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.

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.

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!

Carrying a Torch for You

My latest project has been to convert some of the crochet patterns I've developed into pretty PDF's, and list them on Ravelry to sell. My latest pattern is Carrying a Torch for You, which I made for a Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup class, Ancient Runes. I made an amigurumi torch with the rune that can mean torch, Kenaz, as a design in the flame.





I also have some of my finger puppet designs up, and I'm working on more, as well as amigurumi patterns. Making the patterns is a lot easier than trying to produce the product to sell!

In other news, for the past week, I've been in CT visiting my parents, and I will post more about that later.

Possible trip to the frog pond

A little over a year ago, I started knitting a sweater/cardigan/jacket thing. I get cold easily, so I wanted a layer that I could wear in the house when I get chilly, but one that would be easy to take off and put on, so not a pullover. It needed to have a collar that would keep my draft-hating neck warm, but that would fold down if I didn't want it up (conversely, a collar that could fold up if I wanted it to). It needed to have large areas of stockinette, so that I could duplicate-stitch a design onto it. It needed to have a casual fit, no or minimal shaping. I decided on the Jess pattern.

I didn't like making the sweater in all the pieces, so I adapted the pattern to knit the fronts and back as one piece, and the sleeves in the round, and sew the sleeves on later, then knit the collar. I got to the point where the body and sleeves were basically done, and ground to a halt. I just don't know if I like the idea of having to sew those sleeves in. I'm not even sure if this is the right pattern for me anymore; what with all the modifications I'm making, maybe I'd be better off choosing a different pattern that is already written to be seamless. So I ask your help.

Here is the sweater as it is now (I haven't bound off the sleeves and hem, in case I want to adjust the length once I get it sewn together, which will be convenient if I decide to frog):


Do I:
-Choose a new pattern, frog everything and make the new pattern, and submit it for DADA, since the cats evoke memories for me
-Suck it up and finish it as it is, sewing in the sleeves, and submit it as a finished WIP for Charms
-Frog it all, redo it to have the sleeves knitted in instead of sewn in, and keep my other seam-reducing changes, and submit it for Transfiguration
-Something else, that I haven't thought of yet- all suggestions welcome!

Thanks for your input!

Swallowtail in Flight

I finished my Swallowtail shawl, and it's gorgeous! I left in that
one little mistake that I'd made in the beginning, figuring that it wouldn't be very visible because it's so high up, and since then, I made tons upon tons of mistakes, but tinked/ripped and fixed them all, especially since they were the type of mistake that would just throw off everything that came after.

Now you shall wait no longer for pictures! Here's the finished shawl, pre-blocking:


Blocking:


Post-blocking, with the dress that I'll be wearing when we go to Ren faire:


With my winter coat:


Prettypretty:


I love it!

Yarn- not just for breakfast anymore!

I finished a hat for my friend Kristan's birthday- she had requested it, but didn't know that she was going to get it for her birthday, so she was suitably surprised. It's not just any old hat though, it's a Futurama-inspired Brain Slug Hat!



I'm still working on my Swallowtail, which has become more and more enjoyable to work on as I understand the lace pattern better. I finally finished the required 14 repeats of the Budding Lace patten, and then got worried that the shawl might be too small, so after seeing in the pattern comments that other people had added an extra five repeats of Budding Lace, I did the same, and am happier with how the size is looking.


I've also started (and am almost halfway through with) the Lily of the Valley Border, which contains nupps (basically, to make a nupp, in one row, you increase one stitch by, in this case, five stitches, and in the next row, you purl them all back together). I had been very hesitant to attempt a pattern with nupps, but they're turning out to be not so bad, if a little fiddly.


I actually have a lot of knitting projects going right now, including a blanket for Elijah to keep in his car, and I'm supposed to alter the sleeves of my mom's Strands of Pearls sweater, because they came out too short when she tried the sweater on (even though they're exactly as long as the measurements that I took, I guess when she wore the sweater, more material was taken up in width while stretching than I thought it would). And then Elijah got jealous of my nice warm slippers, and asked me to make him a pair, which I haven't started yet. They'll be interesting, as for the outer layer, he chose a yarn that's a wool-llama mix. I believe that llama felts fine, but we'll see how it works.

I'm also making a fuzzy cat mat:

Epicsicle!

We've gotten a bit more snow- maybe 8 inches to a foot. Melting off the roofs, it's created some cray icicles! Here's one that got twisted as it was forming (that's Elijah holding it):


And we like to call this one the Epicsicle! It's actually forming a stalagmite below it:


To combat the cold, I made my first sourdough loaf in the breadmaker. It looks like what would have happened if my first loaf had stayed as high as it had ever risen, rather than falling again.


My Swallowtail shawl is coming along nicely, I've done 11 of 14 repeats of this part of the pattern, and then I get to move onto the border. I'm actually really enjoying it now that I've gotten the hang of the pattern.


Luke and Han are napping on my lap (piled on top of each other, as they do), and it's nice to have a lapful of warm, loving kittens. I continue to tell them that they will be getting a new baby brother or sister, as the search for the baby tabby boy/girl (I'm becoming a lot more open to the idea of getting a girlcat) goes on. I'm waiting for a call from Second Chance about the baby tabby girl they have, so that I can properly meet her. Otherwise, there is the Phoenix trip on Saturday. My friend (whose birthday it will be) is excited about helping me find a kitten, as she has cats of her own. I'm excited about getting a third kitten!

