First, let me just reiterate what I have said before – that I have never been more impressed with a group of knitters in my life. This KAL was definitely quality over quantity. Whether you finished in time for the giveaway drawing or not, give yourself a giant pat on the back for being part of a really inspiring and talented group of knit-wizards. This pattern was major. And the end result is gorgeous.
Here is a recap of the finishing participants’ Heliopath Vests! All the cables! EEEEP!
BUT don’t worry those few wizards who did not win the ‘official’ giveaway prizes – you will be getting a little something special too! Please just email (brianna.connelly@gmail.com) or private message me via IG @ GHOSTFACEKNITTER your information to receive an ‘unofficial harry potter kal’ present!
Well, now that it’s all over I’d like to recap that I LEARNED SO MUCH during this KAL, not only about myself as a knitter, but in working with other way talented crafters. I’m truly honored to be involved in a crafty community and culture that is so supportive and effing rad. I think this will be the first of many KALs. It pushed me, made me squirm, made me emo, made me feel smart and talented, humbled me, and overall allowed me to connect and work through some amazing knitting kinetics (yeah I don’t know I’m all mushy and doughy that this KAL is finito!).
Finally, I’d like to thank my co-host and KAL mentor this time socalmeaghan at the Unapologetic Kintter. Without her guidance, vigor, and enthusiasm this would not have even happened. So thank you lady! 🙂
helper kittenvest finished up to arm hole finishes.
Well friends… We did it. We knitted the Heliopath garment sans ‘sleeves’ and button collar. I seriously feel like I just finished my thesis all over again, expect this time I have something really lovely to show off and very unabashedly say I MADE THIS! ME! I DID IT! I find it sounds like bragging when I say ‘I have my masters’ *say it in that snooty New England rich voice, but this vest I might carry a sign that says ‘YUP HANDMADE BY ME – THE GHOSTFACEKNITTER’. Also I’m sorry my photos are so small – I am in Denver for the weekend and having major tech issues with wordpress. (FML)
Anyways, we really are not done yet. In fact, aside from making sure you did a splendid job on you vest base garment, the finishing parts are the most important. Let’s talk about the big finish by breaking it down. Oh look a handy list!
1. Overview
2. Tying up loose ends.. (har har)
3. Blocking
4. Putting it all together
5. Final Review – Press
6. Wear that SHIT!
Briefly, first we will want to re-read out pattern 50 million final times to ensure that we have indeed finished the pattern and can in fact cast off the garment. Second, we will tie up lose ends – meaning we will tidy up our work, any wonky stitches that need repair/ensure all drop stitches have fallen all the way to the cast-on/ etc. Third, blocking! There are so many ways, but if you chose a wool yarn you better be wet blocking! Fourth, add the sleeves/button collar and the buttons you chose. Fifth, look over the garment as a whole, if it needs light pressing go for it. Finally PUT THAT HELIOPATH SWEATER ON AND RAGE THE EFF OUT.
So instead of going into giant elaborate long boring detail here – I have found what I think are very clear and wonderful sites/explanations from other esteemed knitter wizards.
Obviously you can hit up the Ravelry Discussion Page for any last minute questions or clarifications – socalmeaghan has done a great job gathering all the info on the trickery parts of the Heliopath so please review any of those if you feel lost/confused.
Tying up Loose Ends – for stitch mending/manipulation I really recommend this page from the Twist Collective – if you missed some increases/decreases, have the wrong stitch count, effed the cables. Obviously if you made some mistakes at the beginning you’re S.O.L. now, but just remember the pattern is so so so busy that minor/even some major flubs probably won’t be noticeable unless you point them out. (PS I hate when people point out flaws of their work – especially if I compliment it and then they retort ‘oh but I messed up here’ it’s like ‘YUP YOU SURE DID IT SUCKS I RESCIND MY COMPLIMENT NOW – BARF’)
Blocking. There are many ways and words of wisdom. I would say start here. Vogue Knitting offers a great basis for ‘101’. Then graduate to the goddess status over on Purlbee. Blocking is the way to get the garment to look the way you want. In my case I have some extensive blocking to do, since well I’ll be honest…. I didn’t measure myself before I started knitting. There I said it. I’ll be making that eweewe Wooly Worsted work for all its pretty little pennies this next week on the blocking mats.
