Bugs Challenge, so I knitted the words "June Bugs" in Futurama into a dishcloth, and bordered it with little bugs:



And here's the chart I made, so that you can better see the design:



The final two classes this month were joint Charms and Potions. In Charms, we studied Lumos (light) and Nox (dark), and in Potions, we studied Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. For Charms, we had to create something that shows the interplay between light and dark, and for Potions, we had to create either a Hand of Glory (which is a hand that gives light only to the holder, but we were encouraged to be creative), or a representation of something that creates light. We got bonus points if we connected our Charms and Potions projects somehow.

I connected my projects by doing two Star Trek-themed items. For Charms, I double-knit a dishcloth. When you double-knit with two colors, you have the positive image on one side, and an inverse image on the other:



and the back:


For Potions, I made a Type-II Phaser:



And that's all for June! I'm working on several projects for July, and I will again be trying to make all six classes. Perhaps next term, I'll try for an OWL!

May Yarncraft Recap

Here's a quick list of the knitting and crochet projects that I did for the HPKCHC in May:

For Ancient Runes, we had to do something relating to an Elder Futhark rune. I chose to represent the rune Kenaz, meaning “beacon” or “torch”. It also has the meanings “Vision, revelation, knowledge, creativity, inspiration, technical ability. Vital fire of life, harnessed power, fire of transformation and regeneration. Power to create your own reality, the power of light. Open to new strength, energy, and power now. Passion, sexual love.” Source: http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/meanings.html. I designed the pattern.



Next up, Herbology, where we were studying Puffapods and had to do something flower-related. I made a flower dishcloth. I also submitted it for Ravenclaw's May Flowers contest.



Then for Charms, I used the Avifors spell to create a Lesser Goldfinch:



DADA's assignment was to make something that a member of another house had in their queue. We were given Extendable Ears to assist us with our spying... erm, research. I spied on anthrogirl17 of Hufflepuff, and made this dishcloth, which also counted for Ravenclaw's May Monkey Madness:



For Potions, we studied the way that different potions ingredients combine to make a potion, by either making something that had multiple parts to seam, or something with multiple colors. I made this Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake:



History of Magic's assignment was to explore the Chamber of Secrets, and craft something that we found therein, or something useful for the exploring. I decided that every explorer needs a good explorer hat- they’re terribly useful. You can shade yourself from the sun, shield yourself from the rain, fan the flames when you’re starting a campfire, or use it to carry tools or small artifacts! Here’s my explorer hat:



Finally, this term, the Headmistress has given us all a special challenge. As the Headmistress said, "I want to send a package. A very awesome package to JK Rowling. In it I will include a scrapbook. In the scrapbook will be pics of various HPKCHC meet ups. Along with the scrapbook I want to send as many HP themed bookmarks as I can get my hands on." Our challenge is to create those bookmarks, up to four (one for each house) each. I rose to the challenge, charting my own patterns for crochet. I put up the pattern for sale on my Ravelry store, with hopes that others may use it too! Here are my results, posing with the book that I'm currently on (having read the English versions, I'm now working my way through the French):



And that's all for last month! June brings with it new classes and new assignments, which I am eager to finish!