Nomination for October 2010 TRANSFIGURATION prize

Addreamy of Slytherin for her convincing canine lion costume!

2 interesting's, 4 funny's and 39 love's so far! (currently tied for 3rd)

Congratulations!

Transfiguration

Lookee! I'm finally remembering to post something I have done!

This month's Transfiguration homework was in honor of Tonks and her metamorphmagus ability. We were to disguise someone (human or animal).

I chose the ever-patient Sydney. Here is what I submitted for class:


Addreamy, fourth year Slytherin, turning in my completed Transfiguration homework.

Being a Slytherin, I first tried to find a potion to do what I wanted, eschewing “silly wand waving.” I considered Polyjuice, but that is such a finicky potion and takes forEVER to work. Besides, I wanted to transfigure my canine companion, and, as we all know, Polyjuice is only for humans.

Since Potions was out, I decided to brush up on Cross-Species Switches. I decided this called for before/after shots. As the whole idea was to disguise my springer, I realized there was only one thing to do. I chose the LEAST likely of the four houses for her. Sydney, you see, is decidedly a Hufflepuff, although, being officially a Senior Citizen (she is 8 now), she would much rather sleep than be hardworking. She does have some Slytherin tendencies, such as insisting on her own way and cadging around for treats or ordering me off the couch to go GET her water rather than doing it herself. I applaud her Slythernness, even as I shove her off the couch to go get her OWN drink.

The two least likely houses for her are Ravenclaw (i lovingly refer to her as “dumber than a box of rocks”) and Gryffindor (she is afraid of such things as the Ice Machine in the refrigerator and the stairs down to the basement). However, she does definitely have a love of learning, especially if food or treats are involved in some fashion.

So. Gryffindor it was.

Here is Syd awaiting the spell:



and after a little judicious practice, I got this:



(side view to show off the coat and tail)



(CRAP! Blogger has disabled image uploading due to maintenance. i gave you links instead - hope it works!)

Christmas part 3 and my mystery project!

I figured, before i gushed about my New Year endeavor, I should probably show you all what happened with all the Christmas knitting. I ended up making a snake-and-mouse combo for my nephew (at his request) The snake is designed to swallow the mouse, which it did do successfully several times. However, the mouse, my nephew discovered, was really a Kung Fu mouse, and he had a ball whipping around by its tail (thank goodness the thing was so securely knit on it could never come apart!). I also had a little extra time and made him a bat as well, from a pattern I'd used successfully earlier this summer. It was an even faster knit since I'd made one before, and i finished the entire thing on Christmas Eve. of all the things i did, i think that impressed my dad the most!

Here's the menagerie:



A while ago, I stumbled across a lace-shawl designer named MMario and fell in love with many of his shawl designs. They are fantastic, but look so complicated that i have never dared to try one. He has a real penchant for theming his shawls on various fantasy series and has a number of shawls based on HP as well as Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series and Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, just to name a few.

Well..............when MMario announced last fall that he was going to be hosting a "mystery shawl knit-along" starting Jan 1, I just couldn't resist. What better time to learn how to do lace than with a knit-along, where I could get help from the other participants and where everybody would be more-or-less at the same pace, as the clues would be spaced out weekly???

MMario gave us preferred yarn colors and thickness, and told us that beads would be optional. I rather ignored the thing about beads - i figured, why complicate things?

Ha.

I ordered my yarn just as soon as i got my first paycheck from my new job; i'd spent weeks scoping out yarns all over the internet to find just what i wanted, and it was too expensive to get otherwise. Unfortunately, that meant that it didn't arrive in time for new years, when the first clue was released. I contented myself with "practicing" the first clue with yarn i already had, just to get the feel for how it worked. and i watched.

I watched all the other participants talking aobut their beads and how to do that, and what kinds of beads. I watched their examples start to be posted as they finished the first clue. and man. it looked SOOO COOL with beads. so.......while i was waiting for the yarn, i started looking at beads too. dumb, really, because without the yarn in hand, picking the right color of beads was like reaching blindfolded into a bag. I ended up ordering some inexpensive beads in 3 different colors. none of them, it turned out, worked with the yarn i got. instead, i found some even more inexpensive beads at JoAnn fabrics yesterday.

duh! moral of the story: CURB YOUR IMPULSES!

anyway, I finished knitting Clue one today. Clue 2 came out on Thursday, and I should have that done by the end of the weekend, i hope.......

Here's what it looks like so far: (Many other people stretched out the knitting with pins as it will be at the end when we block it, but I am not set up to do that, so it is a bit curled up on itself at this stage)(TIP: Click on the pic to see the closeup with the beads)



this is fun!

