Hello Professor! LNS of Slytherin, turning in my Transfiguration homework … a HAMMOCK! 
I began this adventure with some closet-dowel, 8’ of 2x2 pine, and 800’ of 0.5” nylon rope. {Aside: If someone happens to know a good whittling spell, it would have been a big help, because doing it the muggle way (with a big ol’ knife) gave me blisters.}
I tried to cast yarnio, but the rope just gave a little wiggle and flopped down again. So, I tried to be more specific: Yarnio Hammock, no dice. One more try: YARNIO GARTER DROP-STITCH HAMMOCK and that did the trick. The unwieldy rope behaved like nice pliable yarn, and my giant kniting needles went to work (seriously, 1.5” in diameter, that’s huge! {which is also what she said}). 
Along the first edge, I cast on through the spreader bar (pine 2x2, sanded, drilled with 30 odd holes, and stained walnut). Then the spell really went to work, and it created a nice open net with a lot of stretch.
The ends from the cast-on were ~4’ long, so they could be lashioed to 3” solid steel rigging rings. I also used some muggle eklectical tape to carefully keep the nylon rope from fraying. Fire was also employed. 
Once the knitting was complete and attached to both wooden spreaders, I enchanted some smaller cording to lace itself through the edges in order to stabilize the structure. It worked like a charm (obviously) ;-)
And, lest you think that this is only for decoration, here I am putting my feet up and relaxing before the July classes start up.
Thank you professor, for your encouragement and input! I really enjoyed this class :-D
Here's another little project that was a homework assignment, but also highly useful and needed. It's a pouch, made out of cascade 220 superwash, and emblazoned with an apple logo (from the Tech Guy Sock Pattern).
It's used for, you guessed it, wrangling various bits of technology. All of these were churning around in the spin-cycle that is my big canvas bag, so to keep them from getting dirty and/or damaged they now all reside together in this simple drawstring pocket.
P.S. I wonder if I can sell this idea to apple? I mean, I could never keep up with the demand, but I'll bet they could charge $30 for one of these, even if it was mass produced.
Huzzah for mini sock swaps! I recently participated in the Reducio mini sock swap and, pictured above, is what I received from my lovely Spoiler. That is the fluffiest, loveliest cotton yarn I've ever come across and I'd love to make, well, anything out of it! The awesome inverted holly will be decorating my table top christmas tree this year :-) Not pictured were the little Toblerone treats. Because they were eaten.
This is the package that I sent to my spoilee. She got a mini weasley sweater with her initial on it (and some little Lavender buds) a couple socks (one quidditch and one regular house sock) and some other applicable goodies. 
Um, yes. It is a wand-tip protector. This is the toy wand that came in my stocking this past Christmas and I needed a quick and easy homework assignment.
Besides, I keep accidentally setting off the Lumos charm whilst rummaging through my bag. It makes the muggles suspicious you know ;-)
This little beauty is my doily version of the Jared Flood Hemlock Ring Blanket. My prize winning doily I might add! Seriously, is there anything better in this world than having your work appreciated by people you love and respect and admire? It fills me up with knitterly pride :-D.
Here is the front left side of my Soap Bubble wrap (a leeetle too much flash).
I like the bubble details a lot (even if they require much "paying attention"). It looks pretty wonky now, but I don't think I made any errors. Hopefully everything will block out alright when it's done. [Side Note: If I did make any errors, they're getting chalked up to 'character' or 'rustic charm'. Whichever one means I'm not ripping it all out, no matter what.]
I was just trying to be artsy with the camera. This is a little garter stitch road (a.k.a. the border) trailing off in the distance (a.k.a. the end of the dining room table). 
These are my floppy Freesias, being held up with kitchen twine and sticks. 
And the wide angle effect. It looks a lot more 'finished' now with all that bark there. I should have put the garden hose away, but you don't mind do you?
My raised planter bed, full of pine tree related junk. I could spend a week picking out those little pollen related thingies, but I just don't stock that particular brand of crazy.
This is Pete, the garden gnome who protects the plants, wards off neighborhood cats, and gives nosy pigeons a sharp jab with that pick-ax (at least I hope he does, because they deserve it). Pete is very pleased with himself and his work in the garden. Verrry pleased :-)
Here we have a Brandywine tomato plant, looking the way they are supposed to when they are alive and cared for by a nursery during the delicate seedling stage. Mine are all long since deceased. So I bought this one at the nursery too.
This Jalapeno plant was on sale at the nursery, so I figured "eh, why not. Peppers are pretty hard to kill aren't they?" This concerned the staff. But, here it is, completely alive and producing flowers like crazy! There are little wee pepper buds forming inside the flowers, hopefully to become full grown, fiery fruits. It took a little battering by the wind, but it seems to be doing ok.
The hydrangea plants that I ordered arrived today! They didn't look anything like that picture there though. These were some bare root, dormant little twigs that ship more easily from the nursery in TN. They looked a little more like ... 
Yeah. Forgive me if I am a little skeptical about their survivability.
These are my tiny tomato plant seedlings! The reaction I had when these little guys sprouted up over night was akin to the reaction Tom Hanks' character in Castaway had when he finally made fire. "I have made plants, from tiny lifeless seeds in a packet. I have made plants!" As you can tell, I am not much of a green thumb. Truth be told, I've never planted anything and had it live. (Herbology, D for Dreadful, sigh.) We'll see how this goes, but I'm looking forward to some heirloom Brandywine tomatoes circa 1885.
This is my Gathered Pullover. The color is a bit off, but trust me, it's a light blue with hints of purple-e-ness. Yup. 6" of knitted tube. Ok, moving on ...
Here we have my bubble wrap. It's actually called the Soap Bubble Wrap, but bubble wrap sounds more fun to me. Bubble wrap also = entertainment, who knew? Try the Manic Mode, you'll be glad you did.
The owl mitt worked out just like I envisioned it. Well, except for the thumb, but I figured if I was going to have to pick up stitches and knit tiny rounds anyway, I might as well have a full thumb to show for it. That will be an optional design feature when I write up the pattern.
For now though, I'm going to bed; it was a long, busy, and drudgerous day.
Look at that cute little owl cable pattern! I'm making myself a pair of mitts before I freeze my fingers off on the long walk from the parking lot into work in the mornings. I'm winging the pattern (bad pun intended) and making them out of my Hedwig Opal sock yarn :-D
If the pattern works out, I'll post it when the first one is complete. If not, trust that they will never be spoken of again (It's so cute and I want it to work so much that I would feel personally
betrayed if it didn't. Wouldn't you?).
[Side Note: My team won the Superbowl! Yay! *happy dance* Sorry if your team didn't win today, just know that my love for Matty means I cheer for your team too!]
My mom wanted a bright green scarf this year, so I ordered 4 balls of Shine Worsted from Knit Picks in Green Apple. It's quite a color, and the Cotton + Modal yarn is sooo soft and buttery! Also, it was just enough to push me into the free shipping category, yay!
I finished my 1x1 rib Noro Cash Island scarf and I love it! It's super soft (duh, cashmere) and doesn't make my neck itch. Ok, if I think really hard about it, I can feel a little itchy-ness, but I'm sure it's imaginary. Like when you think about little creepy crawly critters like ants and all of a sudden you can feel them on you. [Shudder] 
