for all the non-obsessive fans out there, that's Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban



Gryffindor House scarf from Prisoner of Azkaban in Jamieson's Shetland DK
original pattern from atypically knit

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To answer Carla, no sockapalooza two sign-up yet. I'm working on the behind the scenes organization. Should be done by next week! At which time, it might actually be warm here in Boston, meaning I'll have to stop wearing my winter sockapalooza socks and will be ready for a summer pair.

In other knitalong news, my NBaT is now a pile of completed parts waiting for seaming. I can't wait to appear in Nona's regular wrap-up!

S wanted to be in the picture too

And there's yet another store model and another knitalong to report on. Okay, I'm a year late for the knitalong, but with all the excitement surrounding the impending release of the next Harry Potter book (what Jenn, no countdown?), I've started an Azkaban scarf. If you aren't obsessed with Harry Potter like me and some others whom I've already outed and so won't name again, let me point out that in the third movie, the Prisoner of Azkaban, they changed the style of the house scarves. For the first two movies, they were basic rugby-style stripes, but now the scarves are darker with subtler stripes.

This version seems much more mature. And also much longer! I'm using Jamieson's Shetland DK, which had the best colors in my opinion, but seven feet of scarf at 5.5 stitches to the inch is, well, a lot of stitches. I'm loving it though!

House scarves from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban DVD.

Gryffindors Hermione and Ron

Draco and his Slytherin goons

Look, there goes a Ravenclaw! (That's Harry under his invisibility cape stealing a lollipop from Neville.)

I think I like Hufflepuff best of all. Love that buttery yellow!

My scarf is coming right along. And here are the three Gryffindors wearing their scarves in a still from the new movie coming up in November. What a relief that they're not changing the scarves again!

I am big!

The Harry Potter scarf is growing up. Sniff, sniff. I remember when it was just a wee little thing. (Hee, hee.) Its growth spurts have stopped for a bit though while I await the arrival of more yarn.

If only I could slow those boys down a little too.

Got my yarn, got my air conditioner, and I'm back in the scarf business! Can you tell what I was watching last night while knitting? Here's a close-up. Yes, it's Prisoner of Azkaban. Can I help it if it keeps coming on tv?

At the end of the movie and the night, I was up to my armpits in Harry Potter!

Ten fingers. Ten noodles.

Ten stripes.

And because I'm a mom who can't say no, here's a pic with a boy hand (sans noodles) for scale.

Just about to start the twelfth stripe and the Harry Potter scarf is already as tall as me. Or one boy standing on a bench with his arms up in the air.

I have to say, I've got a little crush on this scarf. Of course, it's for the store and not for me. As much as I like Harry Potter, I probably wouldn't wear a Harry Potter scarf ever. But I've truly fallen for this maroon color (as evidenced by my having started a t-shirt in exactly the same color). And I think I'm finally sold on long scarves too. They seemed silly to me before, but all I want to do now is wrap this long tall drink of scarf around my neck.

Nine days to the release of Book 6. One stripe left on the scarf.

Harry Potter is coming!

One week to go....

Weaving in ends.

Adding fringe.

"I want this bike for my birthday."

One Harry Potter scarf all done. You can't tell with it hanging in the window but it's almost 8 feet long. That's 57,600 stitches (to compare, I'd estimate that the NBaT is about 33,000 stitches).

Boy, did I have fun putting the new store window together!

want to see the BIG picture?

There's one of the boys weasley sweaters and both Hogwarts scarves. On the left, by the original scarf, are pics from the Sorcerer's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets films (can you spot Molly Weasley's magic needles?).

And on the right, by the new scarf, are the pictures I posted a while back from the Prisoner of Azkaban and the upcoming Goblet of Fire.

And there's even a Nimbus 2000!

Only 5 days left and we can put the new book in the window too. Oh boy!

1. The denim pinafore I finished in May was well received. After visiting the little girl it was intended for, I suddenly got nervous about the size and so sent it off a month before her birthday, just in case it was on the small side. It fits!

