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.

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns.

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn.

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options.

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners.

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set.

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn.

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers.

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.

Have you read?