Bellatrix LeStrange

Bellatrix Detail
Originally uploaded by solslett.

I finished the first of the pair in less than 3 days. It took me 2 weeks to finish the other. I did finish a few things in between, though. It's not like I sat on my hands and did nothing. As if that could be done. I should cut back a little. My knuckles are a little achy in the morning when I get up. How do we solve this problem? Knit for half an hour. It's an illness, I tell ya.

Anyway - back to Bellatrix. These are the second in my self proclaimed Potter-mania series. The first were Fawkes, which I finished last month. The pattern is from Socktopia and the yarn is from Mackintosh Yarns and they are both named for the same character. It seemed natural.

I really like how these turned out - they may be the closest fitting Bella's out there, since I knit them on 0US needles, but I like my socks snug. The yarn was a pleasure to knit with.

More stash

I knew I was forgetting something earlier. Here is the rest of the stash I got last week.

First, from dharmafey's, there is Gryffindor 2nd Year



And I couldn't pass this up - the Rocky Horror geek couldn't say no - dharmafey's Sweet Transvestite



Then there is the one, lonely skein I bought from The Loopy Ewe - Fiesta Alaska



So, that's it. Way too much sock yarn. My feet will be warm throughout the winter!

I just went to dharmafey's Etsy shop and she has Nightmare Before Christmas colorways. Poop. I must resist. I must resist. Keep your fingers crossed!

Potter Mania

I have Potter Mania. I have read all the books. I have seen all the movies. I visit some of the fan sites. I knit Harry Potter socks.

I finished Fawkes last week in Lorna's Laces Bittersweet.



I am working on Bellatrix, in the colorway Bellatrix Lestrange purchased from MacKintosh Yarns.



I have Nagini lined up using MacKintosh Yarn's Voldemort.



Then there is Horcrux in Fleece Artist Amber.



There are also Fred and George Socks, Prisoner of Azkaban socks, and Phineas socks. I have those lined up as well. There is a sweater that I would like to do, a scarf and a cell phone cozy.

It's an illness, I believe. This too shall pass with time. I hope!

Harry Potter Socks - Fawkes

I started to obsess about Harry Potter around last Wednesday. I spent Thursday night looking at sock patterns, and I downloaded the 3 off of Socktopia as well as Horcrux. I then raided the stash for "proper" colors.

I really wanted to work on a pair when I was waiting at Barnes & Noble. So, around 6pm Friday night I cast on for Fawkes. I worked on it for about 45 minutes during the "Midnight Magic" wait. I didn't work on them again until Saturday night, after I finished the book. Surprisingly, I finished them last night.



Here is some detail....



It's a little more red and orange in person than what it looks like on my computer. I wish I had had Lorna's Laces Flame or Claudia's Poppies, but I was determined to use stash.

One down, several more to go.

Harry Potter & I

Never in my life have I been on hand for a "release" of anything - book, CD, etc. That is, until last night.

I decided to have a slightly immersive HP experience, having seen Order of the Phoenix last weekend, having re-read the last 2 chapters of the Half Blood Prince and starting a pair of Fawkes socks in Lorna's Laces Bittersweet ( I will probably regret not using Flame).

Barnes & Noble and Borders were having midnight release parties. I like B&N, I certainly spend more money there, so off I went at 9:00 pm to wait it out. The children were scary with all their Potter knowledge. Many were dressed for the occasion, and not every child belonged to Gryffindor. The adults were a little pathetic, with one woman missing the point and looked more Amish than a witch.

When I got there, there were maybe 40-50 people in the store. It was in the hundreds by midnight. I spent some time looking, but there were people camped out in the aisles reading, or just lounging and talking. There was a trivia contest, face painting, wand and amulet making, potion lore, and a few other things. I decided to sit in the cafe for a bit, enjoy a macchiato and knit a bit on my Fawkes socks. I tried using my iPod to listen to the most recent LimeNViolet podcast, but the noise in the store was deafening.

Around 11:00 pm, the place became more crowded and much warmer. The air conditioning shuts off at 11pm, when the store normally closes. Being in close quarters with so many people, especially heavily costumed young people who have yet to discover the miracle of deodorant, let's just say the heat and the fortified air were about enough for me to call it quits and come back later. I had managed to hang in there for 2 1/2 hours, why stop now? This was, after all, my HP immersive experience.

At 12:30 am, I escaped my self imposed fetid hell and hurriedly left the full parking lot to return home and start reading. Kevin was already fast asleep, so I made myself a cup of tea and sat down for a good read starting at 1:00 am. When I no longer needed the lights to illuminate the pages, I closed the book having reached better than the half way mark at 6:00 am and went to get some sleep. With a start I woke at 10:30 thinking but one thing - "Harry" - and started up again. I took a break to shower, get something to eat, update Kevin on what happened last night, and around 1:00 pm started in earnest again. At 5:00 pm, it was over. I was done. 10 1/2 hours, 782 pages.

I will admit - I cried three times. My opinion of Snape had been correct. The final outcome of the heroes was as I had hoped. Rowling is an amazing story teller and most of the loose ends were neatly dealt with. I am most tempted to re-read the entire series, which I have never done before. I have only read 2 books twice in my life - Gone With The Wind (shear boredom and lack of accessible reading material while traveling overseas) and The Stand (re-release where King added ad additional 100+ pages). Having read the series over such a long span of years, I almost feel that I have lost something, some of the essence of the story. But with the first 5 books in storage, it isn't likely to happen for a while.

I will not put any spoilers here, only that I hope anyone who reads The Deathly Hallows will enjoy it as much as I did.