OOTP was excellent. I actually saw it twice this weekend. And I enjoyed it even more the second time around. They stuck pretty close to the book. The changes that were made didn't take away from the story at all, just helped it to consolidate things and get the movie length down some. As with GOF and I'm sure as will be with movies 6 & 7, there's just no way to get all of JKR's rich detail into a 2-3 hour movie. But there was lots of great subtle stuff. Like in one scene when Umbridge has caught Harry trying to use her fire to access the floo network and you see boxes and boxes of confiscated Weasley Skiving Snackboxes lined along the wall. And when the DA meets for the very first time in the Hog's Head, we see a goat by the bar with the bartender. I'm pretty sure that wasn't in book 5, but it's definitely in book 7. Fred & George's departure was great. The ending duel was outstanding. One of the few things that didn't live up to my expectations was the house on Grimauld Place. In my head, it was always a single house, the movie had it as a row-home. The inside was much as I pictured it would be, but I just always pictured a dilapidated old house on the outside too. Can't wait for the DVD! I'm hoping they have deleted scenes for some of the stuff that was rushed through.
I finished the first footie sock I'm making with the leftover Opal Cotton yarn. 
I decided to try a short row heel again and it turned out really well. I watched the videos on Knitting Help over and over to make sure I was picking up the wraps correctly and I think that really helped. I've still got a hole at each end of the short rows, but I think I know what I did wrong and hope to correct it on the 2nd sock.
Tonight...
I'm canning tomatoes. The kitchen smells great. I've only got a small batch, but I should get 4-5 pints out of it. This batch I'll just freeze. I'm hoping to have enough to do up in jars by the weekend. And it's supposed to be good and hot the rest of the week, so it's a good possibility.
Although not imbued with any piece of my soul, the Horcrux socks are finished.
As I said before, these are a quick knit. I think the patterning helps them feel faster than plain stockinette socks since you get to constantly change up what you are doing. I don't like the heel on these, it's too baggy. Next time I'd use a slip stitch heel flap and a regular heel turn (rather than the band heel in the pattern). Otherwise, they fit great. I intend to wear these next weekend while reading Deathly Hallows. I have enough yarn left over I could knit another sock. Don't know if this is normal for this pattern or just a lucky break. I should have plenty to knit a pair of ankle socks (my next sock project).
With all the dyeing I've been doing lately, I discovered I really could use a skein winder. Winding skeins on my swift does work, but it puts a lot of strain on the connections and I was constantly having to retie the bars. So I looked into getting a skein winder. Unfortunately, budget wouldn't allow the $80+ expenditure, not with Quilt Odyssey only 2 weeks away not to mention the undyed yarn I bought to dye. Enter my very handy with woodworking dad and voila...
Fantastic! It's beautiful and turns so smoothly. I can't wait to get the Treadsoft skeined up for dyeing.
I frogged the Four Seasons Cardigan from months ago. It's been sitting in the box untouched for nearly a year by my reckoning and the more I looked at it the more I knew I'd never finish it. So it's frogged and has been re knit, by machine, into a v-neck cardigan of my own design (with the help of the Knitware software). That's it laying on the table behind the skein winder. I got all the pieces knit up between Friday night and this morning. Now I'm working on the hand knitting, adding the hems and seaming. The instructions direct to knit the button/buttonhole bands separately and sew them on, but I think I'm going to pickup and knit the band. I HATE sewing up. I'll go back and rewatch EZ's instructions for picking up a cardigan band on the Knitting Glossary dvd and should be fine.
I'm still not going to rank this NZ yarn among my favorites because of the prickliness, but I must say, it sure did dye up pretty. Here's a small swatch knitted on US 7 needles.
Before felting...
After felting...
I'm very please with the results. The fabric is dense but not stiff and should make a great belt. The sample was 15 stitches wide and after felting is about double what I need my finished belt to be. So I figure 8 stitches should do it. It shrank very little in length. But even if I knit it too long, after felting it shouldn't be a problem to cut it off.
Tonight I skeined off 4 100g hanks of the tan wool to dye to make the Stag Bag from yesterday. Although I'm sure it would be fabulous to knit the bag in the alpaca yarn called for, I've got this on hand and am anxious to find a use for it. I realized, on further reading of the pattern, that the colorwork chart is worked back and forth. I loath purling in stranded colorwork, so that's just not going to happen. The pattern as written has the colorwork panel on the front and a plain solid color back. This creates a problem if done in the round since my 2nd color will be on the wrong side of the work when I get back around. I know there's some way to do it with slip stitches, but that's way more complicated than I want to try for now. I could work the back of the bag in a two color pattern as well, maybe a checkerboard or something. Or I could just cut the yarn and reattach at each new row. This would mean a ton of ends to weave in, though. These are all problems for another day. For now, the yarn is in the dye pot. Results soon.
