Updates

View from the airplane window over Arizona

View from the airplane window over Washington

Hello!
I'm home, and it's great to be back.

This morning, at about 7 am the lake and hills looked like this:

not quite one hour later, they looked like this:

I cannot say how lovely it was to watch the sunrise over the Cascades.  It is great to be back home.

Knitting

I worked as diligently as possible on my last few HPKCHC projects while I was flying and in Arizona, that is, when I was not baking, and visiting, etc.

Another Sherlock:

I decided to knit another Dearstalker hat.   I originally wanted to knit this hat for my nephew, J, who will turn 6 next month.  My plan was to give him a Nate the Great book by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, a magnifying glass, and a hat like the one Nate wears (or Sherlock Holmes wears).  I found a pattern on Ravelry, and knit one up last month, and it was HUGE. I gave it to my son, Pookie, who wore it for Halloween.

So, how to make it actually fit?  And not a seventeen year old, but a five year old?  I cut back quite a bit on the wedges, and it worked a lot better.  Also, the second hat is knit in a gray tweed instead of the brown used in the original version.

Have to say he seemed to love all of the gifts.  I turned in this project for my DADA (Defense against the Dark Arts) Class.  The assignment was to do a craft you never do, or use materials you don't usually use, in other words, try something new.  Of course, I HAVE knit this hat once before, but this is only my second time knitting with bulky yarn.  I rarely even use worsted weight for knitting.  To move from sock weight to bulky was indeed weird.  Of course, part of the weirdness is that the hat was finished in no time at all.  I was able to make the brims relatively stiff.  And the hat is very thick and warm.  Bulky has its uses, but I doubt I will use it often.

B.R.O.O.M.

I cannot explain how fun it is to work on a BROOM  project.  This project, more than any other, has made me write bits of fan fiction, or little stories putting a new character (myself, of course!) into the Harry Potter World. 

The B.R.O.O.M. projects are actually called Order of the Phoenix Missions.  So, why do we say BROOM?  That stands for Basic Request for Ordinary Order Mission.   Anyway, the idea is that the Order of the Phoenix gets permission from the Head Mistress of Hogwarts to recruit students to help in the defense of Hogwarts against a dark wizard attack.  Even though these missions can be dangerous, the danger to all is great enough that brave and discreet students can volunteer.  So, you read up on the possible missions, then propose a project that fits the storyline.

My story deals with defense of the walls of Hogwarts.  I wrote a story where I noticed that there were cracks in some of the outer walls at Hogwarts, and I proposed creating some specially textured squares that would not only fix the cracks, but make the walls stronger.  Of course, in the real world, these squares are my Spa Washcloths that I started in the Liz Marino Gift Knits Club that I am knitting for Christmas gifts.  As I worked on my washcloths, I mentioned little bits of my "research" into patterns and textures in almost all of my class project turn ins.  The Order Missions are secret, obviously!, so I would never really say what I was doing out loud, but I would write passages like this one for Ancient Runes.  The story is that I am knitting with James Potter (I have been teaching him to knit for relaxation... another whole story line) when I notice he is distracted by a red headed girl walking in the courtyard below.  This is what I wrote:

....

      f1bercat, without looking up from her cotton washcloth she is casting on, smiles and says, "Someone, ahem, I mean something interesting down in the courtyard?"

James blushes a bit, then says, "I think the pattern of the cobblestones is very pretty, I mean, very sturdy looking.

"The cobblestones?" asks f1bercat peering doubtfully over the wall.  Just then, the same group of girls passes below again, the sun shining off the red hair of one of them.  "Sturdy?" she pauses and looks intently at the cobblestones below.  "What a great idea."  She rips back her washcloth and begins casting on again.  "Cobblestone pattern," she mutters.

James looks mystified, but f1bercat just keeps knitting, not mentioning her secret BROOM mission.

....

All a bit of silly fun, but actually, I have enjoyed the writing of these little stories, and the challenge to keep the general story line going.

