Package arrived!

It was very cold here this morning (-25 Celsius) when a poor, icicle-laden owl landed on my doorstep. Poor Artimus! It seems he was delayed by Customs...in Quebec. I'm not sure how that happened--the fastest route to my place would be via Toronto--perhaps he got some bad directions? Poor owl. We're going to keep him here for a few days so he can defrost, and bundle him up well before we send him back.

Dorian was super excited about the package. He couldn't wait to break into it!

The first thing I found was a letter from Canada Customs. :S

I don't think anything was damaged or missing from the package, though.

Here is how it looked:

I was pretty excited when I found out that Antonio was going to be my swap partner. He has an uncle who dyes yarn (and is pretty good at it, as you'll see!) My package came with two skeins of yarn: one, from his uncle's Paca Peds, dyed an unbelievable variegated blue, and the other, a one of a kind semi-solid blue worsted weight from Lorna's Lace. I'm not sure what I like more: the yarns or the felted bag they came with!

Almost as cool as the yarn are the local items he picked out for me:

Mmm...I can taste the wings now!! (And the wing sauce is milk-free, so my poor allergic sister will be able to indulge with me.)

I also got two sets of Knit Picks Harmony needles; one for a hat and one for a scarf. There was also chocolates (yum!) and a sweater stone

Thank you so much, Antonio! You're the best!

Getting ready!

I placed a big order with Knit Picks last Thursday. One of the dangers
with Knit Picks for me is that if the order is being shipped to
Canada, the shipping is a flat rate after the first $20 you spend. So
once you've spent that $20, you might as well order as much as you
can, because it's going to cost the same to get it here. (Note: this
is very, very unusual for American companies shipping to Canada; Knit
Picks also charges you an extra 10% and takes care of all taxes and
duties at the border, so there's no risk of terrible "surprise"
charges when the package arrives.) I picked up some needles for my
spoilee, a bag kit for a friend in my guild, and thirteen (!) balls of
the Swish Worsted in Lemongrass Heather to make my mom a Rogue
sweater. The order arrived in a great big box today, much to my
surprise. It only took a week to get here, which is awesome.

So with the needles in place, I only have a few loose ends to collect
up, and I'm hoping to be able to ship my package out to the lovely
Enna later this week. Huzzah!

Giving thanks

Like any good Canadian, I know that Thanksgiving really comes in
October, but I very firmly believe that there is never a bad time to
give thanks and to be thankful.

I am thankful for my partner/soon-to-be husband. I am thankful that
we've been able to grow our relationship through good times and bad,
and that in just over ten months we will exchange wedding vows in
front of our friends and family.

I am thankful for my family. My parents celebrated their 32nd wedding
anniversary this week, and I am thankful for their love and the
positive example they have set for me. I'm thankful for my sisters,
who I can count among my best friends.

I am thankful for the cat, even though right now he loves his dad more
than he loves me. And even though he keeps unravelling WIP socks.

I am thankful for my house and my car, and my job, which allows me to
have these things. I am thankful to be doing something that I love.

I am thankful for Ravelry, which has allowed me to meet so many people
and to learn so many new things.

I am thankful to have a swap partner from outside of Canada, because I
can send her lots of things that would be mundane to other Canadians,
but might be exotic and fun to someone else. Today, I picked up two
chocolate bars from a Canadian chain of chocolate stores, and I really
hope that she likes them.

Updates

First things first: I believe Winnie has visited Al Mamzar, in Dubai,
and Cairo, in Egypt. I hope she doesn't accidentally set off any of
the curses on the old pyramid.

Now that that's out of the way, I can report in on the knitting front.
I finished my second February Lady Sweater, or, as I've taken to
calling it, the Infernal Sweater. I love this sweater--it looks
beautiful, it's flattering on lots of people--but man oh man is it a
snooze to knit. Sure, that's good in the sense that it's easy. My
knitting group was doing an informal KAL for the sweater this summer,
and I'm the only one who has finished so far. (Granted, I had a two
month vacation this summer, in which I had little to do other than
knit.) I can definitely see why so many other people have gotten
bogged down knitting it--if it weren't for the fact that this second
sweater is a gift for my sister, I probably would've given up. (Or
shoved it in a drawer in my craft room, never to be seen again.)

My next few projects are going to be my handmade item for my partner,
and a Swallowtail Shawl for my grandmother. I also want to get
started on making some tiny ornament sweaters to give to people for
Christmas. If I start early, I won't have to cram them into the wee
hours of Christmas Eve, right?!

Getting over the Voldemorts

Ugh. Just my luck that on the eve of my Quidditch career, I should
come down with a virus. It's a Muggle sickness, naturally, so it
can't be treated by normal Magical means: I actually had to go to a
Muggle walk in clinic and speak to a Muggle doctor. She told me that I
have an "unnamed viral infection", so we have been calling it the
Voldemort virus. It's likely to be H1N1 or the seasonal flu. Either
way I have been feeling like junk for the last little bit.

