July 2008 Chilly Hollow Newsletter Article

Everyone has heard of Harry Potter these days. Whether you are a fan of the books or not, you probably know someone who loves the series. So I thought I'd look for Harry Potter designs. I found help here at this blog discussion about HP and cross stitch. And the second link is a shop that advertises Harry Potter needlepoint canvases in stock although there are no pictures.

http://www.tangledthread.com/stitching-harry-potter/

http://www.barbarasuebrodie.com/needlepoint.html

Probably due to copyright reasons, I didn't find any needlepoint canvas photos but in the world of knitting, there are many "illusion" patterns all about Harry and his world. Illusion knit patterns are designs that are abstract from one view but that turn into a pattern from another view. I bet one could needlepoint these charted designs but I haven't tried it myself.

Here's an illusion Hedwig washrag (that's Harry's pet owl).

http://www.freshislefibers.com/Patterns/Hedwigillusioncloth/Hedwig%20Illusion.pdf

I found quite a few designs which chart the various Hogwarts School houses and their symbols:

Ravenclaw scarf

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/crafts/knitting/ravenclawillusionscarf

Gryffindor symbol charted

http://gallery.the-leaky-cauldron.org/default/fullpic/209866

Hogwarts crest charted

http://gallery.the-leaky-cauldron.org/default/fullpic/209868

sock pattern gryffindor crest for sale

http://www.freshislefibers.com/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=220

There are a great many fantasy needlepoint canvases of wizards. You may enjoy Raymond Crawford's Wizard of Oz inspired designs.

http://www.raymondcrawford.com/designs/oz/index.html

Want to do a set of Wizard of Oz standups? Petei has a wonderful series of canvases that look great made up. I particularly like the Emerald City and the Toto canvases.

http://www.petei.com/line_list/line_wiz_oz.htm

How about a Wizard of Oz box? This is from Julia's Needlepoint.

http://www.bristlythistle.com/childrens.html

Trubey has a series of three wizards who look like something right out of the Arabian Nights.

http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/2005/504np.php

This silly canvas has two smokers--a dragon and a wizard. You may also enjoy the discussion of fractional XSs if you aren't familiar with cross stitch but would like to turn a XS wizard pattern into needlepoint.

http://www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com/fractional-stitches.html

And Michaelene Love of Sunrunner Designs has a whole series of wizards right out of a fairy tale.

http://home.att.net/~michaelenelovedesigns/MLDWeb_PAGE11.htm

But if you need something quick and easy, how about Jolly Red's little wizard?

http://www.stitch1knit1.com/shop/jolly_red_childrens_tapestry_kits_wizard_needlepoint.html

This should keep us busy stitching a fantasy world in needlepoint.

Jane/Chilly Hollow

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Fireside Strikes Again

Just got my monthly e-newsletter from Fireside Stitchery which has decided to tempt me with a Dreamweavers sale, new cheap scissors, and a Little Shoppe trunk show. EEEEEKKKKK!

Check out the goodies here. The Silent Night stocking above is from Dreamweaver Designs. I like their canvases, don't you?

http://www.firesidestitchery.com/infoalerts/index.cfm

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Look What I Did

Well, first of all, you can see the goldfish finished except for his eyes and mouth, and that almost all of the three lily pads are done. I've not stitched any more water stitch but I am going to start on that once I have the last bit of top leaf done. And I'm going to use Anne's tip of rotating the instructions and canvas a quarter turn and working the water stitch as vertical stitches instead of horizontal.

The real thing I did yesterday was replace the CMOS battery inside the old laptop so I can scan photos for you again. It took me about 5 minutes to unplug the laptop, remove its battery pack, locate the right door on the bottom and unscrew the screw holding it closed, open the door, locate where the internal lithium battery was hiding under a stiff paper tab, remove the tab, slide the battery out, then being careful to note where the red wire and the black wire were plugged, unplug the battery. Then the new nickel-sized battery was plugged in properly, slide into its slot, the paper tab replaced, the door back on, and the external battery pack restored. After that, it's turn on the machine and set the date/time again (that's what the CMOS battery does, keeps time for the system internally), replace the tiny screwdriver and the tweezers, and toss the old battery.

The hard part was looking up what the error messages meant, finding the right battery for my model at a good price, and looking up online instructions on how to replace it. I am so proud!

I'm not just a fancy stitcher after all. LOL

Hugs from your Master Enabler and part-time mechanic in Chilly Hollow

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow