harry potter anyone?

another weasley-along

 

 

Gryffindor socks, knit in Dani's hand-painted self-striping sock yarn
gryffindor striped hat in leftover yarn from my HiP scarf
a weasley sweater for me knitted with Rowan Felted Tweed in Ginger
(p.s. - I've posted a weasley sweater pattern if you're looking for one!)
Hermione hat in Manos #115

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Do you see Harry Potter colors everywhere?

Tropicana Fruit Juice pops in Gryffindor colors

Here's some more Harry Potter colors for you:

Cirilia finished an awesome weasley for herself.
Christina finished two weasleys for her adorable nieces!
Ina knit a Hermione hat and tried out her sun gun for some photography tricks. And she's been bean counting, Bertie Bott's every flavored bean counting, that is!
Jennifer is new to the knitalong, just scoring some of Dani's Ravenclaw yarn and getting ready to make socks.
And I hope you've been following Heather's Harry Potter Dragon socks project. She's already finished the Common Welsh Green socks and the Swedish Short-Snout. Check out the yarn she's found for the Chinese Fireball!

PS - Alert reader, Dawnya, noticed that there's a Rowan Harry Potter sweater pattern for sale on eBay. You've got until tomorrow!

The magic needles are still clicking away...

Cat finished an awesome "E" weasley sweater.
Micky has been in a Harry Potter mood, finishing both a Hermione hat and a weasley cell phone cozy.
and Knitopia knit some Sunshine Yarns Gryffindor socks. They came out great! (PS - a little birdie told me that there will be lots of self-striping HP sock yarns for sale at Sunshine Yarns Tuesday morning!)

I think you gals (and the recent DVD release of Goblet of Fire) have got me back in the mood to do some HP knitting. Ahhhh, knitting and Harry Potter - is there any better marriage of two obssessions? My boys say yes. Coming this summer it's Lego Spongebob sets. We are so excited!

UPDATE: Hey, look Shannon snapped a picture of me at Knitsmiths last week (with her super cool new razor camera phone!) wearing my weasley!

kick it!

Two other knitters have drilled and starting making boots! Katie has finished one fabulous green boot. I love it! And Whit crocheted hers! You gotta see it.

In the meantime, Jae reports that she managed to convice her husband to drill holes in perfectly good shoes and Rebecca is practicing her dpn skills on some socks.

I've still got one boot left to finish. Maybe listening to Whit's interview with Tina Marrin can inspire me to get started again. Or I could watch the Knitty Gritty show again for about the thousandth time. "Are you ready boots? Start knitting!"

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sockapaltwoza

Lots of finished make-up socks to report:

Alison sent off socks to Sara!
Bliss got the sock savior socks I knitted!
Alison C. has finished socks too
Ariel finished Whitby's for her make-up pal.
And Stinkerbell loves her make-up socks!

Three Alisons and an Ariel saving the sockapalooza - awesome! Thanks so much, ladies. Isn't it great when we all knit and make up?

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another weasley

And the finished weasleys just keep on coming....

Whit made a beautiful "F" weasley for her daughter. (I think if I had mine to do over again, I'd do an F too! I've got a little thing for Fred now.)
Becky made an "N" weasley for her son. (I love these pictures of the kids in their sweaters.)
Patty did a great job on her Gryffindor scarf.
And Ann knit a fun Hogwarts hat for her Knitting Olympics project.

There are new knitalongers too:

Anne's Gryffindor socks are way cool and Jenny is working a Hogwarts unity blanket. What a neat project!

Long live the weasley-along!

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yarn aboard

The radio box I sent in Amanda's sock yarn swap has visited two others so far: Emily, who received the gifts I packed in the box, and Rachel, who received gifts from Emily.

This is so much fun to watch! Go radio box, go.

Hey HP fanatics, go check out the fabulous Gryffindor sweater Anmyriam designed for her daughter. Awesome job!

We've had a new wave of HP fans join the knitalong madness, including:
Cat, who is making a weasley in Wool Ease
Emma, who is a hard core fan (that's a good thing!) and has finished the back of her weasley already
Kammy, who has just cast on for a weasley
and Patty too!

Ready for a blast from the HP past? The first movie will be on ABC tonight. Fellow sockapalOOOzer, Jenny, reminded me that she put up the very first HP scarf pattern on the web. Ahhhh, the early days of HP obsession. Can you even remember what it was like before we talked about weasleys and magic knitting needles and spent hours on the internet hunting down Harry Potter patterns and new sources for hand-painted sock yarn in Hogwarts house colors?

Erica has another weasley sweater to show us! This one is for her other little girl and was knit by her mother-in-law. What a great pair those girls make in their weasleys!
Kitty Kitty finished her husband's Azkaban scarf - in Aurora 8, yum!

Kylie joined the knitalong and is planning a weasley and a Gryffindor scarf
And Erin has already started a weasley. She admits that making her own HP scarf was the reason she began knitting in the first place. A girl after my own heart!