But, I am on my way back to health, and once I kick this lingering
cough I'll be back on a broom in no time.

I've been doing a little bit of knitting to stay occupied while I
recuperate. I have a February Lady Sweater for my sister that just
needs a couple of sleeves (which may take a while since I am B-O-R-E-D
of working on it). I also cast on my first pair of socks in almost
five months--the Fascine Braid Socks. Now that the weather is getting
cooler, I'm noticing that my storebought socks just don't cut it.

I'm hoping to make some big progress on my kit tomorrow.

Training Up

What a busy week with training! My broom has been acting a bit dodgy
lately--I think the brake is wearing out--and I may well have to buy
a new one before the season really gets under way. Thankfully the
signing bonus should take some of the sting out of that major
purchase. Any ideas on brooms I could look into?

I've been enjoying reading about our former Headmistress's antics on
the main blog. Right now I believe she is at Lanarch Castle, New
Zealand. I'm quite envious of that--I've always wanted to go to New
Zealand, but I don't fancy the trip to get there. That's a long time
to be on a broom. If she has a chance, she should see if she can find
some possum yarn--it's quite soft and warm.

Where's Winnie?

Right now, Winnie is at the Ministry of Magic in London. I wonder what
she's doing there?

Homework #1

1. Elanor Cadogan is also a knitter
2. Pandora Phelps is not only born in the same month, but on the same day!
3. My partner, Enna Kirts, lives in a different country. I'm excited to send her things from Canada.
4. Poppy Plout is new!
5. My old friend Cassandra Grubbly-Plank has been in several!
6. Wisteria Lovegood has a big stash!
7. Megaera Black can do both. She's quite talented.
8. Antonio dela Weasley loves blue, just like me.

I spent most of today wandering around and getting to know people. There were lots of familiar faces, so it was nice to touch base with the people I knew at Hogwarts. There were also a few new faces--we've got a few particularly keen players in Portree.

A long hiatus

It has been a while, but I'm very pleased to be back here to blog. Remember how I used to be rubbish at Quidditch? Well, a few spare inches and some strategically placed muscle (to say nothing of a really top rate broom) and I am suddenly in the game. I've just made Pride of Portree, much to my mum's delight, and I can't believe how many familiar faces from my old Hogwarts days there are.

The league is big on cooperation between teams, so we're supposed to put together packages for our competition. I have a feeling my knitting skills will come in handy there. I've been assigned Enna Kirts from the Magpies. I don't know her well, but she is friends with Eugene, my old roommate from Hogwarts.

I'll be getting a kit from Antonio dela Weasley over in Appleby. Apparently I ought to write up a wishlist of some sort and some information about myself to help him get to know me, so here goes.

I like blues, greens, and purples best, but really anything that isn't yellow or orange is okay by me.

I knit best with wood or bamboo needles. My mains are a set of Knit Picks Harmony Options, but I've had good experiences with the Zephyrs as well. When I knit socks I use Magic Loop--cables of 40" or longer prefered.

I like pretty much all weights of yarn (except cobweb--I'm not that much of a masochist) although I'm starting to realize that I like sock yarn a lot more than I like actually knitting socks.

I knit just about everything. I've done a couple of sweaters in the last few months, and I've got lots of babies to knit for in the next little bit. I also like to knit scarves, hats, mitts, shawls, and socks. I also love bags and purses, especially felted bags and project bags. There's just something about putting a project in its own bag that appeals to me.

I prefer natural fibres (wool, alpaca, silk, etc.) but I also believe in using a fibre appropriate to the project.

I live in a pretty cold part of the world (it's snowed already, though I was thankfully able to cast a meteological spell that prevented the snow from sticking around) so I prefer full mittens/gloves to fingerless ones, and I prefer mittens to gloves as well.

I drink lots of tea (anything but jasmine green tea) and hot chocolate, but I've yet to turn to the dark side that is coffee. I prefer salty/savoury snacks on the whole, but my sweet tooth loves dark chocolate, toffee, peanut butter, Skittles, and stale gummy candies. (They're chewier when they're stale, and they really are better that way.)

My favourite part of a swap package is always the homemade item, and I love it when my partner includes something from where they are.

I will turn 28 during this swap.

In my Muggle life, I teach English literature and writing at a university. I have a cat and I'm getting married next October. I'm currently watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the first time and intend to move on to The Tudors after that. When I'm not reading for work, I read historical fiction, graphic novels, science fiction, and fantasy--but really, I will read anything.

That's about all I can think to write about myself for now! I'll have to post my homework tomorrow once I've had a chance to read some more blogs.