Putting it all together. Seaming flawlessly. We don’t have ‘too much’ to add this vest, but ensuring you piece together the garment properly will ensure durability and of course make it look it’s best. It’s easy to get lazy at this stage – and I would recommend blocking those ‘after-market’ pieces before adding on to the vest itself. If you choose to add them to the vest before either is blocked… that’s good, but I wonder the issues with blocking a seam….
The Final Review. Inspect everything, make sure buttons are secure and lay nicely when on/stretched, see if any other places need additional blocking or seaming. Then you can press the garment if you so choose. I think pressing would be rather, well pointless, here since the pattern allows for such texture and ‘bumps’ etc. The only reason I could see pressing occurring for this is if you have an odd seam fitting together – which you should fix not press out.
WEAR THAT SHIT. Basically I’m going to live in this vest. Like the only thing I will wear. SAY SOMETHING.
Well, I am a few day behind on this post – PLEASE FORGIVE ME! But I was using my time to actually knit the Heliopath Vest versus talking about it here. It’s hard to believe in a few short weeks we will have a new garment to wear! I’m right on track with 10 inches of the cable pattern knitted up – about 5-6 inches to go for me though. I have to admit it is taking much longer than I had imagined it would. I find it takes me anywhere from 2-3 hours to knit the 16 rows of pattern now that I no longer need the pattern reference. Overall, it is exciting to see it get bigger and bigger, but I don’t think I have ever done as many cables as I have on this – like ever. Honestly, I was thinking about it and of all my cables combined – the Heliopath blows them all out of the water. But the pattern is gorgeous and I’m really hoping once this part is finished, the arm shaping will really give it that amazing wow factor! Also I have been soooo impressed with all our KAL crew and their progress/projects. All the colors and beautiful work is so inspiring. I just am so happy so many great knitters have decided to join in!
Hello KAL knitter buds! Well, yesterday the Heliopath Vest knit along began! I’m so excited, this is the first KAL I’ve helped with and I have to say I owe a GIANT GIANT HUGE BIG thank you to socalmeaghan at The Unapologetic Knitter. Not only is she a total knitting wizard; with major skills, but she organized the huge amount of give aways that this KAL has! There are 3 YARN prizes to enter to win from Black Market Wool, Eweewe Yarns, Justrunknit, and a beautiful cowl pattern from Eweewe yarns ALSO.
WIN THIS EWEEWE YARN!WIN THIS FROM BLACK MARKET WOOL!WIN THIS FROM JUSTRUNKNIT
So, I have casted on and begun my ribbing on my vest! I had a weird busy week prepping for this and I can’t wait to start working on the patterned piece!! I will have some more information as the week and my knitting progresses and PLEASE pop over to SocalMeaghan’s website The Unapologetic Knitter to check out her awesome knitting.
Well the time has come my friends! A while back I shared with you this adorable Heliopath Vest from the Unofficial Harry Potter Knits book and me and a superb fellow knit-wizard SocalMeaghan over at The Unapologetic Knitter are hosting a KAL!
Here are the BRIEF details.
1. The start date is March 1st.
2. We will have 6 stopping/check points along the way over 6 weeks. (Scroll down for exact details)
3. There is a Ravelry page as well as our webpages to share information, tips/tricks, or ask questions.
4. There WILL BE A PRIZE!
Okay now let’s expand on those brief details. The calendar for the KAL is six weeks. That means that by Easter you will have a gorgeous new vest!
March 1 (Sat): Knit swatch and measure gauge.
March 7: Cast on and work 2″ of rib (per pattern)
March 14: Begin working Cable and Lace Chart for 7″
March 21: Continue working Cable and Lace Chart for 7″ more (to the split for the armholes
March 28: Shape Armholes and neck.
April 5: Finishing and armbands and buttonhole row
Here is pattern information. I bought the digital one and I suggest you do that too – message me here in the comments or email me if you are having any questions or issues about the Unofficial Harry Potter Knits 2013 pattern book.
