Check out the New Harry Potter Knits Magazine

I haven’t seen it in person yet, but I’m kind of in love with The Unofficial Harry Potter Knits, a special issue from Interweave. It’s out now in a digital version and will be available for shipping (sorry, this one is United States only) August 8. For now you can get a sneak peek on Ravelry.

For $14.99 this issue gets you more than 30 patterns, heavy on the socks and sweaters. I love the mismatched twin Fred and George Socks; the pretty leaf green Herbology Socks, covered with a twisting vine pattern; the dark cables of the Serveus Pullover; and the gorgeous gothic stained-glass beauty of the Tracery Pattern (it’s a vest). There are also articles on the knits made for the movies, the importance of knitting and family in the stories and more.

I have no idea what compelled them to do a Harry Potter collection at this particular time, but the projects do look like a lot of fun and I’ll probably be picking up a copy. It can keep my copy of Charmed Knits company.

Have you ever knit any Harry-inspired items? I’d love to hear about it!

Are you hosting a Harry Potter party? Check out these DIY Harry Potter crafts on Craftbits.com that we made and take a look at them in our very own Harry Potter Party we hosted. We also created these Harry Potter cupcakes and share the tutorial here. Check out the Harry Potter Cookbook too for fun party food.

If you are looking for Harry Potter gifts check out these on Etsy.

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

Have you read?