Christmas gifts part 2

Thanks to some quality knitting time during chorus and a late night gabfest with a friend, I finished Meghan's turtle over the weekend!

in the end, i gave up on the last little bit of the shell pattern, but it isn't noticeable, really. it was an extra "icord" around the bottom of the shell where the dark and light parts meet. and when i tried to do that, the directions defeated me. Besides, that part of the shell isn't really all that visible.

So - without further ado, here is Sheldon!

Christmas gifts

When I was a kid, I was never really one for handmade gifts, giving or receiving them. I tried to be polite about it, but the scarves and hats were scratchy or didn't fit well, and the gloves were simply a pain. I HATED all those pieces of thread inside. they caught on everything - my fingers, any jewelry I was wearing (rare though it was), band-aids....

So what am I doing?

Knitting presents for my niece and nephew. Duh!

The difference is - first off, I checked first with my 8yo nephew and let him pick out the stuffie he wanted, and he has seen a bit of the progress on it. (pics of that will come later) As for my 4yo niece? Well, first I was going to make her some stackable cats, cuz she loves cats, Then I was going to make her the chicken-and-egg, because i loved dolls that inversed like that when i was little. She may still get that one for Easter.

But then i remembered this pattern.

And it can be dressed up later....

Dang. i may need to make MYSELF one of these!

Here is how far I am so far:

a win/lose situation

Well, I signed up for quidditch last term. They divided us into 7-player teams and made us come up with background and goals for charity knitting. Our team ("team Chance") chose to knit 3 items each, for a total of 21 items. We could each donate to the charity of our choice. We had 2 1/2 months to knit our 3 items; the term started Sept 1 and ended yesterday, but we had to have our pictures in to our Seeker in mid-Nov.

I originally chose Knit for Kids, an organization that sends knitted sweaters to children in need both internationally and here in america. The pattern was dead-easy and came in sized from toddler to pre-teen.

then i encountered a long string of setbacks. the first project, easy as it was, took 2 weeks to knit the first half of the toddler sized sweater. oops! so i abandoned that project (although i plan to finish the sweater sometime) and cast about for smaller endeavors.

At the beginning of October, i decided to knit newborn caps, as one of my teammates had done that and had already finished 3. So i ordered appropriate weight yarn and needles and got to work....only to discover that i had chosen a really complex pattern that did not knit up easily - and worse yet, you couldn't even tell when i was finished that i had done anything fancy to it at all. (see the preemie cap in the middle) that little preemie cap took me over 2 weeks to make. So I abandoned that pattern in favor of a different one. Unfortunately, the next one i chose also was time/labor intensive, as it called for 3 colors of yarn in a dropstitch pattern. the result (the larger striped one on the right) looks AWESOME and it is stretchy, thanks to some better sock yarn. But between the flu and the length of time it took to knit that, it was now well into November and i still had one more hat to do.

the third pattern i chose turned out to be the simplest of all and the fastest to make. the hat also probably will be the easiest for newborns to wear, it is soft and stretchy without being binding. i love the vertical stitch pattern it made like lazy wide ribs. (see hat on the left.)

i finished it....just before thanksgiving. if i had been able to take its pic and post before i left for my folks, MAYBE i could have helped my team. as it was, today was the first day i could even upload the pics i took at mom and dad's, where this shot was taken. So - EPIC fail for my quidditch team. I am so embarrassed i haven't even been on ravelry to see what happened with them.

also, i don't yet know where i am going to donate these caps. i haven't gotten organized enough to call the local children's hospitals and i didn't find anywhere online that looked like a good, legit prospect.

anyone know of a place that might want 3 cleveland-colored newborn hats?

i actually handed in some homework!

man. the past 2 months have not been my best. i have about had it with real life!

however, i did manage to pull it together long enough to hand in my Transfiguration homework in the HPKCHC for this month. Here's what i posted:

Addreamy of Slytherin here, signing up and turning in my transfiguration homework.

I chose option 2.

2) Taking an object or image from real life and Transfigure it with fiber. This can be done in any way you choose - e.g. spinning yarn to represent the colors of fall, making a knitted version of your cat, making a hat just like one seen on tv (Jayne Hat, anyone?). You are welcome to use a pattern, but you MUST post a picture (or detailed description, if it is from a book) of the object that inspired you - what you are Transfiguring, along with your completed assignment. CLARIFICATION: “Real Life” just means non-knitted. Fictional realms, characters, etc are welcome!

my real life object is a wizard hat. This can best be seen in the following still (I borrowed a muggle camera in order to provide clear evidence that wizard hats are not knit)




I adapted a pattern found in Charmed Knits in order to appropriately clothe Sydney in Hogwarts attire. As you can see, she would now make a good student - or she will in several years. She is only 7 at the moment!



