Where has the time gone?

How can it be the end of August already? Doesn't seem possible! But I found myself in need of saying this and didn't necessarily want to create a forum post on Rav that would go on and on with people feeling similarly, even though it might be all sorts of comforting.

Am I the only one who is on a tight budget right now and knows all too well how much yarn they can't afford, but desperately wants to go to the LYS, pick out each and every yarn they want to get and give it all a group hug, shed a few tears (not on the yarn, obviously) and then slowly and carefully back out of the LYS? Just the thought of it evokes images of an illicit rendezvous with a lover who you know you can never really leave your significant other for no matter how much you long to throw caution to the wind and run off with them.

I'm sure the workers at my LYS would start to think I'm even more a little off than I already am for A)having 5 kids and B)homeschooling them, but hey variety is the spice of life, right? LOL

Yay!

Ok, so "it" really, really is done and looks good and has started its journey with all the other goodies to Michigan. I'm now on pins and needles waiting to see if I did good or not. I've had a lot of fun with the Hogwart's swap, but I'm ready for a break from swaps for a little bit.

Meantime, I gifted my remaining lovely blue variegated bamboo to someone wishing to try out some bamboo which leaves me much relieved because I no longer need to figure out what to do with it! Yay! I SO love the RAK group on Ravelry!

And while I haven't had much time to devote to the dh birthday socks, I have been plugging along at them here and there and I took a new picture just to remind myself how much further along I am that I used to be.


Before


Currently

Speaking too soon...

::sigh::

Ok, I got a little ahead of myself with the "hat is finished" happy dance. After doing a little blocking I realized its WAY too big. Back to the drawing board... Ok, the knitting needles, but you get the picture! Well, maybe you don't.

Picture if you will... The exuberance turning to despair, the sulking for days until ready to pull myself up by the bootstraps, I start taking the hat back apart. At least I've got the join already done! :) I'm basically knitting off of the other one as I am nearing the end of my patience with this project and if I have to do anything else with it besides just finish it, I may cry and that would be bad.

I'm nearly halfway through, which is good! Also, I can mail my package out after I'm finished with it and I have my coachella/fusion concoction to finish, which I'm very much looking forward to... so yay me (in a few days anyway)! Meantime, back to knitting...

Perhaps there ought to be a Ravatar that says "I knit so I do not pull my hair out".

::sigh::

Look what I did!!!

After nearly two months worth of dust collecting on it, I finally set up my ball winder and used it! Here's my first two...

Can you tell I'm just a little proud of myself? LOL Winding yarn is so fun!

Which sports car are you?

I'm a Mazda Miata!

You like to soak up the sun, but your tastes are down to earth. Everyone thinks you're cute. Life is a winding road, and you like to take the curves in stride. Let other people compete in the rat race - you're just here to enjoy the ride.

Take the "Which sports car are you?" quiz.

HLBOES - Defense Against the Dark Arts Quiz

The quiz will be due on 7 March by midnight Pacific time. Each question is worth 1 point and the extra credit can get you up to 15 points.

Who is the author of the books prescribed for Defence against the Dark Arts? a. Newt Scamander b. Adalbert Waffling c. Bathilda Bagshot d. Quentin Trimble

d. Quentin Trimble

When conjuring a Patronus, the user is supposed to produce what type of thought? a. Happy b. Powerful c. Sad d. Funny

a. Happy

Who was the teacher of Defence against the Dark Arts in Tom Riddle’s time? a. Albus Dumbledore b. Armando Dippet c. Galatea Merrythought d. Phineas Nigellus Black

c. Galatea Merrythought

Which Defence against the Dark Arts teacher is an accomplished Occlumens? a. Alastor Moody b. Dolores Umbridge c. Severus Snape d. Remus Lupin

c. Severus Snape

Which of these spells is the Full Body-bind Curse? a. Impedimenta b. Petrificus Totalus c. Incarcerous d. Impervious

