The Ron Weasley Blanket

Note: I am sure that a very clever prop designer created the blanket found on Ron Weasley's bed in the Harry Potter films. I am not that prop designer; I am merely a fan who had a lot of random yarn to use up. I was asked by a user on Ravelry to create a pattern page others could link to when making their own Ron Weasley blankets.

Materials:
A whole bunch of yarn in various exciting colors that knits to about 5 sts/10 rows per inch in garter stitch.
Appropriate needles

I would also suggest finding one or two good screenshots from the films to get a feel for the blanket. If you can't make these yourself, The Leaky Cauldron has a great screenshot database.

Guidelines for squares:
I found 7 inch squares looked the most authentic to me.
You'll want to knit some of your squares solid. The patterned squares should be striped patterns only, not stitch patterns. This is a garter stitch blanket.
Knit a few squares on the diagonal.
Include some heathered yarns, or some tweedy yarns.

Guidelines for finishing:
The squares in the original blanket are arranged so that the garter ridges are aligned alternating vertically and horizontally. Basically, you will always be stitching a cast-on or bind-off edge of one square to a row edge of another. Except for the diagonal squares, obviously.

startitis

It's not really the most creative of blog post titles, but last night between the hours of 9:00 and 10:00 I started four projects. There was the previously mentioned top-down cardigan, a pair of mittens for a friend, a scarf, and this hat (Ravelry link), which I have since finished. The scarf is probably going to get frogged, I don't really love it. Really, I don't love knitting scarves, but this past winter I noticed that while I have many lovely individual winter accessories, most of them don't really match. Hence, I have a vague summer goal of knitting hats, scarves, and mittens to match what I've already knit. We'll see what happens. So far I've only managed to produce another hat that doesn't match anything else I own.

are you a good knitter or a bad knitter?

The situation: Many months ago I finished knitting the second sock of a pair of Sidewinders. The sock has been languishing on its circular needle, waiting for me to suck it up and finish the never-ending final graft. Today, I decided I want to knit a top-down fingering weight cardigan without leaving the apartment for supplies.

The good knitter would take twenty minutes and finish the graft on the Sidewinders, especially since they're for my boyfriend's mother and she knows I'm knitting them.

The bad knitter would find a pair of straight needles in a close-enough size, transfer all the stitches, and carry on with the cardigan.

Today, I'm a bad knitter. Oops.

because I have updated my facebook status too many times

Let's skip all the nonsense about how I haven't blogged in forever and why, it's very boring. Right? Right.

The cat level has increased from one to three. Cat number two, Windsor, joined Sassy and I in January. Windsor enjoys climbing my curtains and clawing the carpet. Cat number three, Max, joined us in April. Max enjoys sitting in the bathtub and eating my yarn. And by eating I mean...eating. Literally. I can't leave yarn out anymore. Or toilet paper, for that matter.

My knitting has been all over the place. The only constant has been socks, and that's really just because they fit in my purse. I'm pretty sure the day I pack a complicated knitting project to work on during downtime at my job is the day we'll suddenly be so busy I won't have time to breathe, let alone knit. I feel my coworkers won't thank me for pushing it.

Today I went to the doctor for this monstrous sinus-thing that has been plaguing me in various forms and degrees since Easter. She gave me a prescription and recommended I also purchase the special sort of Sudafed that they keep behind the pharmacy counter and you have to sign for. And geez, did I have to sign for it. I figured they'd just card me to make sure I'm old enough to get myself addicted to the OTC medication of my choice, but no, they took my address and my driver's license number, and I probably signed away my soul and my first-born child too, but I was so out of it I stopped paying attention. I have drugs, I don't care.

wouldn't it be nice

If I could play Zelda and knit at the same time, my quality of life would skyrocket.

I would just like to know

Has anyone else ever spent four years working on an art degree, landed a full time job related to her major, and then lain awake at night thinking she should have been an accountant?

It's kind of stressing me out.

The knitting has been entertaining lately, though, although I am not currently interested in anything without a lace pattern in it. I have the pattern for the Inky-Dinky Spider Stole (that's a Ravelry link, for some reason the Fiddlesticks Knitting site does not want to load) and I think I'm going to start it soon, after my monstrous lace project from Victorian Lace Today is all finished.

Also, Christmas knitting? I don't even care. You have permission to laugh when this changes in two months.

