A Very Warm Hat

  I wanted to get a little experience with stranded knitting to build up my confidence. I'm not a brave knitter, I take forever to get round to trying a new skill. This hat was for my sister Mrs B. Her birthday was back in March. One day when we were out together over Christmas, she mentioned that the last hat I made for her wasn't warm enough. I decided she needed an nice, bulky, warm, hat. The pattern I used is called Chance of Flurries and is free. I knit it up with Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky in white, and Mirasol Yarn Sulka in raspberry. Alpaca is supposed to be even warmer than sheep wool and less itchy. I bought myself some pom pom makers, because this hat needed a big pom pom! I've not had much luck making pom poms before, so it was totally worth the purchase. I got my little Miss I. to model the hat, and then sent it off to England. She was having a funny five minutes while I took the photos, so they make me giggle a little.

For the love of Harry Potter

 While back in England over Christmas, we took a trip to the Harry Potter Studios, just north of London. This is something I had been really looking forward to. I love Harry Potter, and in my dream world, I would have a career making costumes for theater and film. I really enjoyed all of the studio tour, but especially seeing the costumes and talking to one of the staff about inspiration behind Luna Lovegood's costumes.

Hufflepuff Uniforms

Slytherin Uniforms

Hermione's and Krum's Yule Ball Costumes

Some of Luna's costumes.

 I came home determined to make house scarfs for my two oldest birthdays. I've been meaning to make them for ages, but always put them off for some other project. So here are my Slytherin and my Ravenclaw. The pattern is from Charmed Knits. Now I just need a Hufflepuff scarf, and my youngest needs a Gryffindor. My other half is a muggle, or just doesn't wear scarfs.