Molly Weasley Socks

I did mention that I had knit two pairs of socks at Terminus. My second pair is totally in honor of Molly Weasley. I had picked up this yarn at the Webs tent sale, and at the time I remember someone mentioning that they were the same colors as a '70s living room. Perhaps, but it was also something I could totally see Molly Weasley wearing!

After I finished my resoleable socks, I got to thinking that even though they were fairly tall, I still had a ton of yarn left over. Now I really do accept the fact that I am not unduly endowed with height, but for the first time this has come to my advantage! With my small feet, short legs, and modest calves I figured I just might be able to squeeze out a pair of knee highs if I used a coordinating yarn for the heels and toes. And indeed it is possible, though I only had a few yards left in the end.

Yarn: Austermann Step in color 0025 & Jawoll Superwash Solid in 83.0067
Yarn Suppliers: Webs and Knitting Treasures
Needles: US 1s / 2.25 mm
Pattern: cuff down, 72 st cast on/64 st after calf, and heel flap heel

I am so pleased with these. I wore them all day today, and they really stay up. Plus I think they will be perfect for extending my skirt wearing season through the fall and then wearing as an extra layer of wooly warmth in the winter.

Such a Slytherin

Many moons ago Angela Marie gave me the left over yarn from my HSS2 socks. Since that I have fairly small feet, I knew I could make another pair of socks from the 62 grams of green and 13 g of silver yarn. When I saw Lykkefanten's awesome "Such a Slytherin" pattern coming out around the same time, I knew this was a match made in heaven.

Pattern: Such a Slytherin (Ravelry download only) by Lykkefanten

Yarn: KnitPicks Essential in pine and dusk

Yarn Supplier: AngelaMarie

Needles: US Size 1s / 2.25 mm

The heel detail is very cute, and the duplicate stitch wasn't too bad.

The other duplicate stitch on these socks was the snake on the top of the instep. My duplicate stitch wasn't perfectly tensioned, but I still love the results.

These socks were my first pair that I knit at Terminus. (The other pair I knit only got to through the legs before I left for home.) These socks are not only fabulous in their own right, but they are also a really fun reminder of the event.

Boston: Here to There

It is time for a little catch-up blogging on the Artist Trading Card front. The last Creative Mom Podcast ATC prompt was "here to there", and my immediate idea was to do how I get around: public transportation. In this card I used the images on a MBTA CharlieTicket and an MBTA map.


I have to say that Boston has pretty good public transportation. How else could I get to this point in my life without ever owning a car? There is the "T", a color-coded train that runs with-in the city itself. The bus system then criss-crosses the T routes in ways that may only make sense to an urban designer. And the commuter trains that take people out to the suburbs.

Oops gotta run! I have to catch the bus to meet a friend for brunch.

Stripy Sweater

I am feeling a little overwhelmed by the WIPs and UFOs in the house. In the last week I have been scouring the house, trying to catch up on some of the housework. In the process I have found a number of projects that I hadn't thought of in a while.

Yarn: GGH Java in 33 (peach) and 27 (brown)
Supplier: Somerville Yarn Swap
Needles: US Size 8 / 5.00 mm

This tiny sweater was made with the dimensions of a 0-3 month sweater pattern. I am not sure why it got abandoned, as I had planned to give it to a friend. It may have had something to do with the fact that I was not terribly fond of this yarn. It has a thread wrapped core, that was fairly splity. Time to move on little cardigan.

Pinafore

I know that I don't have a lot of sewing experience, but that never seems to stop me from jumping in with both feet. I found this great dragonfly fabric (image click larger), and I knew that it was perfect for a pinafore pattern I had picked up previously for Ms. L.

This pattern is super simple and really straightforward. I am glad I made a much bigger size though, because I think it won't be too long before it fits my 1 year old niece.

Pattern: S8948 Toddler Pinafore
Size: 3

Modifications: I changed the shape of the pockets from ducks, and then promptly ignored the instructions on how to attach them. They are firmly attached with nice turned edges, though, which would have been harder with their original shape.

Also I started doing button holes at the tops of the straps as instructed and was really unhappy with the second one, even after repeated attempts. So instead I used snaps. This had the extra advantage of making the whole thing more reversible, though there are only pockets on one side.


After finishing the pinafore I still had enough left over from the 0.75 yard of the dragonfly material to make a good sized, coordinating drawstring bag that could fit the pinafore, the Swing high cardigan, and the Stripey BSJ.

Twisted Flower

Sometimes you just have to admit your limitations, and apparently mine is that complex sock patterns do not get worked on except when I am traveling. When I packed them for Terminus, I think Salvbard was a little shocked that they had never been finished. What can I say? During my last year of grad school I really preferred stockinette socks.

Pattern: Twisted Flower by Cookie A.
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Super Solids sock yarn
Supplier: Windsor Button
Needles: US Size 1 / 2.25 mm

These are my most well traveled socks, having been to Hong Kong, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and most recently on Chicago, IL. I am really glad to have them off the UFO pile though and into the sock drawer.

Random HP Crafting

Okay, this is my last Terminus post, so thanks for everyone's patience with my self-indulgence.

I was really impressed by how many people in the HP fandom are crafty in one way or another. I saw so many great costumes, met wonderful people at crafty meet-ups, and attended a whole lot of different crafty workshops. One that filled up before I got there though was a HP-themed Christmas ornament workshop. I did sneak in to get some pictures of the tree in there for later inspiration though.
(Click on the photo to make it bigger.) How cool is that seriously? Now I sort of want to have a Harry Potter themed holiday ornament swap!

