Hogwarts Express

Hogwarts Express

If you are a fan of the Harry Potter books or movies you Muggles will likely know that "Hogwarts Express" is the name of the train students ride to Hogwarts, the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  You board the train at Platform 9 3/4 in London.

This shawl is also called "Hogwarts Express". This is a design by Susan Ashcroft.  She has another similar shawl pattern called "TGV: Highspeed Knitting" which is also named after a train.  Both shawls are identical until you get to the border. The main part of both shawls is garter stitch.  In the TGV pattern, the bottom edge is ribbing.  In the Hogwart's Express pattern, the bottom edge is owls created by cable stitches and the owls have bead eyes which are applied one at a time. I had intended to use some hematite beads for the owl eyes in my shawl but the holes in the beads were too narrow for my yarn. I ended up using some dark green beads instead.

I must admit I struggled with the Hogwarts Express pattern a bit.  The pattern gives you a few different options for how to make the tips of the shawl more rounded or less rounded.  The pattern also gives tips for when to start the owl border portion based upon the amount of yarn you have used and the amount of yarn you have remaining.  Frankly I just misunderstood a few things in the pattern and it wasn't until I had already knit the owls that a light bulb went off and I sort of got it.  I think I will probably make this project again and I bet I'll have better results.

I took a number of photos of this project because I've been fussing with the finished object.  I was struggling with how to wear this (it's kind of small), so I decided to overlap the ends of the shawl and I actually stitched it together so that it would be worn like a big collar or a yoke (if that makes sense). I tried it on and was still not happy with it so I undid the stitches and decided to wet block the shawl in hopes it would grow bigger.  It did get bigger and I am happier with this project now.

Here are the hematite beads that I had hoped to use.

Above you can see the yarn I used for this project.  It is Eden DK by Sublime. This yarn is an amazing wool cotton blend.  My local yarn shop, Yarned & Dangerous in Canon City, Colorado, carries this yarn in a variety of colorways.

Hogwarts Express on the blocking mats. What a fun knit!