HSKS 6

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Dueling Club, Miss Violette Black of Slytherin and Miss Emma Wigworthy of Ravenclaw.

Ok, duelers. Welcome to the dueling club FINALS! Best of luck to all of you!

As a reminder, here are the match ups for the final round:
Ravenclaw Emma Wigworthy vs Hufflepuff Draco Firewalker (Hats)
Slytherin Lily of Flitwick vs Slytherin Violette Black (Socks)

So, without further adieu, here are the patterns:

We have made it to the final round of the dueling club! Congratulations to our finalists!

Ravenclaw Emma Wigworthy and Hufflepuff Draco Firewalker will be dueling in the final round of the hat bracket. Slytherin Lily of Flitwick will face Slytherin Violette Black in the grand finale of the sock bracket.

Here are the materials each of you will require:

Hat Bracket (Knitting)

The knit hat will require a skein (less than 400 yards) of fingering weight yarn (yes, fingering weight … in the hat bracket). I believe you can do it with approximately 200 yards, but you might want to have extra on hand, just in case. You will also be using US 3 (3.25 mm – DPNs and/or 16” circular) knitting needles, or size to obtain gauge. Tools include a yarn needle and stitch marker. The gauge is listed as 32 stitches and 48 rows is 4” in stockinette stitch on US 3 needles. However, you can change the size of your hat by adding or removing pattern repeats.

The sock knitters will require approximately 450 yards of fingering weight sock yarn (closer to 600 yards for larger sizes). You will also be using US 0 (2.0 mm) double pointed needles (or size needed for gauge – set of five needles) and/or a US 0 (2.0 mm) circular needle, if you prefer magic loop. You will also need a yarn needle and stitch markers. The gauge is listed as 40 stitches and 58 rows is 4” in stockinette stitch on US 0 needles.

Reminders

Once again, you will have to contact your partner to get their address, sizing information and color preferences.

The patterns will be posted on the HSKS6 blog THIS Friday, December 5^th at noon CST. Best of luck to all of our finalists!

Is everyone ready for the semi-final hat duel? Dueling in this semi-final round are Hufflepuff Elladora Madley versus Ravenclaw Emma Wigworthy and Slytherin Ophelia Crookshanks versus Hufflepuff Draco Firewalker. Good luck everyone!

Ok, duelers. We’ve seen your skills in knitting beanies and other fitted caps. This round is going to require you to channel your Halloween and Harry Potter spirit into a different style of hat. During this round, you will be knitting or crocheting a witch / wizard hat for your partner! So grab some Halloween candy, needles / hooks and yarn and duel away!

Crocheted Hat Pattern

Witch’s Hat (Crochet)

Witch’s Hat (Crochet), Ravelry Link

Knit Hat Bracket Pattern

Witch’s Hat (Knit)

Witch’s Hat (Knit), Ravelry Link

“Bye Week” Knit Sock Pattern (Optional)

Frankensocks

Frankensocks, Ravelry Link

Best of luck everyone!

Round three of the dueling club will begin on Saturday, November 1st. Please note that the sock duelers will be getting a week off so that the semi-final and final rounds of both brackets are held at the same time. However, if you would like to practice your spells, I am going to post a “just for fun” sock pattern for you to try.

Here are the materials each of you will require:

Crochet Hat Pattern Specifications

The crocheted hat will require worsted weight yarn. You will need 1 – 2 skeins of your selected yarn. You will also be using an H (5.0 mm) hook. There is no recommended gauge but the pattern does list instructions for sizing (which you will see upon the pattern release).

Knit Hat Pattern Specifications

The knit hat can be crafted using any yarn, however worsted weight (or thicker) is recommended. You will need 1 – 2 skeins of your selected yarn. The needle sizing is a bit tricky. Basically, you may use the needle size recommended by the yarn type you are using. Depending on how you would like to style the hat, you may need to adjust to use a needle size slightly smaller than the recommended size. However, you will need DPNs, and a 24” circular needle in the size selected. Optional materials include a 16” circular needle in your selected needle size. There is no recommended gauge but the pattern does list instructions for sizing (which you will see upon the pattern release).