Since we're admitting things today, look what I bought on eBay:

The boys have so many Legos, I figure I'm allowed to have one too.

My Hermione set is finally complete!

I wore the mittens the first day they were finished. It was a beautiful sunny (and luckily, cold) day and the colors were so gorgeous in the light that I couldn't stop staring at them! I only wish I could think of a reason to buy more of this Manos. (Well, that and I wish I could get a decent picture of the color.)

Just sew crafty just finished a pair of Hermione mittens too. In purple. Look at that beautiful cable! And Kammy is starting a weasley for her son. Check out the Gryffindor hat and scarf she's already made.

And finally, finally, hubby finished book 6, so we can talk Harry Potter around him again.

Annie wrote in that she made a Hermione bag, based on the cable pattern from the hat and mitten pattern - I love it!
Heather finished the L on her daughter's weasley
Phoebe finished an Azkaban scarf and Gryffindor socks for her little guy - check out the cute pics!
Susan finished her weasley just in time for New Years!
and Amysue is working on a Hermione hat and Slytherin socks (no pics yet)

I finished the first Hermione mitten. Here's my pic:

Here's S's pic (I love it when the boys help out with the photography!):

And look what hubby put on the iPod for me!

Looks like a lot of folks had a very merry Harry holiday!

Amanda finished a HiP scarf and made THE COOLEST gift label to wrap it up
Amanda made a Gryffindor hat for charity
Jeanne finished an Azkaban scarf for gifting
Jenn knit about a million holiday prezzies, including a HiP scarf
Katherine made a HiP tie gift
Sandy made a J weasley for the perfect Christmas present
and Shireen finished her X weasley for her niece!

And other Harry knits were spotted in progress:

Becky was working on a Slytherin PoA scarf
Caren started a gorgeous Hufflepuff scarf
and Cirilia's F weasley had to be put on hold to make time for holiday gift knitting

Now that I am practically done with my holiday knitting, I've started my Hermione mittens. This pattern is addictive!

Here's to a happy and healthy and Harry new year!

Andrea finished a weasley ornament, and another, while Whit is working on a wonderful "F" weasley, and I finished my Hermione hat!

Wow, this one almost went south soooo many times. I am now an expert at dropping down whole cables and reknitting them properly. And at redistributing increases in the middle of a complex pattern.

Any of you who've made one of these, can you tell that the swirly cable/bobble part of the pattern doesn't go as high on my hat? I was using the Manos that inspired the whole project and it's quite a bit bulkier than the Cascade 220 that the pattern calls for. Although I was knitting the Manos down on the specified needle, there was just no way that I was getting the right gauge. It didn't matter to me that the hat was a bit wider. I knew the original was very tight, so this fits quite well actually. But I noticed after the second bobble that the hat was going to be about six inches taller than my head if I didn't start decreasing early. Now, if you've seen the pattern, you know that changing around all the decreases is not a trivial task. But I had to do it. No way I was ripping the hat out and reknitting all those cables (especially not after I'd reknit so many of them already!). And no way I was using a different yarn - I LOVE this Manos. So I just took a deep breath and reworked all the decreases. I just managed to squeeze the third bobble in. I couldn't possibly live with three less bobbles, now could I?

I heart my Hermione hat

I really really like the hat. So much so that I bought the mitten pattern and another skein of the Manos for them. I guess I'll be redoing that pattern as well.

So what are the rest of my weasley-alongers up to?

UPDATE: Because Margot asked... here's a full frontal of the hat.

Two knitting wizards to report on this week: Erica finished her daughter's weasley and it looks awesome! And Michelle has started a neat Ravenclaw raglan sweater.

I caught the first movie on ABC Family yesterday. WITH the deleted scenes of all the Weasley brothers and Harry in their sweaters. So here's a little inspiration for those of you still working on weasleys:

look, green "F" and "G" weasleys for the twins!

hey, that's Percy in the back in a brown weasley

and, finally, we get to see Harry in his blue weasley

I made popcorn for the occasion and started a Hermione hat.

Apparently, I wasn't Harry Potter-ed out after all. As soon as I saw this bright, rich variegated red Manos at the store, I simply could not resist trying out the hat with it. If there's more of this yarn, I swear, I'm snatching it up to make the matching mittens!

What an exciting week in wizard knitting it's been:

Although Amysue gave up on finishing her Azkaban scarf, she converted what she had already knitted into a fabby hat! What a brilliant idea!
Beth finished her Hogwarts scarf (and did you all see the Hermione mittens she knit in October?)
Erin made a beautiful Hermione hat
Jeanie finished her weasley and now it's the perfect length!
Kathy finished her son's "C" weasley
Lolly made a HiP scarf (and Heather looks so cute in it!)
Remember the FOUR Azkaban scarves that Margot knit? Well, they've been given to the happy recipients (Margot says she just might be Hogwarted-out for a while now.)
Patti finished her second weasley
Sharlyn made her son a beautiful weasley and is wrapping it up for Christmas

And lookie, I finished the mini-weasley tree ornament for the newest addition to my husband's family. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to make these.