b. Petrificus Totalus

Lord Voldemort used Avada Kedavra on Harry Potter in the Little Hangleton graveyard. But another spell used by Harry at the same time caused the Priori Incantatem effect. Which spell did Harry use? a. Accio b. Expelliarmus c. Levicorpus d. Crucio

b. Expelliarmus

Which of the following can the Unforgivable Curse not do? a. Kill someone b. Cause terrible pain c. Make parts of the body fall off d. Become controlled by someone

c. Make parts of the body fall off

Which kind of people are known to use Unforgivable Curses very commonly? a. Members of the Order of the Phoenix b. Death Eaters c. Dementors d. Dumbledore’s Army

b. Death Eaters

One of the Horcruxes was a ring. Whom did the ring belong to? a. Albus Dumbledore b. Marvolo Gaunt c. Salazar Slytherin d. Godric Gryffindor

c. Marvolo Gaunt

The creation of a Horcrux requires: a. Injuring someone b. Stealing c. Killing someone d. Using Cruciatus Curse on someone

c. Killing someone

Extra Credit:
Name the 3 Unforgiveable Curses. Describe how to cast each and the effects of each curse. Why are they unforgiveable and what will happen to the person who cast them?

The three unforgivable curses are as follows:

The killing curse - Cast by use of "Avada Kedavra" it will kill the target of this curse.

The cruciatus curse - Cast by use of "Crucio", it tortures the target by inflicting great pain upon them.

The imperius curse - Cast by use of "Imperio", it allows the target to be controlled.

These curses are unforgivable because they are done with malicious intent and the person casting them must have a great desire to inflict pain, misery, or death upon their target. Performing any of these will sentence you to a life term in Azkaban prison.

Its done, its done, its done!

Yay! Happy dance time! Here's a preview, cuz I'm a horrible tease! LOL

Hmmm....

I was hoping to be able to say that I'm all done with a certain hat, but unfortunately not quite. Just 5 more rows or so to go. I'm ridiculously excited about that despite the fact that I still have a few odds and ends to put together to finish up my HLBOES spoilee's package. Probably due to the issues I had with getting started with it. I've learned a very important lesson about checking gauge, though I doubt that it will stop me from launching headlong into other projects without checking in the future. LOL


Actually here's the very first (and only) project I've ever done a swatch for! Only because I needed to try to match gauge with 4 other knitters. Yikes! Hope it all comes together well! I've affectionately dubbed it the BDT, cuz ain't it just? ;)

Spice Girls moment

In the interest of getting all my HLBOES points for my blog this week I was briefly thinking of doing a Spice Girls thing and just saying, "HLBOES, blah, blah, blah, Go Ravenclaw! Blah, blah, blah, wizard power!" But that would just be silly!


So, instead I thought I'd mention that inspired by the assignment to finish a project, I've been working on finishing other projects. I finally finished the socks for the wee ones. I do have to confess I did it much faster than I thought I would due to the fact that somehow the skein of yarn I was using was missing the last 4 colors of the repeat so I couldn't do the other sock of the 3rd pair. Lucky me, I guess.

Also, I decided to give dh a pair of socks for his birthday (maybe a couple pairs depending on how long they take). Mostly I did that so that I HAD to finally a) learn magic loop b) learn two at a time socks c) learn how to do toe-up socks and finally d) do something with the 3 pairs worth of black sock yarn that I've had for at least 6 months now.

I restarted a certain hat due to gauge issues. I think it may have something to do with the kinda slippery properties of the yarn, but who knows for sure. I'm nearing the halfway point on it though so I suppose I ought to try to finish putting everything else together for a certain ::coughcoughHLBOEcoughcough:: swap box. I do have a few things already just trying to figure out where to stop myself, I've got so many ideas.

HLBOES hat

Started: 2/7/09

Since I can't hide the project on Rav from my spoilee, I'm going to blog about it on here to be published after she gets it. I'm doing the Hermione Cable and Eyelet hat from the Half Blood Prince. I'm using Paton's Silk Bamboo and sz 5 needles. I'm casting on the extra 22 stitches so that hopefully it will compensate for the fact that I'm using lighter weight yarn. I'll keep you updated.