Special (and Optional) “Bye Week” Sock Pattern Specifications

The sock knitters will require approximately 440 yards of fingering weight sock yarn in two colors (220 yards of each). You will also be using US 1.5 (2.5 mm) double pointed needles (or size needed for gauge – set of five needles) and/or a US 1.5 (2.5 mm) circular needle, if you prefer magic loop. You will also need a yarn needle and stitch markers. The recommended gauge is 30 stitches and42 rows is equal to 4" in stockinette. Optional materials include 3 yards of a contrasting fingering weight yarn.

Reminders

Once again, you will have to contact your partner to get their address, sizing information and color preferences. I will e-mail a copy of the bracket to you shortly. Sizing is key to this round of the duel so make sure you are accurate in your measurements.

The patterns will be posted on the HSKS6 blog THIS Saturday, November 1st at 9:00 AM CST.

Crocheted Hat Pattern

Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat

Knit Hat Bracket Pattern

The Frivol Hat

Knit Sock Bracket Pattern

Naïve Socks (No link so the PDF will be e-mailed to you when I finish this post)

PDF Versions of the Knit Hat and Knit Sock will be e-mailed to all of you shortly. There is no PDF version of the crocheted hat.

Best of luck everyone!

Round two of the dueling club will begin on Friday, October 10th. Here are the materials each of you will require:

Crochet Hat Pattern Specifications

The crocheted hat will require worsted weight or bulky weight yarn (less than 200 yards total). You will also be using a J (6.0 mm) hook with worsted weight or a K hook for bulky weight. There is no recommended gauge.

Knit Hat Pattern Specifications

The knit hat will require a skein (less than 200 yards) of worsted weight yarn. You will also be using US 8 (5mm) knitting needles. Tools include a cable needle and yarn needle (for tucking in the ends). There are some optional tools for this pattern including a size I (5.5 mm) crochet hook and US 10.5 (6.5 mm) knitting needles but, as you will see, these are not essential to complete the hat. The gauge is listed as 18 stitches and 24 rows is 4” in stockinette stitch (on the US 8 needles).

Sock Pattern Specifications

The sock knitters will require approximately 440 yards of fingering weight sock yarn. You will also be using US 2 double pointed needles (or size needed for gauge – set of five needles) and or a US 2 circular needle, if you prefer magic loop. You will also need a yarn needle and stitch markers. The recommended gauge is 8 sts = 1” in the specified pattern, so you will need to do a gauge swatch after receiving the pattern to be exact.

Reminders

Once again, you will have to contact your partner to get their address, sizing information and color preferences. I will e-mail a copy of the bracket to you shortly.

The patterns will be posted on the HSKS6 blog THIS Friday, October 10th at 2:00 PM CST and the dueling will begin!

Crocheted Hat Pattern
Divine Hat

Knit Hat Bracket Pattern

Utopia Hat

Knit Sock Bracket Pattern

Campfire Socks

PDF Versions of the Knit Hat and Knit Sock have been e-mailed to all of you. There is no PDF version of the crocheted hat.

Best of luck everyone!

Okay ladies and gentlemen ... The signups for the dueling club are officially closed. We have a total of 38 participants this round: 26 will be crafting hats and 12 will be knitting socks.

So, with wands at the ready … Here is what each of your duels will require:

The crocheted hat will require a skein (less than 200 yards) of worsted weight yarn. You will also be using a K (6.5 mm) hook as well as an I (5.5 mm) hook. The recommended gauge is 3 dc (with the K hook) is equal to one inch. Tools include a yarn needle (for tucking in ends).

