Tag Archive | harry potter yarn

Adventures in Swatching

With only three WIPs on my needles, I decided yesterday that it was time to cast on for something new. My WIPs are easy, mindless projects, so I wanted something a little more involved. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

In my queue, I found the June Lake sleeveless top pattern, and I had two new skeins of pretty yarn that would work well. Since the body of the sweater is knit in the round, I knew I should swatch in the round. But I didn’t want to swatch on my 16″ circular needles, so I thought DPNs would be fine. My first swatch had too many stitches per inch. My second swatch, with the next size up needles, had too many stitches per inch. My third swatch, up one more size, was too loosey-goosey for any kind of top I’d want to wear.

I liked the fabric of the first swatch the best. Dang it, that meant it was time for math to determine which size I should knit with my gauge. Gauge math is the WORST for me. It took some time, and a lot of notes, and a lot of calculations, but I figured out I needed to go up two sizes. Before I cast on, though, for some reason I decided I wanted to double-check my gauge on the recommended needles, and without much thought, decided I needed to check it on circular needles.

Yes, apparently I do have some self-preservation instincts after all. Because this gauge swatch was different than the one with DPNs, and this gauge swatch indicated that my gauge matched the designer’s and I could pick the correct size after all! So all my swatching and calculating and teeth-gnashing could have been prevented, and if I had done my swatch correctly the first time around, I would have saved a lot of time.

Alas.

Still, the good news was that I was free to cast on, and I did and I’m enjoying my new little WIP.

fullsizeoutput_22ee It’s knit from the bottom up with an interesting band along the bottom, which is done in two pieces and then joined in the round for the body. I love this stitch pattern! And today is quiet and rainy and gray and I think I might spend the day with my knitting and my puppers. Happy Sunday, friends.

p.s. The pretty yarn is Pixie Sock from Supernatural Yarns in the Hogsmeade colorway!

Hogwarts Cowl

Dec2

In my quest to finish some lingering WIPs, I pulled out my Hogwarts cowl this past week. It’s very comforting because it’s all stockinette in the round, and it’s Harry Potter colors! When my brain was too tired at night to work on something with an actual pattern, I worked on this. And yesterday, the boy had his winter guitar recital (he ROCKED it!) and I had two solid hours of knitting time. By the time we got home, it was time for the ribbing and the bind off, and this morning it had a little photo shoot.

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I took the photos before I washed it and blocked it, so please ignore any dog hairs or stray ends! It looks a little more rainbow-ish than Harry Potter-ish to me, but I do love all the colors together, so I’m sure I’ll wear it quite often.

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The yarn is a Hogwarts House Pride set from Nerd Girl Yarns on her Binary Sock base, and it’s lovely yarn. I almost wish I’d made striped socks with it! The pattern is improvised, but you can see my notes on the Ravelry project page.

And while we were gone for those two hours, we left the puppers free to roam the house, rather than locking them up in the kitchen/dining room, and I’m delighted to say they didn’t destroy a thing! While I’m not confident enough to leave Duncan free all the time, I’m optimistic that he’ll grow up to be a trustworthy pup!

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House Colors

Sep9

This summer, I participated in a knit-along with Nerd Girl Yarns to make Hitchhikers. There would be prizes involved, some just for those who used NGY yarns. I love Hitchhikers and had the perfect yarn in my stash, so I cast on immediately and made my favorite Hitchhiker yet.

The KAL went for over a month, and I kept checking back after it was over to see if I’d one a prize. When the prizes were finally announced, I’d won a gift certificate for using NGY yarn!! That same night I was on Instagram and saw a post from NGY about some new ready-to-ship yarns, including a mini-skein set of Hogwarts House Colors. Well. That was clearly a sign. I immediately went to her website and got the last set on her Binary Sock yarn. And I love it!

I knew right away that I wanted a striped cowl, with the purple “unity” color as the ribbed edges and a thin strip in between each color, and I had to cast on immediately. This might even replace my sock as my lunch break work knitting this week. It’ll be a fast project, for sure. And we’re getting cooler temperatures, so maybe I’ll even be able to wear it soon!

And in unrelated news, I decided I was ready to go back to my fun purple hair! Thanks to my fabulous hairdresser MIL, I got magical purple-blue hair yesterday and I love it!