2/28/09 - Finished the hat today! Had to frog it just after I finished the ribbing the first time due to gauge issues. I restarted on sz 2 needles with the extra 22 stitches again. It seems a little big around, but the length seems to be good thankfully without any extra repeats beyond the ones in the pattern.

3/12/09 - So after doing a little blocking and realizing the hat was enormous, I ended up re-knitting it straight off the old one. No extra stitches this time, still knitting it on size 2 needles. Interestingly due to some goofs I did on the repeats, I ended up using more yarn than I did the first time. But it is really, really done for real this time! The combination of yarn substitution and pattern totally threw me for a loop.

HLBOES - Charms assignment - and after

Evanesco!



I was up pretty late last night finishing this assignment. Thankfully binding off didn't necessarily require my eyes to be open the whole time or I would have had a disaster to clean up this morning! So glad this is finished! Will probably add some modeled pics of it later.

Later...
 

All's well that ends well

Today, we got another unexpected visitor. Jack's owner!!! We had begun to think that poor Jack (coincidentally that's what they called him, too) had been abandoned. Thankfully, he wasn't! I refused to believe that such a sweet little dog didn't have a loving home to go back to. He was probably less than a mile from home, but it had only been his home for 6 weeks, so things were still fairly new for him.

My very awesome birthday present

I got one of the coolest birthday presents ever from my dear friend and neighbor! The cabling is so gorgeous! I'm so in love with this bag! I'm not ashamed to admit that I pet it.

HLBOES - Charms assignment - the before

The assignment is to make one WIP, UFO or project in our queue vanish before Feb 14th. And I have just THE one! This lovely shetland shorty has been waiting around for me to finish since we got back from our "vacation" on the 9th of Jan. I did finish both sides of the front over the last week. Here's the status of it right now:



I've got a whole lot of stitches to pick up so I can do first the neck edging and then the armholes. I'll update this post when I'm finished.

Unexpected visitor -- Anyone know him?

So I was at the computer catching up on some emails before going to make dinner when one of the boys says that there's a dog at the door to our deck. Figuring that it was just one of the neighbor dogs I didn't think much of it, till I got over there and discovered this little guy scratching at the sliding glass door...



We're calling him Jack till we find out what his real name is, but he seems to like it. His tail is clipped and he had a collar on fairly recently, can still see the indentation in his fur around his neck. He's quite friendly and settled in pretty well after Frank (one of our cats) stopped stalking him, though whenever Frank shows up he's still quite intimidated. Hopefully Jack has a loving home out there waiting to welcome him home, cuz I really don't think that our house or family is ready for a dog.

HLBOES - flying assignment #3

The assignment was to knit a bag with a flying/quidditch related theme to it (or something like that, I'm too tired to go track it down at the moment). Here's what I put together:

Ribbed Fingerless Mitts - Toddler/Child sized

While I've got this fairly fresh in my mind...

Ribbed Fingerless Mitts - Toddler/Child sized

The first picture is with the 2 yr old, the second is with the 8 yr old.





Materials:
Red Heart Super Saver or other worsted weight yarn
size 6 dpns

Size: These were made to fit my 2 yr old, but they also fit the 8yr old so they have a good amount of stretch to them.

Instructions:
CO 28 stitches, distribute evenly across 3 needles, PM and join being careful not to twist the stitches. (That sounds almost cliche doesn't it?)

Knit 20 rows of K2, P2 ribbing.

Row 21 - M1, knit 4 (in pattern), M1, and continue with ribbing across. What I did here was keep the stitches I made in pattern so that the ribbing in the thumb gusset actually twists around. If you want to do something different feel free!

Row 22 - K2, P2 in pattern across

Row 23 - M1, knit 6 (in pattern), M1, and continue with ribbing across.

Row 24 - K2, P2 in pattern across

Row 25 - M1, knit 8 (in pattern), M1, and continue with ribbing across.

