Dumbledore's Army Armband by Maureen Leeds
An armband designed to show your allegiance to Professor Dumbledore and what he inspired - if nobody will teach you, you must teach yourself. This is a simple and fast project..if you know how to do duplicate stitching. If you don't I recommend that you learn, because it's a lot easier to do than you probably think and you never know when your mother is going to request 50 or more Weasley sweater ornaments for Christmas.
Specifications:
Size: \~8 inches (20 cm) around - it fit my bicep snugly enough to stay on, though you can easily add stitches to fit around a larger arm. If you remove stitches for a smaller arm, the letters cannot all be seen at once, so I recommend dropping the yarn weight and needle size instead. Gauge: 20 sts and 30 rows per 4 inches (10 cm) Recommended Needles: US size 3 (3.25 mm) I knit these with a set of five doublepoints, but use whatever small circumference knitting method you prefer. Yarn: About 25-30 yards of black worsted and less than 3 yards of yellow worsted. I used Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted for the yellow and Caron Simply Soft for the black. You'll also need a tapestry needle to weave in ends and work the duplicate stitching.
Directions:
Cast on 42 stitches and divide as evenly as possible over the four doublepoints, join in the round, being careful not to twist. Row 1: Purl Row 2: Knit Row 3: Purl Rows 4-24: Knit Row 25: Purl Row 26: Knit Row 27: Purl t-wise. Lay the cuff out so that the ends are at the back, as in the picture belo Center the chart as best as you are able (it's not too important horizontally, but you want to make sure that you start at the bottom-most or upper-most stitch, because there's only just barely enough room for the whole chart). Using the tapestry needle and the yellow yarn, duplicate stitch the following chart Onto thecuff.
Weave in the ends and wear your armband with pride!
Or use it as a cup cozy. Whatever. \~_\~ End notes: This chart was devised by hand by me (i.e., I didn't use KnitPro or the like) from the Dumbledore's Army logo used by Warner Brothers for the Order of the Phoenix film. A good free duplicate stitch tutorial is this one at the Purl Bee, but if you have Charmed Knits, by Alison Hansel, it didn't do too bad a job of teaching me.
