Slytherin Sock Syndicate

Day 24 - 1 row on Sock A Dactylomancy In modern dactylomancy, a ring is suspended like a pendulum above a surface that is marked with letters or symbols.  The direction of the swing indicates which symbols are to be consulted, or which letters are to be formed into a message, in response to a specific question.  Another form follows a similar pattern as Seance table-rapping.  In it a ring is suspended from a tumblers so it may touch the sides of swung.  The code is agreed upon ahead of time (e.g. 1 for yes, 2 for no).  A question is posed and the number of times the ring strikes the tumbler is interpreted as being the answer. PROMPT Have your own dactylomancy session.  Using either type of dactylomancy mentioned above, select a color to knit your stripe.  For example, place small pieces of paper on a table with color names and set up your own ring pendulum.   Or, using your pendulum and tumbler, ask if you should use a specific color.   Ask u...

Botanomancy - 2 Rounds on Sock B Today we are studying Botanomancy. Botanomancy is the study of smoke from burning certain plants or herbs and both the fire and the smoke is used together for divination purposes. Of course most of us will have heard of the use of sage in smudging rituals of the indigenous americans (and the over harvesting of white sage that the popularity of the ritual has caused). Sage is often used in this form of divination and there are many varieties of Sage (Salvia). Using this  google search  pick the colour of a leaf or sage flower that appeals to you and knit the last two rows on the  CHART  found here

Daphnomancy - 3 Rounds on Sock B Today we are studying daphnomancy. Daphnomancy is a form of pyromancy. According to the practice, the louder the crackles, the better the omens. If crackles were absent, the prognostic was bleak. A bright fire burning the leaves was also favorable, but if it smoldered and died out, the outlook was gloomy. History tells us, daphnomancy originated in ancient Rome. There was once a sacred grove of laurel trees. These laurel trees were planted at the grove by each Roman emperor when they ascended to the throne. Sadly the sacred grove withered and died in 68 AD. As you can imagine, this was a bad sign for the Roman Empire. Interestingly that is the same year emperor Nero died ending the long line of Caesars. More recently the practice of burning laurel leaves is associated with stress and anxiety relief. Some practitioners will write aspects and emotions they wish to banish on the leaf before they burn it. For today’s  3 rows of the  chart  for...

Day 21 Papyromancy--4 rounds on sock A Prompt: Papyromancy is a way of divination through folding paper. Some say a true papyromancer can crumple up any piece of paper, unfold it, and predict the future from the creased lines reading the creased paper the way that a palm reader would read a person's palm. Another form of papyromancy is done by folding an illustrated piece of paper and interpreting the resulting image. For today's stripe, we will be using an origami fortune teller, or cootie-catcher to determine the colours for this chart Follow this link to use the digital cootie-catcher Steps: 1. Select the Slideshow button in the top right corner to start 2. Choose a number between 1-6 3. Click the background the number of times you chose  4. Click one of the colours you see in the centre of the screen 5. Press the ESC button to stop the cootie-catcher Now you have the colour for the chart!  You can play again, or choose a neutral background colour.

Day 20 - 5 rows on Sock A Favomancy Favomancy is a form of divination that involves throwing beans on the ground and interpreting the patterns into which they fell.  It was practiced in Russia and in Bosnia.  The methods used by these two cultures is so similar, it is thought they share a common origin.  Since the method isn’t present in the West (at least until modern times), it is possible the origin may have been in the Middle East.  Especially since a similar method exists in Iran using peas specifically. PROMPT Have your own flavomancy reading!  Look at the beans on the ground and see if they reveal anything to you.  Then, knit the CHART for Day 20 using the color of your beans.  Use white (or any other preferred contrasting color) for the background color.

  Day 19 Turifumy- 6 rounds of Sock B Turifumy is the art of divination through the shapes that you see in the smoke and that almost always brings to mind the shapes that Bilbo and Gandalf would blow as they sat smoking on their pipes in the early evening, watching the sun go down, though of course their shapes were manipulated and the shapes we see in turifumy are naturally occurring. for today work the  6  rows, keeping your main colour going, choose a colour inspired by either the smoke or sunset you see if you were taking a quiet moment at sunset to do some turifumy. Use the  CHART  found here and remember 6 rows in your chosen daily colour. (this will be the 4th day worked on this chart and you have 2 days and 5 rows left in your chose direction)

Knissomancy-7 rounds of Sock B If we read that quickly one might think we are studying Divination by kissing. No, my lovelies we are learning about k N issomancy today. Knissomancy is the art of divining the smoke from burning frankincense. How exactly does this work? The diviner asks a question and drops the frankincense resin onto a fire. The smoke dictates the outcome. Caesar Longinus, in his ‘Trinum Magicum Sive Secretorum Magicorum Opus’ (1673), “…in which powdered resin was thrown into the flames. If the flame rose in one, it was a good sign; if lambent and divided, unfortunate; if in three points, a glorious eventum or result; if much dispersed, an ill death; if crackling or snapping, misfortune; if it was very suddenly extinguished, great danger.” That quote reminds me of Professor Trelawney and her dire predictions on the first day of class each year. Today you will be knitting the next  7 rows of this chart on SOCK B . Please choose one color that pleases you f...

