Adventures in Knitting, or, My Life As A Hufflepuff
So, not very long ago I decided to shave my head again. You know, for kicks and giggles. (Well, actually because when I shaved my head last year on a whim while recovering from surgery, I discovered I really like having no hair.) So now that I'm planning to have either no hair or very short (ie buzz-cut) hair for the foreseeable future, I decided that having some hats of various sizes and weights would be useful, not just for wearing outside, but for wearing inside too (I am quite certain my head will be very cold once the A/C kicks in at work, and besides, sometimes I like to take the edge off the baldness for the sake of the poor mundane people around me). So last month my primary knitting project was hats. I knit a Diamond Mesh lace hat out of Zephyr, which turned out to be a little big because I didn't block my swatch aggressively enough, but still quite wearable; a Feather-and-fan lace hat out of Koigu, which conveniently matches my little Koigu fingerless glovelets; a basic stockinette hat out of Mango Moon recycled sari silk; and a delightful little Madeira Lace hat out of the same Alpaca/Silk yarn I made a lace stole for kestrell from years ago. I made that hat specifically to wear to Cleveland, as I wanted to dress a little nicer since I was, after all, hanging out at the corporate headquarters. They vary greatly, from warm enough to wear outside in cool (but not cold) weather, to feather-weight with great big lacy holes. I will try to take and post pictures as soon as possible.
I was working on them extensively during my glorious month of knitting at work during meetings, and during the course of that time a co-worker who I was working closely with at that time (we're now on different teams, though of course we still collaborate) asked me to knit a chemo cap for her mother, who had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and was going to be having chemo in the future (starting in the past week or so, as it happens). I was delighted to do so, and was even well prepared having just knit several chemo caps in December for my minister who has ovarian cancer (and who just finished her final round of chemo, hooray!). I made a very soft hat out of soft, fuzzy black Berroco Chinchilla yarn. Not only was the co-worker thrilled with it, but a couple of other mutual co-workers (including her boss!) came up to me and told me how beautiful it was and how nice it was to have made it etc etc.
But the best response I could have received about it came this morning, when the co-worker came back and told me this: On Friday morning, her mother woke up and all her hair was on the pillow beside her head. Just after she'd discovered this, someone (the paperboy, the mailman, who knows, just someone who was not a close friend) rang the doorbell. My coworker told me that her mother had been full of bravado about how she would be fine with losing her hair, because she wasn't vain etc etc. But when the doorbell rang just after she was confronted with the sudden and complete hair loss, she panicked...and grabbed the hat and wore it to answer the door.
My co-worker had tears in her eyes as she told me how grateful her mother was for this simple hat in that moment, and I had tears in my eyes hearing about it. [[[warm fuzzies]]]
Anyways, I am now taking an extended break from knitting hats and lace shawls etc etc to knit Hogwarts scarves. I am 6 out of 13 repeats into redknight's Ravenclaw scarf (I know I said it was Hufflepuff before, I just got mixed up about which color goes to which house since I'd ordered the yarn ages before. redknight is definitely a Ravenclaw, and so is his scarf: blue and bronze). This Ravenclaw scarf is a post-Prisoner of Azkaban-style scarf, so when I say "6 out of 13 repeats" I mean I have done 6 out of the 13 sets of narrow bronze stripes that punctuate the blue scarf. I am also simultaneously (in the sense of "on the needles and carrying around in my bag", not in the sense of "knitting two things at the exact same moment") working on one of the two Gryffindor scarves I am making for my sister and brother-in-law. I am currently working on the the pre-PoA scarf, and have knit 5 of the 19 wide burgundy and gold stripes. The second scarf will be a post-PoA version, and I will leave it up to them to decide who wears which one.
I have numerous Hogwarts scarves planned:
--redknight's Ravenclaw: Post-PoA, yarn in hand and on needles;
--Sister/Brother-in-law's Gryffindor: Pre-PoA, yarn in hand and on needles;
--Sister/Brother-in-law's Gryffindor: Post-PoA, yarn in hand;
--Friend Russ' Hufflepuff: Pre-PoA, need yarn;
--My Hufflepuff: Post-PoA, need yarn;
--kestrell's Slytherin: Post PoA, need yarn;
--My mother's Hufflepuff: need yarn;
--alexx_kay's scarf (Ravenclaw?): need yarn.
I think that's it. Of course, that should keep me busy well into next year. Especially since I also need to knit myself a Hufflepuff sweater. And since I can't knit during meetings at work anymore, so I can't work as quickly.
I have a fantasy of attending the Harry Potter Book 7 midnight sale party at the bookstore my friend Val works at, dressed as a Hufflepuff (with grey slacks --because of course I will be dressed as a boy, can you really see me in a schoolgirl skirt? wait, don't answer that--, white shirt, sweater, robe and scarf in Hufflepuff colors), with an unfinished Gryffindor scarf trailing from one robe-pocket and an unfinished Slytherin scarf trailing from the other. It just seems so...Hufflepuffian, you know?
