Was it a surprise that I wanted to dress up as her for Halloween?
My current roll for Halloween is to chaperone a feisty and excited bunch of trick or treaters. Usually my costumes involve lights or some sort of guiding device to herd the group. This year I have no doubt that they will be able to see me. Mostly because I will be sporting Luna Lovegood's Quidditch Lion Hat, which may or may not have turned out GIGANTIC-ly awesome. It is complete with a lion's roar and LED lights.
My original plan was to go as Quibbler Luna. One of the girls we are trick or treating with also chose Quibbler Luna, and seeing as she is a total Luna ringer, I couldn't compete. I also like a crafty challenge so when the gears started turning they kicked out a rough draft sketch of the hat, I knew I was headed in the right direction.
In my head my plan was to enjoy the project, take lots of pictures and document my progress so I could write a proper pattern for it. I got so into the making process that I did not document what I did. I have a rough idea plan. I posted the sketch picture on October 3rd and finished the hat on October 21st. The longest part was the rectangular scarf shaped base which took two days to knit.
The top four skeins in the picture (by the pumpkin) were used in the mane alone and purchased at Joann's Crafts. The mini embroidery hoops and sparkly ribbon are also from the craft store. The two chunky yellow skeins I picked up on vacation at Ball and Skein in Cambria, California. The beanie I used was purchased at Target.
I used a stash ball of dk weight yellow yarn along with the chunky yarn to add some depth into the knit. I also used size 10 needles because I wanted a fairly tight texture since I knew I would be stuffing this thing.
Sometimes I like discussing my plans with people even if they sound completely off the wall. My friends are used to this. It helps me organize my thoughts and I can pick their brains for things that I might not think of. For example when I was talking about how I was going to work stretching out the hat to my head size while stitching the base of the head onto the beanie. I was thinking about stretching it out over my knee and my friend goes "Why don't you use the pumpkin?" My friends are geniuses! Wouldn't you know it...I measured it and the pumpkin was only a few centimeters smaller than my head. Which I'm not sure is a brag-able thing or not.
The voice box. One of my original brainstorms was to used a stuffed animal head on top of a hat. I browsed online sites and decided that I was going to go from scratch because I could not find a head big enough. One of the sites I was looking through was Build a Bear. So I visited my local one with another task in mind. According to the books, Luna's hat roars and Harry could hear it from the field. Build a Bear happens to have a huge selection of voice boxes for their stuffed animals. I needed a specific one. They have this nice little device that will record almost anything you want on a voice box to put into one of their many many stuffed animals. I know my way around a Build a Bear. So the woman working there was very nice and asked if I needed a lion to go with my roar. Nope. Oh, do you already have one at home? Nope. I'm going to put it in a hat. I am immune to looks when people think I'm weird. Much like Luna.
Every now and then I tried the hat on to make sure the stuffing wasn't too snug on my head.
The black accents were also knit. The large nose piece is just a triangle shape and the eye parts are diamonds. I cheated and used giant safety eyes because I didn't think I could pull off realistic looking eyes (on my giant stuffed lion head).
Pre mane. On the back I installed some LED battery powered lights. The ones I had from a camping trip have a remote for them and it's easier to turn them off and on. I strung them in and out of the knitting. In the end it looked a little crazier than I wanted so I did end up braiding them into some of the yarn.
For the mane I alternated picking up different types of yarn and added them to the knit with a crochet hook.
The ears are the mini embroidery hoops with an I-cord wrapped around them and stitched on.
When I first finished it I was a little let down that it was so large. Which goes to show that even though I think I know what I am doing, I do not. I always have a vague idea however. It turned out much larger than I anticipated but the more I wear it the more I love it. The oversizeness seems to fit. In the words of Luna...It's good, isn't it?
“Hello' said a vague and dreamy voice from behind them. Harry looked up: Luna Lovegood had drifted over from the Ravenclaw table. Many people were staring at her and few people openly laughing and pointing; she had managed to procure a hat shaped like a life-size lion's head, which was perched precariously on her head.
'I'm supporting Gryffindor' said Luna, pointing unnecessarily at her hat. "Look what it does...'
She reached up and tapped the hat with her wand. It opened its mouth wide and gave an extremely realistic roar that made everyone in the vicinity jump.
'It's good, isn't it?' said Luna happily. 'I wanted to have it chewing up a serpent to represent Slytherin, you know, but there wasn't time. Anyway...good luck, Ronald!”
― Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