Hyomancy--8 rounds on sock A Prompt: Hyomancy is divination by studying the patterns of swine, wild or domestic. For today's stripe, choose your colours from the coat patterns of pigs and knit this piggy chart

Day 16 - 9 rows on Sock A Carromancy \ Carromancy is a form of divination involving candle wax.  The most common method is to heat the wax until molten.  The wax is then poured into cold water.  The shapes and movements of the wax is then read as a means to predict the future.  Another common method that is more widely practiced today is to study a burning candle.  The movements of the flame are read in order to predict the future. Carromancy also has roots in ancient Celtic and perhaps later in Ancient Roman times.  According to scraps of knowledge salvaged from around the period CE 500, it appears that the candle burned during a druid's vigil was poured into a bowl and then into a clear pool of cold water. The signs for the future could then be read. PROMPT Grab a candle and light it.  Depending on your preference, either watch the flames or pour the molten wax into cold water. What do you see?  Did you experience any particular feelings?  ...

  Day 15 Pyromancy - 10 rows on SOCK B Reminder - the rest of  sock B  is all part of one chart today you want to knit  10 rows  in the colour you choose below Today we are studying Pyromancy. Pyromancy is one of the earliest forms of divination and is related/subdivided down, yesterday we looked at the wood and embers today we’re looking at the flames themselves and the shapes we might see within them, some see every pop and shower of sparks as an omen, a good strong triangular flame is good, one that weaves and wavers is thought to be not so good. Diviners can use a fire, a flaming torch or candle flame when practicing. flames as we know tend to be certain colours, but they can also be altered and storytellers would often throw certain substances on a fire to give different flames, some of these substances like salt were also used in divination practices. Using the  CHART  found here, knit the next  10rows  using the colour you picked yeste...

  Xylomancy - 11 rows on SOCK B Hello Advent Sock Knitters! I have a  very important message  for you regarding SOCK B. Going forward you will need to pay close attention to the header reminding you of how many rows to knit. Why?  Cattiekins  and I have teamed up to give you one fabulous colorwork chart with varying colors as the background. We wanted you to have the entire chart because some of you are knitting cuff down and some are knitting toe up. This is a directional chart. We wouldn’t want you to have sections upside down.   Before we get into choosing those backgrounds please choose one color that will be constant through the end of the chart. Today we are studying Xylomancy. Xylomancy is the divination by means of examining or burning pieces of wood. I’ve looked into the burning embers of an outdoor fire and found myself seeing glimpses of things to come. We know that Professor Trelawney  taught a form  of this to her sixth-year stud...

I Ching --12 rounds on sock A Prompt: Today's stripe is going back to colourwork.  The I Ching or Yi Jing usually translated Book of Changes or Classic of Changes, is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. As a divination text, the I Ching is used for a traditional Chinese form of cleromancy known as I Ching divination, in which bundles of yarrow stalks are manipulated to produce sets of six apparently random numbers ranging from 6 to 9. Each of the 64 possible sets corresponds to a hexagram, which can be looked up in the I Ching For today's stripe, you will need 3 coins.  Toss the coins and markdown if they are heads or tails, do this 6 times.  Find your Hexagram below.  Do this again to find your second hexagram,  or use this link   These hexagrams will be your pattern for today's stripe. Today's Chart is an example of how your stripes may look.  The pink squares indicate the center of your sock.  Sp...

Day 12 - 13 rows on Sock A Nephomancy  Nephomancy is the practice of divining the past, future and present by observing the clouds.  These prognostications are made by omens interpreted from the color, direction of movement, position in the sky and shape of a cloud or cloud formations. To perform Nephomancy, try on a day when the sky is sufficiently clear to define the shapes of the clouds.  With a question or issue on your mind, close your eyes and clear any distracting thoughts.  When you’re ready, open your eyes and scan the sky.  Look to the shapes and movements of the clouds as an answer to your question or concern.  Try not to rush the answer and be open. Prompt Once again, I ask you to look to the sky.  What colors do you see today? Are the clouds white and fluffy?  Are they gray?  Do you see clear, blue skies?  Or only bright yellow?  Based on the color that you see when looking at the sky, knit the CHART .  It’s writte...

