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.

My kit!

I wasn't home yesterday because I got special permission to leave Hogwarts for the night and travel home to see my parents. My mother has spent the last two weeks in South America working as a Healer in rural Muggle communities, and she came home yesterday, which was also my parents' wedding anniversary. My father had bought us front row tickets to see the Weird Sisters, so of course everyone was very excited (and very, very tired today). They played for three hours, and we stood and danced the whole time.

And, as such things tend to go, I arrived back at Ravenclaw Tower to find that Nate, Megaera Black's owl, had come by with my parcel. Naturally, Dorian was quite excited about this visitor (and quite indignant that I'd left him home alone overnight). I'm not sure what he and Nate got up to but there were both feathers and fur on the floor around my bed. I had an early Transfiguration class, but I couldn't wait to open my package--and what an awesome surprise it was:



Believe it or not, she fit all of that into one box. I had said that I wanted a surprise kit, and that's definitely what I got. It was a combo of a Dye kit and a Sock kit. I got some beautiful KnitPicks Imagination Sock yarn in Pixie Dust (which actually looks a lot more Ravenclaw-y than I would have guessed.) I, er, bought myself some of the Imagination when I was getting things for CGP's kit, and just started knitting with it last week. It's lovely yarn. (I bought the "Wicked Witch" colourway, and I'm making the Bellatrix socks out of it. Appropriate, no?) Meg also sent me two skeins of the Bare superwash sock yarn one skein of Bare superwash, and one skein of Bare Merino Silk (which explains why I kept thinking, "This one feels different for some reason!") and dye in Sapphire Blue and Silver.




The bag she sent was also really cool:



There were also lots of really neat accessories: A mini sock keychain in Ravenclaw colours, a set of magnets for chart reading (which I need, because I am USELESS at that), a Ravenclaw keychain, a Care of Magical Creatures magnet, some Bunny Butt Apothecary hand stuff (an etailer I've heard loads about but haven't tried yet!), a Ravenclaw tie crest, some delicious looking chocolate rock candy, 2.75mm KP Harmony needles, a yummy bar of cherry-scented soap, and a really neat pendant shaped like a Scrabble tile with a tiny piece of the story on it (It's one of the Hedwig parts, which is SO cool). She managed to fit most of this into a little wooden chest.




In the midst of all that awesome, the stitch markers stood out:


(I love owls.)

To go along with my yarn and dye, I also received a copy of The Yarn Lover's Guide to Hand Dyeing. I've had it recommended to me several times by friends as one of the best books for dye beginners, and I'm really excited to read it. When I opened the book, there was one last surprise--a copy of Kate Gilbert's Bird In the Hand mitten pattern. I've been ogling this pattern for months now, and I actually bought the yarn to make a pair for my mom for Christmas on the weekend. What an awesome surprise.

Thank you so much to Megaera and Maylee! This was an awesome surprise kit, and I can't wait to get knitting and dyeing!

spinning 'round and 'round...

For once I am all caught up on my homework (take that, transfiguration!), so I got to actually do something fun last night. I'd almost forgotten what that feels like, especially after our crushing defeat at the hands of Hufflepuff in the weekend Quidditch match. Very sad, really.

Anyhow, one of the school's old students came back yesterday to visit, and she brought so much stuffh with her. I think the Headmistress had told her about how many of us were interested in magical fibre arts, so she packed up all kinds of little samples of different fibres for us to feel. She had quivit, alpaca, different sheep, silk, llama, angora, mohair...all kinds of stuff. It was so neat to feel.

Then she gave each of us a little batt of wool, a piece of yarn, and a simple drop spindle, and we got to practice spinning our own yarn. It was really tricky--mine has a little bit too much twist. It was a lot of fun, though.

She had her spinning wheel there, too, but I didn't want to try it. I am desperately afraid that I will love spinning, and I just don't have time (or money) for it right now. Plus I want to save something for later, you know?

