Woolgathering Dot Net

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban opens today!

Can you believe Siobhan is already finished with her Hufflepuff scarf? She just started! It was her first knitting project. She says she plans on finishing one for each house.

Jaime of Daydreaming Reality is making the film version of the Ravenclaw scarf. She finished a Gryffindor in the older design last year.

Eliza B just got her hands on a copy of the magazine and "an insane amount of yarn to play with". Once she finishes her two big projects, she'll be free to start Salt Peanuts. Lucy of Hey Lucy just ordered her Muench Bergamo in Hyacinth. Emmdy of blog-o-rama is knitting hers in Hemp Muench Bergamo. She's swatching this weekend! Paige now has a website called Starfish Knits.

gerbera's air blue Muench Bergamo arrived from Elann and (I think) she's on to the front! Woo hoo! Carrie's yarn just arrived too and is swatching! Jill is finishing up the waist increases. I finished the front and have worked a bit up the arms (knitting both at the same time), but it's on hiatus again while I work on the sleeves for the Flame Sweater (I lied. Not done yet.).

When a knitter as multiple projects, at least one needs to be the "mindless knitting" project. This is the object that is relatively small and compact. It can be worked on in relatively dark places (like a movie theater) or in tight places (like a crowded subway). The knit-at-the-same-time sleeves for Salt Peanuts, the intarsia sleeves for the Flame Sweater, and the triple crosses of Fiona are require some degree of attention. So, I picked up the skein of quivit and began working on the quivit scarf for my mother.

This is what I've done so far. Not much progress, but I think it's forgivable considering:
1) It's a size 6 needle. Small for the sizes I normally knit at.
2) The yarn is quite fine. I can't easily feel it underneath my fingers, so I need to look down at it at every stitch (while I can look away for longer stretches with thicker yarn). It reminds me of mohair, but with the warmth of alpaca and the softness of cashmere. It is wonderful. Unfortunately, it seems to pill. I need to pay attention to see if the pills are coming from the ball or if they are from the already-knit fabric.
3) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I've seen it twice already (took Mike this morning) and will see it again tomorrow at the IMAX.
4) It's not entirely mindless. It's knit-purl on one row then a 10-4-10-4-10 stitch pattern for the second row. So, counting. And much tinking when I forget.

I love how it all fits in a small part of my bag. Other than the above, the ideal mindless knitting project. I expect to finish it by the end of July.