  Astrapomancy - 14 rows on sock B Astrapomancy is the use of Lightning bolts to divine the future, part of this was the direction that the bolt was observed to be in, if it was to the east of the diviner, that was a good omen, to the west, less so and the North was where the worst omens came from, North east was considered lucky but the north west meant bad news was coming soon. Many past civilizations believed they were divine messages sent down by the gods. using a light colour to represent the lightning (bolts are usually blue/white) use this  CHART  to create a textured band of lightning bolts on your sock. (if you are doing colourwork use a light and dark colour to give yourself the contrast). An additional, there are two charts one for 36 stitches and one for 34 stitches, if you are using 32 stitches for these texture parts, please use the chart for 34 and don’t knit the grey stitches

Anthomancy - 15 Rounds on sock B Today we will explore the art of Divination by flowers otherwise known as  Anthomancy . Are you living in the northern hemisphere and yearning for pretty flowers like me? Or are you in the southern hemisphere where you can walk outside and see them growing? Flowers make me happy. They are a beautiful gift from the sun. I haven’t seen the sun in a couple of weeks. Somehow western North Carolina has chosen to adopt the weather from the Pacific Northwest.  sigh  Many witches, wizards, and muggles choose to decorate their homes with flower arrangements at this time of year. They are probably not aware of the meanings those flowers hold. For today’s 15 rows use the chart below and pick colors that represent your birth month. If you are translating  THIS CHART  to colorwork pick your birth month and one other month of significance for you.

  Phyllomancy --16 rounds on sock A Phyllomancy was a form of divination which involved interpreting the future through using leaves. As such, it's not too surprising that this method of divination uses leaves to predict the future. There are many ways to practice phyllomancy (watching the way they burn, the way they fall, the way they float, etc.) but one method is very important in terms of the ancient Hellenic practice: divination in which the voices of the Theoi are made apparent through the rustling of the leaves of an oak (or birch) tree. For today's stripe, find your zodiac tree colour and knit this leaf gansey pattern.

Day 8 - 17 rows on Sock A Austromancy is a means of divination done by observing the wind.  It’s an ancient practice that involves diviners studying the speed, direction and sound of wind.  Derived from the Latin word Auster meaning south, this form of divination was practiced by the Babylonians, Etruscans and the ancient Greeks and Romans. It seems  diviners of Austromancy didn’t follow any specific rules for what the winds meant.  It was based more on their feelings while doing the interpretations.  Prompt What is the wind like where you are today?  What are some of the things you are experiencing or feeling based on that wind?  Check out the photo below and pick your color based on the wind advisory alert level for your area (find the wind speed to get the alert level).   Then head over to the CHART and knit the chart for day 8.  You are welcome to knit it as charted with the X’s indicating a purl to have a textured pattern.  Or, pic...

  DAY 7 - Runes - 18 Rounds on sock B Runes have been used for divination for a long time and the runic alphabet mostly used is that of the Elder Futhark, it’ll be the one you’re most familiar with if you’ve ever looked at rune stones. The runic alphabet often comprises of 24 runes and sometimes the carved stones will come with a blank one, meant to signify things we cannot know yet. The most common way to use them for divination is to either cast them on a cloth (and read those that land face up) or to pull three or more without looking from a pouch while concentrating on a question. spreads for reading are usually an odd number and there are many different ways to lay the stones if you pull them like this. For today’s section of the sock pick a rune (either from your own runes if you have them or look at a picture and pick the one you’re drawn to). Use this  handy guide  which assigns a colour to each rune to find your yarn colour (if continuing with the colour work you...

Logarithmancy - 19 Rounds on sock B The Muggles have a fancy Arithmancy formula. They call it logarithm . I have heard that some Muggle children (and adults for that matter) can struggle with simple Arithmancy let alone the confounded inverse of some rune that is attached to the numbers. Let's all clear some of the confusion, shall we?  Logs come from trees. Trees have branches. Branches normally grow up to reach the sky. (We all learned this in first-year herbology.) Sometimes those branches grow down for a short period before they can find a clear way to reach the sky. Thus, log-a-rhythm  was born. sigh If only the Muggle teachers could learn the proper vision of Arithmancy. We are going with the Magical Log-a-rhythm to divine your colors today. Please look out your window. What do the branches of the trees look like? Are they full of leaves? If so you are very lucky to live in the southern hemisphere. Are the trees hibernating for the winter? Are you surrounded by evergree...

