I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

I’m done.

The Book was finished last Sunday, the Sitcom Chic cardi on Thursday, and the second Sockapalooza sock this Sunday. I have a few mods to share on the Cardi but first things first . . . i.e., The Book. If you haven’t finished it yet, there are spoilers in this post so don’t scroll past the photos of the yarns I picked up at Isabel’s while I was in Sun Valley.

Silk yarn and adorable buttons for another pair of these booties.

Two skeins of Koigu. I had my pick of tens of colors since Isabel’s had just received a new shipment the day I visited. Lucky.

Now my ramblings on The Book. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. In fact, the epilogue came close to ruining the preceding 750 pages for me. It was just a bit too tidy and unbelievable. I was crushed when Fred died but I felt JKR glossed over it and the passage was less than sentimental. And Neville pulling the sword out of the Sorting Hat was way too “been there, done that.”

I wracked my brain trying to figure out who was the non-magical character who performed magic late in life under dire circumstances but came up with nothing. The friend of a friend solved the mystery. It was Ted Tonks (a Muggle), who healed Harry’s ribs and arm on page 64.  ETA: I think I’m wrong on this.  See Gena’s comment in the comment section.  ETA #2:  I just read JKR’s post-book interview with the Leaky Caudron.  She was asked, “You promised that someone will do magic late in life in book 7. I’ve now read it three times but cant work out who it might have been!”  She answered, “I’m sorry about this, but I changed my mind!  My very earliest plan for the story involved somebody managing to get to Hogwarts when they had never done magic before, but I had changed my mind by the time I’d written the third book.”

I like that Snape turned out to be non-evil but not really good either. Kinda just pathetic. The best scene . . . no doubts . . . Molly killing Bellatrix. You go grrl. And Harry was a Horcrux. I came pretty damn close to guessing that with these, wouldn’t you say? Frankly, I think it would have made more sense if the scar was the Horcrux instead of Harry. Then he could have been freed from the “brand” of the scar, allowing him to have what he always wanted, which was just a normal life.

And how crazy is this. If you Google “Horcrux,” look what turns up as the sixth entry on the first page.

The fingering-weight version of the Horcrux Socks pattern is now available. But you must be a member of the Six Sox Knitalong to access it. Don’t despair. It’s easy to become a member. Just click on the link below:

Click to join Six_Sox_Knitalong

The Horcrux Socks are done:

And there was plenty of yarn left over:

In fact, 6 grams is a ridiculously huge amount. The two completed socks only weighed 58 grams so that’s almost 10% of the yarn left over. Laritza wasn’t quite as fortunate. She ran out but still managed to complete the pair she was knitting. That’s ingenuity.

In addition to the socks, I also finished the project I started from the One Skein Wonders book:

Cute, huh. It’s the Lotus Purse pattern on pages 49-50 in the book. And, I just realized it’s also one of the free patterns posted on the One Skein Wonders website.

The pattern calls for a skein of Noro Lotus yarn. I used a strand of Lion Brand Trellis held with a strand of Lion Brand Incredible ribbon yarn. Nasty stuff, but they were perfect for this project. And, it looks like I’ll be able to get a second purse from the leftovers.

But first, I cast on for a new sock:

The yarn is Southwest Trading Company’s new sock yarn — Tofutsies.

I’m loving the yarn so far. Despite the fact that it’s 50% wool, it doesn’t have much elasticity but it’s smooth as silk (without the nasty pilling of silk) and it glides so nicely along the needles. Does anyone know how it wears? And does the Chitin smell when the yarn gets wet???