This weekend, I'm going to Toronto to visit some friends, and I have been promised a trip to the yarn shop, although I haven't decided which yarn shop. Maybe we will go to many, because it is my birthday this weekend (Friday, actually), and shouldn't we go to yarn shops if it is my birthday? I think so. You should too.

did I tell you I moved to Ohio?

My place of employment makes up the work schedule for several weeks into the future. This is great for planning weekend trips, but kind of a bummer if you need a specific weekend off (it does, however, give you a lot of time to plan elaborate bribes in order to make other people give you their days off. Not that I would do that.). I am not sure what, exactly, led me to think about Rhinebeck, since I have never been, and I don't have any knitting friends, and I haven't really heard people out in blogland muttering about it yet, but it crossed my mind the other day. So, just out of curiosity, I looked it up, and what do you know? I have that weekend off work! I might go. It would be delicious.

Today was one of my days off this week, so I did what anyone else would do and stayed up too late last night designing a weird pair of colorwork mittens. I don't really have any yarn to knit them with, though, so I trolled Ravelry and bought the pattern for Bubbles (that's a Ravelry link, folks; my apologies if you're not a Raveler). I'm nearly finished with the first mitten and may just stay up and knit the second one too, I'm in that sort of mood, and I don't have to work tomorrow either.

At this point, I am painfully aware of the fact that this post would be way more entertaining with pictures. I'm going back to my mittens.

so apparently someone reads this

That's right, Toni in Florida, I'm looking at you!

Sadly, my digital camera has spent the past three months or so dying a slow and painful death, and as of right now it refuses to turn on even with fresh batteries in it, so I think that's a pretty good sign that it's not going to be helping out with the blog anymore. It really is too bad, because I have been knitting even though I haven't been blogging. Last month I finished the Bayerische socks that I started in January...of 2007. Heh... The truth is I hadn't knit so much as a stitch on them since March of 2007 until I picked them back up in July. At the moment I've been seeking out rather epic projects, just nothing with cables... Although, did you see the Bonnie sweater from the Twist Collective? Honestly, if I don't knit that sweater before Christmas I don't think there will be many reasons to keep living. That being said, I have as of this post purchased neither the pattern or the yarn, even though I could because...

... (I thought this would be an awesome place for a new paragraph) I'm all finished with university and managed to snag myself a full-time job somewhat related to my field of study. The contract I signed says I can't talk about it on my blog, though, so you'll have to use your imagination.

Today was my day off and I happened to drive by a Goodwill while I was running some errands, so I went in to see if there was anything exciting in the sweater section. While I was at school, I was really into finding wool sweaters at thrift stores and frogging them, and I thought that it was just to get yarn that I didn't have to sacrifice my grocery budget for, but now I realize...it's all the thrill of the hunt. In May, for example, I scored a men's large 100% Shetland wool sweater that gave me about a ton of fingering weight wool that is currently being knit into the Beginner's Sampler Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. Sadly I didn't find anything good today, but the selection of sweaters in August is probably not what it will be in October. So I will bide my time.

Right now, though, I have yarn to play with and movies to watch and a day off to cram as much knitting as possible into, so I shall sign off for now. Cheerio!

frustration

There I was, sitting on the deck, enjoying an idyllic afternoon of no obligations, knitting away on little tiny needles, when the cruel hand of knitting mischief swept down and knocked one needle out of my hand, sending it flying between two slats of the deck and into the murky abyss below.

I calmly assessed the situation (when you think of 'calmly' you should think of Darth Vader at the end of Attack of the Clones. Noooooooooooooo!). Almost immediately I came up with a plan that was almost immediately thereafter thwarted by the position in which the needle had fallen (that may be the cruelest part of all, that I can see the needle but I can't get the needle). At that point I decided to petition my mother for help. After all, for what did she obtain a degree in engineering if not to help me recover my knitting needles? It was fate, I tell you. Fate.

Um, except that her clever idea involved a magnet, and my needle is plastic.

I guess I'm going to the yarn shop...

so maybe he has a little leverage

I walk into the computer room, where my brother is sitting reading something online.

Me: "So what are you reading?"

Brother: (after a mad scramble to change windows) "Nothing! Nothing!! Go away!"

(too late)

Me: "Oh, Harry Potter fan fiction? So what? Sometimes I read Harry Potter fan fiction."

