Knitting and Harry Potter

I sometimes wonder where my love of knitting came from, but then I sat and I thought a while, and glanced down at my first tattoo: The Deathly Hallows symbol. It became abundantly clear. Of course I love knitting, the world of Harry Potter (which I practically grew up in) if bursting at the seams with knitting yummy-ness.

Very early into Philosopher's Stone (Sorcerer if you're an American) you're introduced to Hagrid, who sits on the London Underground knitting something 'tent sized', what ever this knitted object became was never revealed, but there it is, knitting in the first 100 pages, granted the book is only 127 pages. Though Hagrid isn't the only character who has an affinity for knitting. It's established very early that the Weasley's are a poor family, and Mrs. Weasley knits her boys and Ginny a jumper every year. I sometimes wonder if they're monogrammed each time, also knitting for seven children must be no mean feat, at least she can use magic!

Eventually Hermione begins to kit for S.P.E.W and we learn that Dumbledore enjoys reading knitting patterns, and with that I presume that he knits himself, as he did wish for thick wooly socks once.

“No, I was merely reading the Muggle magazines,” said Dumbledore. “I do love knitting patterns…”

Though rarely seen knitting is even mentioned in the movies. Harry gets his Weasley jumper at Christmas, I noticed Luna wears a rather sweet crochet shrug in OotP. Fred & George tell people to "get back to your knitting." in GoF, which is a nice nod to Hermione's absent S.P.E.W knitting in the film.

And just think, how Harry Potter has inspired knitters. We knit the hats that are worn in the film, we choose our house colours. I've seen knitting patterns for Pygmy Puffs! That's how much fun knitting is.

I love knitting and I love the Harry Potter books, they go hand in hand. I'm also very sure that i wont be the only person to go to the cinema with something they've knitted which is Harry Potter related.

He Knows It.

This is going to be a 'column piece' that I'm starting to do from now on.

My fiance and I are passionate about our hobbies, though we don't have the same one. I may have mentioned it before, but he's a guitarist and plays in a band. He's been playing for longer than I've been a knitter, but we have the same level of passion for it. Due to this we often show each other videos, photos, things we would love to buy to do with this, it turns out we've learned each others hobbies without actually doing them.

When I met Craig I knew the basics of guitars (strings, knobbly bits that change the sound and you plug it into an amplifier) and pretty much from the start he's been teaching me, the first thing was the different parts of an amp, head cab thingy etc. It's been four years and thingy still applies to most parts. I now know of the differnt parts of a guitar, the different brands, how different strings effect the sound, the effects pedals, how an amp could change the sound of a guitar, all these things, yet it only occured to me yesterday, as I was knitting a teddy bear head, I held it up and asked him;

"what stitch is this?"

He stopped strumming his guitar, turns around and said;

"Erm, garter?"

In that moment I realised that he's learnt the terms, he knows the stitches, and can identify a DK when I'm looking for one in a specific colour. I guess that he's learnt when I've dragged him around the yarn shops, like I did when he dragged me around the guitar ones.

Knitting and a Period Drama

Can I just say (and it's my blog so I can) that issue 80 of Simply Knitting magazine is bloody fantastic! I've already knit a hat from it, cast on for a cardigan for myself and my fiance's Chritmas present, another jumper! I intend to knit the bolero and the scarf!

Below are two pictures of my WIPs

Hey guys!

Quick update.

I'm working on a few projects atm. Hand warmers, jumper, spring project for dA group etc.
I really need to sort out my ravelry page and to finish my mom's birthday present.

For now, it may be quiet, but it's something.

Peace, love and all that jazz.
xx

Ramblings

This week I finished knitting my first pair of cabled socks! It was a rather speedy pattern and knitted up wonderfully, barely dented my 400g ball of yarn though. I shall mostlikely model those in the week.

I'm looking forward to knitting for a group competition on deviantart.com, flower themed, I'll have to whip something up.

I have started knitting my fiance's next jumper, another Christmas present. I had forgotten how long it takes to knit up. Seriously, Craig, next year, BIG NEEDLES!

Talking of which, I still haven't photographed the jumper I knitted in under 2 days! That was fun, my first raglan. It's knitted in Sirdar Indie Nevada, and I shall definately be wearing it this winter, It's rather warm. I also knitted a hat in my left overs, but I still have one and a half ball left!

Also, does anybody know of any pompom yarn instructional videos, because I just can't seem to get it right!

I am thinking of making some videos, to show you guys my makes etc. also to do some instructional videos, perhaps some Q&A?

My Cabled Bag

My first knitted bag! It was also my first cabled pattern. I am rather proud of it. It's a rather nice repetative pattern, so good for a first timer, I guess. Also the yarn is so scrumptious, one section really reminds me of belgian chocolate! I really do love self patterning yarn. This is a discontinued yarn (story of my k life!)
I knitted the strap seperate and sewed it to create the sides of the bag. The whole bag is lined, in a yummy olive lining silk, though the strap was lined with a co-ordinating length of wide ribbon. It has a loop fastening around a beautiful ceramic button.

I am very proud of this bag.

Owl Cushion

I have this thing for owls, I'm quite obsessed with them really. So when I got an issue of Lets Knit that had an owl cushion cover pattern I soon bought the yarn. It's knitted quite cheaply actually, I used Robin and I think it's come out really well! The eyes are buttons I got from Dunelm Mill, just because I liked the look of them. They're a beautiful dark green, with a raised leaf pattern on them!