Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Mom's Hat

I finished my first project for this month's House Cup assignments. No big deal, just an amigurumi lightbulb. Very quick. I gave it to the cat to use as a toy.



I wasn't entirely happy with the shaping ... the socket turned out a little long, and the bulb part was a little too short and flat on the top. But I figure since it's just a cat toy, who cares?

I also gave my brother his Viking Hat. The beard is a little narrow. When I get time, I'll knit a wider one to replace it with. But he loved it, and aside from the beard being a little too narrow for his face, it fits pretty well. And the beard does hug his face nicely, it just doesn't cover as much of his cheeks and jaw as I think it should.



So, with those two projects done, I've been working on a few others. I'm trying to design and knit a cowl using the feathery edging from Icarus. I've got the design finished and yarn purchased (I'm using Alpaca with a Twist Fino in a light blue ... it feels completely amazing!) but I haven't had a chance to wind my yarn into a ball yet. I've also been trying to find/come up with a good design for a lacy bookmark for a swap we're doing in Hufflepuff in the House Cup. I tried one out already, but I wasn't satisfied with it, so it's back to the drawing board. I'm using Kidsilk Haze for this, in black. It's the first time I've worked with Kidsilk Haze. It's softer than I expected ... I think I like it. Which is good, because I'm probably going to have around 200 yds. left over, even if I don't frog the bookmark I already knit from it. And I am open to good bookmark suggestions, by the way. I'm looking for something rectangular, maybe with a scallop or v at the end, and lacy and pretty and delicate.

And I've been working on Mom's Hermione Hearts Ron hat. I've finished 3 repeats of the cable and lace pattern. The pattern calls for 4 repeats of the pattern before you start decreasing, but I need to measure the hat first. It's looking a little long. I may need to start decreasing before that point. Mom's head is only slightly larger than mine, so if it fits me well, it should fit her too. I tried it on earlier, and it's just a little loose on me (good, since she needs an extra half inch to an inch, plus hats that are too snug look weird on her). It also reaches from the middle of my ears to where my skull starts to flatten at the crown, so I'm thinking I'll be cutting out that 4th repeat. But we'll see.

No pictures of that yet because my camera batteries are dead and I'm not sure where the replacements have disappeared to. I'll have to find some before the end of the month so I can post a photo showing I've completed both of the first two hats for my OWL.

And then I have to finish the rest of my class assignments, both for the House Cup and for the Nerd Wars challenge, which works basically the same way. Fortunately, I can use the same projects for both challenges, as long as I can find a category to fit each of them into. The Icarus Cowl will count for both. I'm also planning a knit murloc for Luke and a black wool pouch to count for both challenges. The lightbulb only counts for the House Cup, sadly.

Oh! And speaking of the House Cup ... point totals are in for the first month. I earned 66 points! I turned in 3 class assignments for 15 points each and one "detention" project (a project that started the month as a WIP) for 10 points. And I got bonus points on each of my class assignments ... 1 bonus point for Earpaper, 7 bonus points for Saroyan and 3 bonus points for my Lord of the Earrings. My new goal is to top those amounts this month, but that may not happen ... it is a short month, after all, and I have spent a significant portion of the first week working on my OWL and swap projects. But we'll see.

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