Adventures in OWLs!

We're more than half way through the month, Gryffindors! How are your classes coming? Are the projects flying off of your needles, or are things taking more time than you expected?

Today on the Gryff blog, we'd like to highlight some of the wonderful OWL proposals members of our house have submitted so far. OWLS can be so much work, and this is a great opportunity to cheer Gryffindor on and help them go the distance! Of course, these are just a few of the amazing proposals submitted so far. Take a look at the thread if you're interested in seeing more!

Dobarah: Ancient Runes, Option 1:

"There are SEVEN (7) charts for this project…which is a bit scary (IMO). According to the directions, half-way through the wrap would be 15 repeats of Chart E. This little tidbit made me realize that although there may be SEVEN (7) charts, I get to use some charts over and over. Oh joy!"





OneKnittyChick: Ancient Runes, Option 1:


"Looking to the chart now, I still get chills, though I have created at least one lace shawl successfully. There are technically only (7) charts but Chart 2 repeats and Chart 3A, B, C, and D are all filthy with nupps. The mixture of written instruction and charts is also a bit confusing.

Added Challenge(s): 1) I work 60 hour weeks. I have very limited time to myself and any large project on top of my classes will be tough. 2) This will be my first lace shawl actually knit with lace weight yarn. In fact, this is my first time knitting with lace weight yarn. 3) Summer in Oregon is nigh, with sweet breezes and garden beds singing their songs of sunshine and budding wonders."





PurpleSnowdrop: Arithmancy, Option 4


"I have decided I need to know more about maths and how the magic of numbers work in patterns. So this term I am going to be concentrating on fractal patterns of self similarity.
My project for this is a large fragmented geometric shape.
It has 15 parts.
The centre 5 parts are a uniform mass centre fractal. And the outside 10 parts end with a wavy fractal curve.
There are lots of short rows and wraps and turns in this pattern. This is a fairly new skill for me to learn. I have done the odd w&t on some of my granddaughters cardigans, but I have never done them on this scale."



EmilyOT: History of Magic, Option 3


"I would like to submit my (first ever!) OWL proposal for the Spring 2013 Term. I feel like the Narragansett sweater has a vintage-inspired air to it- I can imagine a teenaged Lily Evans wearing this boat-necked, body skimming design on visits to Hogsmeade or walking the Hogwarts grounds on weekends. The sweater has a romantic feel to it- she might have even worn it on a date with James Potter! Although I would assume hers would have been green or some color other than my chosen shade of pink, to set off her lovely auburn hair. This sweater echoes her classic style, with just the right touches of cabling and ribbing.

This sweater has a top down, raglan sleeve construction. I plan on knitting the body of the sweater first, and then the sleeves. I like the look of the 3/4 sleeves shown by the pattern, so I plan on knitting the pattern as written. This pattern involves both cables and eyelets, on both the body and continuing onto the sleeves. I will knit these as written as well. I achieved gauge on size 8 needles, and I plan on knitting a size 34. The pattern calls for 850 yards for that size, and I have 1050 yards, so I should have plenty of yarn.

While this appears a fairly simple sweater, I would like to put forward two points of consideration: 1) I work full time, and therefore have only limited knitting time in the evenings and weekends. 2) This will only be my second adult sweater involving cables (and my first with cables on the sleeves), and I’m still getting the hang of cabling without a cable needle."





Amandajenks: History of Magic: Option 2

"Shawl 1: (Dragon’s Rest) is my interpretation of Charlie Weasley, or well something he’d give to a love interest.  :) It resembles dragon wings. The yarn I chose for this is the red heart midnight boutique. Its purply-green and sparkly. Everything i’d love for my dragon to be.
Proposed yardage: 1200yds"


"Shawl 2: (Vortex Shawl) is my interpretation of Professor Snape. The yarn I chose is a red-heart brand acrylic green & white variegated. The green is representative of Slytherin, the white and the vortex design in the shawl represent his pure love for Lily that was never ending. Always.
Proposed yardage: 840 yds"



Shawl 3: (Black Death) is my interpretation of Luna Lovegood. I chose to knit this like a rainbow, because Luna is always bright and cheerful, like a beacon of happiness. The shawl design itself may seem complex, but once you get to know it, (much like Luna) you find its a great pattern. All skeins are Red-Heart acrylic yarn in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
Proposed yardage: 350yds


dlyn1124: Astronomy, Option 2:


"I’m beginning with a slew of natural, un-dyed fibers in the form of commercially combed top and raw, unprocessed fleece. Pictured I have 100% Heinz 57 breed wool, 100% Yak down, 100% black mohair, and a sampling of a raw, mixed breed fleece. The fleece will need to be cleaned, but will most likely be left un-dyed and possibly unprocessed, depending on the amount of texture needed for the sake of representation. Other fibers will be dyed accordingly. I’ll be using food coloring to prepare my dye solutions. The dye methods and spinning structure will be quite varied in this project; also expect to see “spin-ins” (i.e. beads, threads, etc.) decorating appropriate skeins.

The biggest challenges will be producing skeins that actually evoke the essence of what they’re supposed to represent without looking like crazy, junk yarn. Hopefully, the completed skeins would make someone say, “I can see the moon in that… a little bit…” Another challenge will be in the dyeing process, trying to achieve specific colors or tones of colors, and not just relying on my usual happy mistakes! I’d also like to achieve the color red to some degree in my representation of the sun, and red is not yet a color I’ve been successful with."


kjirstiben: Charms, Option 1


"The stole is knit from each end up to the middle, where the lace is grafted together in the center. Each section consists of Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue, and Finale. Cleverly, all of these are arranged from different combinations of 3 4-row charts; the pattern changes as you knit the charts in a different order.

This is a complicated project composed of simple motifs, much like the classical canon by the eponymous composer.

Considerations: This pattern is written out in a way that isn’t initially obvious. Puzzling out the first two sections of the pattern (which I did for my swatch, including finding the video for the picot cast-on) slowed me down; it is possible that I could misread a section and have to frog it back. Additionally, though I have quite a bit of experience grafting, the method outlined in the pattern is somewhat unusual and may take more than one try."