Baaaaa Mooooo

My mom totally cracks me up sometimes. She brought souvenirs back for Chiquita and me from a recent business trip to North Carolina.


Chiquita loves her cow tape measure, but how can you beat that unraveling sheep?

Yarn Swap

Yesterday was the Somerville yarn swap, as organized on Ravelry. So much fun!


There was a great turn out, and there was a lot of great stuff in that giant pile of yarn. That wasn't even everything as people continued to trickle in all day.


In addition to yarn, there was lots of wonderful books, patterns, magazines and tools.

Everyone took their money (how cute is that, seriously), which they received for items brought to the swap and spent it on whatever took their fancy. I love the fact that despite the seeming chaos you can see from the grab (as seen below), that everyone remained really kind and considerate of everyone else. Crafters, by and large, seem to tend to be genuinely good people. I didn't see any problems with people trying to cheat the system or being super grabby.


I have to admit I am quite pleased with my results.


I have about the same number of grams I came in with (slightly less) but way less yardage. And while I gave up some stuff I didn't think I would use, I already have tons of ideas for the new things.


Just as good as my yarn haul was my book and pattern haul (missing a copy of "Knit Hats!"). I am particularly excited about the Beatrix Potter book. I don't think that I have the right stuff in my stash right now to knit something from it, but there are several things that I would like to make in there.

What a great day! I told Salvbard that I was feeling a little bit of sensory overload afterwards, but all and all it was great. I didn't get much knitting done though, as I spent most of the morning and afternoon at the swap and was busy helping out, but I have several projects that are almost done that I hope to share with you all soon.

Bookscarf and the Breaks

Goodness, has it really been a week? Between Easter and work/school stuff time is completely getting away from me. There has been a little bit of knitting though. I finished up a book scarf from Charmed Knits. I know there have been complaints that a lot of the patterns in this book are available online for free, but I have knit more patterns from this book than any other in my library.

Pattern: House Bookscarves by Laura Miller
Pattern Source: Charmed Knits
Yarn: Spunky Eclectic Tough Sock in firecracker (<15g)

Modifications:
I cast on with a fingering weight yarn held single for the lace weight numbers, and then knit to 10” rather than the specified 8”.

But not all has been well on the knitting front. I started the Child's Mitten/Sampler from Latvian Mittens as a learning project, only to have this happen less than an inch in.


I had bought 2 sets of these Brittany needles with the hope that I could take them on the plane last April (answer = no), but they haven't gotten much use otherwise. I prefer magic loop for socks, but they seemed perfect for fingering weight mittens. See this is why I don't use wooden needles. They can't stand up to my stress level apparently.

Zombies

I spent a lovely weekend in NH with Salvbard and Chiquita. We went cross-country skiing, visited my cousins, got to see the making of some maple syrup, visited some goats and chickens, and generally chilled out at the hostel. Last year I worked really hard to knit the first round socks as fast as I could, but this year I took it easier.

Yarn: Zitron Trekking (XXL) in color 78

Needles: US 1 / 2.25 mm
Pattern: Zombie Socks by Sheryl Giles
Started: March 13th @ 1 pm
Finished: March 16th @ 2 pm

I really enjoyed this pattern, and it makes a very stretchy sock. I would make these again, though next time I would knit the pattern knit sts through the back loop next time, since I really liked the look that gave.

Zombie Legs

The first round of this year's Sock madness has begun with Zombie Socks inspired by Lime 'n Violet's Episode 50.

Episode 50 of the Lime N Violet podcast, inspired this pattern. A friend of Miss Lime’s has a 9-year old son. When mom told him that Jesus rose from the dead, the boy concluded that Jesus must be a zombie. The drop stitch pattern in this sock reminds me of a dark misty night where there just might be zombies things lurking about. Or one of Miss Lime’s house ghosts. In fact, you can almost see them through the holes in the pattern produced by the drop stitches.

So on to the socks. The pattern was released at 1 pm yesterday. Here is my progress as of noon today. (I had a elementary school music concert to knit during this morning.) All leg repeats are finished!

I am knitting them 2 at once on magic loop from Trekking XXL in color 78. I like the stitch pattern, but I know that the heel details are going to get lost in this yarn, but Trekking is so much fun to knit that I can't really mind too much.

