Hogwarts Sock Swap Two!

Petunia Quafflepuncher, the amazing second-year Ravenclaw totally rocks. There was just so much amazingness in this package that it exploded everywhere (and the bars of chocolate quickly were confiscated... I will have to see if I can snag any of them before they are gone).



The yummy Professor Snape as an amazing polaroid transfer card (which I do believe was made by her).



A gorgeous hand-decorated hollow book, which revealed the following:



An adorable little sock bookmark and a beautiful pouch that contained the following:







OMG aren't those amazing? Look at that gorgeous beading. Wow. I have to pause for a second to mention that there are no photos of them being worn. As positively gorgeous as these socks are, I cannot get them over my heels. *cry* I still absolutely love them, though and will figure out some way for them to be worn.



She also made this gorgeous bag. It's beautiful. I love the fabrics she used.



Last, though certainly not least, two beautiful skeins of yarn from Wooly Treasures... one is a merino/bamboo/nylon blend, the other is merino/tencel. They are both gorgeous, I love the richness of these colors and cannot wait to make myself some socks with them.

Petunia darling, thank you so, so much. Please don't feel bad about the socks not fitting, I know my feet and ankles are horrible and it is absolutely not your fault. I love the socks anyway and am amazed at how much work you put into this package.

Rogue on the beach

First photos of the completed Rogue, there will be more to come. Location... a very chilly windy Sunday morning on Long Island's Long Beach. Thoughts... I love my Rogue.

Another Rogue update

Both sleeves are coming along nicely - they are nearing the halfway point, just lots of stockinette to go before I do some shoulder shaping.

I never took a photo of the finished hood, I think it can wait until the sleeves are done and there are final photos of it. I am worried about wearability, the alpaca in the yarn seems to bother my neck a bit, and I cannot wear turtlenecks, but hopefully it'll soften up when it is washed and blocked.

I want to post photos of my finished Ravenclaw socks, but that has to wait until they are in the recipient's hands. I am going to include a bit of the leftover contrast yarn, because I don't know if she will like the cuff/bind off, and I'd like her to be able to adjust it if desired. I should be sending them out by the end of the week though, so hopefully photos can be posted soon.

In a strange random last thought, I removed all links to other blogs in my sidebar - I switched everything over to Google Reader, but I've not yet taken the time to do the sharing thing so I can have a nifty link for everything in my sidebar. It's be much easier if they could just have a link to everything without needing to do the share bit, but whatever. If anyone has any tips on that let me know.

Meet Chauncey...

Chauncey - He doesn't require much picking up after, nor does he keep you up all night with his snores. He's a gentleman afterall.

Finished size - approx. 6 3/4" tall, 4" or so wide

Materials:
Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, approx. 60 yards of Oatmeal (MC)
Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, approx. 12 yards of Onyx (CC)
US 15 DPNS, set of 5
stuffing of your choice (my current stuffing is wool batting from Peace Fleece, polyfill or others will work just as well)

Gauge pre-felting:
3 stitches/inch
4 rows/inch

Notes:
As this is a toy and is felted, your gauge really doesn't matter all that much, and the finished size will also vary based on your felting experience and the yarn used. Use worsted weight and smaller needles (around a US 10 would be good since you want your pre-felted piece loose so the fibers have room to shrink) and your finished piece will be significantly smaller.

For the CC, I used a technique somewhere between intarsia and fair isle, twisting my yarns at the color changes (and every few stitches for the longer mouth rows), you may find it easier to work the entire skull in the MC and duplicate stitch the CC before felting, or embroider the details after felting. Unless noted in the pattern, stitches are all in MC.

Abbreviations:
CO - cast on
KFB - knit into the front and back of the stitch (forms two stitches)
K2TOG - knit two stitches together (forms one stitch)
SSK - slip one stitch knit-wise, slip a second stitch knit-wise, knit both slipped stitches together through the back loops (forms one stitch)
P2TOG - purl two stitches together (forms one stitch)
P2TOGTBL - purl two stitches together through the back loops (forms one stitch)
BO - bind off

Pattern:
With MC, CO 8 stitches (using a long-tail cast-on), divide stitches evenly on 4 DPNS (2 per needle), and join to knit in the round, making sure not to twist. Place a marker at the beginning of the round.
1 - *KFB* around
2 through 12, even rounds - knit all stitches
3 - *KFB, K1* around
5 - *KFB, K2* around
7 - *KFB, K3* around
9 - *KFB, K4* around
11 - *KFB, K5* around
13 - knit all
14 - K22, K3 w/CC, K6, K3 w/CC, K22
15 - K21, K5 w/CC, K4, K5 w/CC, K21
rows 16, 17, 18 - same as 15
19 - *K2, K2TOG* repeat 3 times, K6, K3 w/CC, K6, K3 w/CC, K6, *SSK, K2* repeat 3 times
20 - K23, K2 w/CC, K23
21 - K1, *K2TOG, K2* repeat 2 times, K10, K2 w/CC, K10, *K2, SSK* repeat 2 times, K1
22 - K19, K4 w/CC, K19
23 - *K2TOG, K1* repeat 3 times, K7, K4 w/CC, K7, *K1, SSK* repeat 3 times
rows 24, 25, 26, 27 - knit all stitches
28 - K11, *K1 w/CC, K2 w/MC* repeat 4 times, K8
29 - K9, K17 w/CC, K8
30 - K1, K2TOG, K3, SSK, K1, K17 w/CC, K2TOG, K3, SSK, K1
31 - K9, *K1 w/CC, K2 w/MC* repeat 4 times, K6
rows 32, 33 - knit all stitches
34 - K3, K2TOG, K1, SSK, K14, K2TOG, K1, SSK, K3
35 - K2, K2TOG, K2, SSK, K10, K2TOG, K2, SSK, K2
36 - K2TOG, K1, K2TOG, SSK, SSK, K4, K2TOG, K2TOG, SSK, K1, SSK
37 and 38 - K11, BO6, K8
39 - P2TOG, P4, P2TOGTBL
40 - knit all stitches
41 - BO remaining stitches

(Errata... row 13 was written as an increase round but is supposed to be a knit only round, and I removed the last purl row before the final bind-off to reduce the amount of flap.)

Close up the hole at the CO stitches with the tail, weave in all ends, and toss in the wash with hot water (use a zippered pillowcase to keep fuzzies from clogging your washer hoses), a splash of detergent and some jeans or a towel for extra agitation. Once felted to your desired amount (mine went through twice and got some additional hand-felting in spots that didn't felt enough for my tastes), firmly stuff, tuck the flap into the hole, and stitch the opening closed with thread to match.



As always, this pattern ©blackrayne.com. Use it for personal non-profit use only, do not redistribute without written permission, do not sell items made from this pattern, do not claim this pattern to be your own.

Sneak peek

It's a bit blurry and/or out of focus, so I may retake it tomorrow when I have more light to work with, New photo added, much better looking I do believe. The above is a wee little peek at the Ravenclaw socks I am working on for HSS2. Sock #2 is at the heel, I have the first part of the heel (short row) done, but I'm taking a break before I start decreasing the number of wraps again since I already had to frog it back two times. I seem to keep dropping one of the stitches when I am working the p2togtbl for the one side. I don't remember how I did the first one, but I know it didn't give me any problems like this second one is. Hopefully the third time will be the charm for this one. Once I get this heel done, I've only got a few inches of cuff to do and they will be finished.