Casting on

Its been a whirlwind of a weekend! Not only were we busy working on the house and attending different events, the new term started in the HPKCHC, which means classes went up, OWLs were able to be proposed, and there is a general feeling of happy scurrying as everyone makes plans for the rest of the month (and in the case of OWLs for the next three months!)

This term I decided to try for 2 OWLs. I've been back into knitting long enough that I felt comfortable tackling that many large projects, plus I've got a new plan for time management (but more about that later). I actually haven't looked too closely at the classes yet, but here's what I'm doing for my OWLs.

My first OWL is an Ancient Runes OWL, which is just the category I was able to fit this particular project into. This category has to do with charts. I honestly have never used a chart for my knitting- until now I've always used written directions and avoided projects that only had charts. However, this term I felt it was time to face my fear! I'm making the Vespergyle Mittens out of Knit Picks Palette yarn. I've never made mittens before, so this adds to the difficulty of this project. Its going along pretty well- I'm about 1/3 of the way through the cuff chart. Watch my progress on my project page here.

The other three patterns make up my second OWL, an Astronomy OWL. My proposal was actually a bit different the the norm. Most of the time these projects include extravagant lace shawl with beads (to represent the sky and stars) or people will actually craft a solar system. These are awesome projects and I love watching people's progress, but I had no interest in doing either of those. The idea I came up with was to craft three different shawls representing constellations. The first is the Saroyan shawl, representing the Pegasus constellation. I'm knitting it out of Malabrigo worsted yarn and I have to say, I don't know what I love more, the yarn or the pattern! This seriously is a joy to work on. Watch my project page here!

My second shawl is the Boneyard shawl representing the Lyra constellation. This shawl is great- I'm a fairly plain dresser and I can totally see myself wearing this shawl under my fall jacket as a scarf all the time. Its nice to work on while listening to something as well- it doesn't require so much concentration that I can't do anything else. The yarn is Knit Picks Gloss dk, which I'm really enjoying as well. This one will probably wait until I finish the Saroyan shawl, but I might just have to work a few rows here and there just because! The project page for that shawl is here.

My last shawl is the Multnomah shawl representing the Hydra constellation. This is being knit out of Cascade Yarns Heritage Paints (stash busting!). This shawl will probably be the last one I work on, and honestly I hope I come to love it more as I work on it. I still like the pattern and the yarn is working up beautifully in it, its just that out of the 3 shawls this one is my least favorite. Here's the project page for this shawl.

In other news, my Harry Potter read-a-long and swap has started, so I need to go get my books from my parents so I can start! We're also supposed to be getting a new movie from Netflix today, so be on the lookout for another movie review :) Also more on my time management and some progress pics!