Crochet Challenges: March 2015

A week and a half ago, the new Ravelry challenges for both the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup and the Starfleet Fiber Arts Corps began.

Let's look at the rundown for this month of March and what I hope to get accomplished:

In Real Life:   (booooooring!)

• BlameTheController II Plushie  (SFAC Away Mission)
• Etho IV Plushie  (HPKCHC Detention)
• Spring in Illinois collection  (You've seen bits and pieces already.)
• Diane's hat & poncho set   (You've seen a little bit of this, too.)

I classify these things as "Real Life" priorities because I've actually been offered money for them.  One lady keeps trying to pay me in advance, and I have to tell her no; I don't take payment until she's seen the finished product and is satisfied.

If I'm making something as a gift...well, you have a waiting period ahead of you.  Sorry about that, but most of my friends and family understand; I use the little money I make (because there's no profit according to IRS standards) to pay a couple of small bills every month (one time I made just enough to replace one of the leaky tires on my car--I was so proud of myself!).

But then we have the HPKCHC and SFAC challenges for the month.

Some of the goals will mesh with these challenges (like the Away Mission and Detention).

Let's see what's in store this month!

The Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup

The classes:

Ancient Runes

Tie your crafting this month to the Elvish saying: “A star shines on the hour of our meeting.” You may represent the darkness of night or the brightness of sparkling stars. You may craft anything relating to the mythological stories of Orion. Or you may craft something Elvish.

• Chosen project:   ???    (Tolkien's Elves = Awesomesauce.  I have no idea what to choose; it has to be awesome.) 

Arithmancy

For your homework this month, craft something with a repeat.

• Chosen project: Tabitha's poncho (from the aforementioned Spring in Illinois) 

Care of Magical Creatures

This month, craft an item based upon your study of the ten pure-bred dragon breeds (listed on class page), inspired either by a physical or behavioral characteristic of the dragons themselves, or the color or texture of their unique eggs.

• Chosen project:   

Charms

Find a project created and turned in this term to a class (other than detention), quidditch or Head of House Challenge by a castlemate not in your house (this may include NQFY or SOS students) that you have great affection for. 

Practice the geminio charm by reproducing that project using the same pattern. (Please realize that this is a prompt where you are duplicating another player’s project, not a prompt where you are teaming up with another player.)

•  Chosen project:  Costumer47's Divine Hat   (She was my partner in Arithmancy.)

Defense Against the Dark Arts

Practice protego totalum by crafting something that can entirely surround the item intended to be protected.

• Chosen project:  Testing out a pokéball pattern 

Flying

Craft something intricate as detailed below.

Knitters/Crocheters: Craft something made up of at least 50% lace, or with color work involving at least two colors used in the same row (intarsia, stranded color work, mosaic).

• Chosen project:  Dalek hand towel  (I made sure to get it approved.) 

Herbology

Please craft something that represents the uses or characteristics of wormwood (for example, but not limited to, something green like the Absinthe, something fine and silky like the plant, or something for a baby).

• Chosen project:  Pat's Leafy Scarf  (For Dan's manager at Publix.) 

History of Magic

Explore the aesthetics of the Victorian seances in your submission. You have two options:

Option 1: Represent the attire worn by spirit guides. They were commonly known for beads, tassels, and wraps.

Option 2: Represent the ghosts that showed up at these seances.

• Chosen project:  Make necklaces for the Shadowmoor LARP plot team. 

Please note:  Only six classes may be turned in for credit, so I'm not obligated to complete all of these.

Starfleet Fiber Arts Corps

The featured theme this month is "A Surprise Visitor" -- dealing with one Mr. Harcourt Fenton Mudd, who has shown up in Federation territory without having aged at all since Captain Kirk last saw him.  He's claiming that he has found (or manufactured) a "fountain of youth" potion.  We are about to see if he's telling the truth.

The missions:

Command

Mission: “Unravel” the truth about Harry’s travels by frogging a project entirely or ripping and reworking a section of a project that doesn’t make you happy.

• Chosen project:  Unravel a Power Rangers figurine I started but never finished. 

Diplomatic

Mission: Craft a valuable or functional item which we might be able to trade for the product

• Chosen project:  A Rainbow Dash plushie. 

Engineering

Mission: Craft a modification for our replicators that will allow us to produce the potion, or engineer a container which will be able to contain the compound.

• Chosen project:  ???   I was thinking about another pokéball. 

Medical

Mission: Perform a full medical analysis on Mudd. Present the results in color coded format (stripes, intarsia, double knitting, mosaic, or stranded colorwork). Note: Mission requires at least two separate yarn colors. No cheating with self-striping yarns unless you use two different yarns.

• Chosen project:  ???   Perhaps a Brainwaves Beanie. 

Science

Mission: Analyze Harry’s potion and present its molecular structure as either a lace or cable pattern (lace could represent a crystalline structure, where cables would represent a more fibrous structure; similar to the difference between metals and plastics or inorganic and organic compounds).

• Chosen project:  Charlie's scarf for the Spring in Illinois collection above. 

Tactical

Mission: Craft something to capture Harry if the evidence is incriminating.

•  Chosen project:  Diane's poncho from the IRL list above. 

Quite the list, amiright?  Well, you might be slightly comforted to know that I've already done a few of these (posts to come) and started another last night.

Also, the very first gather for the Shadowmoor LARP is this weekend, so I have to haul all of my totes, crates, and other paraphernalia out of the attic and get ready to go.  I'm nervous because most of the friends I began playing the game with have gone on plot or decided not to play this year, so I don't really know what to expect.  The new guild leader (Kaelys) is promising that he needs me (Feather), so I decided to at least give him one event to see how it's going to be this year.

Of course, that's going to eat up some of my crafting time, but I'll take some yarn and hooks with me (crafting in play rocks!) and hope for some down time.

Hopefully, I'll be able to schedule some posts through the weekend to show off what I've already finished...but if not, have a great rest of the week and as always: Craft on!