I was also really amused that in the final speeches at the Farewell Breakfast, that one of the speakers mentioned a thank you for keeping the crafty mess in the Room of Requirements to just one table. This is that table:

I loved the fact that people would just sit down and start making something crafty in there if they had time between other programming or events. It was also a great ice-breaker to meet new people. One attendee said to me that even though she was a sophomore in college she still loved to craft and color. I ask you, who doesn't?

Drawble

One really fun activities at Terminus were prompts for drabbles (short story writing), drawbles (quick drawings) and craftables. I was going to share with you my favorite drawble response, nicely scanned after I got home, but I ran across someone who really needed it more, so I only got a quick photo of it before giving it away. Here is my response to the "In the Forbidden Forest" prompt:
I have no idea what inspired me to draw Umbridge and the centaur, but it may have been this Umbridge I had seen Tuesday night at Wrock Chicago.
So when I saw her later towards the end of Terminus like this:
I knew that trampled by centaurs as she was, she probably needed this drawing more than I did.

Loopy Yarns

After a beyond-the-basics knitting discussion, there was an impromptu field trip to a yarn store around the corner from the hotel, Loopy Yarns.


I had heard really nice things about this store on Ravelry, and I have to say that it was really great. The store is really open with lots of light, and the yarn selection is really good. The prices were a smidgen high, but not a lot more than you would expect for something in downtown Chicago.

I ended up picking up some Lorna's Laces (dyed locally in the Chicago area) Shepherd Sock in Woodlawn, which is in Brubu-type colors and Cat Bordhi's New Pathways book.

And when we were leaving, someone pointed out the crocheted graffiti on a post in front of the store. How cool! Final verdict: Loopy Yarns is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

Bobbin Lace

On the first day of the Terminus programing, the day started with something that I could not miss: "The Magical World of Bobbin Lace." The workshop organizer, Nancy in Chicago, had a bunch of pillows set up so that we can try bobbin lace out for ourselves. So cool!

She had some beautiful example pieces including Hedwig:

There was also several other pieces, and I even got to take home a kit for the snake project.

Previously Salvbard had made a point of gently suggesting the bobbin lace was not a great idea with my lack of time in grad school. Given that this trip to Chicago was in part a celebration of completing my thesis work, though I was more than a little amused to start off the programming with learning about this technique.

Wrock Chicago

I am home! After many hours of sleep I even feel human again.

The first day of the Harry Potter convention was an all day Wrock concert. I wish I had a better picture to express to you the press of humanity and sense of energy. There were so many great bands, but in particular I really enjoyed the Ministry of Magic (warning: MySpace page), Draco and the Malfoys, and the Parselmouths (another MySpace page). And my new discovery was Romilda Vane and the Chocolate Cauldrons.

The hotel put a WRock concert with about 1000 people on the second floor for the headliner section of the show. During the Whomping Willows' set (specifically during "Draco and Harry") the audience was jumping, and honestly it occurred to me to back away to the ballroom edges when the floor started bouncing. Apparently we broke some of the beads on a chandelier on the ceiling of the floor below us. After that they told us not to jump.

I also took not one, but two field trips to see the Bean

And I made sure to take a photo with the socks in progress with the bean. I started these at the beginning of the conference. Here is my progress on a pair of Such a Slytherin (Ravelry download only) after a day of Wrock.
What a great start to the Terminus!

Resoleable Socks

Yup, I am still at Terminus, but I take the train home tomorrow. So you can look forward to some discussion of the trip and all the crafty events soon.

I really like the idea of resoleable socks. They are a little more work than working in the round, but the idea of being able to replace the soles is great.

Pattern: Two-Yarn Resoleable Socks by Wayne Pfeffer, adapted by Anne Merrow
Pattern Source: Favorite Socks
Yarn: Wisdom Yarns Marathon Socks-Boston in color 214 and Lang Yarns Jawoll Superwash Solid in color 83.0067

Even though theses are fairly long, I still have a ton of yarn left. This pattern would also be a great way to get knee-highs out of a single 100g ball of sock yarn (with additional coordinating sole yarn).

House Unity Squares

I am not sure how other people select the colors they to put next into their memory blanket. I sort of try to make sure that I am distributing the colors fairly evenly, but it isn't a particularly strict system.


For this though I will make an exception:
[For those of you less familiar, the center squares are in the Hogwarts house colors. From top going clockwise there is: Hufflepuff (black and yellow), Ravenclaw (blue and bronze/brown), Gryffindor (red and gold) and Slytherin (green and silver/grey).]

FO: House Robes

This is scheduled to auto-post while I am on my way to Chicago for Terminus.

Do you remember when I was working on the lining for my house robes? Well I did indeed finish the outer layer and put everything together. And here is the finished project:
And from the back:
And open:

Pattern: Simplicity 5840 pattern adapted as described here.
Fabric: a black Poplin broadcloth and a random green "special occasion" fabric
Notions: b1ack button, a few inches of black elastic, Slytherin crest patch

Note: The pattern adaption site is down, but you can get some information from the wayback machine capture of that page.

After substantial redrafting this ended up taking about 5.5 yards of the black and 1.5 yards of the green. If I was to make another set of robes for myself though, I think I would have removed some of the fullness. It isn't so bad open, but closed these seem huge!

My only major change from the instructions were to add top stitching to the edges, which I think gives more shape them. Also since my shoulders are a lot narrower than as designed for the pattern I redrafted the yoke to be significantly smaller. And of course being short, I shortened the robes a lot in order to get them to mid-calf. (The originally length was 60"!)

Like in the adapted pattern instructions above I absentmindedly tried seaming the sleeves with their linings by machine. Apparently topology is not my strong suit, because it rather resembled a klein bottle. Not a big deal though, I just took it back apart and then put it back together. I probably should have hand basted the pieces, but I was getting tired at this point. So I pin basted and them hemmed them by machine together. Not perfect, but it is good enough.