Row 26 - K2, P2 in pattern across

Row 27 - M1, knit 10 (in pattern), M1, and continue with ribbing across.

Row 28 - K2, P2 in pattern across

Row 29 - Place first 12 stitches on stitch holder/waste yarn/whatever you want to that will make sure they are still there when we get back to doing something with them later. ;) Then K2, P2 across to the end of the row

Row 30 - M4 anywhich way you want to (in pattern), then proceed to K2, P2 across

Knit another 8-9 rows in K2, P2 then bind off.

Thumb:

Place the 12 stitches back onto your needles, dividing up the stitches across 2 needles. Then slide the last 2 stitches before the gap onto a separate needle. Begin with these stitches (in pattern), pick up 4 stitches across the gap (in pattern). Continue in pattern (K2, P2 or whichever pattern you're using for your thumb) for the next 4 or 5 rows, then bind off.

Repeat for second mitt.

**Note** All my bind offs were done in pattern. I'm not sure if that will affect how stretchy your bind off is or not. I'll need to test this on the next pair I make.

**Additional Note** Please let me know if you have any difficulty with these instructions as I'm fairly new to writing patterns that other ppl might want to follow.

HLBOES - Flying assignment #2

The assignment was to knit a golden snitch! I'm going to add a twist to this assignment. I want you to add your own flare to the snitch. Notice my flare was the blue embroidery. Make it awesome, make it fancy, make it YOU! This assignment will be worth 15 points. Extra 5 points if you show the picture of your finished project early. I would like it if you could post the picture in my classroom so everyone can see what creation you have made.

Here is mine!

HLBOES - Magical Creatures assignment

For this assignment we were to knit or crochet a cat, any size, any application. Here's what I did for mine.



This handy dishcloth will help me to lick the plates clean, just like my dear kitties like to do when given the chance.

HLBOES - Flying assignment

The rules of Quidditch
----------------------

Quidditch is a game played on brooms with two teams, each team consisting of seven players. The positions on the teams are as follows: 1 Keeper, 1 Seeker, 2 Beaters, and 3 Chasers. The Keeper protects the goals (3 rings) for their team. The seeker is primarily concerned with finding and capturing the snitch (a small golden enchanted ball). The Beaters are primarily concerned with protecting their teammates from the bludgers (two enchanted balls that fly around attempting to hit the players). And the Chasers are responsible for obtaining and moving the quaffle (the fourth ball involved in the game) down the field to score goals.

A quidditch game begins when the referee releases all four balls from the central circle. The Bludgers and the Snitch fly off on their own accord; the Snitch to hide itself quickly, and the Bludgers to attack the nearest players. The Quaffle is thrown into the air by the referee to signal the start of play. When the quaffle is thrown through one of the rings, a goal is scored and is worth ten points. After a goal is scored, the Keeper of the team scored upon throws the Quaffle back into play. Capturing the Snitch earns the Seeker's team 150 points, equivalent to 15 goals scored by Chasers. Since the game ends immediately after the Snitch is caught, the team capturing the Snitch is very likely to win the game, though not always. The length of a Quidditch game varies, as play can only end with the capture of the Golden Snitch by one of the Seekers.

I'm still alive!

The last couple weeks have been interesting and by interesting I don't necessarily mean that it was all good, but I think the good outweighs the bad so I can't complain too much except for the horror that is dial-up. There are no words to describe how much I would hate my life if I only had access to dial-up. Sure my life continued on without high speed internet, but I felt so out of touch with the world, my email and Ravelry! Sure I did have "more" knitting time, but much of it was occupied with children who fell prey to our winter trip nemisis, germs! If it wasn't/isn't one sick kid its another or two or three. I'll be glad to finally get home. The reason we're not home yet is quite the saga in and of itself, but I'll save that for another blog, there are kids desperate to feed their Neopets waiting for their turn.

Oh, and I gotta brag a little just cuz I'm proud of myself. I managed to get all the sweater ornaments done for the nieces and nephews! Yay me!