Quidditch Round 3

Quidditch ~ Round Three
1. When Rita Skeeter prints a bad articles about Hagrid in the Daily Prophet, which Professor teaches Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class while he is away?
c. Professor Grubbly-Plank

2. What was the article Rita Skeeter wrote about Hagrid called?
c. Dumbledore's Giant Mistake

3. When the school champions were being chosen from the Goblet of Fire, whose name came out first?
b. Viktor Krum

4. What is the spell Ludo bagman says to magically magnify his voice when he commentates?
a. Sonorus

5. What kind of dragon did Cedirc have to face in the first task?
b. A Swedish Short-Snout

6. Who raised the trophy after winning the world cup?
b. Troy and Quigley

7. How many bedrooms did Mundungus Fletcher claim to have?
d. 12

8. For what did Moody mistake his birthday gift of a carriage clock?
b. A basilisk egg

9. What did Mr. Ollivander produce for the end of Cedric's wand?
d. Silver smoke rings

10. The dark mark is on Snape's left arm.
a. Yes

Picture Scavenger Hunt
Karkaroff
A Basilisk
Mundungus Fletcher
Amos Diggory
Snape

Gryffindor Socks

I am wrapping up the details on my package for the Hogwarts Sock Swap. Hopefully I will have the last items by this weekend, and it will be winging it's way to it's recipient soon.

Yarn: Spunky Eclectic Tough Sock in firecracker
Needle: US 1 / 2.25 mm
Pattern: 72 sts stockinette sock with heel flap heel
(I really like the one in Ann Budd's "The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns")

Although I really like the base yarn, I am not super crazy about the stripes. For these socks I made a center pull ball and work from both ends, 2 at once on magic loop. But you can see the striping was slightly different from one sock to the other. I think if I had wound two balls and worked from the center of the skein on both these might have matched a little better. Oh well. Such is the joy of hand-dyed yarns.

Fleur Delacour

Although she isn't by any means a major character, I have to admit that I always enjoyed Fleur Delacour. Not the Fleur of the movies so much as the one in the books though. She was a student at Beauxbatons, a school for wizardry similar to Hogwarts in southern France. And she competed as one of the champions for the 1994 - 1995 Triwizard Tournament, in fact the only female selected to do so that year.

2B pencil sketch in plain moleskine

I never saw Fleur as Clémence Poésy, the actress that plays the character in The Goblet of Fire. (And I assume the rest of the series, but I don't know that for sure.) If anything I always thought she would look more like Mélissa Theuriau. Not to be incredibly superficial, but I just thought that anyone who was quarter Veela would be stunning. [For those unaware the Veela are a race of semi-human creatures who look like young, beautiful women, who are known for their ability to seduce males by both their dance and simply their appearance. They look more harpy-like when angered though.]

Placket Sweater

Finding patterns I love for little boys is so much harder than for little girls. It turns out that most of Salvbard's co-workers seem to be having little boys though. Well here is one down anyways.

Pattern: Child's Placket-Neck Pullover by Joelle Hoverson
Pattern Source: Last-Minute Knitted Gifts (also free here)
Size: 1-2 years
Needle: US 8 / 5.0 mm
Yarn: Mary Maxim Starlette in 030

This yarn was a generous gift from Bex when I was first contemplating my Slytherin blanket. It turns out I couldn't figure out a way to work it in, but it was a great gender neutral color for this sweater. And though I had never worked with this acrylic yarn before, it really is surprisingly soft. Plus easy care doesn't hurt either.

In Progress

Long time no talk huh? I have been knitting though, and will be posting some FOs in the next few days. In the meantime though, since we actually have had some decent sunlight for photos, here is what I have on the needles.


Boring black socks are a sign that I care a great deal for Salvbard. I am finding the 3X2 ribbing is driving me crazy though. I can get into a stockinette-like rhythm with a 1X1 or 2X2 ribbing, but this one requires my constant concentration. Only 2.5" more to go...


I have a quick bulky sweater that I am knitting from Fitted Knits. I am actually one sleeve further than this shows, and it should be done soon.


And I love this project so much. It is a baby sweater from Not Just Socks, though I have omitted the rolled edge. I bought this yarn at last year's March Sock Madness at Mind's Eye Yarns because it reminded me of smores. I am knitting this one as part of the (Ravelry) Stash Down's sock yarn challenge.

Hmm it felt like I had a whole ton of projects going on, but looking back at these, it doesn't seem so bad.