A Dingo Ate My Snapey! - Singapore update

Actually, not really.
I just always wanted to quote Meryl Streep from that 1988 movie, "A Cry in the Dark".

Snape is fine, people, don't panic.
But he does have a new flatmate to contend with.

I got an e-mail update from Karen in Singapore and two photos as well!

Hi Becky: How are things? As promised, here are some pictures of Snape’s most recent adventure.

Snape and I have a new roommate named Dingo. Dingo thinks Snape is wonderful, and is always trying to play with him, but Snape is quite disdainful of Dingo. (Click on photos to enlarge).





He says it’s because Dingo is a ‘Marauder on four legs,’ who keeps trying to steal his wand and snuggle up to him (Snape does not snuggle!). But, I think it’s because Dingo bears more than a passing resemblance to a young Remus Lupin in werewolf form, and that Snape is actually a little bit scared of him. You can imagine how terrified Snape was when Dingo finally captured him and gave him a good mauling.





Snape now spends his days hiding from Dingo under a pillow on my bed, and trying to hex him if he gets too close. Best, Karen

Well, that doesn't seem like a very happy existence, cringing under a bed pillow! Hmmm, I might have to send him some hound repellent potion or something. Maybe a cloak of invisibility which only works on dogs. Something!!!

I know the problem all to well.

I sent Karen a photo of my hairy beast...





Here she is on our small sofa that used to have Harry Potter fabric on it.
She ate the fabric off. She's eaten at least 10 pairs of glasses, every remote of every appliance we've ever had, (including replacement remotes), (we don't buy remotes anymore), head sets, game boys, wallets, shoes, socks, gloves, you name it.

But anyway, it's great to hear from Karen. Maybe Dingo and Snape will become the best of friends somehow.

Thestral Tessellation Afghan - Read With Me!

I've been working on this for a while now.
It's finally done. (Click on photos to enlarge).





I'm calling it Thestral Tessellation.

It's crocheted using my trusty size J cabled afghan hook and just about every color imaginable.
(Mostly I Love This Yarn and Red Heart yarns. Also some TLC yarn as well.)

The the theme is "written" on the front there.
It says "Read with me!"

It's an homage, again, to J.K.Rowling and her awesome creation of the Thestral, (which, for non-Potter-a-hol-ics, is a winged horse-like creature that is invisible to most people). Most children anyway.

I've also made a castle up at the top of the tessellation above the Thestrals.
The checks all around are some real and many imagined House colors. (I didn't have silver yarn, Slytherins. Forgive me).

I used a pattern from Jessica Tromp's site for the Thestral.
But only the bottom half of the chart. Then I repeated it a couple of times to the top of the last Thestrals.
I used a cross stitch alphabet chart for the words.
Then I just made up the castle part on my own.

One the whole thing was done, I added a sort of rainbow border, (minus purple as I ran out of that), around the whole afghan in single crochet stitch with a size J hook.





Here's the back just after I finished but before I wove in all the loose ends. And then a photo of the back when it was all done.





The first photo is the front just after I finished the chart. A bunch of bald-headed thestrals and no rainbow border with loose ends still not woven in the back. Then the second photo shows the finished afghan again. I surface crocheted the manes on with wispy yarns in orange, black, and blue. (Using the vertical stitches to crochet underneath. They don't show up on the back at all).





These are close-up shots of the bottom and then top.





And finally, just a big close-up shot of the middle part.

Yes, I know. Thestrals are black. Hmmm, perhaps the others are invisible. Anyway I needed contrasting colors.

I chose the "Read with me!" theme because I think reading with your kids is so important. (I was going to put "Read to me!" but I thought the word "with" was more interactive.)

I miss looking forward to the next Potter book. I miss the fact that my kids are all grown now and don't need me to read stories to them anymore. Thank you J.K.Rowling!