6. Diagon Alley (Harry Potter Art Yarn Advent Calendar)

"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.  "If yeh know where to go", said Hagrid. 

- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling

Description: This is a small version of the Diagon Alley skein I made a few months ago. I chose a book for Flourish and Blott’s, an owl because Harry gets Hedwig from Hagrid on this day, and one cauldron because Hagrid and Harry argue over buying one made from solid gold. I chose the colours because I somehow imagine Diagon Alley to consist of old grey stone houses and shops, some of which might be painted or tiled in different colours.
Fibre Types: merino wool, linen
Colours: greys, with a bit of dark blue, green, and rust red
Add-Ins: cauldron, book, and owl charms (one each)

5. Harry, Yer a Wizard (Harry Potter Art Yarn Advent Calendar)

"-- a what?" gasped Harry.  "A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit.” 

- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling

Description: somehow, blue and white with stars are the embodiment of a wizard’s cloak for me, and by extension for wizardry itself. So this was kind of obvious ;-) There are several golden stars in this yarn, and also some blue/purplish sparkle.
Fibre Types: merino wool, bamboo flakes, hand dyed tussah silk, angelina
Colours: different blues, a bit of white
Add-Ins: blue thread, tiny gold stars

4. Hagrid (Harry Potter Art Yarn Advent Calendar)

But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you -- one more word... " 

- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling

Description: I chose the colours and rustic fibre types because they seemed to be perfect for hairy Hagrid ;-) The texture of the yarn is very interesting, and the highlights of bright pink silk strips really make it into something unique. I chose them because of Hagrid’s battered pink umbrella, which is really concealing his once broken wand and allows him to do magic, though he isn’t actually supposed to. There’s also an umbrella charm in this yarn. Fibre Types: merino wool, gotland wool, and other natural wools (some of them locks)
Colours: dark brown, greys
Add-Ins: brown thread, pink silk strips, umbrella charm

3. The Letters From No One (Harry Potter Art Yarn Advent Calendar)

Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives -- he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:   Mr. H. Potter  / The Cupboard under the Stairs  / 4 Privet Drive  / Little Whinging  / Surrey.   The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. 

- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling

 
Description: Aunt Petunia is just in the middle of dyeing some of Dudley's old clothes grey for Harry (as a school uniform for Stonewall High) when the letter for Harry arrives. I incorporated the grey of the new uniform into this yarn, as well as the colours of the envelope and emerald green ink, and I spun in two letter charms - as we know, there will be more letters than just the one.
Fibre Types: merino wool, linen
Colours: grey, beige, green
Add-Ins: beige thread, letter charms

2. The Zoo (Harry Potter Art Yarn Advent Calendar)

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.  It winked.  Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.  The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:  "I get that all the time.  "I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."  The snake nodded vigorously. 

- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling

Description: dark greens and black represent the dark reptile house. Instead of snake charms, I decided on making contrasting light green parts into coils to represent the snake. The description in the book mentions “glistening brown coils”, which makes sense as the snake in question is a Boa Constrictor, but I made an artistic choice and decided on the light green for the contrasting effect - brown wouldn’t be as visible in the dark yarn (and it seems a green variety exists as well).
Fibre Types: merino wool, alpaca fibre, linen
Colours: dark green, black, rust red, light green
Add-Ins: none, but the light green parts are made into coils

1. Number 4, Privet Drive (Harry Potter Art Yarn Advent Calendar)

As promised, I'm going to do a virtual advent calendar thing here on the blog, presenting all the mini skeins I spun for the project (which you can read about here). So, starting today with the only boring yarn in this series (for good reason), let me present the one and probably only

Harry Potter Art Yarn Advent Calendar (Book 1)!

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense. 

- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling

Description: plain, boring Privet Drive - looking like a privet hedge, nothing fancy or elaborate,   just like the boring life the Dursleys lead
Fibre Types: merino wool
Colours: green
Add-Ins: green thread, black beads 

New Stitchmarkers

I always try to have some small giveaways handy, and those of you who have followed my blog for a while probably already know that I make new batches of stitch markers to give away in somewhat regular intervals. Here are the new ones - I've already sewn them into paper pouches, and I even made the one snowflake paper myself :-)

 

I made the first batch for a crafts fair years back, and I quite liked them, so I decided to keep some of them ready to ship as little thank you's.