Gryffindor

Found a great book at the library:  Charmed Knits -- Projects for Fans of Harry Potter.


Wizard caps, magic invisible shawl, sox, sweaters, mittens.  Very cool.  Colors for all houses.  Naturally I chose Harry's house colors.

Immediate new project -- you know the feeling.  Gotta make that!  Gotta have the yarn now!  Gotta get gauge!

Gryffindor house colors.

The yarn is Heritage 150 Superwash by Cascade.  I'm using Tangerine and a wine/burgundy color whose name I don't know but the number is 5663.  The wonderful team at Yellow House Yarns helped me get just the colors I needed.  And even though we had to special order the burgundy, it was worth the day of waiting to get it right.

I've worked two sox together on one long circular, using the Magic Loop method.  I've worked them one at a time on dpn's.  Megan at Yellow House shared that she prefers 'sticks' and has two sets of each sock size so she can knit the pair of sox side-by-side.  This method is working for me.

With two colors I can switch between sox as each stripe
is finished.  With a single color I'd use two balls of yarn, separating
a single skein into two smaller ones if that's what was needed

Progress, major progress.  And so very portable.  The US#1 needles have already developed a slight bowing.  The bamboo Chia Goo needles are warm and gentle on my hands.  I've finished the entire heel process of sock 1 and am proceeding with the instep portion.  Making my way down the leg of sock 2.

A favorite book of mine is by Ann Budd -- the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns.  This one has the basics for mittens, gloves, sweaters, and sox, plus scarves and two kinds of caps.  She's done all the math -- so you just need to choose yarn and establish the gauge.  Then you match it up to her matrix/table.  Recently I saw that this is available as an app for iPad.

One of Ann Budd's tips suggests adding sewing thread to accompany the yarn when knitting the heel and setting up the gusset.  I expected this to be fiddly and fussy but the sewing thread and yarn made themselves into a single strand, double ply yarn and thread, and it was no problem.  Ms. Budd reports that this addition strengthens the heel area, keeping it from wearing thin.

I think our friends are that special strand that keeps us strong.  They weave in and out of our lives just when we most need their support and shared joy.  There are lots of books with this tip written down -- either by example or in words that cannot be misconstrued.  

It's just that we don't always remember this tip.  Thanks again to all my friends who faithfully read and comment on my knitting journey.  I'm so glad to have you along for the ride.