Poll Results

The poll I put up asking people's opinion on whether or not I should rip back and fix that row that got messed up in my Swallowtail shawl is now closed. The results weren't that clear- 10 votes total, 6 for ignore, 4 for fix. I've decided to leave it as it is, though, since the pattern has straightened out since then (although it does explain why I was having so much trouble back then!). I've decided to go with the majority (and my own feelings) and leave in the mistake, so I can just keep going with it.

Elijah's parents came over for dinner tonight, for the first time since we moved in here back in September. I'd been meaning to have them over for ages, but it somehow never happened. They live just around the corner, maybe a two-minute walk, so although we see them often enough, and they've had us over for dinner several times, this was the first time they'd joined us for dinner. I made beef stew, a variation of my mom's recipe, and everyone loved it. I also made cornbread, which was a boxed mix, an impulse buy in the store (honey cornbread mix, and it was on sale), and for dessert, a peach pie that I bought frozen and just baked. We pulled out our kitchen table into the center of the kitchen so that all four of us could fit around it (it's a small kitchen, so normally, the table sits pushed up against one wall, and we usually eat at our computers anyway, it's just easier at this point), and had a lovely time chatting. Elijah's parents' house is small, as is ours, and they chose to have a computer desk and birdcages (they have five birds) instead of a dining table, and there's no room for a kitchen table, so they always eat on the couch, watching TV. It was nice to just chat without a TV on, since we always spend half the TV-watching time chatting anyway. In short, a good time was had by all.

I gave the cats some catnip before Elijah's parents came over, hoping to get them into a playful mood, but like always, they hid. I did get each of them out of their cube-cave (which was a big struggle with Han he didn't bite or use claws, but definitely threw his weight around to try to get me to leave him alone) and had them sit on my lap for a little bit, and Mom got to pet them. Han finally calmed down (he had been struggling to get down), so once he was calm for a little while, I let him jump off my lap. The boys are nine months old now, and Han is definitely the bigger one. I weighed them last week- Luke weighs 7 lb, 10 oz, and Han weighs 9 lb, 10 oz, so he is a full two pounds heavier than his brother. He also has the unfortunate habit of showing that he wants to get down from my arms by pushing off my chest with all four legs. I trim their claws, because they haven't learned to control them very well. They don't intend to cause harm, they just don't realize that they're going to hurt us. Han will struggle to get down, so we've been restraining him until he calms down, and once he's relaxed, then he is allowed to get down.

Toilet-training has been progressing slowly. Both boys are to the point where they will put both front paws up on their own, and allow me to put their back paws up (I say "paws up!" to try to get them to associate the words with the action, so that I can transition to just saying it and having them do it on their own, and eventually just do it without prompting, but they've been slow learners about that), but won't do it themselves. Luke will hold one back paw kind of halfway when he's pooping, and allows me to nudge it up to the seat, but won't give me any help with the last foot; I have to lift it up. I've been decreasing their litter bit by bit, so that they're now down to just a very light covering of litter on the bottom of the bowl, but if I don't put in enough litter, they complain and won't use the toilet until I put more litter in. They also both climb completely into the bowl before putting paws up, although I've tried to teach them to get into the squat position right after they jump up onto the seat. That tendency, combined with the small amount of litter, means that they're getting urine on their paws when they pee (I clean it after every use, and if I don't, Han complains until I do clean it. I put extra litter in at night so that they'll tolerate it). I had hoped that the lack of litter would make them uncomfortable enough that they would be encouraged to lift their paws on their own, but that's not proving to be the case. Training has been going on for three months now, but I feel like we've been at a standstill for a long time, they're just not learning what I want them to do, or being stubborn about doing it.

And just so that this isn't a completely pictureless post, here's one of Han!

Spread your wings

A bread update- I've continued using my bread maker several times a week, and I've been tweaking the recipe. I've been adding rosemary, yum! I reduced the yeast a little more, and here's my last loaf:

I also made a sourdough starter today; that'll take a few more days before it can be used. I'm not a huge sourdough fan, but the rosemary bread that I've bought at the store is made from a sourdough base, so I figure that I'll give it a try. I love rosemary bread! I used to hate rosemary, but I've discovered that it was the texture of the whole leaves that I don't like, so I buy crushed rosemary and it's delicious.

As promised, here are some pictures of the flying elephants:






I started a new knitting project, a lace shawl. I've attempted lace before, but it proved to be too difficult and I ended up putting it aside. This is a different pattern, the Swallowtail Shawl (Rav link), and so far I'm enjoying it for the most part. The part I don't really like is having to re-knit parts of most of the rows because I screw them up one- or two- or three- or four times. It's a six-row repeat, with only the odd rows being part of the lace pattern, and I've done six out of fourteen repeats. Here it is:


Of course, since it's lace, it looks pretty crumpled right now. That's normal for lace, and it'll straighten out when I finish it and block it. I held it up to admire how much I'd done, and noticed this:


See it there, about midway up on the left side? No? Take a closer look:


That's half a row that I messed up, see how the pattern is shifted? (It's also a little messed up on the right side, but less noticeably.) But it's also three repeats back, which is a lot of rows, and since it's lace, I can't just drop stitches and fix it that way. Now I have to decide if it's a small enough error that I can ignore it and just keep going, or if I want to rip out the last three repeats and fix that row. For perspective, the shawl is something for me, and the part that that row is in is by the middle of the back neck, so not terribly noticeable; as I usually wear my hair down, it would be covered. Still, I am a bit of a perfectionist, and I'm still debating what I want to do.

Please vote in my poll at the top of the page!