(I found one ball of this discontinued color of Felted Tweed in the sale bin somewhere and after five girl mini weasleys, it's definitely dwindling. Note to the in-laws: three or four more girls and then it's gotta be boys, boys, boys.)

Not many updates this week:

TrevorKane finished her husband's beautiful heraldic lion sweater
and Jeanie has done some major surgery on her weasley

The knitalong's not over, folks! In fact, I've still got another weasley to make: a mini-weasley ornament for a new arrivial to my husband's family.

And here's an eensy-weensy little glimpse at that new Ron sweater from the film!!

from ABC Family's Inside Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Can you see the R? You can really see the sweater (it's a raglan with button closures on the raglan line) in the scene where they're riding to Howarts on the train, but I can't find a screenshot of it anywhere. We'll just have to wait until the DVD, I guess. Still, that doesn't mean that someone can't start sketching out a pattern already! (Um, not me, but I did hear that my fellow weasley co-hostess, Jenn is thinking about it!)

Loved the movie! Really good acting this time and excellent special effects. Of course, many details were changed and several whole plot lines were left out in order to fit everything into one movie. A few of my favorite scenes from Book 4 - where the Weasleys send the letter to the Dursleys completely covered with stamps and then when they show up in the fireplace; and the scene with Harry stuck in the stairs, Snape about to find him, and MadEye seeing him through his invisibility cloak - weren't there at all! I was so looking forward to those scenes. But it's all good. The movie took the time to focus on the major points, like the competitions and You-Know-Who, and did a super job on them. The biggest surprise for me is how funny the movie was. Really, the first hour and a half: funny, funny, funny. They even added some scenes that weren't in the book to bring in some more laughs. Really well done.

So knitting. Right. In the theater, I saw four house scarves: one Gryffindor, one Slytherin Azkaban style, one Ravenclaw? (red and blue chenille), and what looked like a crocheted Slytherin scarf. Didn't see any other sweaters but mine. And, weasley knitters, Ron's got a new "R" sweater in this film! For those of you who hate intarsia, it looks like you can sew on the letter now!

Alright, enough of the movie, on to the updates. Look at all the knitters who finished in time for the opening day of the film:

Aimee finished her Hufflepuff scarf
Alex finished her Ravenclaw scarf for the midnight showing (and she's scoped out all the new knitting possibilities from the movie - check it out!)
Amy finished her Azkaban scarf
Ann finished a HiP scarf
Ann was racing against the clock to get her Gryffindor socks done in time
Emmy made a Gryffindor hat
Erica didn't finish her weasley, but she's got some good excuses
Erin finished her scarf and wore it with the Ron and Hermione hats to the midnight showing
Heidi knit-along with us in secret and finished a weasley (love the rib and roll neck and the hemmed edges!)
Jen wore her HiP scarf and met more knitters at the movie
Karlie got both her scarf and Hatmione hat done in time
Krista shared a pic of the beautiful Gryffindor scarf she knit for her husband - she made a Hufflepuff one for herself to wear to the movie
Margot has now finished four, count 'em FOUR, Azkaban scarves!
May finished the incredible Heraldic Lion sweaters she made for her girls
Nathania posted pics of her awesome Slytherin house sweater
Ruth finished two scarves (check out GryffinDOG and RavenPAW - too cute!), house mittens and those nifty house gloves with a house color for every finger
Seanna Lea fringed her scarf just before the film
Spring finished her Ravenclaw scarf
Stacie finished her scarf with just minutes to spare (and no time for fringe!)
and Stephanie finished her son's weasley and he wore it to school on the big day - well at least for a little while ;0)

Bravo, everyone! But the needles aren't stopping just 'cause the movie's out. There's still plenty of other weasley knitting going on.

Christina is working on her weasley and is up to the letter
Mouse got 3 1/2 bars done on her scarf and then went to the movie anyway
Sharlyn started her weasley and is trying to decide on the edging and Shireen completed the letter (an "X"!) on the weasley she's knitting

And I gotta say it: my favorite thing about the movie? Fred and George. 'Natch. They even mention knitting!

Here we are: the three weasleys! (So, if I'm Ginny Weasley in my ginger weasley, does that make the boys Fred and George? They're my favorite characters in the books anyway!) Look what the boys wanted to wear for the first picture. Mama weasley couldn't be more proud.

I'm off to the movie tonight! I've checked out all the sneak movie clips on Mugglenet and am ready to see it for myself. Hooray!

I finished!

More pics after I get through the morning routine here and get everyone dressed. Who else made it? Let me know for tomorrow's update!

Almost another weasley!

