Return to Hogwarts
Posted by Nina on Apr 28, 2010
I’ve just signed up for my 2nd year at Hogwarts (aka. HPKCHC)! Last term I had very little time to do anything but knit… and I literally finished my OWL on the very last day of term! This time.. I am going to plan my time much better and get everything done on time! I will not be having sleepless nights this term, oh no, I will be budgeting my time much better!
This term there will be spinning, there will be weaving, and there will be lots of knitting and crocheting! What you see in the photo above is my OWL proposal.. this year I will be attempting (and succeeding!) in a Care of Magical Creatures OWL by hatching a dragon! Do you see my trusty book that I have borrowed from Professor Hagrid? I will be hatching a Siberian Ice Crest dragon.. more on this later.. but I give you my swatch!
What? Stop laughing! It’s going to be a dragon! REALLY! IT IS!!! That is it’s head… oh dear, I am really not helping matters here any, am I? Just trust me, it’s a dragon.
Russia revisited & Podcasting
Posted by Nina on Feb 25, 2010
Some of you might remember that a few years ago my husband went to visit his parents in Minsk and he brought me back a few magazines.. I have never used them 
so I think for this summer I am going to make this shawl pattern right here. One thing about Russian knitting is that they do not really distinguish a difference between knitting and crocheting like the US does.
This also meant that I had to figure out what the actual stitches were with the help of my husband and some wonderful people at Ravelry.. for instance a chain stitch in English is translated as air knits in Russian so there is no direct word for word translation here so I needed help! Unlike American magazines there is no ‘beginners’ section.. these magazines always assume that you know exactly what the stitches are and do not teach you how to do them.. This shawl is a good starting point for me because I knew what the stitches were by looking at them, I was just unsure that I was correct, and there is no actual knitting in this pattern.
I am going to use KnitPick’s Palette yarn with a 3mm crochet hook since I am pretty sure that’s what the pattern suggests. It also says I will need 500gms of yarn but fails to tell how many meters that is so while 500grms translates to 10 balls of Palette, I am going to buy about 12-14 to be safe on the yardage. If this works out well.. I might venture into some other countries patterns. I have plenty from Japan ready and waiting!
The Podcasts
I’ve never really plugged my favorite podcaster’s on my blog before so I am going to do that right now!! I subscribe to both Vegan Radio & Vegan Freak and I like them pretty equally.. they are both pretty straight forward.. vegan life, vegan food, and issues we deal with.. I’d venture to say they are my favorite podcasters. Knitting podcasts I have yet to find one that I love almost as much as those, but I enjoy Lime & Violet, I am checking out others but I will admit there isn’t much that I find myself subscribing to.. Loveline is always interesting and those of you with little children you might enjoy The Story Home. 
I hope you will have a listen to these.. I am sure you will love them as much as I do!
test crocheting & spinning
Posted by Nina on Feb 23, 2010
I’ve got a friend who has written a pattern and plans to submit it to KnitPick’s for you to be able to purchase! Since I have had a lot of experience crocheting I offered to be the tester for the advanced user. I had to go up a needle size and make about 2 extra rows to fit but over all, everything worked out exactly the way I wanted it to! I had no idea what the pattern would look like when I offered so I was pleasantly surprised that it was a beautiful cap!
I’ve chosen this beautiful gold color simply based upon my hair color lol. I thought the gold could compliment my red hair and fair skin pretty well.. and the button I used for the center is a beautiful clear button with glitter in the very center totally encased inside the button. I love the little bling! I need my husband to take some shots of me wearing this.. hopefully this weekend for my Ravelry project page.. anyway, I did not find any errors in the pattern and the most complicated thing about this pattern would be using magic loop for beginners.
During the olympic events at Ravelry, I joined in the flying camel or spinning event.. I have been working like crazy to finish projects and spin so here are two yarns that I spun super fine and plied with Rowan Kidsilk Haze mohair.. it ends up being a light lace weight yarn and each skein is over 270yrds. When I say I have been busy, I mean busy! I am now afraid that I won’t finish everything I need to before the end of the month.. but I am still working to finish 33% of my Nightsongs shawl and finish up the Imbolc shawl I started a long, long time ago!
Hogwarts Express!
Posted by Nina on Jan 25, 2010
Remember when I joined the Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup group on Ravelry and I said I would share a little more about it with you? Well.. now is the time! We are sorted into houses at the beginning of the term (3 months) and each month a class listing is given and the more classes you participate in the more points your house earns.. and you are also competing for some real prizes! I have met some really fabulous people there and they are cheering me on to reduce the size of my knitting queue and finish up those works in progress (during the Ravelry olympics of course!) and I have created some of the cutest little things for the first round of classes!!
First up we have this super cute flying spaghetti monster… I made him for potions class. We were instructed to create something dangerous or something that Dumbledore would love.. I think he fits on both accounts.
Next was this really cute cupcake for Charms. We were instructed to create something to make the professor smile.. well being that I was sorted into Gryffindor.. our house decided to create a secret food fight where we would all make cupcakes and food items to turn in all at the same time (I lost count after 18 of us turned them in!) and later that evening we would storm the Slytherin dungeon and start the food war all over again! I made a white cake with lavender frosting and a cute little cherry on top with rainbow sprinkles.. it now functions as a soft toy or pin cushion.
Last but not least we have this adorable little apple cozy I made for Defense Against The Dark Arts.. we were instructed to create an item that represents your resolution for the year.. it represents two for me.. start & finish projects on my queue and to stay healthy! I spent most of 2009 either ill or injured and I figured the old saying ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ might not be a bad thing to start with!
Take a look at the Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup group on Ravelry… go right now! It’s my favorite group! Oh and I was the Gryffindor featured for the 2nd interview on our house blog!
You probably won’t see me again until the end of this month while I am busy finishing up class projects and spinning like crazy for a contest!
makings for the baby #2
Posted by Nina on Jun 5, 2007
Sergey and I are still planing to have a baby some time in the not so distant future (ideally before I reach 30).. so I began my second project for my future child. I haven’t done any Crocheting in quite some time so, it was nice to begin something that I can finish pretty quickly.
It became apparent to me that who ever made up this gauge for the pattern was smoking something funky because it calls for Worsted Weight yarn and a G hook.. then tells you to swatch 11 rows in pattern to match 5 1/2″ w x 4 3/4″ l .. well I am using an E hook and my gauge is STILL wrong! I am assuming the people who made it used Sport Weight yarn.. and its a misprint in my pattern.. however I have the same pattern in TWO books that both say Worsted Weight, tested by 4 people! My finished afghan will be slightly larger than the 36″ w x 45 l” than the pattern suggests but not by much.. it will probably be along the lines of 42″ x 50″… larger is better! I figure it will carry our child right on into toddler age.