 ##Day 5 Ornithomancy --20 rounds on sock A Prompt: Ornithomancy dates back to early Greek times, appearing on Archaic vases, as well as in Hesiod and Homer.  Ornithomancy could be spontaneous, or it could be the result of a formal consultation the seer would face north, and birds on their right—the east, the direction of sunrise—were taken as favourable (the reverse being true of the Roman augur, who by contrast faced south).  Although it was mainly the flights and songs of birds that were studied, any action could have been interpreted to either foretell the future or relate a message from the gods. For today's stripe, we are switching to gansey.  Choose a colour of a national or regional bird (or one that has special meaning to you) and knit this traditional Flying Geese gansey pattern . NB: depending on if you are knitting toe up or cuff down, knit the first row.  This will create a break between the colourwork and gansey.

 Day 4 Kumalak - 21 rows on Sock A Yep, 21 rows again today.  We’ll make up for the extra rows in a different section. Kumalak is a form of divination that originates in Central Asia.  It involves using 41 small pieces of sheep dung (kumalak means sheep dung in Turkish) sorted into piles.  Trained shaman read the meaning of these piles.   In order to understand the variations in Kumalak, forty-one dried sheep droppings are laid on a cloth on the earth and then touched, one by one, to the reader's forehead. This is said to open the third eye, allowing second sight and intuitive perception. Following this, incantations are repeated until a spirit jumps to the earth realm in order to reveal answers and move the droppings accordingly. The droppings are then divided into three piles. Four droppings at a time are removed from each pile until 1-4 remain, and these are placed on a nine-square grid (resembling a tic-tac-toe board). The piles are then separated and re-sor...

  21 rounds on sock B Cattiekins' Hobbit Cottage Tea Cozy Prompt: The art of reading tea leaves or Tasseomancy is one of the first that Harry and his friends learnt during their divination classes with Professor Trelawney, and while she may have seen the Grim in his tea leaves I’m sure none of us will read such terrible portents in our tea leaves. So brew yourself a cup of tea, any flavour that you wish - from the regular black through green or herbal ones, fruit tea or some of those fancy flowering ones that change colour, be adventurous and daring and using the colour of your chosen tea for one colour, pick a contrast colour and knit the  CHART HERE

Day 2 Ilvermorny School Crest - 24 rounds on sock B Prompt:   Just as at Hogwarts, the sorting ceremony at Ilvermorny is many students' first experience with Divination.  Using your expert skills of Divination choose your house crest and coordinating colors then knit it from the chart FOUND HERE . Remember to use the portion of the chart that coincides with your sock size by including or omitting the section outlined in pink. 

Day 1 Sorting Hat --24 rounds on sock A Prompt: Welcome to Divination! Our advent socks this year are focused on Divination. Each day will feature a method of divination and a chart that can be knit in colourwork or as a guernsey pattern (using purls instead of changing the colour). Our first day is the Sorting Hat.  This is often the first form of divination a young witch or wizard encounters.   Using your house colours, knit the chart FOUND HERE .  The rows outlined in pink are for those knitting 72 or more sts. If you have trouble with your colourwork tension try knitting inside out.  This video shows you how it's done!

Starting instructions for toe up or cuff down. This year we will be doing colourwork again. You can choose to knit these from the toe or cuff, or one of each. We hope you have fun creating these unique socks! Toe-Up Using either of your house colours, cast on 16 sts using Judy’s magic cast on (or preferred method for toe up) divide onto two needles (8 sts each). knit one round. inc round k1 m1r knit til last stitch on left needle m1l k1 x2. Repeat the increase round for 3 more rows then repeat it every other round until you have at least 60 sts. Check if it seems tight go up in 4st increments until it feels comfortable. If you intend to do the colourwork sections you’ll want at least 68 sts. Cuff Down Using either of your house colours, cast on 68/72 sts and join in the round working k1, p1 rib for 8 - 10 rows (or as many rows as you want your cuff to be) 

Here are links to our previous advent sock patterns. 2016:  House Elf Scrap Socks 2017:  Castle Curriculum Scrap Socks 2018:  Fantastic Beasts Scrap Socks 2019:  Brewing Magic! Scrap Socks 2020: Magical Me Scrap Socks 2021: Brewing More Magic Scrap Socks

 Welcome to the Slytherin Sock Syndicate's Blog. Here is where we will be hosting the 2022 Advent sock along  Enjoy  Cattie