Chihuly and Quidditch

Hello!

Life
Today my daughter, Moogie, and I visited the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum in Seattle, Washington.  If you ask most teenagers around the USA to name a famous contemporary glass artist, I don't know what they would say.  If you ask one in Washington, chances are they will name Dale Chihuly.   His glass art, especially his chandeliers, are seen all around Bellevue and Seattle.  There are some gorgeous ones in Benaroya Hall where the Seattle Symphony performs as well in our own Lincoln Square building in Bellevue.  But the first time I remember seeing Chihuly's work was at the Seattle Aquarium, where they have some wonderful pieces of his Sealife Vessels.  He made some pieces that look like various sea creatures, including starfish, octopus, sea anemones, etc.  Really beautiful.

Anyway, Chihuly is super famous in this area, having been born in Tacoma, WA, and having his glass studio there.  So they tore down our "Fun Forest, " the little amusement park at Seattle Center, and built this Chihuly museum.  And I have to say the glass work in it is gorgeous.  There are rooms of his work, beautifully lit.  Then the museum opens up to a small garden full of more pieces.  The thing is, that it is really expensive!  I mean, the whole thing was great.  And there was a fair amount of Chihuly to see.  But, the museum and garden seemed like a wing of a real museum.  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art LACMA cost $15 for regular patrons.  The Chihuly Garden and Glass cost $19.   LACMA has building after building of all eras of art.  I just don't know.  If you are super into glass art... come see it.  It IS gorgeous.  But really, $19?  Ok, there is a discount of you live in the area, so Moogie and I each paid $15 to enter.

That being said, I plan to show the photos I took of the art sporadically in my blog for a while because it was beautiful, and worth seeing.  Worth $15? maybe once.  Worth $19?  I just don't know.

HPKCHC

Wow, I wish I had been a better blogger and done a short entry every day for this month because this group is making me crazy.

One of the things I like, other than the great people, is that with all of the challenges, you are really encouraged to finish things every month.  Also, there are provisions for longer projects that will take months, so it is not limited to just quick knits.

Before I was sorted, I knew the only requirement is to complete one class each month.  Then I was sorted.  Now I am filled with this competitive frenzy where I want to contribute the maximum to my House, and help us on to glory!  It's so funny, because it's only bragging rights.  It's not like we actually win something.  But I find myself knitting/crocheting until late at night, and then I am too tired to post in this blog. 

 Anyway, I am making a real effort to submit items that I was planning to knit/crochet anyway as much as possible.  You can complete 6 classes each month, although there are more classes than that.  Since I am making squares for the BAMCAL, if I can find a way to have them fit the class prompts, that is 6 items right there.  But now, I have signed on for a longer project, an OWL.  OWLs are designed to be knit over 3 months.

The OWL I am completing is for History of Magic.  The Option I chose asks me to knit/crochet items for 3 different characters from the books.  Since I try to knit a pair of socks a month anyway, I am knitting 3 different pairs of socks, one for Professor McGonagall, one for Lily Potter, and the last for Professor Snape.  Basically, I checked the colors for Solid Socks for Sept, Oct. and Nov, and the designers and challenges for Sock Knitters Anonymous, and found socks in colors that fit those 3 people. 

Then throw in Quidditch.  Quidditch is full of week long challenges.  So far, we cleaned up our stashs or our Ravelry queues.  I chose to organize a spreadsheet for the SolidSocks/SKA challenges, then find possible patterns for each month, put those patterns in my queue and lable them all with Socks and the month they fit.  It was a great challenge.  The first "Game" consisted of crafting something that started with the letter of one of the houses:  S, H, R, G or N (for Not Quite First Year).

Again, I submitted an afghan square that I was making anyway.

I am doing pretty well with not adding on lots of extra projects just to get points.  And I am pushing myself quite a bit to finish things in a timely manner. 

The only thing is, it is already September 13, and I have not made much progress on the socks for this month. I will need to really crank on the to get them finished in time.

Ok, off to propose my B.R.O.O.M.  I plan to make squares that can be used to shore up the castle in case of an attack.  (Really, I want to make more of the Spa Washcloths that I made earlier this summer.)

I need to get to bed so that I can get up and finish my Muggle Studies project.  The prompt asks us to make something that a Muggle could use at school.  My house is pairing up with Slytherins for interhouse unity.  The Slytherin who is paired with me (sentstarr)  very nicely agreed to make a square that I was going to make anyway for my BAMCAL afghans.  We are hooking 2 Crocodile Flower Squares (an absolutely amazing pattern that I will post round photos for soon) and then sewing them together and calling them Book Covers. 

Stay safe and well.
Yours,
f1bercat
Shaping the planet from the Seventh Floor (the Gryffindor Common Room)