Finished Object Friday - Gryffindor Knit Set

Gryffindor,Where dwell the brave at heart!

My fellow knitters, I should have known.  Really I suspected but I was naive to the amount of Gryffindor spirit required to embark on a journey of House Color Coordinates.  I honestly thought if I worked on it a lot it wouldn't take too long.  I started at the beginning of March and just this week finished the entire set of Gryffindor items.  

The Finished Set

I made the scarf, hat and wristlets in stunning Burgundy and Gold for the daughter of my boss.  She was graduating high school and going to college and I initially thought to make the items in her new school colors but she wanted Gryffindor Burgandy and Gold.  I wanted to make these items as a reminder of a new adventure in college and to have a piece of Harry by her as she faces the triumphs and challenges of this new experience.  Needless to say, she is already at college but winter is coming and these are just in time.

As an avid Potter fan, I had always wanted to make a set but I myself identify with Hufflepuff.  I am honest and hard working and just want everyone to get along.  The Hufflepuff colors are black and gold and here in Western PA, those colors mean a different thing entirely (Let's Go Steelers!).  I wanted to make something iconic from the films and so making the Gryffindor Set for someone as deserving as Katherine was a treat.

So here are the different parts of the set,

The Gryffindor Scarf!

The scarf (and subsequent pieces) is modeled after the stripe pattern in the later movies particularly Movies 3 and 4.  I think it has a very adult feel and would work well for a college student.each section has 29 rows of K1P1 ribbing in burgundy followed by an 8 row stripe pattern. There are 14 sets of stripes and 15 burgundy sections which equal 547 rows of knitting.  To go further, each row has 60 stitches, totaling 32,820 stitches.  That all results in over 6 ft of yarn!

This was a beast in fact, knitting the end of it during August was a bit uncomfortable because the hot summer and the warm wool blend.  I got it down that in one knit night on Thursday (round 3 hours) I could get one section complete.

Fringe!

I made the fringe a combination of both the burgundy and the gold because I felt that it really set off the scarf nicely.

The Gryffindor Hat!

I really liked working on this hat (perhaps because it only took 2 weeks).  In the entire set, this was by far the most mindless.  Perhaps it was due to past experience with knitting hats or just the nice round after round of stockinette.  Unlike the scarf where I kept meticulous notes of rows and can then calculate the stitch count, this was more of a wingged effort.

I cast on 128 stitches which was more stitches that it called for to make a large and slouchy hat.  I worked the ribbing for 10 rows and then in stockinette until the body was 6 inches from the cast on edge.  I made the same 8 stitch patter and then did the written decreases after 8 inches from the CO edge.

The result is a lovely but modern version of the beanie from the movies.

The Gryffindor Wristlets!

The pattern was actually mittens but in the age of smart phones and touch screens, this would not be a practical item for our college bound grad.  Instead I modified the pattern and made fingerless wristlets.  I am so please with this pattern that it might be my go to for any fingerless wristlets going forward without the Harry Potter Pattern.

I have to say that when I initially looked at the pattern the thought of dropping off stitches onto scrap yarn and then picking them up again was a bit daunting but I think after socks nothing is unusual anymore.

I did however make a boo boo.  I made the first attempt but placed the increases on the thumb seam instead of the crease between the pointer finger and thumb.  When I went to make the second wristlet, I realized my mistake far to late.  I finished the wristlet and then cast on another one.  These in total took about 4 evenings of work.  Not bad considering the 45 hours needed for the scarf.

I plan on writing up my modifications on the rav page if you are interested in seeing where I deviated.

So there you have it.  My completed set, I am please as punch at the result and my boss (AKA Katherine's Mom) is so pleased with the result.  I am sure she will be too...hopefully I will get a picture!

Check out more Finished Objects at Tami's Amis!

<3 Heather

Now for the Details:

Ravelry Page - Hogwarts Scarf: - Gryffindor
Needles - Size 7/4.5 mm with 24 inch cables
Yarn - 
3.5 Skeins of Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted in 999 - Burnt Sienna
0.5 Skeins of Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted in 1014 - Butternut
Duration - 45 hours of Work
Pattern - House Scarves - Year-3-4 from Charmed Knits


Ravelry Page - Hogwarts Beanie - Gryffindor
Needles - Size 5/3.75 mm Double Pointed Needles
Yarn - 
0.88 Skeins of Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted in 999 - Burnt Sienna
0.05 Skeins of Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted in 1014 - Butternut
Duration - 45 hours of Work
Pattern - House Hats from Charmed Knits


Ravelry Page - Hogwarts Wristlets - Gryffindor
Needles - Size 5/3.75 mm double pointed needles
Yarn - 
0.62 Skeins of Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted in 999 - Burnt Sienna
0.05 Skeins of Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted in 1014 - Butternut
Duration - 45 hours of Work
Pattern - House Mittens from Charmed Knits

WIP Wednesday - Fresh Start

Hello all, I have some unfortunate news.