Doesn't it look done that way? This is how it really looks though. Still the last sleeve to finish and sew in and the bottom edging to complete.

After going back, adding a couple more inches to the bottom, and watching it roll even higher, I decided to hem the bottom edge. It's a nice, clean look and the sweater is the perfect length now. I wasn't 100% sure what to do at the neck however. Ribbed cuffs, hemmed bottom edge of body, and a roll neck seemed like too many styles for just one sweater. So I did the same stockinette hem on the neck as at the bottom edge and I'm giving it a day to see how I like it.

Other weasley knitters trying to make the deadline:

Aimee has 13 bars finished on her scarf
Jen also has only one stripe left on her scarf
and Karlie is almost done with her PoA scarf too
MA has finished her Hufflescarf
Ruth has finished a House glove - you gotta see it, it has all the House colors on it! - and is knitting away on her Ravenclaw scarf

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It's almost time to close the door on the sockapal-2-za! There are lots of make-up socks underway and a couple more socks have made their way to pals:

Beth got some fabby mermaid socks
MeBeth received some supercool superhero socks
and Nanette loves her new socks (check out her post and see how much!)

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In the holiday knitalong, we've got over 80 participants and even more in the queue to be invited. There are some really fabulous projects over there! I love the fact that people can post their pics there for us all to see without the gift recipients seeing them on their normal blog. It's so fun being in on everyone's gifts!

My holiday list of 7 pairs of socks, 1 scarf, and 2 hats has a half a checkmark on it, as B's kool-aid hat is all knitted but still needs a lining. S's red hat is underway, so that's like a quarter checkmark. Woo hoo, that's 3/4 of a checkmark all together! Of course, I've just added 2 more scarves to the list, so I'm actually 1 1/4 checkmarks down now. Hmmm, maybe this keeping track thing isn't such a good idea after all. (Heh, heh.)

Wow, there's been a lot of weasley knitting going on! I guess that's because the movie premiere is coming soon. (6 days for us in America!)

Anna finished gryffindor socks and a Slytherin scarf (the scarf is crocheted, folks)
Dani finished her HP scarf a while ago (she knits so fast, who can keep up?)
and Emily finished her HiP scarf before I could even add her to the knitalong list!
Janell is already wearing her HP scarf
Julie finished her Azkaban scarf (and her first sock!)
MA finished her Gryffindor scarf and has started a Hufflepuff scarf (the colors look great)
Manda just finished this cute London Beanie in Gryffindor colors and plans to knit matching mittens and a weasley next
Margot has finished 3 Gryffindor scarves and is casting on for another!
Monique also just joined the knitalong and has finished a Gryffindor House Scarf
Stacy, "the coolest aunt in the entire world", made an Azkaban scarf for her niece which she wore for Halloween

And elsewhere, Alex's Ravenclaw scarf is long enough for a real picture and there are lots of newcomers like Sharlyn who couldn't hold out any longer and will be making a weasley for her son, Ann, who'll be making a HiP scarf, and Spring who's making a scarf for the movie and a weasley for her son.

I, however, have come to a grinding halt with my weasley. Front and back are finished and sewn together. (I know I'm supposed to wait to set in the sleeves before I seam up the two body pieces, but I always need to know how the body will fit!). Well, it fits fine, but with the roll, it's a little short. Not crazy short, not cropped, but a little too short for it to just be a sweater I can wear with any pants. I decided to try adding ribbing like there is at the bottom of the sleeves to the bottom edge. I did that on the back and now, unrolled, plus two inches of ribbing, the thing's wicked long. I'm totally conflicted. What do you all think??

After Thing One and Thing Two I might just be a little intarsia-ed out*. I made it this far on the front of my weasley...

... before I put it down for a little (well, a LOT) of simple sleeve stockinette.

I predict I'll finish this with time to spare.

* Uh-oh, this doesn't bode well for my finishing my long-sleeve nbat, which I put down five or so rows into the intarsia on the front!

Ann finished her Azkaban scarf for Halloween and is working on Gryffindor socks now
Christy made TWO quidditch sweaters for her brothers!
Emily finished the Hogsmeade hat (you know the one Ron wears in the snowball fight scene of PoA) - it is so cool!
Laura is all done with her son's weasley (so cute!)
and Makenzie finished her Azkaban scarf

Aimee is just starting her scarf - and planning to knit 6 inches a day so she can have it done in time for the movie!
Erica is almost done with the back of her weasley, knitting as fast as she can
Erin says she's about halfway through her Azkaban scarf now (love the colors she's using!)
Mary reports that she has her HiP yarn and is finally getting started
Pixie is getting a little bored with all the stockinette on her scarf - it looks great though
Ruth has a Ravenclaw scarf underway (and just in case she can't get it done before the movie opens, she's telling the family they can see it the second week!)
Sarah has finished the back and is up to the intarsia on the front of her weasley
and Stacie is getting close to finishing her Azkaban scarf (check out the Halloween pic of her knitting in costume!)

