'Potter' knitting craze skips Naperville
Forget friendship, fighting evil and standing up for what's right.
The "Harry Potter" books and movies have some great knitting scenes.
(Kate Szrom/Staff photographer)
• More Potter patterns
Yearning to get your own Harry Potter project on the needles? Here are some resources to get you started.
The knitalong, featuring projects from the book, is at www.charmedknits.blogspot.com. Check out what projects other knitters are working on and learn more about how to donate a Harry Potter hat to the Warm Woolies charity.
Pick up a copy of "Charmed Knits," by Alison Hansel, featuring Harry Potter-themed projects including sweaters, scarves, hats, mittens and a stuffed Errol the owl.
Mrs. Weasley sends her boys and Harry hand-knit sweaters every Christmas. Dobby the house elf knits Harry a pair of mismatched socks for a present.
While watching the movies, avid knitspotters have picked out - and replicated - sweaters, striped scarves and that cabled hat-and-mitten set Hermione wore in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."
For readers of online knitting blogs, the "Harry Potter" knitting craze isn't anything new - blogger Alison Hansel published "Charmed Knits" earlier this year, a book of "Potter"-themed patterns for superfans with needles. There's a charity knitalong based on book patterns, where knitters from across the country write about their projects on the Web.
But despite the popularity of the books and the movies, "Harry Potter" isn't creating a big stir among local knitters.
Veronica Van, one of the owners of Fringe, an Aurora yarn store, said there hasn't been a lot of interest in "Harry Potter" knitting - if by "a lot," you mean any at all.
It's more of a hip urban thing, she said. People out here knit presents for older people or babies, neither being the target demographic for "Harry Potter" wear.
Suzanne Roman, owner of Zora's Yarn in Naperville, also hasn't seen much "Potter" knitting. She speculated that perhaps the colors aren't popular with kids today.
But Theresa Schabes, who teaches classes at Knitche in Downers Grove, has made a few "Potter" projects. She knitted some striped scarves while teaching herself how to use a knitting machine, and made a purple sweater with a big gold initial on the front about three years ago for her daughter, then 6 years old.
"I did a big 'H' and my daughter wore it for a Halloween costume, going as Hermione," she said.
Kathy Ticho, who owns Knitche, said someone's always making a Gryffindor scarf, even though there aren't any samples hanging in the shop.
"There periodically have been people coming in and cleaning us out of that gold and maroon yarn," she said, referring to the Gryffindor house colors. "It's always Gryffindor. No one wants any of the other colors."
Why? She chalks it up to the popularity of Potter and his Gryffindor buddies - everyone wants to look like the hero.
Contact Meg Dedolph at mdedolph@scn1.com or 630-416-5297.