2. Amy Lu asked to see some close-ups of katy's neckline. Okey dokey.

left side and right side

And look, no droopy shoulders, no flashdance neck!

3. We've had yet another blankie crisis. Last week, S is cuddling with his blankie while watching Miss Spider and then just holds it up a little and quietly states, " I think this has a hole in it." Funny, this announcement has become so commonplace that it no longer results in the same sort of rush of activity and anxiety as it used to, either in them or in me.

before

I did some duplicate stitching that night and brought the blankie to S while he was sleeping.

after

4. I stopped by my LYS yesterday with the boys in tow and S immediately recognized the big long scarf in the new Harry Potter window. "That's the thing you make and you bring it and it hang there." When we got in the store, he went right over to the window to see the things from the inside. I found him stroking the Nimbus 2000 and then suddenly he looked up and said in a voice of slow realization, "hey, that's my...." I'd totally forgotten that he'd recognize his weasley sweater! He was actually very excited to see it there. (So was B: "look, an H sweater!") I explained that once it was done hanging in the window, we'd be bringing it back home. But then he grabbed hold of the bottom of the scarf and said "can we take this?"

Back in NYC for a "make-up" visit for my son S, who missed the last one two weeks ago with a fever. I started a new project to bring with me in case I find some time to knit (fat chance with two 4 year-olds on the train!). I thought it only fitting that I work on the beautiful feather and fan shrug that I found at Downtown Yarns on the last trip.

Koigu and JaggerSpun

And speaking of fans, after putting the boys to bed last night, I went over to the local Barnes & Noble and stood in line with the other obsessed fans and quidditch seekers to buy the latest Harry Potter book at the midnight release. They handed out free posters and Harry Potter glasses.

don't I look like Trelawney in those glasses?

Those of use who had not reserved copies of the book received orange wristbands and waited well past midnight until all of the folks with reserved copies bought their books. At 1:10 our line started moving!

let my orange people go

At 1:20, I had my book.

hooray!

I may not be reading Harry Potter 6 yet, but I did spend a little knitting time this weekend to make a bookmark for it. Several people pointed out Laura's Harry Potter bookscarf pattern to me and I just had to make one. I had some leftover yarn from the big Prisoner of Azkaban scarf I made for the store, so I was able to use that instead of the floss that Laura used (11 stitches to the inch - now that's a true fan!). At my gauge, I only had room for three of the gold stripes, but you still get the effect. I whipped the whole thing out at Knitsmiths yesterday, while yelling at people not to talk about HP6. (Heh, heh, I'm a little nervous that someone will ruin it for me.)

And as is always the case, I still haven't used up all the leftovers. I think I many have to make another - for the store window, you know.

What do you make if you want a Harry Potter scarf, but don't want to buy 1000 yards of yarn or knit 57,000 stitches? Just make a skinny hip one and tie it around your waist!

And what do you do if you just want to try out a couple of colors of a special, silky yarn? Make a silk tie, that's what! I think I'm gonna try the next one in Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool. Mmmmmm....

Yes, that's right, new patterns are up! Hope you enjoy them.

Necessity has forced me to figure out a way to knit and read at the same time.

I've got so much knitting to do before we leave for our trip to Germany - including knitting this Karabella scarf for the store - that I have been feeling slightly guilty putting it all down each night to squeeze in a little Harry Potter Book 6 reading before bed. I've been trying to knit a little, blog a little, and then read a little each night, making steady progress on my projects and savoring the new book as slowly as I could stand. And I was succeeding, that is until fellow knitsmith and Harry Potter fan, Shireen, who when I saw her just this Saturday at the store was still 200 pages behind me in the book, came in to Knitsmiths knitting group yesterday and told me she was done with the book and I had to finish it. She seemed serious.

So, I just finished. We may now discuss.

ATTENTION: I'm not filtering these comments for spoilers, so those of you who aren't done yet, don't look!