Brother: "Well I don't!"

Me: "You were clearly just reading it."

Brother: "I was not!!"

Me: "Wait till I tell all your friends."

Brother: "Wait till I light all your yarn on fire!"

backwards

Last night I started knitting the Coupling socks from the Summer 2007 issue of Knitty. These socks are knit toe-up, and for some reason I am wary of toe-up socks, but these socks are cute so I decided to get over my completely irrational prejudice. Now, I've seen a lot of toe-up socks with a short row heel, but these socks incorporate a gusset and heel flap, done in reverse, of course. And for whatever reason, knitting a gusset and heel flap in reverse is really tripping me out. Like, I stare at my knitting and think "How can this be?!" and feel like I'm cheating on my old reliable top-down heel flap construction.

The yarn I'm using is some crazy old stuff called Lady Galt Kroy that I picked up at Value Village last spring. Now, I've googled this a few times, and generally all I can find are people selling it, or people similarly unable to find its origins. The most I can come up with is that it isn't made anymore, which is really a pity because it's a nice sock yarn. It's not a luxury yarn by any means, but it's reasonably soft and pleasant to knit. Actually, it feels a lot like the old Paton's Kroy (not the new Kroy Socks stuff, that stuff is significantly less soft). But hey, if you're reading this and you happen to know the full history of Lady Galt Kroy, encompassing its inception and eventual demise, let me know.

pfft, title, whatever

Blogger didn't remember me today. I guess it's been a little while. Still, it kind of hurts. But I suppose the unfaithfulness is on both sides, no? Dear Blogger, let's start over. I'll promise to post more if you promise not to make me type in my password every time I want to be with you, ok? Just a little trust, Blogger darling. That's all I'm asking.

This past week was my very last spring break EVER, and I had an enjoyable if fairly quiet week of lounging around my parents' house knitting and watching Law and Order. Actually, what I want to know is, does USA air anything other than Law and Order in the evenings? Because every time I wanted to watch it, it was on, and I'm definitely not complaining about that because I can't get enough of the Special Victims Unit, but still. It seemed a little...odd.

Last weekend my mother and I trekked down to Detroit to visit John K. King Used and Rare Books, and if you like books then you need to go there. I would have set up camp and never left if they had let me. The main store is four floors full of books...think of your average sized Chapters or Barnes and Noble, and then think of a store with about ten times as many books. That's what it was like. The only thing I could have complained about was that there were only five knitting books in the entire store. FIVE. But, I overheard one of the people working there telling another lady (about five minutes after I'd seen the knitting section and been disappointed) that tons of people call about knitting books and they hardly ever get them in. It does kind of make sense, though. Would you give up any of your knitting books? Even in my wildest decluttering moments, the knitting books are sacred.

the dresser of my dreams

And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths, and carp and anchovies, and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit-bats...

found it at Apartment Therapy.

I buy lots of things in bags, why?

without preamble or any sort of context

my friend, Adam: Do you buy milk regularly?

Me: Fairly often, I suppose, why?

Adam: Okay. Do you buy it in... a bag?

(I started laughing a lot right about here.)

Adam: You live in Canada, so I must know.



I don't, in fact. I can't drink that much milk by myself before it expires.

future poet laureate

It always gives a little thrill
To learn a brand new knitting skill,
But to not say this would be fibbing:
I greatly dislike corrugated ribbing.

I keep forgetting to title my posts.

Today is a day gloriously free of obligations, which is perfect because it also happens to be the first day of the Secret of the Stole II knit along, which I joined, even though I have previously listed myself as a KAL failure. This time, though, will be different. Really. I mean it. Stop laughing! I have no obligations today, and I have every intention of knitting right through the first chart before the end of the evening.

The Nantucket Jacket is ridiculously close to being finished, and I finished a pair of socks on Tuesday. Unfortunately, my camera's USB cable is somewhat MIA, so you only get to see one sock:



But I think you can imagine what the other sock looks like. I used Knit Picks Essential in the Volcano Twist colorway, and I think it's great yarn, which is good because I got a ton of it for Christmas.

In other news, you know those striped socks I mentioned last time? The idea was completely enchanting for about three hours. Now I don't care. Why, you ask? Because I found something better to do with leftover sock yarn.



