A Magical Fairwell

This week marks the end of one of the most popular movie series of all time, Harry Potter. To celebrate the finale, many fiber enthusiasts are showing their love for the series by coming up with some truly amazing patterns, some with really innovated techniques. Even if you are a casual knitter, check out these patterns and challenge yourself to make something different and fun.




Best of Hand Knits
If you haven't seen some of the work by Steve Plummer of Wooly Thoughts, you're missing out. At first glance head on, it looks like an ordinary striped blanket but then as you continue passing by, it catches the corner of your eye and an amazing photo realistic image appears as if by magic. The technique is surprisingly simple. Strategically placed purls on plain stockinette striped fabric create this effect. He has five Harry Potter designs among others, you just have to check them out. Prices for his patterns vary but his website has free tutorials for designing your own which is very cool

Although I haven't seen any images or looked deeply into it, it appears Terry Bradford has tried converting a couple of Steve's Harry Potter patterns into crochet. It might be worth looking into if you strongly prefer crochet.




Best of Crochet

Todd Paschall founded a technique called crochet by numbers. These pieces are gorgeous and photo realistic at any angle. I has done portraits in crochet of several famous people and since added several stunning nature scenes. There is a great article in Crochet Today about him and how it began. What does this have to do with Harry Potter? One of his fans, Lee Mac (totallee) who is also a fan of Harry Potter figured out her own method for generating these amazing patterns (unfortunately both have kept details of their designing methods a secret). All of her patterns are free and she does offer her own technique tips in addition to the tutorials on Todd's site along with many stunning gallery images. She also has a Ravelry group dedicated to this method.

Megan McDuffee has her own method and wrote how to crochet your very own photo realistic Harry Potter blanket (or whoever else you wish to snuggle up in). Details can be found in her pattern page for her. Harry Potter Blanket. 



A Few Smaller Projects with Great Appeal
Here are a few smaller projects I found on Ravelry that I absolutely love (*Free PDF or Website):

• Gryffindor Cami*
• Harry Potter Uniform Sweater*
• House Pride Knee High Socks: Hufflepuff | Ravenclaw | Gryffindor | Slytherin
• Hermione's Scarf* 
• Sorting Hat*
• Wizard Robe
• Mandrake Root
• Dobby
• Harry Hopper
• HP Fair Isle Pouch*
• Gryffindor iPhone Cozy*

If you're looking to make something but are willing to