My weasley is also coming along on schedule. The back is complete and I'm about to cast on for the front.

Hubby asked me last night if it's okay that he doesn't want a weasley. If it means that I don't have to knit yet ANOTHER weasley before the movie opens, then yeah, I'm fine with that!

Now that I've made my Halloween deadline, it's time to get cracking on my next deadline project, the weasley sweater. November 18th is creeping closer and closer!

just over two weeks left to get from here to a finished sweater

As of today, I'm into the armhole shaping on the first piece, the back.

hey, that's not how Molly does it!

So I'm cheating a little and using Ann Budd's excellent Handy Book of Sweater Patterns to fudge up the numbers to convert Mrs. Weasley's simple drop-shoulder pattern into a set-in sleeve. I just know that it will look a lot better on me. I was tempted to add waist shaping, but didn't want to get too far away from the original look, so I decided against it. Plus, it's faster knitting without it.

Come on magic needles: knit, knit, knit!

Amy made Slytherin and Ravenclaw HiP scarves for her sons (what cuties!)
Joan finished her son's weasley and an Azkaban scarf in time for a Halloween party at school (you have got to see this picture of him all dressed up - I think this is my favorite knitalong pic of all time!)
Ina knitted a great pair of kid's Gryffindor socks and she's giving them away to a blog reader, so go leave a comment to enter the contest!
Mascarasnake finished a big B weasley for her brother
Michelle finished a HiP scarf and sewed some fun fabric on to the back side - what a great idea!

Anmiryam is working on an awesome Quidditch sweater for her daughter
Annie is almost finished with her daughter's Azkaban scarf for her Halloween costume
Becky's Hatmione is looking terrific and she's almost done with a bookscarf too (hey, she's starting a Christmas Stocking Knitalong - neat!)
Emily has made great progress on her Hogsmeade hat (I can't wait for that pattern!)
Jennifer is getting her Azkaban scarf underway (look at the sweet baby in new Trellis cardigan pics - awwww!)
Kat is knitting a pair of Opal Rainforest "Owl" socks in honor of the release of Goblet of Fire
Kathy just finished the intarsia on her son's weasley
MA has started another Gryffindor scarf for a friend for the GoF premiere (gotta wait till Sunday for her weekly pics)
Pixie has pics of progress and puppies
Stephanie is making a weasley in the round and is learning how to do intarsia in the round for the initial (check out her ugly knit entry in the You Knit What? Halloween Contest!)

And with my Halloween knitting, I haven't made any progress on my weasley sweater, but in one of my I-need-to-knit-something-else-to-save-my-hand evenings, I did manage to make this little Gryffindor hat with the leftovers from my HiP scarf.

I've got enough yarn for one more. Who thinks my boys need matching Gryffindor hats?

Amanda made a HiP scarf and has plans for a full-sized Azkaban scarf
Andrea has finished her weasley - love the "A"!
Diane has one gorgeous Ravenclaw scarf done and has started a Hufflepuff one
Diane has started a new blog and knit, yes, it's a Slytherin scarf (there's on in every bunch!)
Erin has finished her Ravenclaw scarf (and a few other fabby scarves you gotta see!)
and Laura finished her daughter's amazing weasley sweater

Alex has started her Ravenclaw scarf
Ann has ripped and is reknitting her daughter's Azkaban scarf to be half as wide
Beth momentarily found knitting nirvana with her Hermione mittens
Erica still has no yarn and has been reduced to ranting in ALL CAPS about it
Karen is making House mittens - check out the giant scary mitten pics! - and here's a pic of her latest, more modestly sized mitten
Lily won't show us her Hufflepuff scarf, but she does have some Ravenclaw sock yarn that looks pretty darn great
Micky's Azkaban scarf is underway
Nanc is working on some awesome Gryffindor socks (check out all the the fun sock pics!)
SeannaLee is starting a weasley using MA's pattern - she plans to knit two weasleys and a Ravenclaw scarf in two weeks (I'd say that's crazy, but as I am hoping to finish knitting twin Halloween costumes in the next 9 days, I'd best keep my mouth shut!)

And as for me, I managed to squeeze in a little weasley knitting while in Rhinebeck last week. I'm one skein in! At least one eighth of the way done.

I just love this Ginger color. I stressed so much about it, since I'd only seen it on the color card, but it is wonderful. I love that it is an interesting orange. It's almost like a rust color: sometimes appearing reddish and sometimes more brown. And, the best surprise, there are little light blue flecks! When I noticed those I knew that I'd picked the right color for my weasley.

Cristina finished her HiP scarf and wore it to her local Oktoberfest
fellow knitsmith, May, recently showed up at knitting group with this amazing finished Heraldic Lion sweater for her daughter - she's going to make another one for her other daughter - May is INCREDIBLE!
Ruth made an Azkaban scarf and some very handsome looking House Mittens
Songbird has finished her daughter's Gryffindor scarf (she's going to be Hermione for Halloween - isn't that cool?)
and I finished my Harry Potter socks!

