Planning

I just concluded my 8th 'term' participating in the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup on Ravelry by celebrating a win for my house, Ravenclaw. As much as I'm looking forward to starting the next term in May (you can sign-up now for the coming term), I always enjoy the month off between House Cup terms because it gives me a chance to recharge my creative energy.

Part of the reason that I like this off-month is that I can dabble in random crafts. These pursuits don't have to be limited to knitting, crochet, or spinning and I'm not under a timeline for finishing. In fact, just the other night I whipped up this little Gryffindor prefect badge for something fun to do. I hope to do several other random projects like this during April.

The other reason I like the off month is that it gives me time to plan my next big project, or OWL (Ordinary Wizarding Level exam). While most of the projects for the House Cup must be done in under a month, OWLs are big 3-month projects. Having the structure and timeline of the House Cup really helps me finish knitting sweaters, spinning pounds of fiber, and in general tackling big projects that I would otherwise probably not complete.

For this term's OWL, I'm planning to make a bunch of magical creatures including: a knarl (pattern: Smith), a pair of imps (pattern: Daphne and Delilah), a de-horned erumpent (pattern: Flo), and a flutterby (pattern: Butterfly Apron). Best of all, I should have enough yarn in my stash to knit everything. You know, sometimes the best part of the whole knitting process is planning everything out!