Fishies!!! (When faced with digital camera difficulties, a scanner can be very useful.) I got a wee bit obsessed last night. The one you see above is my favourite, knit out of some leftover Trekking XXL. I see a glorious fishy blanket in my future, and am somewhat unreasonably excited about it.

this may say something about me

I'm going to make some striped socks.



They are not going to match at all.

heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeeeee....

there aren't any pictures in this post

Before I actually talk about knitting, I must tell you that this is a special day for me. I hear you asking why. I shall tell you.

Today, Blogger remembered me. Today, Blogger recognized that I had checked that little box on the sign in page that says "Remember me" and actually did it. Maybe it was some sort of test. If you are persistent (or just naively hopeful) enough to click that box eleventy zillion times, even though Blogger never, EVER remembers you, the eleventy zillionth and one time you click it, it grants your wish. Hooray!

Ok. Anyway.

Since today is the first day back to classes, I shall choose today to pout about Christmas break being over. It seems fitting. The total knitting output for the month of December was as follows:

1 lap blanket
1 pair of socks
1 scarf
1 pair of mittens
1 other pair of socks, which I wore today and realized are too big, so they will have to be frogged and reknit

The first four items on that list were Christmas gifts. So, the majority of the knitting in December happened before Christmas, a period during which I was extremely busy. So the question remains: what in the world was I doing for two weeks in which I had no obligations?

Sorry, that sounded really cliffhanger, like I was going to give you some fabulous answer. Wrestling Arctic Musk Oxen! Tap Dancing With Giant Tortoises! Using Capital Letters Inappropriately!

The truth of the matter is, I kept doing things that weren't knitting compatible, like ice skating and sledding (although you shouldn't think for a minute that I didn't try to think of someway to make those activities knitting compatible). There was also a fair amount of sleeping, which, as we all know, is an activity in direct competition with knitting. And, actually, I have this Nantucket Jacket (Interweave Knits, Winter 2006) sitting here that only needs one more sleeve cap and a back, so maybe I've been more productive than I think.

I'll stop rambling today and leave you...well, I was going to leave you with a picture, but Blogger is being stupid. So I'll just...go...awkwardly...

Things that may impede Christmas knitting:

1. Sleeping

2. Jobs

3. Large and insistent lap cats

4. Random excursions to Toronto

5. Super Nintendo

6. Cooking

7. Books that will not stay open by themselves

8. Sub zero weather (impossible to knit outside at the bus stop)

9. Car rides with anyone on your Christmas knitting list

10. Blogging!!!

the yarn must flow

The past three days have been amazingly fabulous for knitting (excepting, of course, this morning, when I thought all my internal organs were trying to escape out my nose and my mouth in the form of greenish yellow goo. But I'm better now). Sunday morning I woke up to the abominable (but rather pretty) snowstorm, and a very irate roommate with a cancelled flight (I kept my personal opinions about beautiful snowstorms to myself). But a snowstorm! A perfect excuse to hide inside, drink hot chocolate, and get cracking on the Christmas knitting (although we did venture briefly out for some shopping. Because we were apparently caught with the crazy.) (You know, I really hate it when people over and misuse parenthetical phrases. I am a filthy hypocrite and will go knit with fun fur to punish myself).

Yesterday I was complaining about the lack of new and exciting movies just sitting around the apartment, and lo and behold my roommate pulls out the special edition director's cut of the TV miniseries Dune and says, "Here, watch this. I'm not taking it home with me." Then she went off on her rescheduled flight and left me alone with the crack. I watched the whole thing, and when it was over I went and found the sequel, Children of Dune, on YouTube. Then I stayed up way too late watching it and woke up this morning with the aforementioned ailment. That, of course, probably had nothing to do with what I was watching or how late I was watching it, but for some reason I am feeling slightly resentful towards the engrossing storyline and the crazy costuming and feel better blaming the miniseries, which makes absolutely no sense, but I don't care. As a brief critical note, however, I must say, the sequel went a bit overboard with the storylines and a bit underboard with the explaining-what-happened. But I watched the whole thing anyway.

Now, this weekend, when I go home, I will most likely rush down to my parents' basement, where I know the Dune series is lurking, and try to read them. Part of me is very excited about it, and the other part fully expects to find them just as uninteresting as I did the other eighty bajillion times I tried to read them. Oh the difficulties I face! I really don't know how I bear it all.