Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Fred and George's Rescue Vests




When Fred and George Weasley help pilot the car that rescues Harry from the Dursley residence, they are wearing wonderfully striped knitted vests. Unfortunately for knitters, the pair are still very much background characters, and so there aren't many clear screen caps of the vests, nor is there a pattern.

What is clear, is that the vests are striped, and a combination of tans, olives, and browns. the ribbing at the sleeves, neck, and waist is olive, and the stripes within the vest itself appear to be knit with a seed stitch texture.

As I said, there's no pattern written for this vest as of yet, but any men's vest pattern could be used, and the strip pattern worked over it to give the look.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Molly Weasley's Self-Knitting Blanket

Molly Weasley's self-knitting blanket is possibly my favorite knitted item in all of the Harry Potter movies. I've wished more than once to be able to charm my own needles into whipping up projects while I sleep, I assure you! And while I've yet to master this skill, making a blanket like this might just make up for it.

While no pattern exists (yet) for Molly's Blanket, the pattern looks easy enough to replicate with slipped stitches. Simply cast on your desired number of stitches and work in stockinette, slipping every other stitch on the row WHILE you're changing colors. That will carry the previous color up to the next row without having to do any stranded color work. What a great way to use up leftover bits!

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Starting Next week, the chamber of secrets!

It seems silly, but we are already done documenting the knitted items in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone! It has been well documented that the costume department didn't start using knits more liberally until a few movies in, and that is evident by their distinct lack of presence early on.

Starting Monday, I'll document the knitted items in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and I'm so excited for this! The movie starts off almost immediately with hand knits, and while there still aren't many featured while the students are at Hogwarts, their time spent away from school is practically littered with hand knit items!

As always, if you know of a hand knit item I have missed during documenting these movies, please let me know via e-mail (shemakeshats-at-gmail-dot-com). I definitely want to have all hand knit items accounted for!

Friday, January 9, 2015

Draco Malfoy Vist To Hagrid's Sweater, Sorcerer's Stone

During their visit to Hagrid's hut, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are caught by Draco, who then tells Professor McGonagall of their late night activities. While Draco is punished as well, to his chagrin, the entire evening is spent in a knitted turtleneck sweater.

Draco's grey turtleneck sweater is similar to that worn by Oliver Wood while he teaches Harry the rules of Quidditch, but features a smaller rib pattern, and looks to use a thinner weight yarn. No pattern currently exists for this specific sweater, but a quick Ravelry search should yield enough similar sweaters to give you a choice.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Ron Weasley Visit To Hagrid Sweater, Sorcerer's Stone

As they are figuring out just how dangerous Hogwarts can truly be, Harry, Ron, and Hermione take a visit to Hagrid's hut, seeking answers to questions about the three-headed dog they encountered. You can see Harry wearing his green cabled Christmas sweater, and you can't see if Hermione is wearing a sweater, but you can also see Ron's striped sweater.

While there's no way to tell if the sleeves of Ron's crew neck navy blue sweater contain grey stripes like the body, it is clear he is wearing a sweater. I love simple sweaters like this on men and boys - just a few stripes for a bit of knitter interest, while still neutral enough you're almost guaranteed the recipient will wear it regularly.

Ron's striped sweater can be made using your favorite crew neck sweater pattern, with the main body navy blue and a bit of grey stripe for interest.