Quidditch

1. Who was Tom Riddle Sr.'s girlfriend before Merope gave him the love potion?
a. Eleanor
b. Cecilia
c. Sally
d. Mandy

2. What does Luna say floated into Harry's ear when he was in the train car that supposedly caused him to lose focus?
a. Demiguise
b. Jobberknoll
c. Wrackspurt
d. Runespoor

3. How much do the primary Apparition lessons cost?
a. 10 galleons
b. 8 galleons
c. 15 galleons
d. 12 galleons

4. What is Professor Merrythought's first name?
a. Eileen
b. Galatea
c. Carol
d. Jocelyn

5. What Hogwarts club was Eileen Prince captain of?
a. Charms Club
b. Gobstones Club
c. The Slug Club
d. Occlumency Club

6. Who is head of the Goblin Liaison office?
a. Ambrosius Flume
b. Dirk Cresswell
c. Ciceron Harkiss
d. Barnabas Cuffe

7. Mrs. Weasley offers Fleur a goblin-made tiara for the wedding with Bill. What family member is currently in possession of the tiara?
a. Aunt Muriel
b. Aunt Ethel
c. Aunt Edna
d. Aunt Thelma

8. How many points does Snape take from Gryffindor for Harry's late arrival and muggle attire?
a. 30
b. 70
c. 50
d. 90

9. When Profressory Slughorn first meets Hermione, he asks her whether she is related to Hector Dagworth-Granger. What society did Dgworth-Granger found?
a. The Most Extraordinary Society of Charms
d. The Most Extraordinary Society of Herbology
c. The Most Extraordinary Society of the Defense Against the Dark Arts
d. The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers

10. Which of these describes Golpalott's Third Law?
a. The antidote for blended poison will be equal to less than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components
b. The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to less than the product of the antidotes for each of the separate compenents
c. The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the product of the antidotes for each of the separate compenents
d. The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separtea components

ravenclaw quiz

1- Astrid Cloverleaf
2- Cassandra Grubbly Plank
3- Enna Kirts
4- Selena Starfire
5- Henry Longstaff
6- Ceciley Fortescue
7- Mona Ravenscroft
8- Argentia Pascal
9- Prendolyn Wilcox
10- Lizzie Wychwood
11- Ursula Longbottom
12- Rowena Weasley
13- Aurora Curlyfur
14- Lily May Clearwater
15- Megaera Black (except she's a puppy)

Bonus1- Hermione Bagnold/Smileynetta
Bonus2- 37 (which is less than half, by my count)

Birthday Madness and Kit Completion

Thank you to everyone for all of the birthday wishes, and especially to my splendiforous partner Megaera Black, who surprised me with a generous and awesome gift: a gift card for my favourite bath and body store, Lush. I'm so excited for that, especially since they now have all of their holiday products available.

The birthday itself was pretty uneventful. Dorian got the day off to a less-than-spectacular start by vomiting copiously all over my brand new duvet at half past five in the morning. He is six months old now, and I somehow managed to book his appointment for the Big Snip for the morning of my birthday. He wasn't allowed to have any food after 8 p.m. the night before, and I think that in his hunger he started nibbling on the one plant Eugene and I have here in the room, which caused him to be sick.

Everyone down at Care of Magical Creatures just loved him, though, and one of the first years almost refused to let me take him back to Ravenclaw Tower. He was Very Angry with me for the rest of the day, and hid in his pet carrier while making a point of snuggling up close to Eugene whenever I was around.

I did receive a ball winder and a swift as gifts as well, so now I am all set to get started on my holiday knitting.

alpaca, alpaca, alpaca

The strangest thing of all happened this week: Eugene and I were actually alone in the common room together, so we chatted about knitting and literature. It was marvellous. I also had an opportunity to do something for extra credit - a field trip to an alpaca farm.

Here's something you should know: I love alpacas. I love their fleece, I love the weird humming noises that they make, and I love the way they look. They just have very sweet eyes, I think. The trip to the farm was a lot of fun, and I only broke my self-imposed yarn diet a little--but then, I don't think diets should count for local yarn.


Two alpacas frolicking.


The two guard llamas.


An alpaca named Raven, who loves humans and human contact, and was described by her owner as being like "a giant dog."


Including laying down on the floor like this.


Some of the white alpacas.


This one kept looking right at me! I think he wants to be my friend.