The knit hat will require a skein (less than 200 yards) of worsted weight yarn. You will also be using US 8 (5mm) knitting needles – a 16” circular and DPNs. Tools include a cable needle and yarn needle (for tucking in the ends). There is no gauge listed, per se, so you will have to wait and look at the pattern to determine how to resize the hat to fit your partner (i.e. do more or less pattern repeats, if necessary).

The sock knitters will require 1 – 2 skeins (between 250 to 500 yards) of DK (8 ply) sock yarn. The amount of yarn required depends on the size of the sock you will be knitting. They recommend one skein for the women’s sizes and small or medium men’s sizes but two skeins (or one plus a contrasting color) for the larger men’s sizes. You will also be using US 4 double pointed needles (or size needed for gauge) and they recommend a US 4 - 12” circular needle, but it is optional and the whole sock can be worked with the DPNs. You will also need a yarn needle and stitch markers. The recommended gauge is 6 sts in stockinette = 1” (after blocking) and 8 rows = 1” (after blocking).

You will have to contact your partner to get their mailing address, sizing information and color preferences. I will e-mail everyone the bracket along with a list of participants and their e-mail addresses so that you can do so. Keep in mind that this is also meant to be a stash busting event so please don’t feel like you have to go out and purchase new yarn to participate. Feel free to use yarns from your stash, as long as they are the correct weight for the pattern.

The patterns will be posted on the HSKS6 blog THIS Sunday, September 21st at 10:00 AM CST and the dueling will begin!

We have had a fantastic turnout for the duel club so far and I’m very excited to get the dueling started! Therefore, I will only be accepting applications through tomorrow (Friday, September 19^th) at noon CST.

The bracket will be sent (via e-mail and with a link posted on the blog) on Friday evening and I will also post the specifications for round 1 at that time.

The pattern for round 1 will be posted on the HSKS6 blog at 10:00 AM CST on Sunday, September 21st and the dueling will begin!

So if any of you are deciding whether or not to join us, please do! For more information, please see the following blog post.

Good Morning Hogwarts Students! I’m Agatha Vablatsky and I will be acting as the dueling club coordinator for this term.

For new students, here is an explanation of how the dueling club will work:

Essentially, all participants will be organized into brackets where everyone will be paired up with one person. The pattern will be released, and the first person to receive a hat or sock in the mail from their opponent will be dead. The person who is left standing will advance to the next round and will be paired with the winner from another pairing within the bracket. In the end, there will be one person standing from each bracket and they will be dubbed the dueling winner.

There will be a bracket for hat knitters and a bracket for sock knitters. You do not have to be a fast knitter to participate, but you should be able to finish a hat within 5 days and a pair socks in 1 1/2 to 2 weeks at minimum. In the HSKS5 dueling club, many of the hat knitters finished their hats within 1 – 2 days after the pattern was released. Similarly, the fastest sock knitters can usually complete a pair of socks in about 2 days although many took between 3 – 5 days to complete a pair of socks.

Keep in mind that sometimes it comes down to a race of the owls, with the post office being the deciding factor. Completing a project a day or two before your dueling partner doesn't mean anything if your post office decides to mail your package out a day late.

As far as shipping requirements, overnight mail is NOT allowed. It must go Priority. We recommend mailing your projects with delivery confirmation because if projects are received on the same day, the delivery confirmation will let us know when it was delivered. This will help us to alleviate any possible disputes as to who killed whom first.

New for this round of the swap is the inclusion of crocheters! In the beginning rounds of the competition, you will have the option to knit or crochet within your bracket. I’ll pair knitters with knitters and crocheters with crocheters within the hat or sock bracket. However, please note that the final round will be knitting ONLY, so you must be able to knit to participate.

More than anything, this is just a fun project. Don't NOT join just because you think you are a slow knitter.

Interested? If you would like to join, e-mail me at hsksduelclub at gmail dot com with the following information:

Potter Name
Bracket: Hat or Sock
Craft: Crochet or Knit

If you have further questions about the dueling club, please comment to this post and I will answer them in the comments so that others may get their questions answered too.

Agatha