Dani's gryffindor sock yarn knit up so great (I heard she might make some more!). So as not to interrupt the perfect striping that she's put into the yarn, I cut out the yellow sections while working my standard short-row heels and toes, so they are solid red. The colors are so amazing!

Amy is almost finished with her Azkaban scarf - see the cool pics of the inside of the scarf!
Ann's making progress on her daughter's Azkaban scarf (she's going to be Ginny for Halloween!)
D is making a beatiful Ravenclaw scarf
Emily's got the right yarn for her Hogsmeade hat (can't wait to see this one!)
Kara also just got her yarn and will be starting her scarf right away
Karlie has started her scarf (no pics yet), but her fiance still has to learn how to knit his!
KnittingNurse got her yarn and has started her HiP scarf
Stacie got her Azkaban scarf yarn (no pics yet)
and, more good news, my weasley yarn finally arrived!

ginger felted tweed

S. saw me taking pics of the yarn and wanted to take one of me

Hey, a reader wrote in that she saw someone working on a Harry Potter type scarf on the Boston commuter rail going to Haverhill this Wednesday. Was it any of you weasley knitters out there? We're everywhere!

(I'm off to Rhinebeck this afternoon. I hope to see lots of you there! Hubby's not coming with, which means I won't be able to do any blog updates while I'm away - I'm useless with computers without him! So I'll tell you all about it on Monday.)

Carrie finished her bookscarf
Erin has posted pics of her Hermione hat, a Ron hat (cool!), and a bookscarf on her new blog
Krystin reports that she's finished her Gryffindor scarf (no pics yet though)

Alison has started her weasley
Amanda's HiP scarf is underway
Amy's Andean Silk scarf is looking gorgeous
Beth is knitting away on an Azkaban scarf and a Hermione hat (and she found this great new pic from the forthcoming movie - these HP set/costume people sure do know their knits!)
Christy has a Gryffindor scarf and a top-down Hufflepuff sweater on the needles
Laura says she's found peace with her "J"
Michelle has dyed some yarn for a HiP scarf with, get this, black cherry Kool Aid
Nanc says she's working on some Gryffindor socks - no pics yet
Rachel will be knitting a couple of Azkaban scarves for Christmas presents and has already started the first
Stacie has her yarn all packed for a trip's worth of Harry Potter knitting

And speaking of packing for a trip, I got some of Dani's self-striping Gryffindor sock yarn just in time for our trip! (Dani sells her hand-painted yarns on etsy, if you're interested.) Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy....

wanna see a close-up?

Thanks to Dani, I had a little something potter-y to knit for the car ride, since I'm still waiting for my weasley yarn (yup, I'm still waiting, just like Kara, Erica, and Karlie, who will be teaching her fiance how to knit so he can make his own scarf!). It's gonna be a race for us all to finish in time for the movie!

Helene has finished a beautiful pair of Hermione mittens!
Ruth reports that she's finished a Gryffindor bookscarf
Signe was one of the original weasley knitters last year and has just started a blog - so now we can see the great sweater she made!
Susan is all but done with her Azkaban scarf - just the ends to weave in
And Tina wrote to me from the Netherlands to share the Harry Potter sweater she knit for her son. I love it! The initials and the colors on the sleeve are fabulous. Great job, Tina!

Alex is making a Ravenclaw scarf in Cashsoft Aran - yum (check the sidebar on her blog for a pic)
Amy is getting started on her Azkaban scarf
Andrea has weasely sleeves underway
Becky decided on midnight blue for her weasley
Beth, who has just started a new blog, has three bars already on her Azkaban scarf
Laura's working on her son's weasley, but doesn't like the initial (I think it looks great!)
MA has had to abandon her second weasley because of allergies, but will be making a Slytherin sweater for her son instead
Pixie has started her Azkaban scarf!

I'm still waiting for my weasley yarn to arrive, so until then I'm vicariously enjoying Harry Potter by watching my husband finally start The Order of the Phoenix. He finished Goblet of Fire on our trip and had to buy OoP in Germany so he could keep reading. And I was surprised to find a Harry Potter reference while reading a new book to the boys one afternoon.

from Wild about Books

"[Molly] even found waterproof books for the otter,
Who never went swimming without Harry Potter."

I wonder what the otters think of the end of Book 6. (No spoilers please, the German translation was just released today, so our German friends, like Meike, are just getting started!)

Harry Potter fever is alive and well in Germany! In Hugendubel (the coolest name for a bookstore EVER!), they are counting down the days to the release of Book 6 in German.

And from our band of Harry Potter fans:

Katia finished her son's J weasley! Wow! If that doesn't sell you on the Yarn Warehouse pattern, then nothing will. And Micky finished the first of several mini weaselys. Soooo cute.

