You see, this next cape, well, next after I finish the faux fur one, will be my Hogwarts cape. I’ve thought about the idea of making a Harry Potter themed one of these for a while now, so this is what I’m doing. The capes have a full back panel, and two front panels that are half of the back. What I’m going to do is, in my case I’m listing the Gryffindor colours because that’s the House I think I’d be sorted into.

Crimson red fabric – either wool flannel or gabardine, or possibly velvet if I couldn’t get any of that – for the front right panel and the cape, and the back panel, as well as the collar. The front left panel would be in a golden colour of the same fabric. On this panel I’m going to be placing a Hogwarts Gryffindor Patch, you know, one of those iron on ones? Well, one of those.

I’m super excited, though this is an ‘inside’ garment, not for out of the house. I think I would have to admit I was totally socially inept should I wear this cape outside on any occasion, save maybe, just maybe, for the final movie premier. As this is an inside one, I’m not going to line it, and will just use a bias hemming tape for the bottom, because hemming these you loose a lot of length because it’s cut on the bias.

So what do I have to do? On Monday I’ve got to go print out the pattern, again, – thanks boy-cat for peeing on this pattern twice! – and shop for the fabric. I’m hoping I will be able to do this for very cheap! Once I have all of it, I will make up the faux fur cape and the Hogwarts cape at the same time. I’m so very excited about making these two items, now I’ve just got to find the time!

Today’s pattern has to be something Potter related, so here’s a rather nice Gryffindor House scarf! I’ve seen many patterns for the Hogwarts scarves, but I like the extra fullness in this one.

Okay so I’ve got two projects in mind, one sewing, one knitting, so I’m going to outline the pros and cons for both. First up, knitting.

With knitting up the Silvanus bag I get to use my lovely new needles, but I’m working on the Victorian Neckwarmer on those anyway, so I don’t know how long it would be until I could start. If I got the yarn for my Circular Shrug, I would have a nice little shrug to wear, but I would be sacrificing the chance to work on my new needles after the Victorian Neckwarmer, and the chance to sew. So I think that shrug is completely off the agenda until I’ve got a nice amount of some great chunky yarn. Silvanus will take a long, long time for me to complete, and I won’t be able to get the cape finished, or the project it is related to if I do it.

If I go the option of sewing up the cape, I’m getting something I’ve envisioned for a long time done, but I’m sacrificing the chance to work with those new needles with the Silvanus pattern. However I do have stuff I can go onto working on those needles, with what’s in my stash, and then I’ll have a couple of cute little completed projects, the cape and the neckwarmer. The cape is also tied into a project for a website, and if I don’t get it done, I can’t finish the project, and that bothers me.

Looking at my little list there, it’s clear that I most want to get the cape made up, and then the next lot of crafting money can go to knitting supplies!

Alright then, now for a knitting pattern. Susan B. Anderson has created some of the cutest toys imaginable. Here today is her newest pattern, Rabbit, and also I’m linking an older one that is a personal favourite, Elephante, the cutest little elephant pattern I’ve seen.

A few weeks ago when my local craft store was having their annual 50% off fabric sale, I bought enough faux fur and satin to make and line a pretty little faux fur cape. I had initially wanted to go with a clasp of a natural material, wood, bone, or horn, but couldn’t find anything right anywhere. So I decided I had to go with either fabric or metal, and as fabric would look very odd on the faux fur, I finally settled on a metal clasp. This metal clasp, to be precise, which I ordered yesterday morning.

I am not starting the project until I have all the pieces at my disposal… well, okay I may to the pinning and cutting, but no further than that until I have the clasp. I have everything else here, in a big plastic bag. waiting to be made, and I am pretty darn excited. I started making these about a year ago, and I have made a red one out of gaberdine with black faux fur trim and collar, a colour combination suggested by my fiancé which looks amazing, and a grey one out of wool flannel with white embroidery down the fron and on the lapels and back. If I had the chance to do that one over, I would have picked a different colour for the embroidery, maybe a nice grey silk thread, but I still like this one so very much.

Sewing and Knitting both have their pros and cons. For instance, sewing is more immediate, you get a final product in a much shorter time than you do with knitting. However, you will experience a lot more physical pain, with all the bending for pinning, cutting, and then the actual sewing! But with Knitting, you get to sit somewhere quite comfortably, but I take forever to finish anything.

With all this talk of capes, today’s knitting pattern is also going to be a cape! Novak from Berroco, in this case.