I hope this meets with your approval!

niffler leg warmer

i, too, chose to tackle care of magical creatures this past month. my original hope had been to get an early start on my dog's halloween costume. alas, things didn't turn out quite as planned.

Here's what I posted on Ravelry:

Addreamy of Slytherin, here, signing up and handing in my homework.

My Niffler (who refused to come consistently when called, so never did acquire a working name other than HEY!) sustained an injury very early on in the month. I consulted with Hagrid, who claimed that long nasty scrapes were common in Nifflers, but due to the property of their blood, could not be healed magically. Therefore, he cleaned and bandaged the wound, but charged me with the task of keeping the Niffler from licking or removing the bandage.

Have you ever tried to keep an animal from mucking with a bandage? i tried several methods, including a bubble-headed charm (which interfered with the Niffler’s finding function and made it depressed), an impedimenta spell (which i have never managed properly and succeeded only in a series of low brick walls), and even a nasty-smelling potion. That was a disaster. ‘Nuff said.

Finally, i hit on making a “leg warmer” cover for the entire leg. This worked like a charm.


Having now returned my Niffler, i forgot to get a picture of her wearing it, tho, so my long-suffering springer, Sydney, was volunteered to stand in. Unfortunately, her paws are much bigger than the nifflers, so we could only get it on half-way!


The whole thing so traumatized my girl that she then had to take a nap….

a quick knit project in the midst of the big cleanup

My parents were here all last week, helping me with a huge house cleanout project. In the midst of the very intense week, i remembered that i still needed to make my dad's Father's Day present. so - in 2 (rather long) nights, I whipped this thing together from a pattern I found on the Internet:

Soap On A Rope!



My dad likes Coast Soap, so I slipped a bar of that into the soapbag.


Here it is just before I tied it in place - I gave it to him the next morning!


He seemed pleased. Soap on a Rope was something I traditionally bought him for Father's Day when i was a kid - so it may just have been nostalgia on his part!

June's Herbology Homework

Herbology in June focused on the study of Gillyweed. Specifically, the fact that air bubbles cling to the plant, giving it a distinguishing characteristing. We were to create something with "bobbles" - a specific knitting/crochet technique (also called "popcorn") that makes a little ball-like protrusion in the fabric.

I felt it was the perfect time to blend two of my long-term series obsessions.

The following is what i submitted as my homework:
--------------------------------
Addreamy of Slytherin, signing up for Herbology and handing in my homework.

Recently, I came across a manuscript of a little-known legend pertaining to Hogwarts Lake. I cannot vouch for its veracity; I simply report here what was written there. I will say that the handwriting was rather spidery. What this might mean, I could not say. I apologize for its length, but I thought it best to reproduce it exactly:

Merchieftainess Mercus swished her tail agitatedly. “I cannot tell you, Professor Dumbledore, how important it is to remove that…..thing from the cave. Several times now, it has attempted to harpoon one of my people with its fire of light and we cannot get close enough to tend our crops properly. It is scaring the farmers to death!”

“I understand,” Dumbledore said gravely. “Has it actually hurt anyone yet?”

“No, but its mere presence is disturbing us all. I feel strongly that this sort of magic simply cannot be tolerated. Please remove it at once!” replied Mercus.

“Certainly, Merchieftainess. I will see what I can do.” And with that, Dumbledore swam off toward the deepest underground cave in the lake. If he had calculated right, he should have just enough time to surface in the air pocket before the gillyweed wore off.

Five minutes later, Dumbledore hauled himself out of the water onto a slab of well-worn rock. He quietly coughed twice as the gills on his neck receded. A quick flick of his wand produced a very soft, shielded glow – just enough to allow him to see without giving his own position away. Sure enough, he caught a glimpse of something metallic at the far end of the cavern.

Without leaving his shielded position on the slab, Dumbledore called out cheerfully, “Hello there! I must compliment you on your choice of accommodations. Quite a nice place for a retreat. However, as headmaster, I am duty-bound to welcome all visitors to Hogwarts. Don’t be shy. Come, introduce yourself!”

A whirring sound ensued, and an extremely large, ornate salt shaker glided toward him. It had odd knobbly bits on the lower half of its body, two tubes which passed for arms of a sort, and a rather stalky-looking piece on top, which swiveled around, searching for the source of the voice.

“Explain,” it said in a high-pitched, tinny voice with no inflection whatsoever.

Taking a chance, Dumbledore stood up. “I believe introductions are in order. My name is Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School, the grounds….well, undergrounds…..of which we are currently inhabiting. And you are….?” he asked.

The stalky stem appeared to scan Dumbledore up and down. “You are human,” it intoned. “You are interfering with Dalek preparations. You will be exterminated.” With that, it raised one of its appendages and pointed it straight at the headmaster.