Speaking of which, I was chatting about Hogwarts scarves with redknight on Sunday when we went to the Fiddler On The Roof Sing-a-long, and then came back to my house and set up my new computer. I mentioned that I am quite certain that if I was a real Hogwarts student, I would certainly figure out a way to enchant my knitting needles so they would keep knitting, hovering in midair, whenever I had to let go of them to take care of something else; he then commented on how the entire Hufflepuff commonroom would likely be filled with oddly moving devices like that as we all tried to figure out how to be as productive as possible. Hufflepuffs rule! (In a loyal, productive, non-threatening manner.) ;-)
I was working on them extensively during my glorious month of knitting at work during meetings, and during the course of that time a co-worker who I was working closely with at that time (we're now on different teams, though of course we still collaborate) asked me to knit a chemo cap for her mother, who had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and was going to be having chemo in the future (starting in the past week or so, as it happens). I was delighted to do so, and was even well prepared having just knit several chemo caps in December for my minister who has ovarian cancer (and who just finished her final round of chemo, hooray!). I made a very soft hat out of soft, fuzzy black Berroco Chinchilla yarn. Not only was the co-worker thrilled with it, but a couple of other mutual co-workers (including her boss!) came up to me and told me how beautiful it was and how nice it was to have made it etc etc.
But the best response I could have received about it came this morning, when the co-worker came back and told me this: On Friday morning, her mother woke up and all her hair was on the pillow beside her head. Just after she'd discovered this, someone (the paperboy, the mailman, who knows, just someone who was not a close friend) rang the doorbell. My coworker told me that her mother had been full of bravado about how she would be fine with losing her hair, because she wasn't vain etc etc. But when the doorbell rang just after she was confronted with the sudden and complete hair loss, she panicked...and grabbed the hat and wore it to answer the door.
My co-worker had tears in her eyes as she told me how grateful her mother was for this simple hat in that moment, and I had tears in my eyes hearing about it. [[[warm fuzzies]]]
Anyways, I am now taking an extended break from knitting hats and lace shawls etc etc to knit Hogwarts scarves. I am 6 out of 13 repeats into redknight's Ravenclaw scarf (I know I said it was Hufflepuff before, I just got mixed up about which color goes to which house since I'd ordered the yarn ages before. redknight is definitely a Ravenclaw, and so is his scarf: blue and bronze). This Ravenclaw scarf is a post-Prisoner of Azkaban-style scarf, so when I say "6 out of 13 repeats" I mean I have done 6 out of the 13 sets of narrow bronze stripes that punctuate the blue scarf. I am also simultaneously (in the sense of "on the needles and carrying around in my bag", not in the sense of "knitting two things at the exact same moment") working on one of the two Gryffindor scarves I am making for my sister and brother-in-law. I am currently working on the the pre-PoA scarf, and have knit 5 of the 19 wide burgundy and gold stripes. The second scarf will be a post-PoA version, and I will leave it up to them to decide who wears which one.
I have numerous Hogwarts scarves planned:
--redknight's Ravenclaw: Post-PoA, yarn in hand and on needles;
--Sister/Brother-in-law's Gryffindor: Pre-PoA, yarn in hand and on needles;
--Sister/Brother-in-law's Gryffindor: Post-PoA, yarn in hand;
--Friend Russ' Hufflepuff: Pre-PoA, need yarn;
--My Hufflepuff: Post-PoA, need yarn;
--kestrell's Slytherin: Post PoA, need yarn;
--My mother's Hufflepuff: need yarn;
--alexx_kay's scarf (Ravenclaw?): need yarn.
I think that's it. Of course, that should keep me busy well into next year. Especially since I also need to knit myself a Hufflepuff sweater. And since I can't knit during meetings at work anymore, so I can't work as quickly.
I have a fantasy of attending the Harry Potter Book 7 midnight sale party at the bookstore my friend Val works at, dressed as a Hufflepuff (with grey slacks --because of course I will be dressed as a boy, can you really see me in a schoolgirl skirt? wait, don't answer that--, white shirt, sweater, robe and scarf in Hufflepuff colors), with an unfinished Gryffindor scarf trailing from one robe-pocket and an unfinished Slytherin scarf trailing from the other. It just seems so...Hufflepuffian, you know?
Speaking of which, I was chatting about Hogwarts scarves with redknight on Sunday when we went to the Fiddler On The Roof Sing-a-long, and then came back to my house and set up my new computer. I mentioned that I am quite certain that if I was a real Hogwarts student, I would certainly figure out a way to enchant my knitting needles so they would keep knitting, hovering in midair, whenever I had to let go of them to take care of something else; he then commented on how the entire Hufflepuff commonroom would likely be filled with oddly moving devices like that as we all tried to figure out how to be as productive as possible. Hufflepuffs rule! (In a loyal, productive, non-threatening manner.) ;-)