In terms of what yarn to use, you can follow the pattern suggestions of course. Meg and myself will be using the lovely Ewe Ewe yarns! If you haven’t heard the buzz about Ewe Ewe then please do yourself a favor and head to her website or IG (eweeweyarns) to be marveled and awed.
Finally, and the part you wanna know…. THE PRIZE! Well we decided to award one lucky knit-alonger with a skein of Black Market Wool!
Anyways! If you have questions about the KAL or want to join please feel free! I have the info on the side bar to the right and you can play along with us on Ravelry and Instagram!
After our Russian Tea Time food comas wore off we decided to go to a Chicago landmark – SuperDawg. It’s a really cute drive-in northwest in Chicago that is just adorable. I always bring peeps here from out of town and it’s always a hit.
This time I got the SuperSteak – it was awesome.
Since it was almost midnight we basically went home and crashed. I tried to stay awake for Monsters University, but I just couldn’t make it. All the food got to me. Rest was necessary.
Sunday morning we went down to Chinatown. I had driven through it on Archer Ave, but never stopped. I had heard great things about Minghin Dim Sum and it was AMAZING. I ate like ten pork/shrimp dumplings. The short ribs were really really good too. I think Iris was bummed she was there with the ‘white kids’ but she was able to use her Catonese speaking wizardry to order for us the most delectable dim sum. Now I want another dumpling.
My partners in crime.TRINKETS.the rabbits.I found the candy store of course.Snack for Thor 2!One more cute one of them in the Loop.
Basically it was a BLAST weekend. I had a great time showing them around. The moral of this tale my friends is that I want you to come visit and when you do we will have a super awesome fun time.
Yikes – this Fall (all week of it) has really flown by. Â I have to say I’m starting to freak out about the status of my thesis. Â I mean writing it is not too bad, but all the coordinating and administrative work is just over the top. Â It seems that every other day the admin (bless her heart) sends me another form that is due in a few days and I spend the next few days scrambling to fill it out and coordinate with everyone on my committee (which still is not finished) AHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Despite being a nervous anxious wreck at the thought of having to postpone graduation even farther (till March 2013), I did get to bug out to San Francisco last week for almost the whole week! Â It was great there – got to meet up with some amazing friends and meet a lot of new spectacular people. Â Not to mention I got to see one of my favorite doom metal bands- YOB. Â If you’re a normal follower you’ll remember I saw them in Baltimore, but seeing them for a third time this year was amazing. Â I also saw a great band Acid King, that I listen to on my IPhone but had never seen live. Â Well worth the wait for them too – the lead singer sold me my shirt and overall it was an amazing concert.
Albeit I did hash into some Chicago move money for this trip, but it was worth it – I needed a break from reality and time with some good friends. I didn’t take too many photos in SF because my phone was almost always dying or I didn’t want it to get stolen by acting all touristy – so here are the few pics I took there.
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haight street wizard. i love.
Acid King Shirt I bought. more wizard….
Acid King Rocked.
YOB of course rocked as usual.
Yob just rocks and the guys in that band are great. Â I got to talk to Mike a bit before the show and he really is as good as it gets in terms of musicians.
Well it had been about 6 months since my last tattoo was finished so it was time. Â It’s funny that getting tattooed for me is such a ‘therapeutic’ process. Â Afterwards I always feel like someone has pushed the ‘reset’ button on my mood and attitude towards just about everything. Â Must be all the adrenaline and endorphins that are released!Â
Anyways – My good friend AA got some amazing peacock feathers that have been a long time in the making so it was so great to see her finally get them! Â I need to grab another photo of the beads that are on the other side of her arm – the detail is just so great. Â Not to mention she sat for this 3 hour tattoo like a champion – it is the size of her forearm.Â
I had been thinking about a little wizard since the last time I finished up my wolf tattoo so the FANTASTIC Alisha Rice was kind enough to not only sneak me in before AA, but give me the greatest ‘skwizard.’ Â I love him. Â I also at first thought she had used white in the skull, but no-no-no that’s just how ‘blanco’ I am. Â
I also swiped these photos from Alisha’s instagram (thanks!) Â I really need to get an instagram account. Â BUT If you live in Denver you HAVE to check Alisha out. Â If not, why not do a destination tattoo vacation ?? – all the cool kids do it.
ghostfaceknitter.com 