Anyway, I have finished all 10 of my washcloths (plus many more that I knit for other things), and am ready to write up the last bit of story and turn them in.
Here are the first 5 I knit last month (October):

Here are the 5 I knit this month (November):

And here are all 10:

No two are alike.  They are all just experiments and playing around with texture patterns.  I might keep making these to have a selection on hand for quick gifts for friends.

That's all for today.  O!  except that I noticed when I returned home that our bird feeder was out of seeds.  I refilled it this morning, and was happy to see that the birds had been waiting for me.

Peace to all.
Yours,

f1bercat
shaping the planet with a finished B.R.O.O.M. shhhhhhh.

Eastside Crochet Guild Meets and Honors a Member

Hello

Life
I took the above photo at about 8 am.  You can barely see the hills across the lake because of all the clouds and fog.  It has been really raining all day.  Not like what is happening on the East Coast with the Frankenstorm, but still a lot of rain in one day.  I have relatives in New Jersey, and the last we heard from them was late last night, as the eye was approaching.  I hope they are ok.

Eastside Crochet Guild
I finally made it to a meeting of the Crochet Guild.  They meet on the 4th Sunday of every month from 2 - 4.  They used to meet at Crossroads Mall in the community room, but when the Mall was sold, the new owner asked all of the groups using the community room to pay a fee, and since this group is pretty small, they had to look for a new place to meet. The assisted living center just behind Crossroads, Sunrise Senior Living, offered them a space for free.  The senior center is perfect.  It is cozy.  There is free coffee, tea, juice, and COOKIES!  And sometimes, the residents join in with the group.  As a thank you to the center, the crochet guild members are planning to hook lapghans for the residents.  I think it's a great idea.

This group is much like the Knitting Guild.  They do a lot of charity hooking.  Many of the members are in both guilds.  On Sunday, they had a little party for one of the members.

I was lucky in my first meeting.  They were honoring Lester Vaughn.

Lester is a former knitting and crochet teacher at Pacific Fabrics.  She is truly a local treasure.  Many of the members of both guilds learned to knit and crochet from her.  She is "retired" now at the age of 91, but still attends all of the guild meetings, and the open stitching groups at Pacific Fabrics.  There is a lovely blog article about her on their website here.

Knitting

I have been trying to finish up a few projects that have a deadline.  I finished my socks for SKA, SolidSocks, and my OWL and already blogged about that.  But I wanted to finish up one more class for HPKCHC.  I have finished all 8 classes now, detention, and 2 Quidditch games for October.  I also hit the 50% mark on my BROOM project.  So I am totally up to date for the game and ready for November.

Wow.  All you need to do to play the game is submit 1 class every month.  That was my plan.   But I am horribly competitive.  Also, I feel guilty if I don't get all of the points possible for my House which is Gryffindor.

The last things I finished up are a hat for my son, Pookie, to wear on Halloween.  He wants to be Sherlock Holmes, so I made the Elementary - Deerslayer Hat.  I have to say I did not like the pattern.  I actually paid for it, but it is not very professionally written.  It is a bit difficult to follow, and I had to really reduce the size as it came out HUGE.  But it pretty much looks like the right hat, so it's all good.

I was also knitting frantically on my spa washcloths.

I proposed this project as a BROOM, and am now making 10 by the end of November.  This works out perfectly for me as I need a crap load of them for Christmas gifts.  I am really trying to make my class assignments be for things I would be making anyway.  The game gives me a push to GET THINGS FINISHED.  I like that.  But I was feeling just a tiny bit stressed this month with the 2 trips I took, and the amazing wrinkled raisin costume I sewed, that I would not finish up all of the classes.

We can get points for only 6 class turn ins.  I have turned in 8 each month.  Why?  Why?  because there is a special Gryffindor badge for people who turn in all 8 classes each month (24 classes), detention each month (3), and participate in all Quidditch Challenges.  This badge is called the Crazy Train Conductor Badge.

Toot!  Toot!  I am on the crazy train.