Dumbledore flicked his wand a second time. His shield spell snapped into place just as a bolt of energy shot from the Dalek. Suddenly, the energy beam faltered, then flickered out.

“So sorry, murmured Dumbledore. “Did I neglect to mention that the magic here at Hogwarts interferes dreadfully with electronic and energy devices? I expect you are having trouble moving around, too. How careless of me to have forgotten that detail. I do hope this does not inconvenience you terribly. However, I must insist that you retreat farther back in the cavern to engage in your meditation; you are currently scaring the merpeople.”

Dispatching the Dalek into an isolated corner of the cavern, Dumbledore secured it in place and then studied the Dalek gravely. “I would hate to have you suffer unduly at our expense,” he said. “I do believe this situation calls for a Doctor. But………which doctor? Or….should I say, Doctor Who?”

Smiling slightly, Dumbledore pulled out a fresh handful of gillyweed from his robes and began chewing.

those bookmarks

for Defense Against the Dark Arts, we learned Protego - the protection spell. Therefore, I knitted a set of 4 double-knitted bookmarks to protect the user against losing their place in the book. Before you get too excited, no, i did not create the design/pattern myself, i was just copying somebody else's handiwork. They came out pretty well, tho, I think (although, as their creator I can see all the mistakes i made - and there are a fair few!)

here's the front:


And here's the back:

obsession du jour

I'm currently on vacation at my parents' winter home in Englewood, Florida. I've not been slacking, though! I have 2 knitting projects underway.

This first one is the outside part of a wallet, requested by a chorus friend of mine. I'm doubling up 2 different strands of cotton yarn, partly to meet the gauge of the pattern and partly because it is a really cool combo. Makes it kinda thick, tho. We'll see how it comes out. The stitch i am using is called a "linen stitch" and is easy to do but looks really cool and woven.


This second project is to be a circular lace scarf. the pattern is intricate and cool, the yarn is threadlike and delicate, and i was really proud that i was able to start it on double-pointed needles all by myself on only the second try. however, as you can see, it doesn't look a whole lot like the pattern at this point......more like a tangled mess.



Here, stretched out some, you can almost see a pattern in it. whether it is the same pattern as the pic only time and blocking will tell!


Back later in the week with updates...

double knitting

I am learning this new way of knitting - and so I am practicing it by making potholders to take to my parents' "new" home when I visit them next month.

Here is the first one:
Front....
and back...


I kinda messed up a bit at the beginning, but i don't think mom will mind much! It makes a nice thick potholder. The other one will be a little more colorful and have a different pattern, but still this same reversible double-knitting thing, because I need more practice!

Knitfest

Ok - the first 2 real knitting projects I did were present/surprises for a friend. And while the knitting part of them has been done since last July, the sewing/finishing part has not. So I won't show those until my friend has received them!

However, I have one long-term project in the works and several short-term ones.

First up is my first-ever finished project - a hat from the book "Charmed Knits". I started this the week I went to NYC with the Chorus as I needed a winter hat! I worked on it all that weekend while waiting for things (waiting for the plane, waiting for rehearsal, waiting for the bus, etc.) and finished it up about 10 days after I started it.


Next is a project for Cloudpic. She had asked for a "Dobby Sockmark" - which has introduced me to the "joys" of double-pointed needles. For reference, the sock foot is almost exactly as long as an Equal packet.


Finally - my long-term project is a Tree of Life afghan from Lion-Brand yarn. I started this last August as my Olympic knitting challenge. That was back when I was young and naive, believing that it would be possible to knit something that large and complex in 2 weeks. But it is gorgeous, and I love working on it! Right now, it is a little over halfway done. The afghan itself is too bulky to bring here to Panera's for photo ops. However, the trim (a leaf-trim design) is knitted separately and then sewn onto the finished afghan. I have been working on that as well. I have over 30 leaves done (about a third of the way). Here is a sampling of the string (the leaves are interconnected, so it will be one long knitted trim to attach):
There - that catches me up! As you can see, I am a huge fan of complex things - if it is too easy, I get bored. Go figure!

Oh, and to see a more close-up view of each pic, just click on it!
:)

hey there!

I just spent the very last of my PayPal credits to order a brand-new Canon digital camera from Ebay! I have never owned a digital camera before; in fact, I have only ever touched one about 3 times.

Why is this so exciting, you might ask (or probably at least think, even if you are too polite to ask it), and what does it have to do with my new blog?

Well - my other new hobby of less than a year is .... knitting!

Actually, "hobby" puts the thing to shame, really. It is an obsession of half-finished projects, works-in-progress, and one very successful (if tall) winter hat!

So - combining the two, once I actually get my mitts on that camera, I expect to post about my various creative efforts as well as quite random things i take pictures of. Who knows?

Welcome to Randomocity!