The Splendiferous Harry Potter Christmas! (Part 1: The Idea!)

Harry Potter lives in my blood, as surely as Lily Potter’s protection from Lord Voldemort lives in Harry’s. (That’s right, that’s the level of geek you’re about to wade into…. PREPARE THYSELF!!) From the first paragraph I read in the dim, dark past of college I have loved this world.  J.K. Rowling is my favorite …

The Super Interesting, Enchanting and Totally Enthralling Navigation of Excel for pattern making- there’s a party up in here! (Part 2- Tips and tricks)

Now that your excel spreadsheet is prepped and ready to go and you’ve started adding your pattern I’ll offer some tips and tricks I’ve found that help. It’s a great idea to add additional sheets to your file, so you have somewhere to work on different parts of your design. Just click the Plus sign …

The Super Interesting, Enchanting and Totally Enthralling Navigation of Excel for pattern making- there’s a party up in here! (Part 1- Basic Setup)

If you’ve read my previous posts you know that I use Excel a LOT in my pattern making and you also know that I tried very hard NOT to use Excel in my pattern making until I realized how versatile and easy it was to use. I’ve had some requests from friends and local knitters to share some step-by-step …

The Happy Husky Hippo- aka: The most adorable baby hippo of all of social media’s history!

A few months ago I started seeing posts on Facebook from a friend/ former zoo co-worker about one amazingly cute baby hippo named Fiona. She was born prematurely at the Cincinnati Zoo and subsequently had to be hand raised by their amazing care staff. The zoo was posting photo and video updates regularly to let everyone follow along and cheer Fiona on. Thus the hashtag …

The Magizoologist’s Menagerie- another labor of love for the magical world

Why design one massive double-knitted scarf based on a beloved, best-selling, magical universe, when you can design two?! Before my needles were cold from “Always…” (actually when I was still on the first chart of my HP scarf) I started thinking about “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. I had just gone to see JK Rowling’s newest magical venture on opening weekend in 1920’s inspired attire (of course). …