Elsewhere Mouse's weasley-in-the-works seems to have been hexed, but Erin's Ravenclaw scarf is crusing along nicely. And new knitalongers, Jen and Pixie, both plan to make scarves for opening night of Goblet of Fire. Who else is knitting for opening night?? I may have to add a countdown to the sidebar!!

Meike is all done with her Gryffindor scarf
Janice wrote to tell me she knit a HiP scarf (I didn't see a pic of it on her blog, but I did find this awesome Azkaban scarf!)
Micky made a cute little bookscarf

Cristina has started a HiP scarf and is contemplating making a weasley (do it!)
Laura is flying along on her daughter's weasley (love the colors of Silky Tweed that she's using)
Mouse has got tons of WoolEase all ready to make a weasley sweater for her son and a HiP scarf for herself (that WoolEase looks good, don't it?)
Beth will be making some Azkaban scarves and has posted some color variations for everyone
Ruth reports that her Gryffindor scarf is over 60", or "about a preschooler-and-a-half", long (you've GOT to see the picture!)
and Anita tells me she's started something, but I've forgotten what it is (sorry)

And I've been busy too - the weasley pattern is all done. Accio sweater!

Weasley updates:

Patti reports that she has finished one weasley and the second is almost done
Deb has finished a Hermione hat and will be making the matching mittens next
Ina finished a bookscarf and is planning another
Julie finished a HiP scarf in Gryffindor colors - hooray!
and the mini-weasleys are back - Lisa just finished her first (check out her HP library!)

Andrea did an awesome job with the A on her sweater
Julie has joined the knitalong and has started a PoA scarf
Emily is working on a pattern for Ron's chullo hat in the latest movie ( I can't wait for her pattern. I may have to make these for the boys this winter!)
Cirilla has started the intarsia on her R
Martha is crusing along on her Gryffindor scarf
and Katia has posted two J charts for everyone

Speaking of charts, while I haven't finished the whole weasley sweater pattern yet, I have posted yarn/gauge/sizing info and three H charts (check out the free pattern page). Sorry to drag out the waiting. I've been doing a lot of knitting, cleaning out the project basket in preparation for our vacation next week. Never fear though, the weasley pattern is the last thing on the list to finish before I leave!

And when I get back, I can start on my own weasley, because, much to the relief of everyone at my LYS, I finally decided on the yarn! I'm going with the ginger colored Felted Tweed. (Erica says she also ordered the ginger, which she'll use with watery for her sweaters.) I decided I didn't want my weasley sweater to be too dark, so I managed to rule out brown and black, and then couldn't get the whole ginger/Ginny association out of my head. Do you want to know what really finally convinced me?

Well, a friend told me about a local band near me called Harry and the Potters. They're two brothers who kind look like Harry and they sing Harry Potter songs. Seriously, they have TWO cd's with Harry Potter themed songs like "My Teacher is a Werewolf," "Stick it to Dolores," and "Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock!" They are so funny! My favorite song by far is "We've Got to Save Ginny Weasley." It was listening to that song over and over that got me all Ginny-focused ("You can't take my best friend's sister and get away with it!"). You can listen to a few of the songs, including the Ginny song, here. And see if you can catch the weasley sweater reference in the "Wizard Chess" song. I can't stop singing the "Wrath of Hermione" song either. "Ri-ta Skee-ter bet-ter shut her mouth be-fore she incurs the wrath of Her-mione..."

Okay, go save Ginny Weasley and stop Voldemort and all that.

I've got weasley updates!

Amber has finished about a third of her Azkaban scarf
Andrea is doing the "A" on her sweater!
Anne finished her weasley - she used Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed and knit it top down using Cabin Fever's "Knit it from the Top" pattern #602 (she even did the intarsia in the round!)
Hayden would really love to make one of the sweaters Hermione wears in the upcoming Goblet of Fire movie (check her post for links to pics)
Janell, who already made a gorgeous weasley in Plymouth Encore for her son, has bought more to make another
Laura has been getting ready to start sweaters for her boys: she's using Felted Tweed and made a pattern with the Sweater Wizard and charted out the initials already!
Missy writes that she'll be ordering Felted Tweed in red and ginger for her kids' sweaters and she'd love to do a snitch sweater like Harry gets in the latest book - anyone else working on that?
Nathania is making great progress on her Slytherin house sweater
MA is working on her second weasley sweater, this one in Knitpics Andean Treasure yarn, and has just gotten her letter chart all ready
Patti is working on two weasleys for her sons using the basic pattern from Design your own Kids Knits and a Debbie Bliss basic sweater pattern
Ruth's son's Gryffindor scarf is almost as long as he is!

I'm working on the basic pattern, which will be a replica of the now-discontinued Rowan pattern and will include charts for the letter "H". I should be able to post it next week!

Next, a little HP knitting controversy. Have you seen the picture from the upcoming Goblet of Fire movie of Cho wearing her school scarf? There is some discussion that it looks like a 1x1 rib, instead of the stockinette that all the Prisoner of Azkaban patterns call for. I have to say, I'm not convinced. Just looks like machine-knit stockinette to me.

Now, settle a bet for me. Does this go with formal wear?

Meanwhile, my own HP knitting quandry remains. I'm still unsure about the color I want to use for my weasley. I'm thinking that the ginger is a little too orangey for me. I'm wondering if I shouldn't just order the Treacle and see what color it really is, since it sometimes looks black online and sometimes chocolatey. I think either would work for me. (Hey doesn't Harry love Treacle tart? It's okay to click - no spoilers, just food talk!) So, anyone seen the Treacle? Or eaten it?

Some notes for all the weasley knitters out there....

First, keep me updated on your progress, so I can post progress reports here. And let me know if you find other fun pattern ideas!

Who has used the Yarn Warehouse kit and what did you think? Would you recommend it to others?

MA's pattern for her weasley sweater is up! It's an adult size written for worsted weight yarn. Thanks so much for sharing, MA!

If you're using a basic pattern and planning to adapt it, remember that the key design elements of the weasley sweater are drop sleeves, rolled edges at the bottom of the body and neck, and ribbed cuffs. (UPDATE: How did no-one, including me, catch my error there? I've corrected those pattern details, so look again.)

For those of you doing a letter on your own, you can make a letter chart fairly easily with your computer. First, print out some knitters graph paper (knit stitches are wider than they are tall, so if you use regular graph paper, your image will be kinda short and sqat). Put your graph paper back in your printer's paper bin. Using a word processor or an image editing program, type the letter you want in a large size. (Try out all the fonts on your computer or maybe download some Harry Potter fonts.) Print it onto the knitter's graph paper. Voila - chart! You may have to try several different font sizes to get your letter to be a good size for your sweater. And once it's printed on the graph paper, you might just need to go over the chart by hand to neaten things up (sometimes the letter edge is between two boxes, so you gotta kinda decide where you want it to be), but essentially it's all ready.

And stay tuned tomorrow for my new little Harry Potter pattern. There's a non-HP version too, for the less obsessed out there. Wink, wink.

I am in an absolute quandary about my Harry Potter sweater. It was easy enough to choose the colors for my boys' sweaters since I found the yarn on sale in the perfect-sized bundles for them, but I've having a hard time deciding on the right color for my sweater. Should I try to hunt down the red color I had imagined? Or should I perhaps look for black and make a Hufflepuff version of the sweater? I'm also a little tempted by the ginger color. Help, what do you think??

And finally, over a month after standing in line at midnight to get it, I have begun reading Book 6! I've reread 4 and 5 and have a much better sense of who everyone is and what happened before. So, still no spoilers, please!

There are so many Weasleys, why not another weasley knitalong? Okay, weasley knitters, get those magic needles ready!

    
pick a button, any button

I've posted lots of links in the sidebar, so check there for info on where to find all kinds of Harry Potter knitting patterns. I'll try to start writing up a pattern soon and MA says she's willing to share the pattern that she came up with. Plus, I'm working on a little something harry potter-y right now, which I should be able to share with you next week!

what could it be?

Got any more links and/or pattern suggestions for me? Let me know!

After seeing S's weasley sweater every day in the window in the store, I've decided that I have to make myself one. Did I tell you that I actually tried it on? Uh, yeah, I did - I tried on my 4 year-old son's sweater. And it fit great! Granted, it was about a foot too short, but the rest was so nice and snug and the little boy sleeves were perfect 3/4 sleeves on me. Once I saw it on me, there wasn't really any question in my mind that I had to make another one. So I ordered some more of the Felted Tweed from Jimmy Beans.

Now, I thought this was the great red color that my weasley-along co-hostess, Jenn, used for hers (that color, by the way, was called Conker), but it's purple. It's a pretty purple. I like the purple very much. But I really had red in my head for this sweater. I may have to stash this purple and order some red.

So I'm thinking I need to officially re-open the weasley knitalong. I'd love to hear some updates from those I still have listed as unfinished. Anyone else out there planning on making one of these? Any new pattern sources?? That pattern hasn't gotten any easier to find. Any interest in my writing up a standard pattern? And of course, anyone making other Harry Potter knits is welcome to join! Got something you want to make before the release of the next film in November? Join us weasley knitters!

And for the few who are interested, here's the house I was recently sorted into. I'm not as much a fan of the colors (though I loved that Hufflepuff scarf in Prisoner of Azkaban), but I find the principles of the house the most appealing.

HUFFLEPUFF! You scored 8% Slytherin, 20% Ravenclaw, 36% Gryffindor, and 52% Hufflepuff

You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal These patient Hufflepuffs are true And unafraid of toil. Hufflepuffs are known for their loyal, hard-working, and humble demeanors.