It Is Finished

Well, I finished the scarf with 2 hours and twenty minutes to spare before the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My son was able to wear it to pick up his book.

Here it is: (from above)



and this is what you see when looking at it from the level:



That is my copy of the book with the scarf. After 17 hours of reading I finished the final installment of Harry Potter. While I, like J.K. Rowling, LOVED the book....I think I need some time yet for all that happened to fully sink in. My DD was in tears to think our journey with Harry has come to an end. He is the first character in my childrens' lives to have felt like a part of the family for so long. (I can only imagine how much more intense this must be for Rowling!! My goodness!!)

If anyone British reads this, I'd love to know what McGonagal's phrase r.e. Snape means (as it is not, in fact, a common phrase in the US) "done a bunk"???????????
I have a feeling it's very funny, whatever it is!

Well, now I must go.

Happy Knitting and Shooting!

Joy Riding

I took a break from my furious knitting under deadline pressure on the HP illusion scarf for my son in order to actually put a few hours in on the job for which I get paid. Interviewed a gentleman from church r.e. his '57 Chevy Bel Air. Got all the details and some great photos for the magazine layout. (Trying to work in ways to engage the male readers out there!)

Any who....the big treat was that my daughter (who was along as my photographic assistant) and I got to go for a ride with the top down.



What an ABSOLUTE THRILL!!!!!!! This car is perfectly restored, all original parts except the battery. Bob is an artist when it comes to fine-tuning engines and keeping a "three on the tree" manual transmission working perfectly. You can't imagine the wonderful sound when he fired it up! And the thrill of the air blowing through your hair. And those heavenly comfortable seats! Wowza!

I sometimes still find myself amazed that someone is paying me to do this stuff. Meet great people. Hear interesting stories. Write. Photograph. Put it all together.

It's a dream come true!

Guess I'll get back to knitting now....after all there's not much time left before they expect to go to a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows premiere in that scarf!
Wish me luck!

Happy Shooting and Knitting!

Illusion Scarf

Ever since I saw the Knitty Gritty episode on illusion knitting I was intrigued. Then I came across a brilliant pattern by Lindsay on thestormmoon.blogspot.com which is a pattern with the Dark Mark from Harry Potter hidden in the scarf. This was all I needed to give it a whirl. (We are Harry Potter crazy at our house. My daughter got "Outstanding" on the last W.O.M.B.A.T. on JK Rowling's website.) I'm only a little bit into it but this is it so far:

This is what it looks like straight on:


and this is what you see if you view it from the flat edge:


It's been fun to watch the pattern emerge. I keep tipping the project every few rows to see what's happening. I'm going to investigate this method further. I'd like to come up with some illusions having to do with the "good" guys in HP. Just imagine, me--making my own pattern. Cool!

Happy Knitting!

I Dyed & Went to Tennessee

Well, it's been a loooong time since I posted. And I have no excuses that sound good, so I'm not even going to bother. All I can say is that it's been an eventful six weeks since I last posted.

I learned how to dye yarn in my crock pot!

Here is a batch of lovely stuff I call "Summertime Citrus" along with a pair of finished socks. (Pattern is "Breeze" from the Summer '07 knitty.com. I HIGHLY recommend the pattern. I highly discourage you from trying it with vary-colored yarn!!)



And some close-up's of the sock details:




It has lovely lace-work and cables. All kinds of fun, but easy to knit--even in the car. (Which is where I knit this pair! Driving from Iowa to Tennessee for our family vacation a couple weeks ago!)

The next thing I dyed last month was this beautiful hank of Icelandic wool from Tongue River Farms:




I was going for more purple than blue, but misjudged the amount of dye needed for this amount of yarn. That's why they call it "learning." I'm still very happy with the color results and can't wait to see how it knits up!

As you might imagine, these two experiments have got my creative brain ticking away on overtime! If only I had unlimited resources for yarn expenditures, I'd get all sorts of undyed yarns and have a go at all sorts of gorgeous color schemes! This really was a blast and I can't wait to give it another try.

In the meantime (besides finally actually taking over as managing editor of a monthly magazine while continuing to write and photograph for them...) I also managed to accomplish these projects over the last 6 weeks:

Knee-hi socks in school colors for my DD who plans to wear them for marching band:



Another entrelac bag which will NOT be felted (but that yet needs a handle and lining):


and another sweater for the new nephew (who is three months old on the 4th and rolling over already!):

I think he's going to look a little like Pooh in a bee costume, what do you think?
Still debating on buttons.

And just in case you're the sort of person who likes visual proof of the world's realities, here are a couple photos from our trip to Tennessee.




Phew! That ought to about catch me up! I have a feeling I've neglected a couple other knitting projects, but ah well, such is life. I hope to be a bit more regular in my posts once more!

Happy Knitting & Shooting!