Harry Potter

An Ollivander’s Wand!!

/ LDSVenus / 2 Comments

Ollivander Wand  Oh My Goodness!!  My son and his spouse went to Disney World and Universal Studio’s to celebrate their birthdays (2 days apart).  I asked if they would bring me a souvenir postcard from Harry Potter World at Universal Studios (I am a huge Harry Potter fan.)  Never in my dizziest daydreams did I anticipate this!  I’m beyond excited!!  My son didn’t know what Harry Potter character it might have been from, but they told him it was a healing wand.  I’m still grinning like a Cheshire cat!  He said they had some of the Butterbeer (for non Harry Potter fans, it is a non alcoholic drink served to the students at Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter Movies, the Butterbeer in the books might have had alcohol in it.)  He said that is was really good, smooth and creamy with a butterscotchy flavor. 🙂

I’m about half finished with my daughter’s hat, I forgot to take a picture to put in my blog, but I will get one when I have it finished, which hopefully should be today or tomorrow.  I really love the Basia pattern, easy and very visual, it is a paid for pattern.

 

Accountability

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kettle dyed Polypay roving b

Just keeping some accountability in doing some spinning or knitting every day.  I have been only doing spinning and I didn’t get any done the day before yesterday.  But I am making progress on both the yarn I’m spinning and learning the double drive wheel.  The Rick Reeves wheel spins very nicely, I feel so blessed to have it.

I found some darker roving than what I am spinning, in the same color line, and was thinking about spinning it after this is done and making a skein that goes from lighter to darker for a shawl.  It’s just in my head at the moment (the yarn not the shawl, I would be choosing an already written pattern :P.)  So we will see if that works out as well in rl (real life) as it does in my head.  Would probably have to do it as two different skeins and blend as I knit every other row for a few rows (maybe 10?) when I go from the lighter to the darker.  I am hoping for about 4 ozs total when I am done, but we will see, I might be lucky to get 3 ozs.  It’s just a thought.

Adore Knit stitch markers and progress keeper

I decided since I have a little extra money each month that I would invest in a set of stitch markers and progress keepers when I found things that were adorable.  I love the stitch markers at Adore Knits.  This is my 2nd order with her and as a returning customer she included a stitch marker holder (the little container with the green lid), so nice to keep them from being lost or destroyed in my bags :P.   They are well made and beautiful.  I chose the Harry Potter markers and progress keeper.  I love that she has an extra attachment on one of the markers so when you are knitting in the round you know where your beginning and ending is. 😉  She also has The Knitting Samurai and her Guys podcast on Ravelry.

There Be Socks!!

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Hermiones Everyday Socks finished

Finally done, I have a finished pair of Hermione’s Everyday Socks!!  The family member I knit these for will be very happy indeed.  These would have been done much faster if my knitting mojo wasn’t so hit and miss lately.

The yarn Dreams in Fiber I used was actually dyed by the same person who wrote the pattern for this sock, and the match up wasn’t on purpose, so as Dumbledore would say it was “by some happy circumstance” :).  The yarn was wonderful to work with and I love the pattern :).  Thanks Erica :).

Is it Spring yet? Apparently NOT!

/ LDSVenus

Installing Spring

I thought spring would be coming soon (tho’ it’s IA and yes we do have snow sometimes into May, tho usually March or April is normal)  I was hoping.  But nope, we had another snow storm today.  I tried installing a Spring App but no go :P,

I did buy a couple of things for myself last month.  One arrived the middle of Feb, the other I received today!  From Canada I purchased some stitch markers from Yarn Candy Studio, lovely markers! She also sent a great herbal tea, chocolate and orange! And some safety pin markers!  So excited.  And I purchased some Harry Potter progress keeper from Gretel Creations, in the UK,  love them!  She also sent a beautiful colored bird progress keeper.  These were both great purchases, they make me happy :).

Harry Potter and Other Things

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2nd Spool of Cria

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I’m finally spinning my 2nd spool of Alpaca Cria.  This is the softest stuff!!  It’s so wonderful to spin!!!  Knitting it will be wonderful too :).  This will be my 2nd skein of yarn and I might need one more, then I can make the shawl I have in mind for this wonderfully soft fiber.

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spinning BFL/Romney

I got a friend of mine at my church interested in spinning with a spindle I made her, and she has gone whole hog, buying whole fleeces and carding them herself.  I thought wow, I love to spin, but I’m not into getting a whole fleece, washing it, and carding it- yet! 🙂  She kindly gave me some of a BFL/Romney fleece (already carded of course) that she had purchased.  It’s a very springy and surprisingly soft fiber.  Not as soft as the Alpaca, but it will make a nice pair of socks or a scarf :).  She has 7 whole fleeces on order for next spring.  🙂

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I did go see Harry Potter 1 & 1/2 weeks ago.  It was wonderful, and well worth the 2 hr wait in line (yes my daughter and I were one of the first in line so we could get good seats.  Didn’t want a crick in my neck from having to sit way up front like I loved to do as a kid – can’t even imagine why I wanted to do that ;).  I think they chose a good place to break the movie and I’m anticipating the next and final installment of the movie series.  Nice thing is I don’t have to wait 2 years, it will be shown this coming June, so only a 7 month wait. 🙂  If you haven’t gone to see this yet, I encourage you to do so.  If you haven’t seen any of them yet, I suggest you rent them in order, and then go see this one (it won’t make a lot of sense unless you’ve seen the others, like starting a book near the end and then wondering what in the world it’s all about.)  Wonderful visual effects.

I will be a permanent employee as of 12/1.  I’m very excited and it relieves a lot of “uncertainty stress”.  I will still have to watch my finances until my son’s funeral is paid off, but it will be a permanent income source now instead of wondering how long will this one last and not losing pay on my paycheck for the holidays the company gives.

Harry Potter & Other Things

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

 

I got to go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with my daughter and grand daughter last night.  It was great!!!  The hat that Hermione is wearing in this picture is the pattern that I knit earlier last year for my daughter and grand daughter, you can see it on my Jan 7th entry.   You can find the pattern for free on Raverly if you are a Ravelry member or the pattern creator’s blog here .  If you are a knitter, crocheter, etc, Ravelry is a great place to check out, it is a free membership.

 

click on picture for larger image

click on picture for larger image

 

This is a little shawl I am working on.  It is called Wisp .  I found it on Knitty and was intrigued with this light and airy lace pattern.  It looks complicated but is very easy.   This one is for a friend as a surprise.  She rarely reads my blog (she’s in her 20’s and has more important things to do :P) so I don’t live in fear that she will see this and spoil the surprise :).  Pink is her favorite color so I am sure she will enjoy this in the milder fall and winter temperatures there in TN.  I should be finished with it this week.  Then I will just have to find some light weight buttons that will match the yarn.  The yarn I’m knitting with  is some very pretty heavy lace weight my mom bought in Korea when she was there and sent to me.   I did the burn test and it appears to be an acrylic rather than natural wool fiber.  I’m sure my friend will be happy that it won’t take special care to wash. 🙂   I will make another one with some fiber that I will spin for it.  Something to wear to church for myself for a change.  Right now, I’m thinking maybe some white alpaca I bought a month or two ago, but some other fiber might be calling to me by the time I get ready to spin for it.  I’ll just have to see.