I have briefly mentioned The Boy in previous posts and we had been dating for about 3-4 months. While he is a great person, the relationship wasn't going anywhere and I just didn't have enough of a spark with him to continue with the relationship.  So yesterday, I broke it off with him.  I think I kinda caught him off guard but in the long run it's for the best.   But know that I am okay but wanted to share what was going on.  Honestly, I was spending more time trying to dodge him than be with him.  Clearly that's a sign.

Anyway, I have gotten some progress on my projects and here is the update.

White Centered Granny Blanket

Since I finished the Gryffindor Scarf,  I have been working on a few things but got the bug to work on the White Centered Grannies again.  I really wanted to start putting it together and see the colors.  I initially started with a whip stitch join and realized that was going to take forever and I am pretty impatient.  So I tore out the tests and decided to do a slip stitch join because I am faster with a crochet hook than a tapestry needle.

After I got that straightened out I needed to figure out a way to get the blocks random while still being balanced.  So in all of my nerdiness, I went to excel for the answer.

Here is how I did it:

1. I knew my blocks were about 5.5" so I putzed with widths to figure out how big I wanted the blanket to be.  This will be about 4' by 5'. 
2. I used the formulas to create a random number between 1 and 8 (I have 8 colors) 
• Formula  =randbetween(1,8)
3. I then used conditional formatting for when a cell equals a number the appropriate color block is shown

Now isn't that geeky?  Anyway after refreshing the random formula I saved my favorite configuration by pasting over the formula and then tweaking it so the same colors were not next to each other.

Here is what I have done so far. I probably need to move to my table to continue to work on this.

I can't wait to get more squares done to add to the blanket!

Gryffindor Wristlets

As far as the Gryffindor adventure has gone, the wristlets are super easy and fast.  I made one earlier in the summer and put it aside to finish the scarf.  When I started the second wristlet, I realized I made the first one wrong.  I put the gusset in the wrong place so I am working on what is now the third one.

I hope to get this finished this week

Richmond Lace Scarf

I did rip back a bit to fix my counting error and now it looks a lot better. Now that I know how many stitches are in each row, it's easier to keep track of now.

I like the variation already!

Falling Water Scarf

I made some progress but until it's blocked it really just looks like a sparkly pink blob.

I keep losing stitch markers :(

So I feel as though my crafting bug has been renewed.  The weather is getting cooler and I have dreams of  just snuggleing up under wool yarn and knit/crochet my way through winter.  Are you making pulling out some old WIPs to get finished? 

For other WIPs check out Tami's Amis and Frontier Dreams   

<3 Heather

WIP Wednesday - Go Go Gryffindor!

Hello again!  I am happy to report that my project at work is finally rolled out.  This means that things should calm down a bit and I won't be working 10-12 hour days all the time.  Yippy!

Surprisingly, I have gotten a ton of knitting and crocheting done so far this month even though work has been crazy.  I really attribute this to Nerd Wars challenges.  Really any inspiration to get stuff done will get me motivated.

I have mentioned it before but I am working on a set of Harry Potter inspired winter accessories, including a scarf, hat and wristlets in Gryffindor colors.  The set is for an avid fan who is going off to college this fall.  I initially thought to make it in her college colors but she wanted burgundy and gold.

As the start of the fall term gets closer, I have a deadline to get these items completed.  The good news, is that the hat is done and progress was made on everything else this week.  (I will do a finished object post when it's all done)

Gryffindor Scarf

I like working on this but it's a bit daunting.  I tend to procrastinate with other projects, at least this time it's apart of the set.  I did get to work on it quite a bit these past 2 weeks and I really need to get a move on to get it done.  It may be that I have to get one section done a day for a bit.

I really like how this is turning out

Gryffindor Wristlets

I am so surprised how easy I found this pattern.  I had some modifications to make it a wristlet versus a mitten.  This is so comfy and I will probably find it hard not to want to complete the left hand this week.

Right Wristlet!

So there you have it my WIPs for this week. I think I had a pretty productive week, how about you? For other WIPs check out Tami's Amis and Frontier Dreams

<3 Heather