Some HPKCHC FOs

I rejoined the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup on Ravelry :)

I love this group, but I'd dropped out for a few "terms". Then I head Rachel on the KnitCents podcast talking about it, and it reminded me of how much I'd enjoyed it last time, so as soon as the new term was about to begin, I signed up.

In this group, they have "classes" where you get a task - kind of like an inspiration idea, some loose idea, and you craft something that's connected to that idea. This month I did Defence Against The Dark Arts, Astronomy, and Ancient Runes.

Ancient Runes: The task was to craft something that would enable or aid communication. I made some top-(fingers)-down fingerless mitts to "help keep my hands warm when I was texting or phoning my muggle friends on the tellyfone" :D





Defence Against The Dark Arts: This task was to craft something you would wear to the beach. I made a poncho/coverup using Cindy Kamps' Medallion Poncho pattern.



Astronomy: The task was to create something irregular (based on the asteroid belt) I made a cowl using chunky yarn, just going round and round in SC/DC (depending on what country you're in and what terminology you're using), and working bobbles randomly, just whenever I wanted to make one. I think the final effect turned out quite asteroid-y :D It looks quite interesting as a hat/head-covering as well as around the neck (actually I think it looks better that way!)











I turned them all in today (the last day of the month), so I could get my points for Ravenclaw. I'm in Ravenclaw, my favourite house, BTW!! Last minute as usual, it's just like when I really was at school, lol!

Happy July :)

Hiya! I've been away from here for so long... :( I've been a bit ill for the past month or so (depression/anxiety) and just haven't been able to get focused enough to write anything. My mood always goes down in the summer, I'm sure last year I had a bit of a blip in blog-writing too. I'm so weird, everyone else goes up in summer and down in winter, I'm the reverse. Now that the summer solstice has passed, I'm feeling quite a bit better, and hopefully I'll be able to catch up on this blog and on reading everyone else's blogs. I've really missed this place, but just wasn't feeling up to being on it. I'm glad I'm back :)

It's been a whole month and a half since I last posted here!! I've been continuing to knit and crochet during my hiatus, and I learned to spin as well, so I've got tons to talk about. I finished my poncho that I talked about in my last post, so many weeks ago.



I really like it, and I'm totally converted to ponchos now! I know, they're so five years ago, but that's how I am I guess. I can never like anything at the same time as anyone else ;) I have some lovely artesano alpaca in my stash in a beautiful jade colour to make another crocheted mesh poncho - I must get a photo of it, it's a gorgeous colour, I'm very excited about it.

I've also finished a couple of projects for my IntSweMoDo2010, a pullover and a cardi at least (it's been so hard to keep track without updating this blog!), but they'll get their own special posts :)

I also made the Etain shrug from Inside Crochet Magazine #7:





I loved this pattern as soon as I saw it in the magazine! I love the way it sort of has that diagonal line at the back. I made it out of a red wool that I had (and still have tons of!) in my stash, but I want to make more of them from softer, more lovely yarns. It was a good mindless crochet project, lots of back and forth, just what I needed at that time.

I've also had a serious case of startitis during this past month and a half, and have a ton of projects in various stages of completion that need photos and blogged. But now I'm feeling like it just might be doable, and am quite excited about getting it all done. Yay for getting the longest day over and done with, my life can get back to normal now!

So, to wrap up I'm super glad to be back, and I'll be popping round all the blogs I normally read, and catching up, both there and here. See you all soon!!

Poncho, Poncho

I've been on a bit of a knitting hiatus recently, as my left index finger started hurting. I think I'd been knitting a bit too enthusiastically on first the lace stole because it was on a deadline, and then my third Tubey sweater, purely because I'm excited about it, and want it finished! But my finger started hurting, and rather than push on and risk hurting it any more, I decided to switch to crochet for a while. Thank goodness for alternating crafts! I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't craft anything!

I've been making first of all the Etain Shrug by Aoibhe Ni Shuilleabhain, from the most recent Inside Crochet magazine. I loved that shrug as soon as I saw it, and started it pretty much when I got the magazine! It's finished, but I haven't got any photos of it yet, so I'll write an FO post about it later ;)

I'm also making the Beauty in Bloom Poncho by Rachel Geller (ravelry link) This is my first poncho, and I have no idea why I'm making a poncho. I just got the irrational and insatiably urge to make this project. I had a random black yarn on a cone in my stash that I'd found in a charity shop, so I started it :)





This pattern is very interesting. You make all the flowers first, then crochet the top of the meshy part, then join the flowers individually, then do the bottom mesh part. Joining the flowers needed super concentrating powers to follow the pattern and to do it correctly. I had to rip them out 3 times. Firstly because I hadn't read the instructions on how to position them and they were all at different angles. Then I got confused twice about where to join it all together. Luckily, there's a close-up picture of the flower on the pattern, so I used that to help me get the idea. The instructions are all written out, so it can be a little confusing, but charts kind of scare me, so I don't know if I'd have even started if it was in chart form. The instructions do make sense when you figure out what's happening, but it did require a lot of thinking on my part. I'm not used to all that joining of motifs anyway, so that lack of experience contributed to my confusion too :)

The way the mesh is joined at the end of each round is super clever! You can't see the join at all, it just looks like continuous, seamless mesh. I'm seriously loving this pattern :)

I'm looking forward to doing lots of mesh crochet this evening. It's repetitive and kind of mindless, so it's lots of fun :)