Stay safe and well.
Yours,

f1bercat
Shaping the planet in the rain.

later in the day, still raining, but the fog on the lake has lifted

B.R.O.O.M. Disaster Averted

Hello!
Another double post to try to get in all my exciting news.

HPKCHC
I discovered today, that I was not supposed to start work on my BROOM project until September 30.  My broom consists of Spa Washcloths, based on the patterns and organic cotton yarn I got from the Liz Marino Gift Knits Club this year.  I enjoyed making them, and I knew my sisters would love them, so I proposed making 10 more.

Once the project was accepted, I cast on a new washcloth.  I planned to also turn in these washcloths for a Gryffindor challenge called a Marauders Mission, to craft something relaxing each month (it's called "Relaxicrafting.")  I have finished 3 so far, and cast on the 4th.  I was feeling so proud of myself, because I was ahead in the project, and I could tell I would have no trouble finishing all 10 by the end of November, even with more Quidditch coming up.

So I contacted the leader of my Marauders Mission Team, asking her about how to give her a photo to turn in for the Team Post, and she told me that I wasn't supposed to start the BROOM.  EEEK!  The relaxicrafting is only for stuff that you would already be making for a class.  It is not meant to add more projects, but reward you for just completing a class or a longer project, like my BROOM.  So, for it to count, I needed to find a class to turn in these 3 washcloths.

I have already finished my 6 classes for the month, so that left Herbology or History of Magic, the only 2 classes left.  The Herbology prompt asked you to do some research into the types of trees used to make wands, then craft a project that reflected something you learned, or craft a project with the Name of the tree in the project.

I looked up some photos of tree Bark on the internet, and compared them with my washcloths.  Then I chose 3 that looked similar, and checked to see if they were used in wand making.

I chose

Ash,

which was used in Cedric Diggory's wand.  I paired it with this washcloth:

Elm,

which was used to make a wand for Lucius Malfoy.  This is the matching washcloth:

And, oak,

which was used in Hagrid's wand/umbrella.

I did some research into the characteristics of each wood, and then instead of writing a description or a story (this group is really into storytelling where you put yourself into the Harry Potter world, as though you were in one of the books), I wrote 3 short poems to explain what I had learned about each type of wood.

Ash (Cedric Diggory)

 Ashwood

wands represent

sensitivity and

sacrifice; higher awareness:

Cedric.

Elm (Lucius Malfoy)

This elegant

magical

instrument,

believed to correctly

belong to just

pure-bloods, casts

dignified

error free

dexterous

world weary

spells in defense of

Lord Voldemort.

Oak (Rubeus Hagrid)

As the days warm, the

Forest King makes wood for wands;

sometimes umbrellas.

This was a totally fun class assignment.  I love the Harry Potter books and movies.  I read most of them out loud to my kids when they first came out.  But I am not the type of fan to do research into the books, or write fan fiction.  But I had so much fun learning about wand wood and wand lore.  And writing the poems was really fun, also.

I am so happy I joined this group.  It is inspiring me.

Where in the World is f1bercat?

I knit another 4 miles on the exercise bike today.  Since I could not bring a spa washcloth, and have it count for my BROOM, I brought the Better than French Vanilla Socks that I have been slowly knitting FOREVER.  

These socks are another riff on a pattern by Liz Marino.  They are going to be for my brother, so they need to be big.  He has large feet (size 13).  His feet are swollen with his poor circulation.  He can't walk anymore, but he still can FEEL, so they need to be soft.  He can't put them on so they need to be S-T-R-E-T-C-H-Y.  This pattern is a great one for stretch, and the Cascade Handpaint Heritage Sock Yarn, is perfect, too.  The pattern is easily memorizable, so they are good to bring to the Y.

Where does 4 more miles put me?

View Larger Map

Still on I5 in the middle of nowhere, Oregon.

But 4 miles closer to my goal of Orange, Calif.

Stay safe and well,

Yours,

f1bercat

Shaping the planet with 3 new poems and some washcloths that look like bark.