SoS report: I knit an inch or so on the Horcrux while listening to Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians audiobook. In addition to SoS, I've signed up for the library's adult summer reading program. With the aid of audiobooks, I've gotten 2 books "read" already. And my hands are free to stitch away.
Holy crow! I started the Horcrux sock (sock #1 for SoS) on June 21. I cast on before work, because I was DYING to start. And I've pretty much only worked on these socks when knitting (I knit a few rows on the Bamboo socks when I needed mindless, no counting involved knitting). But mostly, it's only been Horcrux. And it's not been all that much knitting time, actually. I worked Thursday and Friday, all day. We went away Thursday night and Friday were busy with Ebay listings. So I'm thinking 2-3 hours TOPS I've spent knitting. Look at this....
As of 8:00 this morning, I'm ready to turn the heel on sock #1! This pattern totally rocks. It's so easy and looks awesome. It looks kind of poofy in the lace section because of the way the ribbing pulls in, but it looks just fine on my leg. Very comfortable. This is my first lace sock and I wasn't sure how I'd like it. So far I'm very pleased.
I've decided on Sock #1 for SoS...
I think we all knew I'd choose the Horcrux sock. How could I not? If I'm REALLY speedy, maybe I might even be able to wear them to the movie next month! When I got all my sock yarn out to take that picture over the weekend, I found a skein of Opal Cotton hiding in there. And, as I said before, I'm really in need of summer weight socks, so the Opal turned out to be the natural choice. I've even got the death eater bag to keep it. So I'm all set. Summer of Socks, here I come!
Yikes! Summer of socks starts this week and I'm still knee deep in both the Regia Bamboo and Katsara socks. I just turned the heel on the second bamboo sock and really want to keep working on them so I can wear them during the warm weather. I miss my handmade socks in the summer since wool is just too warm for our climate. I'm really looking forward to some summer-weight socks. I'm still on the first sock of the Katsara socks and won't feel too guilty putting them aside for awhile. The rules for SoS are pretty loose. You can knit as many or as few socks as you want using any yarn and pattern you want. It doesn't specifically say the socks must be started on or after June 21 (the start of the KAL) unless you are participating in one of the contests. I'm not a contest kind of person so I'm not too worried about that. But I think the spirit of the KAL is to try to start and finish the socks during the 3 months of summer. So. Now I've got some decisions to make. I've got a pile of sock yarn to choose from.
Knowing my general slow knitting speed, I'm figuring I'll be able to do 1 maybe 2 pair during this time. I want to do something special, so I'm leaning towards using one of my newly hand-dyed yarns. Although the Lime & Violet yarn is pretty special too. And then there's the Socks that Rock. As for patterns, I'm thinking Horcrux (since this is also the summer of Harry Potter) but Jaywalkers have suddenly started calling my name too. ARGH!
I finally got around to getting a picture of the machine knit sweater I made over Memorial Day weekend.
It was knit from Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Berry, 6 skeins plus a tiny bit of a 7th, on a Bond ISM using keyplate 3. The ribbing was knit by hand. I used Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns to come up with the pattern. This sweater is super comfortable. We had a cool snap last week and I actually got to wear it one day. I would only make 2 changes for next time: I'd shorten the sleeves a bit and start the v-neck sooner, there's very little depth to this one. I really like the modified drop shoulder design. It's much less bunchy under the arms, very well fitting but still comfortable.
And finally, thanks to Charles for mentioning my blog on his knitting videocast this week! As far as I know, he's the only knitter doing a videocast. He's up to his third episode, I think. He features book and magazine reviews, website reviews and yarn porn. Since I tend to listen to podcasts on my Ilo and not my computer, I often don't get a chance to see what the podcasters are talking about. With Charles' videocast though, you get to see the stuff as well as hear about it. Great job Charles!
I decided to try a short row heel again and it turned out really well. I watched the videos on Knitting Help over and over to make sure I was picking up the wraps correctly and I think that really helped. I've still got a hole at each end of the short rows, but I think I know what I did wrong and hope to correct it on the 2nd sock.
I'm canning tomatoes. The kitchen smells great. I've only got a small batch, but I should get 4-5 pints out of it. This batch I'll just freeze. I'm hoping to have enough to do up in jars by the weekend. And it's supposed to be good and hot the rest of the week, so it's a good possibility.
