Does Molly Weasley knit the sweaters by hand or with magic?

Question

I prefer answers supported by the books or author interviews, please only cite films if there are no other answers.

Does Molly Weasley knit her sweaters by hand, or with a charm? I'm interested because I want to know if she puts lots of time into them throughout the year and they're "special" gifts or if they're done quick with magic and they're "easy, quick" gifts.

Weasley = a family of redheaded wizards. Wesley = a starship ensign frequently told to shut up. — Rand al'Thor, Mar 28 '17 at 02:24
@Randal'Thor But were Wesley's sweaters knitted by hand or by replicator? — Molag Bal, Mar 28 '17 at 02:25
@Randal'Thor Frequently = once. Though it is cited quite frequently... — Zommuter, Mar 28 '17 at 09:22
@Zommuter though to be fair, everyone had wanted to say it many times before that, and it just slipped out in a moment of loss of self control. ;-) — , Mar 28 '17 at 17:01

score 54 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

54

Well, there are a few textual clues.

Harry had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge. (PS)

Harry opened the last present to find a new, hand-knitted sweater from Mrs. Weasley and a large plum cake. (CoS)

He threw Dobby a pair of violet socks he had just unwrapped, and the hand-knitted sweater Mrs. Weasley had sent, Dobby looked quite overwhelmed. (GoF)

Ron had given him an enormous box of Every-Flavour Beans, Mr and Mrs Weasley the usual hand-knitted jumper and some mince pies, and Dobby a truly dreadful painting that Harry suspected had been done by the elf himself. (OotP)

By the time they had got dressed, padding themselves out with several of Mrs. Weasleys hand-knitted sweaters and carrying cloaks, scarves, and gloves, Ron's shock had subsided and he had decided that Harry's new spell was highly amusing... (HBP)

Harrys presents included a sweater with a large Golden Snitch worked onto the front, hand-knitted by Mrs. Weasley... (HBP)

I think they're hand-knitted.

edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

Community

1

answered Mar 28 '17 at 00:25

TenthJustice

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Whilst these are fantastic spots (even more so if you did this from memory), I'm not sure we can read that much into it, hand-knitted could have a slightly different connotation in the wizarding world, that being that these are her own "handiwork", not shop-bought but made by her, whether that means no charms at all ... oh i guess it probably does really to be honest =) +1 anyway – Au101 Mar 28 '17 at 01:05
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‘Tell you what, Dobby,’ said Ron, who seemed to have taken
a great liking to the elf, ‘I’ll give you the one my mum knits me

this Christmas, I always get one from her. You don’t mind

maroon, do you?’
– Himarm Mar 28 '17 at 02:26
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@Au101 Hermione did knit sans magic, though she states she wants to use magic when she gets to school to speed up the process ‘They’re hats for house-elves,’ she said briskly, now stuffing her
books back into her bag. ‘I did them over the summer. I’m a really

slow knitter without magic but now I’m back at school I should

be able to make lots more.’ --- Mrs weasly could have knit with magic of course, but knitting is a very... peaceful endeavor, and i can see her knitting while listening to her radio shows while relaxing.
– Himarm Mar 28 '17 at 02:35
‘No, I was merely reading the Muggle magazines,’ said
Dumbledore. ‘I do love knitting patterns. Well, Harry, we

have trespassed upon Horace’s hospitality quite long enough;

I think it is time for us to leave.’ - dumbledore also knits
– Himarm Mar 28 '17 at 02:37
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Adding to @Au101's point, a home cooked meal also seems to be made with magic. – Jorg Mar 28 '17 at 07:00
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@Au101 It also depends on the meaning of the word 'is' is. – Yakk Mar 28 '17 at 13:50
@Jorg I don't know that they are. I recall the gang spending a lot of time preparing a meal in 10 Grimmauld Place, and Molly yelling at the twins for trying to use magic to do it. – TenthJustice Mar 28 '17 at 13:57
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When I read "hand-knitted" I am imagining her absentmindedly waving her wand with her hand in another direction at the knitting while attentively doing something else in front of her. – Mar 28 '17 at 17:03
In the sense of one wizard talking to another, I think "hand-knitted" could definitely still involve magic. But in the sense of the author talking to the reader, I think the intent here is to communicate that this was done the hard way. Additionally, I don't think wizards had much use for machines. Ever. They used magic to do the work that we muggle rely on machines to accomplish. Even when they did use machines, the machines are magic-operated. With in mind, I would expect a wizard's use of "hand made" to imply lack of magic, rather than lack of machine. – Joel Coehoorn Mar 29 '17 at 04:13
@TenthJustice She yells at the twins for using magic to set the table and messing it up (they smash some bottles of butterbeer, if I recall correctly). The issue was them insisting on using magic for every single tiny task they were set just because they'd just come of age and were now technically allowed to. Mrs Weasley is shown to definitely use magic for cooking elsewhere in the books. – Anthony Grist Mar 29 '17 at 12:14

score 28 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

Most sweaters in Harry Potter universe are hand knitted mostly using magic.

“We danced to this when we were eighteen!” said Mrs. Weasley, wiping her eyes on her knitting. “Do you remember, Arthur?”

“Mphf?” said Mr. Weasley, whose head had been nodding over the satsuma he was peeling. “Oh yes … marvelous tune . . .”

_{^{Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 16, A VeryFrosty Christmas}}

Hermione made socks for elfs, using magic.

“They're hats for house-elves,' she said briskly, now stuffing her books back into her bag. 'I did them over the summer. I'm a really slow knitter without magic but now I'm back at school I should be able to make lots more.”

_{^{Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 13, Detention with Dolores}}

Explicitly using magic.

“Harry glanced over at her; she was sitting with Crookshanks on her lap and chatting merrily to Ginny as a pair of knitting needles flashed in midair in front of her, now knitting a pair of shapeless elf socks.”

_{^{Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 14, Percy and Padfoot}}

Video evidence from the movie.

From the first quote, I assumed that her knitting is in her lap because she's doing it by herself. — MissMonicaE, Mar 28 '17 at 01:49
This is such a beautiful example of how the books differ from the films. The film producers will go out of their way to squeeze more effects in there. You've proven that knitting can be done by magic, but not that Mrs Weasley did it. She did, on a few occasions, tell the twins off for using magic unnecessarily, when they could do work by hand. — AJFaraday, Mar 28 '17 at 11:01

Does Molly Weasley knit the sweaters by hand or with magic?

2 Answers2